Short version: composite costs more per board and less per decade. Hardwood looks and feels like nothing else — if you'll actually maintain it. Here's how they compare at Colorado altitude, where UV and freeze-thaw cycles punish both.
Installed ranges for the Denver metro; the same engineered substructure sits under either surface. Full pricing math lives in the cost guide.
What Colorado actually does to a deck
This comparison reads differently at 5,800 feet than it does in a national buying guide. Three things do most of the damage here. UV: our sun is roughly 25% stronger than sea level, and it bleaches stain and dries wood fibers until boards check and split. Freeze-thaw: the Front Range runs roughly 35–90 freeze-thaw cycles a year, and the thirty-degree daily swings of spring and fall work moisture in and out of wood, backing fasteners out and opening end-grain. Hail: the Front Range sits in one of the most hail-prone corridors in the country, and soft, finished surfaces show every strike. Composite's polymer cap was effectively designed for this checklist — which is why about 90% of what we build is composite. The other 10% is homeowners who want real wood badly enough to care for it — a legitimate choice.
Pick composite if…
You want weekends on the deck, not maintaining it. Modern capped boards (Trex, TimberTech, Deckorators — we install all three; our installer's brand comparison covers which line fits which project) carry real 25–50 year fade and stain warranties. Unlike first-generation composites from twenty years ago, today's boards don't gray out, grow mold, or need sanding. Composite is also the default answer for elevated and walk-out decks — surfaces you really don't want to be refinishing off a ladder.
Pick hardwood if…
Nothing else will do. Ipe, cumaru, and garapa are gorgeous, dense, and cooler underfoot, and clear-grade cedar has a warmth composite still can't fake. The honest trade: budget a re-oil every year or two, or accept the silver-gray patina. Skip the middle ground — a neglected hardwood deck costs more to rescue than it did to build. If you go wood, the build details carry the weight: hidden fasteners, sealed end-grain, gapping sized for our dry air. That's covered on our hardwood & cedar page, along with the maintenance plans we offer if you'd rather hand us the oiling.
What about redwood or cedar?
The budget-friendly classic. Lower upfront cost ($25–45 / sq ft installed), but softer boards and yearly staining. Fine for ground-level decks you plan to replace in 15–20 years; we'd steer walk-outs and high decks to composite.
The wildcards: PVC, mineral board, and modified wood
Two more options bracket the composite range. On the premium end, PVC and mineral-based boards ($50–85 / sq ft installed) are the most weather-proof surfaces made — fully synthetic or mineral-cored, with the coolest-running caps and the longest warranties; they're what we spec for full-sun walk-outs and rooftop decks. And on the wood side, thermally-modified ash splits the difference: real wood that's been kiln-treated for dimensional stability, so it rides out our freeze-thaw cycle far better than untreated hardwood while keeping genuine grain underfoot — typically $40–60 / sq ft installed, squarely in composite territory.
Still torn? Hold the boards first.
A free design consultation comes with samples of both — composite and hardwood — and honest numbers for each in your yard.
The ten-year math
Day one, wood wins the invoice. Year ten is a different story: a wood deck that's been professionally cleaned and re-stained every other year has quietly spent $3,000–5,000 on upkeep — and composite has spent roughly nothing. On a 320 sq ft deck, that closes most of the gap between a roughly $9,000 pressure-treated build and a $16,000 composite one. Past year ten, composite is simply ahead. Either way, the substructure should outlast the surface: same engineered framing, footings below frost line, and permits handled regardless of what you walk on.
Quick answers
Is composite decking worth it at Colorado altitude?+
Usually, yes — altitude is exactly where composite earns its premium. At 5,000+ feet, UV and freeze-thaw cycles fade and dry out wood finishes fast. A capped composite board carries a 25–50 year fade and stain warranty instead of an annual refinishing clock, so the harder your deck's sun exposure, the stronger the case.
How much more does composite cost than cedar?+
Plan on roughly $10–25 more per square foot installed: cedar and redwood run about $25–45 per square foot in the Denver area, capped composite about $40–70. Over a decade the gap narrows — cedar wants a clean-and-restain every year or two at $400–900 a round if you hire it out, while composite's maintenance budget is a bottle of deck soap.
Does composite get too hot in the Colorado sun?+
Dark composite in full July sun does get warmer than wood — it's the honest trade-off. Lighter colors run cooler, mineral-based boards like Deckorators shed heat noticeably better than wood-flour composites, and a pergola over the hottest exposure fixes it completely. We factor sun orientation into every design.