Why Large Deck Companies Can’t Deliver What They Promise
You are looking for the best builder, but the search engines steer you towards the big companies with their own branded products–lets deep dive into deck franchises and big deck companies–
Big Deck Companies vs. Artisan Deck Builders: Why Large Deck Companies May Not Be Able to Deliver What They Promise
You’ve called three deck contractors. The big franchise deck company had the most impressive presentation—glossy brochures in a leather folder, a professional showroom, detailed 3D renderings, and a sales pitch that made everything sound perfect. Six months after your deck is finished, you’re starting to notice problems. The boards are warping differently than the showroom samples. The railings feel cheaper than what you touched during your consultation. The craftsmanship looks rushed in places.
What happened? You did your research. You went with the established deck company. You paid premium prices.
Here’s what actually happened behind that glossy presentation.
The Deck Franchise Economics That Guarantee Inferior Quality
Large deck companies—particularly franchises—operate on a financial model that makes delivering premium quality nearly impossible.
The Franchise Fee Structure
When you hire a deck franchise, here’s where your money actually goes before a single board gets cut:
- 10-20% to the franchisor in ongoing fees and royalties
- Additional profit margin to the franchisor through mandatory material purchases (franchisees must buy from head office at marked-up prices)
- Total franchise cost: 25-30% of your project value goes straight to corporate headquarters
A healthy deck construction company needs 20-30% profit margin to operate properly—to maintain equipment, market their services, train crews, and invest in growth.
Do the math: 25-30% to the franchisor + 20-30% to run the business = 50-60% of your money is gone before construction even begins.
That leaves 40-50% for materials and labor to build your deck. Something has to give. That something is quality.
Who Actually Owns These Deck Franchises?
The typical deck franchise owner is not a carpenter. They’re not a designer. Many have never built a deck in their lives.
Deck franchisees are typically well-heeled individuals who want to own a business but lack the knowledge or experience to start one from scratch. They might be executives from other industries, investors looking for a business opportunity, or professionals seeking a career change.
What they bring: Capital and business management skills
What they lack: Craftsmanship, design expertise, and understanding of quality construction
They hire salespeople (who also aren’t builders) to sell your deck. They hire project managers (who may or may not have construction backgrounds) to oversee it. The actual construction? That’s outsourced to subcontractors.
The Subcontractor Squeeze: A Race to the Bottom
Large deck companies and franchises don’t typically employ their own construction crews. They use subcontractors—independent deck builders hired per project at the lowest possible rates.
Here’s the problem: No self-respecting craftsman will work for what these companies are willing to pay.
After the franchisor takes their cut and the business overhead is covered and the sales commissions are paid, there’s barely enough left to pay skilled labor. So these companies hire whoever will work for “bottom of the basement” rates.
What This Means for Your Deck Installation
- Different crews on different projects – No consistency in quality or methods
- Speed incentives over quality – Subs are paid per job, not per hour, so faster is more profitable
- Corner-cutting becomes standard – Skip the joist flashing tape, ignore crown orientation, rush the ledger attachment
- No accountability – When problems arise, the sub blames the company, the company blames the sub, and you’re stuck in the middle
- Zero relationship – The people who sold you the deck never meet the people who build it
The skilled craftsmen who understand crown orientation, proper ledger attachment, and why joist flashing matters? They’re working for smaller companies or running their own operations where they can command proper rates and maintain their standards.
The Material Substitution Game: What You’re Really Getting
This is where the deception gets serious, and it’s something most homeowners never discover until it’s too late.
The Showroom Promise
You toured a beautiful showroom. You touched composite decking samples that felt premium—smooth texture, rich color, solid feel. The sales rep showed you Azek, TimberTech, or Trex Pro series. You picked your color. The contract says “composite decking” or “PVC decking.”
You assumed you’d get what you saw in the showroom.
The Offshore Knockoff Pipeline
Here’s what actually happens at some large deck companies:
Step 1: They take high-quality decking products made in Canada or the United States—established brands with proven track records—and send samples to manufacturers in China.
Step 2: Chinese manufacturers reverse-engineer these products, creating knockoffs that look similar but use inferior materials and processes.
