Don’t put post in the concrete. Those are going to rot. Pour the pier and get the brackets that bolt the post to the pier and also keep them 1/2” or so off the ground.

Forget professional contractors...what you just did WAS professional. Nicely done and enjoy the compliments

Your DIY tool kit is better then most contractors, Great job, my only criticism is you should have checked your bearers into your posts rather then screwing them. The whole sheer weight of that deck is on those screws when it could be sitting directly ontop or housed into the posts. Great work.

I’ve built quite a few decks. You did a great job. Can’t say I’ve figured out a way to not be hunched over. Good way to keep rodents and snakes out is to keep it clean under there. Use landscaping to seal the remaining gap. I always think if there isn’t a food/ water supply, they won’t want to be there. But if there’s a will there’s a way.

built hundreds of decks, best advice for laying the boards and ur back, stand on the ground, not the deck, while you work, when possible, brings your work up to you a good bit depending on the decks lvl. there are some tools to make it so u can screw while standing, but they kind of suck, i jus do it the old fashion way.

Dude you absolutely crushed it! Well done.

Make sure you get plenty of shade on the deck. I have the same color trex and in the summer it gets SUPER hot. Even my dogs don’t want to walk across the deck in the afternoon.

I stumbled upon your channel from Tiktok, and I am hooked brother. We are kindred spirits, and I love watching creative and motivated people tackle awesome projects. I'm binging all your videos now! Keep it up man, love what you're doing, and how you're doing it.

I absolutely agree with everything you said about vacation and home... Makes so much sense to me!!!😊 Plus you did an amazing job!!!❤

Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing. I hope your family is enjoying your handiwork.

I agree 100% on your home being your main destination and using money on it instead of vacation.

You are so much fun to watch and listen to....great job...I learned several trix from you. Thanks.

I love the little tabs on top of the joists, such a great idea.

Good job. I built my son's deck -- about half the size -- with two stairs and a railing. Saved my son about 8 or 9 thousand dollars. I got a hug out of it. :)

Dude that is a great finish. Awesome job. If only the weather here in the UK was good enough to warrant a deck that big.

Just took my family of 5 to Disney, Sea World, spring training ball game and water park. Drove from Canada and whole trip was less than $5gs Cnd. Love the deck and video for saving money. I did this with a 80’ fence a few years ago. $4500 quote completed for $1950 DIY!! (And I have new tools)

Just WOW, amazing! Im seriously considering building deck on my own, this video is inspiring! Thank you for sharing!

Awesome job bro!! enjoying your hard work is the best life it’s very satisfying!

To your question about relieving the stress on your back during the job. I’d advise getting carpenter pants with kneepads inside. I was just noticing that you were standing the entire time. Its a beautiful deck you’ve build 👍

Looks great. So relaxing and soothing to watch. And inspiring to do these jobs by myself too!

Great Job Donnie! Keep up the DIY !!!

Not only did you save big money, you did a fantastic job!! Well Done!!

I believe the building code in my area won’t let you hold the deck up with bolts or screws. The frame would be resting on top of the support post not bolted to the side of them. Deck looks good though, nice work.

Wow you nailed it man, excellent work! My only critique is the math you shared. $50-$60/sqft for a 400sqft deck would come out to $20k-$24k, not $15k-$16k. This makes your savings even more intense!

That looks absolutely incredible! Well done!

Fantastic work, Donnie! It turned out amazing! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

Good job dude! Also enjoyed your social commentary on the state of the world. I'm retired, mortgage free for over twenty years but it's because we never took costly yearly vacation to some tourist filled beaches and pay for everything on Credit Cards that never get fully paid until you take another vacation! I know couples in their seventies with a mortgage!!! We took great day trips, the odd overnight, some to Florida to visit family, but mostly enjoyed holidays at home and loved it. Nothing beats a great BBQ, a cold pint, backyard movies with family and friends. Cheers.

Looks really great !!! Congratulations !!! Greeetings from Argentina ! 🇦🇷

Dude you brighten up my day

I’ve always done my own Reno’s you know it’s going to get done right no corners cut and that feeling of accomplishment when your done is hard to beat and you’ve done a killer job it looks perfect

Excellent point about traveling

Amazing job buddy.. well done, enjoy it.

