With Spring officially beginning, it’s time to get geared up for deck building season. As the snow melts, customers will start requesting estimates for their deck builds and renovations. We want to give you some inspiration for upgrades you can offer to set your bid apart from the pack.

As homeowners are looking to extend their outdoor living space, contractors that are informed and offering trendy suggestions are in hot demand.  Your clients will probably have a few ideas printed off the Internet from popular sites like Pinterest, HGTV and Better Homes and Gardens. Showcase your knowledge of what’s hot for this year by reviewing some current trends in deck building.

HGTV is a premier source for home-related inspiration, instruction and entertainment, and we can bet that many consumers have browsed hgtv.com for deck design ideas. So let’s take a look at a few trends they suggest that take decks from functional to fantastic.

The snow is finally fading, but the effects of winter on your decks are not. The wood is warped, cracked, and gray. It’s time for the annual loathed tradition of sanding and re-staining it. Or maybe it’s time to cut the old wood deck from the team and bring in your new backyard living QB - composite lumber. Composite decking is the future of outdoor living, and here are the top 4 reasons why:

About 85 percent of all single-family homes in the U.S. include a deck or deck-like structure, which is equivalent to roughly 30 million decks. Sixty percent of all new homes are constructed with a deck, while nearly 2.75 million decks are replaced on an annual basis.  That’s according to Cintrafor.org’s research… and that’s a lot of decking!  So naturally there are a lot of opinions on the best way to build a deck.