By Daniel Akselrod · Licensed Attorney · July 2026

Intake Forms for Deck Builders: Materials, Footings, and Code Compliance

Deck building looks straightforward from the customer’s side: pick some boards, nail them together, put a grill on it. From the builder’s side, every deck is a structural engineering problem disguised as a carpentry project. The footing depth depends on the frost line. The beam span depends on the species and grade of lumber. The railing height depends on whether the deck surface is 30 inches or more above grade. The fastener system depends on the decking material, which depends on the customer’s budget and maintenance tolerance, which depends on a conversation that should happen at intake — not on day one of construction when the pressure-treated lumber is already on the truck.

A deck builder who shows up for a site visit without knowing the customer’s material preference, the approximate deck size, whether they want stairs, whether there is an HOA, or whether the lot slopes — that builder is going to spend the entire visit asking questions they could have asked on the phone. Here is what a proper deck building intake form needs to capture, and why each field matters for the estimate, the permit, and the build.

Material selection: the conversation that shapes everything

The material choice is the single biggest variable in a deck project. It affects the price, the structural design, the fastener system, the maintenance schedule, and the warranty. Your intake form should present the options and capture the customer’s preference (or at least their priorities) before the first site visit, because the material choice changes what you are looking at when you walk the yard.

• Pressure-treated lumber — the workhorse of residential decking. Southern yellow pine treated with micronized copper azole (MCA) or alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ). Lowest material cost, highest maintenance requirement (annual sealing or staining), and a lifespan of 15 to 25 years with proper maintenance. This is what most budget-conscious customers choose, and it is what most building departments are most familiar with for span tables and structural calculations.
• Composite decking — wood fiber and plastic polymer blended into boards that look like wood but do not rot, splinter, or require staining. Trex, TimberTech, Fiberon, and a dozen other brands. Material cost is two to three times pressure-treated. Maintenance is nearly zero. But composites require different structural considerations — they have different span ratings than solid lumber, they expand and contract with temperature more than wood does, and they require specific fastener systems (usually hidden clips) that add labor time.
• Exotic hardwoods — ipe, tigerwood, cumaru, garapa. Extremely dense, naturally rot-resistant, beautiful, and expensive. Material cost is three to five times pressure-treated. These woods are so hard that every screw hole must be pre-drilled, which adds significant labor time. They also require specific stainless steel fasteners because the natural oils in the wood corrode standard hardware. If a customer is considering exotic hardwood, you need to know before the site visit because the structural framing, the fastener spec, and the labor estimate are all different.
• PVC decking — entirely synthetic, no wood fiber. AZEK is the dominant brand. Lightest weight, lowest maintenance, highest material cost. PVC decking does not absorb water at all, which eliminates mold and rot concerns but creates its own challenges — it is slippery when wet unless the surface has been textured, and it expands significantly in heat, requiring wider gap spacing.
• Aluminum decking — niche but growing. Fireproof, rot-proof, insect-proof, zero maintenance. Used primarily where fire code is a concern (California wildfire zones) or for waterproof deck systems over living space below. Extremely expensive but essentially permanent.

The intake form does not need to be a materials catalog. It needs to ask: what material are you interested in, or what is your priority — lowest cost, lowest maintenance, or specific appearance? That answer shapes every number in the estimate.

Footings: where the deck meets the ground

Every deck is only as strong as what holds it up, and what holds it up depends on the soil and the climate. Your intake form needs to capture enough site information for your estimator to plan the footing design before the site visit, or at least know what to look for when they get there.

• Frost depth — in northern climates, footings must extend below the frost line to prevent heaving. In Minnesota, that is 42 inches. In Georgia, it is 12 inches. In Florida, there may be no frost depth requirement at all, but there may be wind uplift requirements instead. Your intake should capture the property location (city or zip code is enough) so your estimator can look up the local frost depth before the visit.
• Soil conditions — sandy soil, clay, rocky, marshy. The customer may not know the technical classification, but they can usually tell you whether their yard drains well, stays wet, or has bedrock close to the surface. Sandy soil may require wider footing pads. Clay soil heaves when wet and shrinks when dry. Rocky soil means your post hole digger is not going to cut it and you need a rock auger or a jackhammer.
• Grade and slope — is the yard flat, gently sloped, or steep? A deck on a steep slope requires longer posts on the downhill side, which changes the structural calculation (longer posts need larger dimensions or cross-bracing to prevent racking) and the material estimate. A sloped site also affects access for equipment — can you get a Bobcat with an auger attachment to the footing locations, or are you digging by hand?
• Existing structure — is this a new deck, a replacement of an existing deck, or an addition to an existing deck? A replacement project includes demolition of the old structure, disposal, and inspection of the ledger board attachment and the rim joist behind it. An addition requires matching the existing structure’s height, material, and fastener system. A new build starts clean but may require new ledger attachment, flashing, and waterproofing at the house connection.

