The carpenter, Eddie Volpato, was excellent. He and his brother constructed the new deck and did a wonderful job. I highly recommend Eddie. I have no complaints about his work. I have no complaints about the deck design. I would probably go with Archadeck again, because now I know how to handle them and I would get more details in writing. This is a long review, but if you do decide to go with Archadeck, I think it will be worth your while to read the whole review so you can manage them and avoid the issues I had. If you want just the high points, search for “Lesson learned:” I hired Archadeck to replace my existing 34 foot x 12 foot deck which was above a cement patio. The new deck had composite decking and railings with round aluminum balusters. The design phase went well for the most part, the deck designer was pleasant and easy to deal with. My wife and I were happy with the final design. Make sure the designer allows the proper distance when designing your deck. A table requires 5 feet of space a side if you want guests to be able to walk around the table while other guests are seated. Three feet is the minimum to allow a guest to get in and out of a chair at the table. I made sure the designer allowed the proper distance for all of the items we wanted on the new deck. Also, the new deck was going to be shorter, but deeper, more of a square then a rectangle. I told the designer it had to clear the electrical outlet on the left and the doorway on the right. We settled on 30’1”. But I was still concerned it was going to be a tight fit. Archadeck uses a sub-contractor to install the helical pile footings. Technodrill is the company. I read the fine print on the contract and understood if there were hidden obstructions, I was responsible for extra charges for the footing install. I assumed Archadeck would demolish and remove the existing deck to make room for the footing installed and I was surprised when I received a phone call from the deck designer on June 29th stating that Archadeck would be onsite June 30th to mark and cut the concrete for the footing install, the footing installer would be there the next day, July 1st, and the pre-construction meeting would be July 2nd. I pointed out the deck was still up and I was told that wouldn’t be an issue and Archadeck wanted to leave it up so we could use our existing deck as long as possible. On the afternoon of the day the concrete was supposed to be marked and cut, I received an email stating that Archadeck would be onsite the next day at 8 AM and the footing installer would be onsite from 9 AM to 12 PM. Archadeck showed up at 8 AM. They had to go get fuel for the concrete saw, it had fuel in the tank, but not much. I left to run an errand and when I got back the footing installer was there and he had one footing installed. He was struggling to put the second of seven footings in. There was not enough room under the deck for him to start the helical pile upright and he had to tilt it. Also, for some reason, Archadeck was now jack hammering one of the holes into the concrete. I found out later it was because the saw had broken down. The footing installer allows 30 minutes per footing and he only managed to install 3 of 7 footings in the allotted time. In my opinion, the jack hammered hole, was way too small to allow the installer to get the necessary tilt to install the footing. It may have been okay if the deck was removed, but the deck was still up. Another hole he couldn’t try at all, because it was cut above the edge of an existing footing. The existing footing wasn’t deep, a couple of taps with the jack hammer would have broken it free, but there was no time. I asked if Archadeck would cover the cost of the footing they ended up jack hammering the hole for. I pointed out that they didn’t allow enough time to properly cut the concrete and the deck really should have been removed prior to install. The answer was no, I had to pay the charges for all the additional footings. Lesson learned: Get a quote from Archadeck in advance on manual footing install cost. That way you know up front what they will charge you per “missed” helical pile. If you have a second floor deck, insist they remove the deck prior to the footing install. If you have a concrete patio, insist they cut the concrete in advance. Get all this in writing. Archadeck demolished the deck on 7/20, it took Eddie about 3 hours to take it down. A mini excavator was brought in, more concrete was cut and the footings were installed. Ed started construction on 7/27. The wrong color hand rail was delivered, it was black, it was supposed to be white. I let Archadeck know, but my wife and I decided black was fine. At the pre-construction meeting it was noted that the 30’ 1” length would be tight and to pay attention to the electrical outlet. This was noted on the Archadeck site map and I was assured they would make sure the railing post would not interfere with the outlet. No one told Eddie. I noticed the ledger seemed too short and Eddie quickly measured and said the ledger length was right, but the post would be too close. I notified Archadeck and at first I was told “we have an electrician that can move it at additional cost”. I pointed out that it was noted on the site map at the pre-construction meeting. Archadeck came out, checked on it and asked Eddie to lengthen the ledger, which he promptly did. So kudos to Archadeck, they made a mistake and made it right. My concern here is if I hadn’t noticed before the joists went up, it would have been a bigger problem later on. Lesson learned: After deck design is finished, but before you sign off on it, make sure Archadeck comes back onsite and verifies the design with you. For some reason, the gate at the top of the stairs never made it into the design. Luckily I mentioned it to Eddie, because he said it could impact the placement of the posts at the top of the stairs. Leeson learned: Make sure everything is on deck design drawing. Eddie would have been done in 5 days, but he ran out of decking material, so he had to stop work on Thursday. He let Archadeck know Wednesday, and Archadeck said the decking would be here Thursday morning, but it did not arrive. There was an issue with the stair footing. Eddie noticed it was in the wrong spot. Two things were wrong, the footing was not installed in the correct location according to the drawing, and the drawing had the wrong location anyway. Eddie had to cut a new hole and dig the footing by hand. Archadeck covered the cost. The railings, all except the top rail, were delivered July 29th. I was a little concerned, since the rail kits has the white balusters. I did some checking and those were the wrong railings. Our deck uses aluminum balusters, which require different spacing, so you need to order a rail pack, not a rail kit. I confirmed with the Timbertech customer support. I let Archadeck know the wrong railings were delivered. Archadeck picked up the incorrect ones. It was a good thing I noticed. You would think Archadeck would check what is dropped off instead of leaving the customer to check. Luckily I knew what to look for. This impacted the job completion date, because Archadeck had to order correct rails, which they did on 7/30 and the rails didn’t show up until 9/16. This delay could have been mitigated if Archadeck had ordered the correct rails at the start of work on 7/1. Another thing I noticed is the gate was ordered 7/30 as well. I knew this because Jackson Lumber leaves the invoice with the material and the invoice has the order date. Lesson learned: Make sure part numbers are in writing. Verify part numbers are correct. Verify correct part numbers are actually delivered. The wrong color deck boards were delivered on July 31st. I let Archadeck know and they contacted the supplier and it was the supplier’s mistake. The correct deck boards were dropped off that afternoon August 5th Eddie was back on site and completed the decking and stairs. On August 5th, notified rails due on 8/17. August 6th, I noticed wrong post sleeves were ordered, 5.5x5.5, instead of 5x5. Since an “over the top” dri