I totally agree with your position on vacations and the cost, out of control for what you get(in my opinion) Im building my own deck right now, like you, had the same thoughts about hiring etc...WAY too expensive! Great job! plus I learned a few tricks watching you lay the joist for the picture frame. Liked and subscribed.

I like it! Would definitely DIY it and have. I tend to incorporate free materials in mine, sometimes it needs replacing sooner but like you said it’s my free time.

Wow, man I really love the way you do things. Beautiful deck!

Hey bud! That was an absolutely intelligent, esthetic, and beautiful build! Great work! Enjoy your pool and beautiful deck with your family. Cheers!

Wow- Awesome deck and you have a great attitude!

Vacations can add so much enrichment to your life if you stay away from tourist attractions. Go to a nearby National Forest and find some random place to have a dispersed campsite away from an organized campground. No cost for the campsite, take food you already have, just have to spend money on fuel and camping gear you can use for years and might come in handy when the power goes out. Nothing like unplugging for a few days and making some memories.

What exceptional craftsmanship. Excellent job!

Great job. You are the man!

Great job dude! I enjoyed this video

For the wildlife that may want to nest underneath: You can fasten 1/8” galvanized steel screening along the lower perimeter of the deck and dig down 3’ + 3ft 90 degrees out from the deck, then fill back in with same dirt or whatever.

Nothing more satisfying to accomplish something on your own, and improving your skills along the way. Nice work!

built a low profile composite deck with a skirt. Too low to allow access underneath for maintenance issues. Pretty much like your deck, but I used screw piles to eliminate any ground movement, we get big temperature swings. To deter all types of vermin: 1. The area under the deck was back filled with 4" of Quarter Down. It compresses over time into a very hard cap that discourages pretty much anything that burrows. Also sheds surface water pretty well. 2. the inside perimeter of the deck skirt was matched with cement curbs, buried almost flush with the grade (you can pour a footing in place if you prefer). 3. A 6" galvanized flat flashing was set against the cement and the inside of the skirting frame. Makes for a very difficult barrier to overcome for any type of chewing pest including mice and wasps, etc. 4. Used Composite Skirt materials, backed by screening, since they are very very vermin unfriendly to chew trough. Wanted the area under the deck to have natural venting and air flow from the sides to the decking layer. 10 years later, not one 'thing' has invaded the underside of the deck and it hasn't moved.

Awesome work man!

Nice work! Turned out great! Looks like a fun project. Wish I had the space for something like this.

Great work!

Whoever taught this guy how to do this was knew what they were doing. This is awesome

AMAZING deck! Seriously awesome work 🎉 I also totally understand your thoughts behind traveling. That said, I make less than $85k a year with a family of five and we find ways to travel abroad for half of the year! It’s all about motivations and sacrifices. Our house is definitely lacking on the beauty front, but it has a solid foundation, new roof, windows, and doors, and it is filled with travel memories and photos 🙌🏻 It’s not for everyone, but I wouldn’t trade our crazy lifestyle for anything else (and I’m sure you would say the same 😄).

Great job, this gives me the inspiration to redo my back deck, I was quoted 19k and I estimate around 6k in materials, I just need to make the time for it now, I love the way you did the frame.

It’s beautiful!!!

Great project. Once we get to settle in one place, i plan on doing the same thing. Make your home the place that you want to "get away to" and you'll be happy all the time.

I think many people would agree with me that this is beyond DIY work 😂. I criticized you in my head, but that was all jealousy thought of how my work would not come even close to half of this. Such great works.

Very nicely done looks great. And I share your stay home and enjoy your life philosophy.

I agree on making your home great by doing projects, but I still love a good holiday once in a while. It’s different, a change.

That is a beautiful deck and I appreciated your desire to keep animals out. I have a shed and those little boogers found every weak point I had on the low side of the deck. Skunks loves porches, decks and air conditioners, especially air conditioners. If you really want to keep them out get some hardware cloth at a hardware store of all places. Dig about 8 inches into the ground all around your deck. Nail half of it below ground and the other half above ground. Make sure the corners are overlapped. That might keep them out but only time will tell. Chipmunks also like these same places. I had one find a one inch hole by my garage door and he used it for a long time until he filled the whole area up with his food store. I am never telling the next homeowner about this. Now you have the inside skinny on it. Good luck. note: gravel helps keep the skunks out. They don't like digging in gravel for long. You might consider a railing around the back of it. The first kid that falls off and you might get sued. All you need is one crazy mother going off on you and they are out there not to mention kids don't listen.

