Anybody with a truck and a circular saw can call themselves a deck builder. Memphis has plenty of them, and most of the calls we hear about started with a homeowner who picked based on a low number on a piece of paper and found out later what that number left out. This isn't about scaring you off hiring someone. It's about knowing enough of the trade to tell a real bid from a guess.

Start with the ground, not the wood

Memphis sits on clay soil, and clay does not sit still. It swells when it's wet and shrinks when it dries out, sometimes by an inch or more over a season. A deck footing that isn't poured deep enough, or that just rests a concrete block on grade instead of going below the frost line, will heave. You'll see it as a post that's suddenly a quarter inch proud of the others, then a board that squeaks, then a railing that racks. Code minimum footing depth around here is typically 12 inches, but a lot of builders who've been burned by clay go deeper, especially on the west side of the county where the clay content runs higher. Ask what depth they're planning and why. If the answer is "however deep the auger goes easy," that's not an answer.

Ask too about the ledger board, the piece that bolts the deck to your house. This is the single most common failure point in residential decks nationwide, not just here. A ledger nailed instead of lag-bolted or through-bolted, without proper flashing behind it, will let water track into your rim joist. In Memphis humidity that rot moves fast, and you won't see it until the deck starts to pull away from the house. A builder who talks about flashing without you bringing it up has done this before.

Materials, and what our weather does to them

Pressure-treated pine is still the most common frame and decking material around Memphis because it's affordable and it's rated for ground contact, which matters given how much moisture is in the soil here for a good chunk of the year. Composite decking costs more up front but doesn't need staining every couple of summers, which is worth something once you factor in how humid it gets from June through August. Staining or sealing treated wood works best when it's had time to dry out, generally six months to a year after installation, and needs a stretch of dry weather to cure properly, at least 24 to 48 hours without rain. A crew that wants to stain a brand-new deck the week it's built, or one that's scheduling a sealing job in the middle of a July heat wave with afternoon storms rolling through most days, isn't planning around our climate.

Termites are the other thing worth asking about. Subterranean termites are common in the Mid-South, and any wood-to-ground contact is a point of entry if it's not rated for it. A builder who can't tell you the difference between ground-contact rated lumber and standard treated lumber shouldn't be pricing your footings.

Permits, inspections, and who's actually pulling them

In Memphis and unincorporated Shelby County, most attached decks and any deck built above a certain height require a permit, and the footings get inspected before concrete goes in the ground, with a framing inspection to follow. If you're in Collierville, Germantown, Bartlett, or one of the other suburban cities, the permitting runs through that municipality instead of the county, and the process can differ slightly. Ask directly: who is pulling the permit, is it in their name or yours, and will they be there for the footing inspection. A contractor who wants to skip the permit to save time is asking you to take on the liability if something goes wrong, and it will also come up if you ever sell the house and the buyer's inspector asks for the paperwork.

If you're in one of the newer subdivisions out toward Collierville, Arlington, or Lakeland, there's a good chance you've got an HOA with rules about railing style, stain color, or how close a deck can sit to the property line. Older neighborhoods like Midtown, Cooper-Young, or Central Gardens generally don't have that layer, but they come with their own wrinkle: houses built in the 1920s through 1950s often have mature trees whose root systems run right where a footing needs to go, and older lots weren't always graded the way modern subdivisions are, so water doesn't always drain away from the house the way you'd expect. A builder who's worked those streets before will check the grading and the drip line of nearby trees before they decide where footings go, not after.

What a real bid looks like versus what a lowball looks like

A written estimate should break out the number of footings, the size of the joists and their spacing, the fastener type, and the decking material by name and brand, not just "decking." It should note the permit and who's responsible for it. Vague bids that lump everything into one number are usually vague because the person writing them hasn't actually worked out the framing yet, and change orders show up later to make up the difference.

  • Ask for proof of license and liability insurance, and call the insurance company to confirm the policy is active, not just take the certificate at face value.
  • Walk away from anyone who wants the full price up front. A deposit is normal. Full payment before the first post hole is dug is not.
  • Ask how many decks they've built that are still standing after five years, and if they can point you to one nearby, drive by and look at it.
  • Be wary of a bid that's dramatically lower than every other one you got. Somewhere in that number, something got left out, and it's usually the footings or the flashing.

What to ask before you sign anything

Get the footing depth and spacing in writing. Get the fastener spec for the ledger board in writing. Ask what happens if they hit a tree root or an old cistern digging footings, which happens more than people expect on older Memphis lots. Ask about the timeline and what a rain delay does to it, since spring here brings a real severe weather season and a poured footing needs a few days before it can bear weight regardless of what the calendar says. A builder who answers these plainly, without getting defensive, is the one who's done this enough times to know the questions are coming.

We build and repair decks all over the Memphis area and we'd rather you ask us the hard questions before you hire anyone. You can see the kind of work we do at Midway Deck Solutions.