Railing code: the numbers your customer does not know

Railing requirements are governed by the IRC (International Residential Code) as adopted and sometimes modified by local jurisdictions. The customer almost never knows these requirements, but they affect the design, the material cost, and whether the deck passes inspection. Your intake should capture the deck height above grade, because that triggers the railing requirements:

• 30 inches above grade — the threshold. If the deck surface is 30 inches or more above the ground at any point, a guard rail is required by code. Below 30 inches, no railing is required (though the customer may want one for aesthetic reasons).
• 36-inch versus 42-inch rail height — the IRC requires a minimum 36-inch guard height for residential decks. But some jurisdictions have adopted the 42-inch commercial standard for residential use, and any deck that is also used for commercial purposes (a restaurant patio, an Airbnb rental in some jurisdictions) requires 42 inches. Your intake should capture the intended use of the deck.
• Baluster spacing — the 4-inch rule. Balusters must be spaced so that a 4-inch sphere cannot pass through. This affects the number of balusters per section, the material cost, and the labor time. Cable railing, glass panel railing, and horizontal-bar railing systems each have their own code compliance considerations that vary by jurisdiction.

Stairs, permits, and HOA review

Stairs are a code-intensive part of any deck project. The IRC specifies maximum rise (7-3/4 inches), minimum run (10 inches), minimum width (36 inches), handrail graspability (1-1/4 to 2-inch diameter), and landing requirements at the top and bottom. Your intake should capture whether the deck requires stairs, approximately how many steps (which is driven by the deck height), and whether the stairs need to land on a concrete pad or can land on grade.

Permits are required for virtually every deck project. The intake should ask whether the customer has already pulled a permit (unlikely, but it happens with GC-savvy homeowners), whether they are aware that a permit is required, and whether their jurisdiction requires engineered drawings (most do for decks over a certain size or height). Capturing the jurisdiction at intake lets your office check the local permit requirements and fee schedule before the estimator visits the site.

HOA review is the field that most deck intake forms miss entirely. If the property is in a homeowners association, there may be restrictions on deck size, material, color, railing style, height, lot line setback, and impervious surface coverage. Some HOAs require architectural review board approval before construction begins, and that approval process can take weeks or months. Your intake form should ask: is the property in an HOA? If yes, has the customer reviewed the HOA’s architectural guidelines? Have they submitted for approval? Discovering an HOA restriction after the lumber is ordered is an expensive problem — fencing companies deal with the same HOA challenges, and both trades benefit from capturing this at intake rather than mid-project.

Built-in features: scope creep prevention

A “simple deck” rarely stays simple. The customer wants a pergola. They want a built-in bench. They want low-voltage lighting in the stair risers. They want a hot tub pad with reinforced framing. They want an outdoor kitchen with gas and water lines. Every one of these features changes the structural design, the material estimate, the permit scope, and the timeline. Your intake form should present common built-in features as checkboxes so the customer identifies them upfront rather than mentioning them casually during the third site visit:

• Pergola or roof structure (requires separate structural calculation and possibly separate permit)
• Built-in seating or storage benches
• Hot tub or spa pad (requires reinforced framing for the weight — a filled hot tub can weigh 5,000+ pounds)
• Outdoor kitchen, grill island, or wet bar (requires gas line, water supply, and drainage)
• Fire pit or fireplace (code setback requirements from the house and from lot lines)
• Low-voltage or line-voltage lighting (electrical permit may be required)
• Privacy screens or lattice
• Wheelchair accessibility (ramp instead of stairs, 36-inch minimum aisle width, threshold transitions)

From intake to accurate estimate

A deck estimate that is based on a phone call where the customer said “I want a deck, maybe 12 by 16, out the back door” is going to be wrong. It will miss the slope, the footing depth, the HOA restriction, the pergola the customer forgot to mention, and the fact that the existing rim joist is rotted behind the siding. A structured intake form captures the material preference, the site conditions, the code-driven requirements, and the feature wishlist before the estimator walks the property — so the site visit produces a real estimate, not a placeholder that gets revised three times.

The Templateez deck & patio intake form is built for this workflow: material selection, footing and site conditions, railing and stair code factors, permit and HOA status, and built-in feature identification, all in a fillable PDF that your sales team can complete during the initial consultation call.