The best months to use it are the months to build it
A deck is one of the highest-enjoyment additions to a Rochester home, and summer is short enough here that people want it ready by June. It's also a project our climate punishes: freeze-thaw cycles, heavy snow load, and months of moisture are hard on decks, so how it's built and what it's built from decide whether it lasts 10 years or 30. Spring is the time to book, before the summer crew rush.
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Wood vs composite in our climate
Pressure-treated wood is the budget standard — cheapest up front, but it needs regular cleaning, sealing, and staining to survive Rochester winters, and even then it weathers, cracks, and warps over time.
Cedar looks better and resists rot naturally, but still needs maintenance and costs more.
Composite / PVC decking costs more up front but shrugs off our freeze-thaw, doesn't rot or splinter, and needs almost no maintenance — no annual sealing. Over a deck's life in this climate, composite often wins on total cost and hassle, especially for the deck surface (many people use composite boards on a treated-wood frame).
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What it costs in 2026
- Pressure-treated wood deck: $25–$45 per square foot installed.
- Composite deck: $40–$70+ per square foot installed.
- A typical 300–400 sq ft deck: roughly $9,000–$20,000 depending on material, height, railings, and stairs.
- Repairs (replacing boards, fixing railings, re-securing a ledger): a few hundred to a few thousand, far less than rebuilding.
Height matters: a raised deck needs more structure, footings, and railings than a ground-level one.
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Freeze-thaw is the enemy — build for it
- Proper footings below the frost line. Rochester's frost depth means footings have to go deep enough that freeze-heave doesn't lift and rack the deck. Shallow footings are the #1 reason decks shift and fail here.
- The ledger connection (where the deck attaches to the house) must be flashed and bolted correctly. A poorly flashed ledger leaks, rots the house's rim joist, and is a known collapse risk — this is the most safety-critical detail on the whole deck.
- Good drainage and gapping so water and snowmelt don't sit and rot the boards.
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What to watch on an existing deck
If you have a deck already, check before loading it up for summer:
- Wobble or movement — often footing or post problems.
- The ledger — any rot, rust, or pulling away from the house. This is the one to take seriously.
- Soft, spongy, or splitting boards, especially near the ground or under planters.
- Loose or low railings — a safety and code issue.
Many tired decks need repair, not replacement — new boards on a sound frame, or a re-secured ledger and railings.
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Permits
Most decks above a certain height require a permit in Rochester and Monroe County towns, and the structural details (footings, ledger, railings) get inspected. This isn't busywork — the inspected details are exactly the ones that keep a deck from failing. Your contractor pulls the permit.
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Mistakes to avoid
- Shallow footings above the frost line — they heave and rack the deck.
- A poorly flashed or under-bolted ledger — leaks into the house and risks collapse.
- Untreated or wrong fasteners that rust out in our wet winters.
- Skipping maintenance on a wood deck — unsealed wood doesn't last here.
- No permit, which surfaces at resale.
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A practical next step
Decide how you'll use it (dining, lounging, hot tub — weight matters) and be honest about maintenance: if you won't seal wood every year or two, composite is the better long-term call here. If you have a deck already, check the ledger and footings before summer.
A good exterior contractor will build to frost-depth footings, flash the ledger correctly, handle the permit, and steer you to the material that fits your budget and our climate.