Honestly, you crushed it man well done! Personally I love traveling; we mostly go out of season to avoid crowds, but sometimes it's awesome to experience something new with a huge group of fellow humans. Hey! You can have the deck and the vacation too considering what you saved!!! All the more reason to DIY :D

FACTS: - Not All contractors are good. Most are okay at best or below par. Many are bad and only a very few are really good. - The good one are expensive and the bad ones are NOT worth it. - When you factoring in the time/trips/labor, you often end up spending MORE than hiring a contractor. (don't believe the hype) - You don't always have the tool/means/truck to get the job done. This itself, is a substantial investment. - NOT ALL of us want to do this type of work so hiring is the only option. - BUT YES, if have the means/tools/TIME to get the job done, most importantly the "desire' to do it, it is the BEST way, even if you spend more.

Bro you killed it! Nice

Great job, you absolutely nailed it ( no pun intended )!

I really appreciate you calling out the cost of disney. It's WILD.

Awesome job.. that deck looks amazing! • On the intro, I’m from Louisiana but it’s really like Texas border so I’ve been to Buc-ee’s quite a bit. I’ll say this when traveling that is absolutely the place to stop, the gas is priced reasonably ( Sams club prices), the bathrooms are always immaculate. Those bathrooms are so clean it’s like a hospital lol. They have a wide variety of snacks, food, drinks to restock for the road or get a decent meal in. - Taking selfies there is wild. -• The vacation perspective is all matter of how you grew up, lived and are you doing it within your means. I never had a vacation growing up the closest thing to that was Class Field Trips to the Zoo or NASA. I’m extremely frugal, all I do is work and stay home. So much so I only fill my truck up once every 10-14 days lol sometimes longer than that. When I was working full time at a casino and a full time college student I had my first solo vacation to Vegas spent in 08’ flight and room was $700. I won $2800 second night entire trip was paid for and I and winnings. I’ve had other trips to LA, San Diego, Nashville, Atlanta, Tampa, Fl. Those trips were more pricey as couples trips but when you work as much as we do it’s good to decompress sometimes. My home is on peers so I’ve always wanted a back deck, so I could walk out my French doors sit out back or grill on the back deck. Had a cheaper Pit rust and rot because water pools in the backyard from heavy rain so this would alleviate that problem as well. My home was recently renovated from past hurricane damage. They did a good job but for the total of 170k I feel like the whole home should have been touched up. I got no improvements in the kitchen. Did not remove a wall to make it open. No talks for the back deck. My front deck was rebuilt a made even better I’d prefer to bbq in the back though.

Great job, jaw-dropping actually

It is fun to travel in Europe😅 But I am still enjoying what you do too, there is no conflicts. Wow, your work is amazing❤

Nice work. looks great.

Little bit off topic. Had a 2 / 3 story English Basement "walk out" house with a hill from basement floor level to next floor. The original berm wall was railroad ties. UGLY and becoming rotten. Contractor cost to redo was $14,000 in 2000. Went to local stone supplier. Cost for blocks, needed other stuff + delivery to front of house was less than $4,000. Soil removed was pure black dirt. Made a nice raised garden with it .Took most of summer to excavate, reinforce soil, prep, and install block. Wall was 4 1/2 ft high x 24ft length.

You killed it nice work I’ve seen pros not do as well

That is a really nice looking deck!!!

Nice Job you built a beautiful deck

Looks great!

Fantastic job!

Amazing and job well done 👍👍👍

Great job You should add LED at bottom to give it extra nice effect

It looks good, but the beams shouldn’t be fastened by bolts on the posts like that. The beams should rest on top of the beams with Simpson plates to join the two together. There are lots of code books out there for free to use as reference.

Pretty Awesome Sir!

Fantastic Job!

You did an amazing job, when the adverts came on it was for Disney in Paris which I thought was funny, I do live in France.

Incredible build! I need that cement mixer!

This job is pro af. Nothing diy about this. Loved the joist jig for easy positioning. I wish I would've done that.

Looks great! 👍

great job!!