Step 3: The deck company creates their own private-label brand or sources generic “composite decking” at a fraction of the cost.
Step 4: You pay Azek prices ($8-10 per linear foot) but receive Chinese knockoff materials ($3-5 per linear foot).
The same happens with railings, lighting systems, and fasteners. Good North American products get sent overseas, copied, and the quality degrades with each iteration—like making a photocopy of a photocopy. The visual similarity is there, but the performance, longevity, and material integrity are completely different.
How They Get Away With It
Your contract likely doesn’t specify brand names. It says:
- “Composite decking”
- “Aluminum railing system”
- “Low-voltage LED lighting”
Technically, they’ve fulfilled the contract. You got composite decking—just not the composite decking you saw in the showroom and certainly not what you thought you were paying for.
The Real-World Consequences
These material substitutions aren’t just about getting less than you paid for. They create actual performance failures:
- Inconsistent color fade within the first two years (quality composite maintains color consistency for decades)
- Severe fading and color variation from inferior UV stabilizers—boards installed on the same day look completely different within months
- Mold and mildew growth in shaded areas due to different material composition
- Broken boards from excessive expansion/contraction or flawed ingredient ratios
- Complete failure requiring re-decking within 5-7 years instead of lasting 25+
I’ve personally witnessed warranty claim rates of 70% (7 out of 10 projects) from large deck companies using these substitution practices. Compare that to what’s possible with quality materials and proper installation: some builders go decades with just a handful of warranty claims total.
Some of these failures are so severe that complete re-decking is required—the entire deck surface needs to be torn off and replaced because the materials are defective. Imagine paying $40,000-60,000 for a deck and needing to replace it in five years. I’ve personally seen this happen on projects well over $300,000—premium pricing with budget materials hidden underneath.
The Marketing Machine vs. Construction Reality
What You See
Large deck companies and franchises have the best marketing materials in the business:
- Professional showrooms with beautiful displays
- Glossy brochures printed on heavy paper stock
- Slick presentation folders
- 3D renderings that look photorealistic
- Well-dressed sales representatives
- Branded trucks and uniforms
- “Award-winning” claims and certifications
What You Don’t See
- The sales rep has no construction background and can’t answer technical questions about crown, ledger flashing, or load paths
- The 3D renderings are generic templates, not custom designs for your specific site
- The “design” is a standard shape from software with no consideration for grade challenges, drainage, or architectural integration
- The crew that shows up has never seen your plans and is working from a basic sketch
- Quality control consists of the project manager driving by occasionally
- The “warranty” is handled by whoever answers the phone at the franchise office
You’re paying for all that marketing overhead—the showroom lease, the glossy brochures, the sales commissions, the branded fleet. That money comes out of your construction budget.
Why Some Large Companies Succeed While Others Collapse
This isn’t a black and white issue. Not all large deck companies operate the same way.
The Companies That Get It Right
Some large deck companies build sustainable businesses based on quality. Take Decks South based in Georgia—they’ve grown year after year by training their people properly and investing in quality. They’ve expanded into complete landscapes with pools, patios, and plantings because their reputation is built on solid work that lasts.
Another large deck company doing things right is Peach Tree Decks also in GA.
They can come close, but artisans like Dr. Decks and Deck Remodelers will usually upstage them with one of a kind Designs.
The difference? These 2 large builders train their crews. They invest in their people. They give their builders a vested interest in project quality, not just speed.
It helps that they operate year-round in a favorable climate with a functioning economy—advantages that Canadian deck builders simply don’t have. But the principle remains: companies that prioritize training and quality over margin maximization can scale successfully.
No single builder can build every deck. Growth requires training others and maintaining standards. Companies that succeed long-term understand this—they build systems around quality, not around maximizing margins through material substitution and labor exploitation.
The Deck Building Quality Whirlpool of Despair
The problematic business model creates a downward spiral when reputation catches up to reality:
Year 1-3: Aggressive marketing and sales, impressive growth, lots of new customers attracted by professional presentation and showrooms
Year 3-5: Warranty claims start accelerating as material and workmanship issues emerge. Word-of-mouth turns negative.
