Decking & Timber Builds in South Devon

We build and rebuild timber decking across Torbay and the South Hams, from a small seating area off the back door to the 200 square metre pool surround we finished this summer near Harbertonford.

Most of the work is under the boards

A deck is only ever as good as the frame beneath it, and the frame is the bit nobody sees once the boards are down. Posts on proper concrete bases, bearers and joists spaced tight enough that nothing flexes underfoot, and the whole thing set level and square before a single board goes on.

Get that right and the deck still feels solid in ten years. Get it wrong and you get the bounce, the creak and the sagging corner that people put up with for years before ringing someone.

Replacing a deck that has gone

Devon weather is hard on timber. Boards cup and split, the frame softens where water sits, and the ground underneath settles unevenly, particularly on a large footprint. By the time boards are springy underfoot the substructure has usually gone too, so a board-only replacement puts new timber onto a frame that is already failing.

We strip back to bare ground, assess the levels properly, then rebuild. On the pool job that meant lifting close to 200 square metres and finding rotten posts and settled ground in patches all the way round.

Finishing it so it is a garden, not a platform

Boards down is about two thirds of the job. What turns it into somewhere people actually sit is everything after: rails and balustrade to the open edges, a step that is a comfortable height rather than a lip to trip on, screening where you are overlooked, a pergola for shade and shelter, and planting to take the hard edge off all that new timber.

On the pool deck we set mature olives in large terracotta pots around the edges. Olives suit that kind of hot, reflective, free-draining spot, they hold their silver foliage all year, and they give a pool space the Mediterranean feel it naturally wants.

Reusing the old timber

A strip-out this size normally means several skip loads heading for landfill. We sort it board by board instead: anything soft goes for proper disposal, anything sound gets cleaned up and kept.

On that job the salvaged boards became the screening and fence around the new deck. The weathered, silvered grain behind the pergola is the original deck, rebuilt in a new role on the same spot. It cut the waste right down, saved buying in fencing timber, and honestly it looks better than new material would.

Also in timber

Pergolas and gazebos, raised beds and planters, screening and trellis, steps, gates, and fencing. If it is outdoor timber, it is likely we do it.

Where we work and what it costs

Across Torbay, the South Hams and Teignbridge. Price depends on size, height off the ground, ground conditions, access for materials and what you want on top of the boards. We come and look, and you get a written quote. The visit is free.

What we build in

Most of our decks are pressure-treated softwood, which is what the majority of gardens want. Properly specified and properly fixed it lasts well, it takes a stain or oil when you want to change the colour, and it is straightforward to replace a board years down the line rather than the whole surface.

Composite is worth considering if you genuinely never want to sand or oil anything again, and we will fit it. It costs more up front, it is heavier on the frame so the substructure has to be built for it, and it does get hot underfoot in full sun, which matters around a pool. Hardwood is the other option where the budget allows and you want something that will still look expensive in fifteen years.

Whatever the surface, the frame underneath is treated timber on concrete bases, because that is the part that decides how long the deck lasts.

Keeping a deck looking right

Decking in Devon greens up. It is damp, it is mild, and algae takes hold on any surface that stays wet, particularly under trees or on a north-facing aspect. A deck that has gone slippery is not usually rotten, it is just dirty.

A wash once a year, ideally in spring, keeps it safe underfoot and stops the green establishing. Softwood benefits from an oil or stain every couple of years, more often on a fully exposed south-facing deck. We take on deck cleaning and re-oiling as a standalone job or as part of a regular maintenance round, so it does not become the thing that never gets done.

If yours has already gone too far, we also do repairs: individual boards, failed posts, a sagging corner or a rail that has worked loose. It is always worth asking whether a repair will do before committing to a full replacement.