I started planning a porch on the front of my house in Spring 2024. After reviewing my zoning and setbacks and getting my lot surveyed, preliminary architectural drawings, and construction estimates, I determined building a porch was not economically feasible. Still, instead, a deck would fit into my neighborhood.
After Christmas, I went to Angi.com to find three deck builders. Of the three, only Stoneridge Outdoor Living made an appointment for a sales call. The others gave estimates by looking at drawings and pictures and driving by. A good and bad thing is that in-person sales tend to have more attention and pressure.
My appointment was on January 7, 2025, and the salesman arrived on time, if not early. Roads were still being plowed from a snowstorm a day prior.
After discussing what I wanted, he sat in his car to make drawings and produce a quote.
His price was competitive, and we haggled over some terms. I may have been able to haggle the price down some, too. With their backlog, I was expecting construction to start in March.
On January 21, the construction project manager conducted a site survey. He was on time for the meeting, if not early. He reviewed the measurements and made notes on the required materials. He indicated I was seventh in the deck pipeline and should start construction in March.
Surprisingly, I received a call on February 23 that construction would start three days later. I thought it would be a three-day project. The project manager didn’t tell me different.
On Wednesday, February 26, the crew arrived on time, if not early. (As I type this blog entry, 1-800-GOT-JUNK was supposed to be here between 10 am and noon. Oops, they are a couple three hours late.)
While heading out for my morning run, the Builder Supplies truck turned onto my street. It was a more significant load than I expected. Part of the contract with Stoneridge indicated I was responsible for securing materials. It was good that materials arrived within an hour of the workers.
The crew removed two bushes and the existing brick stoop that morning. The demo exposed some rotten wood in the house’s sills. Next came the dreaded “Change Order.” The project manager showed me the issue and said, “I won’t charge you too much.” Somewhere not directed at me, I heard 750. For any remodel, budget to pay 10% more for potentials.
That was the only extra that was found. The remaining sills that the deck would attach to were solid.
That day, they dug the footers and completed the framing. They called in for inspections for the next day.
On Thursday, one of their workers backed his car into my mailbox, making it lean more than usual. They did not tell me about this oops. The footer inspection passed, but the framing did not. They were allowed to install and fill in the main support posts. They needed to work on the framing.
On Friday. they corrected the framing issues and called for an inspection. The inspector’s calendar was full on the last day of the month. Even though a worker waited until the end of the day, the inspector wasn’t available until Monday morning when she passed the work.
Through the next week, the work was finalized. There was one bad weather day. On Thursday, the project manager did a status check. The electrical outlet, stair lights, and lattice were not installed. I told him about the mailbox issue. The lattice was one feature on the sales diagram that did not make it to the project diagram. He went to Home Depot to get lattice materials, and they installed them that day, along with the stair lights on Friday.
They hired a local electrician to install the GFI outlet. They did not include the outlet on the building permit, and it may not need to be permitted. The work was done on Friday morning with a simple jumper from an outlet box in the living room.
The work was completed by 1 pm on Friday, and the final inspection was scheduled for Monday. The project manager had me sign the change order for only $450. Maybe that was a break for the mailbox I needed to replace or the ruts in my lawn that I’ll need to fix.
He asked if I wanted to settle up and pay the final installment. I told him I’d wait for the county’s final inspection. It passed, and he came back on Tuesday for a check. A 3% fee would have been added if paying with a credit card.
Stoneridge is out of Winchester and Ashland. The workers were local to Fredericksburg.
They used the quality of materials I requested. The deck looks good.