Year 5-7: Warranty obligations become overwhelming. To protect margins, the company reduces costs further—cheaper materials, lower subcontractor rates, faster timelines. Quality drops even more, accelerating the spiral.
Year 7-10: Company revenue collapses as reputation damage spreads. Private-label material suppliers go out of business, leaving thousands of homeowners with failing decks and no manufacturer to honor warranties. The showrooms close one by one.
The difference between success and failure comes down to priorities. Are you training people and maintaining standards, or are you maintaining five showrooms while substituting materials to protect margins?
The Canadian Large Deck Building Company Challenge
Building a quality deck business is harder in Canada. The building season is dramatically shorter than in the US. Operating costs are significantly higher—fuel, insurance, heating, facility costs all run 2-3x American rates. Showroom overhead in multiple locations gets expensive fast.
I’ve watched a Canadian deck company grow from one location 35 years ago to five or six stores building regular decks. At one point, they hired two well-respected builders simultaneously—experts brought in specifically to push growth and elevate their reputation to match their expansion. Within a relatively short time, both builders left. Yet years later, the company still advertises both names on their website, trading on reputations built elsewhere while those builders are no longer involved.
When margins get tight, companies face a choice: reduce overhead or reduce quality. The companies that choose to reduce quality while maintaining premium pricing, expensive multi-location showrooms, and advertising credibility they no longer have are the ones that eventually collapse under warranty claims and reputation damage.
The Test That Matters
Before hiring any deck contractor—large or small, franchise or independent—ask to see a 5-year-old deck they built. Not their newest showpiece. Not the project they did last month. A deck that’s been through five winters (or five summers in warmer climates).
Walk on it. Look at the boards. Check for consistent color. Look for warping, broken boards, or mold growth. Ask the homeowner about their experience—not just with construction, but whether the deck builder honored their warranty if any issues came up.
If a contractor won’t or can’t show you a 5+ year old deck, that tells you everything you need to know.
How to Protect Yourself: Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Deck Contractor
Before you sign a contract with any deck company, ask these questions:
About Labor
“Who will actually build my deck? Can I meet them before signing?”
- If they can’t tell you, or say “one of our crews,” that’s a red flag
- Quality builders have dedicated crews or owner-operators who will meet with you
- If you can’t meet the actual builder, you have no relationship and no accountability
About Materials
“What specific brand of decking will you use? Not ‘composite’—which manufacturer and product line?”
- Demand brand names: Azek, TimberTech, Trex (and which specific series)
- Ask: “Is this the exact product I saw in your showroom?”
- Request: “Can you write the specific brand and model into the contract?”
“Where is this material manufactured?”
- Quality brands proudly state “Made in USA” or “Made in Canada”
- If they dodge this question or say “various suppliers,” be very suspicious
- Private-label brands (their own name) should raise immediate questions
- Chinese-manufactured composite decking often costs 40-60% less than North American products, but the performance gap is even larger
“Can you provide material spec sheets and warranty information from the manufacturer?”
- Legitimate products have detailed technical specifications
- Manufacturer warranties should be separate from the installer warranty
- If they can’t provide manufacturer documentation, the material is suspect
About Quality Standards
“What is crown and why is it important?”
- If they can’t explain how crown-up installation prevents deck surface dips and water pooling, they don’t understand basic framing
“What causes decks to fall off houses?”
- If they answer “not enough bolts,” they don’t understand ledger attachment, load paths, or bearing connections
- The real answer involves proper ledger height for full bearing connection, flashing, and understanding where loads transfer
About Track Record
“What’s your warranty claim rate, and what are the most common issues?”
- Quality builders should have very low claim rates over decades of work
- If they refuse to answer or get defensive, that’s revealing
- Ask for references from customers whose decks are 5+ years old
- Deck company warranty problems often emerge 3-5 years after installation when materials begin to fail
“Do you use joist flashing tape as standard, or is it an upgrade?”
