Two Lakewoods, two kinds of deck job
Lakewood is large enough to be several towns at once, and for our purposes it's two. East of Wadsworth, the mid-century neighborhoods around Belmar and Kendrick Lake are full of 1950s-to-1970s ranch homes on flat, generously treed lots — and a striking number still carry an original or second-generation wood deck. That's replacement country. Applewood, up in the northwest corner, is the same story with bigger lots and older trees.
West of that, the ground tilts. Green Mountain, Solterra, and the blocks running toward Bear Creek and the hogback sit on real grade, with walk-out basements and views back across the metro or straight into the foothills. That's elevated-deck country, and it's a different engineering problem entirely.
The replacement work
On the flat, mature side of town, most of what we do is honest replacement: tear out a tired wood structure, rebuild on code-current framing, and finish in capped composite that outlasts the roof. Colorado is hard on a forty-year-old redwood deck — altitude UV bleaches and dries it, freeze-thaw backs the fasteners out, and hail seasons finish the job — and by the time a deck feels spongy underfoot the ledger usually deserves a look too.
We inspect before we quote. If the framing is genuinely sound, we'll say so and price a re-deck over the structure you already own, which costs meaningfully less than a full replacement. Either way you get it in writing.
The slope work
On the Green Mountain side, grade sets the design. Walk-out lots want elevated decks with engineered posts and footings, and the railing decision stops being cosmetic — cable and slim aluminum systems hold a foothills view that pickets would chop into slices. Add the wind that runs down off the hogback and any pergola or patio cover here has to be detailed for uplift rather than just weight. It's the same engineering we bring to Castle Pines ridges, applied to a different exposure.
The payoff is the reason people buy on that side of town in the first place. A properly built elevated deck on a Green Mountain lot is the best room in the house nine months a year.
Permits, and which counter you're at
Lakewood runs its own permit process through the city, separate from the county counters that handle most of our south-metro work — and some postal-Lakewood addresses actually sit in unincorporated Jefferson County. We confirm which applies to your address, produce the drawings to that standard, submit, and manage inspections. That's part of every build, not an add-on, and our permit guide explains how the process generally runs across the metro.
Straight about the drive
Our shop is in Centennial, which puts most of Lakewood thirty to forty minutes away. We'd rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise: it shapes how we schedule deliveries and crew days, and it doesn't change your price or the guarantee behind the work. We still come out for a free on-site consultation, still check the site through the build, and still come back if anything ever needs attention.
Start with the composite deck cost guide or the cost calculator if you're budgeting, then tell us about your yard.
