"A pleasure working with you! Yes, certainly not an easy job. Many of our jobs are a mix of carpentry and refinishing, and this was no exception. Glad we were able to fill in the part of the deck that had been removed when they took out the tree, and level the rest (as best as we could, given the warpage from many years). The deck stain we used was carefully chosen from one of our custom colors to match the existing handrails which had plenty of stain on them and didn't need doing - so saving you money. Appreciate the work! Best, Rupert."

"[Member Name Removed]: A pleasure. Thanks again for the work. I also appreciate your willingness to take the occasional phonecall from a potential client. Best wishes, Rupert"

"Many thanks! We used a deck stain that was semitransparent and of a custom color so that the deck would be a very similar color to the handrails which still had plenty of stain on them. Glad it looked so good! Thanks again for the work! Rupert."

"Thanks for your rating. We will try to do even better next time."

"Thanks for the review. Yes, we were definitely having to work strange hours to get your job done before the rains! Your ipe had a large variation in finish form the previous contractor's work and we had to very carefully work on the stain consistency. It certainly looks spectacular. Applying stain out of direct sunlight (not normally after dark, of course!) massively increases the durability of the stain."

"Thanks!"

"Very kind, thanks! We were able to shore up and level a sagging corner of your deck, and replace rotting boards for a small fraction of the cost of fixing when it got a lot worse! Pleasure working with you both."

"You will be proud to know yours was the last deck staining of 2015. In fact we have never before stained a deck that late in the year (normally the deck staining season ends at Halloween); have to love the weather staying dry so long in the year. I am glad you liked the color we offered you - a custom color called "Rupert's Redwood" that is a redwood color with a touch less red and a touch more brown, to give that waxed floorboard look for those who don't like so much red. I appreciate your mentioning your peace of mind - we aim to make hiring a contractor painless. We talk to many potential clients and ask them what they are looking for. They all say they want better communications with their contactors. In fact the Contractor Services Licensing Board says the number one most-easily-fixed issue between clients and contractors is communication. Therefore we drop you a text or have a chat with you at the end of every day's work so we can check in with you and for you to give us feedback. I am glad we exceeded your expectations!"

"Yup, amazing what a bit of TLC can do! We often are called up with the potential client asking us to replace their deck, but we can often show them how to patch things up for a tenth of the price and make it last for another decade. Try us out!"

"Many thanks for the lovely review! A pleasure working for you and your husband in such a beautiful locale. Good color choice. Don't forget to make sure the gutters are cleaned out before El Nino: gutters overflowing leads to water cascading onto decks and eventually working its way through the deck stain to expose the boards underneath."

"We aim to please!"

"We were able to slot your project in between other jobs in order to meet the tight deadline of your daughter having a reception on the deck. Normally we can start within 10 days of signing and have the job done in 3 days or so afterwards. One thing clients like is that we are a "deck maintenance machine" - we start when we say we will, the team work on your job every day until the job is done, and we finish within the agreed completion date. Peace of mind in an uncertain world."

"Glad you liked the quality; we put in a lot of effort to get it just right, the way you wanted it. Yours was a relatively smaller deck. Small decks inevitably cost more per square foot than larger decks, as all the costs of client liaison, client briefing, and logistics have to be borne, whatever the size of the deck. Appreciate the work."

"Happy we could save you so much money. Must of our deck repair work is delaying the evil day when the deck needs to be replaced. If you can keep it safe and looking good for another 10-15 years at a fraction of the cost, well, why wouldn't you?! Very cost-effective, no permits needed (in general) and little disruption to your life. Thanks again for the kind review."

"We do several ipe decks a month now. Ipe (=ironwood, mangaris etc) is a very hard wood and the wood is difficult for stains to penetrate. San Jose's Decking Superstore recommends re-staining hardwood decks with oilbased stains every 6 months. Well. no one is going to do that. We have a much better stain that lasts three years or more. It needs careful application and extensive wiping-back of excess stain (hard on the knees!) but it works, and looks good. Glad you liked the effect!"

"Thanks for being a fun client to work with! My colleagues enjoyed knowing that the deck extension we built was to be used for your outdoor home concerts. With a spectacular view of a nearby lake, cablerail made the view accessible. And, building an extension was a very cost-effective solution to adding usable space. I am glad we were also to keep it looking good by putting on a layer of semitransparent stain. Do give us a call in a few years' time when it needs a refresh; we will be happy to work for you again!"

"I must say your deck is such a beautiful deck with a lovely Norwegian style set of handrails and a bell-tower, even! Your husband did a fabulous job in building it all those years ago and my colleagues marvel at how much better it looks now that we have rejuvenated it by removing all that nasty gray fungus and re-staining it. I am glad you liked the color we mixed up for you to bring out the red and yellow tones of the wood underneath. A pleasure working with you!"

"Laugh! Yes, I must have worked on your aging deck at least twice over the last decade, as I try my best to keep it from falling down and having to be replaced! And yours is the first pink deck we ever stained, all those years ago! Always a pleasure working with you; thanks for taking a moment to write a review to let others know of your experience."

"Thanks for your kind compliments. We appreciated the work, which included building a large deck extension, fixing rotten planks at the front, reinforcing a rotten ramp-way, filling knot holes, and, of course, refinishing your 5 decks. I am glad we were able to start in enough time to have it finished a week before your party! I hope you agree that the color match we were able to do for your deck stain made the entire deck look seamless! Thanks again! My colleagues and I enjoyed working with you."

"What could better than a client who has used us three times over more than a decade? We appreciate your continuing trust and open recommendations to your neighbors. Pictures of your back deck are actually my favorite images on our website (look under tan stain colors). See you again in a few years!"

"A pleasure refinishing your deck. Yes, we got our license to do carpentry on decks several years ago, so when it is time to replace yours, let us know! Best regards."

"Thanks for your gracious compliments! We enjoyed working on your decks and making them tidy to increase the value of your home. Yes, handrail verticals are time-consuming and hard to get superconsistent without a practiced spray arm; I urge Angieslist clients not to try to stain them themselves; a paintbrush, as seen here, is very slow, and using a spraygun, as we do, needs technique and a hefty investment in dropcloths (which homeowners will never recover, but which we can use time and again). If you are short of money, we can just stain the handrail caps. It is the horizontal surfaces that get 5 times as much as UV as vertical surfaces, so it's best to keep them from getting that gray fungus on them. On the plus side, once you have your handrail verticals refinished, you won't have to refinish them for 2 stain cycles. And, it is the verticals you mainly see from your patio window. More info can be found in our newly-published 90 page book: "Deckology: The Art and Science iof Deck Finishing and Carpentry." You can buy it on Amazon.com (all proceeds go to Loma Prieta Edicational Fund) or you can download it from our website (click on "Deckology" button on our website). I do recommend you quickly measure up your deck surface and length of your handrails and chek your budget with our price chart (click on that big button in the middle of the homepage of www.SummitDeckDoctor.com). You can measure your deck fairly accurately in 3 minutes, and then you don't have to wait for an appointment for someone to write you up a quote, and everybody gets the same price. Oh, and we give you $100 off your bill if you do this before you call. "Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy," as we say in England. A pleasure working with you; hope the house sale goes well!"