The trouble you went to with the joists to get a flat plane is admirable. However the way you set the posts on some gravel instead of frost free footers will eventually cause the deck to settle and most likely not evenly. Like another commenter mentioned the posts should be resting on concrete not encased in it. By doing so the PT 4x4 will rot because it will take much longer for the wood to dry after a weather event. For your and everyone else who might read this I will say that a post can rest on a buried footer of it is done properly. But the best way is to pour the footer to above grade then add a post bracket that is anchored to the footer. This really is the best way since the formula of chemicals that is used to preserve wood was changed to eliminate arsenic some years ago. The new AZQ does not work as good as the old CCA which is why it is recommended to use the flashing tape on to of the joists to prevent water intrusion into the boards. If you had hired a experienced and knowledgeable professional then you would know that the posts and footers were done right. That is the most crucial structural element of any build. As you did it you have to cross your fingers and hope for the best. Good luck with that.

such a great job. also, before you answered the question, I assumed 4500 so it was a huge win to me lol.

Deck came out great. Great work. New subscriber. 👍🏿

Excellent job

Great work, Mate. To keep critters out of the underside, have you considered putting a river rock boarder around the base? It'll still let any water drain out, but keep animals from entering.

Very nice. Good Job

Good job. The only suggestion I have is that not all wood is square if you're going to home depot / Lowes. Please make sure its not warped or have a curve on the short side to it by placing the lumber on the floor whereever you are getting your lumber from to make sure its not bad.

Very nice job! Do you mind listing what materials you used in the description, IE: Trex composite deck or which? Thanks for the info

Great job mate! Looks amazing. Another downside of this composite decking is that it gets really hot in the summer and is slippery, something to think about if done around a pool. $6,000-$8,000 traveling in the US??? Unbelievable. We live in Montreal and go every year to Europ for 10-14 days, our most expensive trip cost us $8,000. But yeah, that was BC, that means before Covid. We have not gone there since so who knows, could be up by a lot :-). Great job! As for anumals, we find that whatever we do there are going to be animals under our deck. We had two cats (now only one) and even that did not help, the below deck is no dounbt a home to a few mice and we know for a fact, rabbits. There is no food there but it's a great shelter from the harsh winters. We do not really have snake problem thank God :-).

Great deck bro...very nicely done. Muscle relaxers and plenty drinking water; and stretches. You have to build up endurance and flexibility NOT to get those pains. Keep doin well👊

Great job on the deck build. Only thing I didn’t like was putting posts down into concrete like a fence post. That’s gonna be a tough repair being that the deck is so close to the ground. You shouldn’t have to worry about it for another 10 years. Make sure you have good drainage and airflow under the deck.

Results are actually better than you would have got from a contractor because you have the skills and are prepared to put in extra time to get it all just right and exactly how you want. Only thing I would have done differently is not sink the timbers into the concrete piers but attach them to the piers with brackets.

The deck looks great! Traveling is not about being in an airplane with a lot of people, it is about experiencing things you can't at home and learning/having fun while doing it! Especially fun to travel to different countries!! Disney Land is also not for YOU but for your kids because they still have imagination (even though I hate the place myself lol)

I think it came out fantastic. I would use some large stone, with Nichole riprap put around the base to hide blackboards that you put up. It will also also help her critters from getting there.

Great meticulous framing and deck board installation. ? When you cut the decking with the track saw, prior to installing the "middle board", how did you prevent cutting into the black tape on top of the framing?

@5:00 I can totally relate to lower back pain. I’m 6’3” and sometimes I feel like a giraffe, squatting to do floor work. Dude you crushed it! Excellent work AND you saved $11,000 if you hired a contractor 🤯

wonderful!!! Plant Mint around the deck. Snake and rodent natural repellent. might want to encase it with landscaping edging as it can spread but you will be snake and rodent free for underneath!!! I agree with you POV on staying home vs. traveling. I have an oasis I am so proud of that you couldn't even pay to experience something like that elsewhere...and i get to live here- not just visit!!

It sounds stupid, but as someone that builds decks in the summer (self-employed carpenter/woodworker) it's best to just get on your knees with knee pads than to bend over like that. Unless your knees are REALLY bad, it's significantly better than doing the bend n snap lol

Awesome!❤