- If it’s an “upgrade” or optional, they’re cutting corners
- Quality builders include it automatically because they understand modern PT lumber requires it
When Large Deck Companies Make Sense
To be fair, there are situations where a large deck company might be appropriate:
- You’re selling in 2 months – You need something that looks good for staging photos and showings, and durability doesn’t matter
- You need it done next week – Absolute speed is more important than quality, and you’re willing to pay premium prices for rush scheduling
- You don’t care about the details – The deck just needs to exist and you have no expectations about craftsmanship or longevity
A word about corporate warranties: They’re often worth less than a handshake. When warranty issues arise, you’re dealing with whoever answers the phone, not the person who built your deck. Companies that have changed ownership, scaled back locations, or gone out of business can’t honor warranties no matter what the paper says. A warranty is only as good as the company standing behind it—and their willingness to actually honor it.
Deck Franchise vs. Local Builder: Understanding the Real Differences
Smaller, owner-operated deck companies operate on a completely different model than franchises or large corporations:
Direct Accountability
- The person who quotes your project often oversees or builds it
- Direct relationship means communication is clear and problems get solved immediately
- Reputation is everything—every deck carries the owner’s name
Material Integrity
- No incentive to substitute materials
- We specify exactly what you’re getting and that’s what gets installed
- When we say Azek, you get Azek—our reputation depends on it
- No franchisor forcing us to buy marked-up materials through their supply chain
Quality Standards
- Proper installation details: joist flashing tape, crown orientation, sealed end cuts, proper ledger flashing
- Understanding of why these things matter, not just following a checklist
- Investment in longevity because we stand behind our work for decades
- No subcontractors cutting corners to maximize their per-job profit
- Building 40-50 year decks, not 15-year decks
Real Design Capability
- Custom solutions for challenging sites
- Integration with landscape and architecture
- Problem-solving for drainage, access, and grade issues
- Features that aren’t in the template software: integrated planters, custom privacy screens, hot tub surrounds
The Economics Work
When you’re not sending money to franchisors and showroom overhead, the economics change completely:
- Quality materials from reputable North American manufacturers
- Skilled craftsmen paid what they’re worth (which attracts actual craftsmen)
- Proper installation details that extend deck life from 15 years to 40-50 years
- Direct accountability and long-term relationships
- Investment in doing it right the first time
Yes, we’re more expensive than franchises or large deck companies. We’re building a different product entirely—a 40-50 year deck, not a 15-year deck. The math changes when you’re planning for decades, not just getting through the warranty period.
The Bottom Line; Where Deck Franchises Fail You
That glossy presentation folder is beautiful. The showroom is impressive. The sales pitch is polished.
But six months after your deck is done, none of that matters. What matters is whether your deck boards are straight, whether water drains properly, whether the materials are actually what you paid for, and whether the structure will last 30 years or need replacement in 5.
The large deck company model—particularly franchises—has fundamental economic incentives that work against quality:
- Too much money goes to overhead that doesn’t improve your deck
- Subcontractor rates ensure you won’t get skilled craftsmen
- Material substitution practices mean you’re paying premium prices for budget products
- No direct accountability when things go wrong
- Warranty claims become epidemic as the model’s flaws reveal themselves
You can’t build a premium deck when 50-60% of the budget disappears before construction starts. The math simply doesn’t work.
Before you sign that contract, ask the hard questions. Demand specifics on materials. Meet the actual builders. And understand that sometimes the most professional presentation comes from the company with the most to hide.
Want to learn more about quality deck construction?
Read our articles on:
- Understanding crown and proper joist installation
- What causes deck collapse and how to prevent it
- Why modern pressure-treated lumber fails faster
- How to identify quality materials vs. knockoffs
- The real cost comparison: composite vs. pressure-treated
Looking for a deck builder who prioritizes quality over marketing?
Contact Garden Structure to discuss your project. We’ve been building custom decks for 40 years with 2 warranty claims total—because we use quality materials, employ skilled craftsmen, and build 40-50 year decks, not 15-year decks.
This article is based on extensive industry experience, including time working within large deck companies and witnessing the systematic quality degradation that occurs when profit margins take priority over craftsmanship. All warranty statistics and business practices described are based on documented, real-world observations and conversations / emails with customers left disapointed by large Canadian Deck Franchises and Builders.
