3 Brothers Decking
2025-11-16T03:11:32.774Z
3Brothers demolished an existing two story porch/deck and replaced it with a similar porch/deck - about two levels of 15ft x 20ft deck. The old deck was in place before we bought the house, so none of us knew what we would find as far as a foundation when taking it out. In addition there were a lot of unknowns about how the existing deck interacted with the house. The bid came quickly, but the contracting process was a bit of a struggle - I ended up more or less writing the contract, as 3Brothers initially wanted a deposit with just a detailed estimate - no contract that laid out expectations and responsibilities. In addition, when we looked them up in the State database, their license was expired because they had neglected to pay the renewal fee. We almost had to delay the start of construction because we did not want to move forward with a contractor that did not have the proper license in place. The design process was fairly fast. I would caution you to look carefully at the plans, not at the rendering (the pretty color picture). In our case the rendering and the plans did not match, and the crew built from the plans (as they should). The deck ended up looking rather different than we had expected because of this mismatch -it is ok, but we would have asked for changes had we known exactly what was in the plans and had the renderings been accurate. Also, the plans provide the minimum details necessary (mostly structural items) in order to get permits, so details like railing heights and drainage are not addressed in the plans - be sure you know what you want, and that you are around during construction to discuss these details. 3Brothers did not want to handle any subcontractors, so we had to arrange for our own electrician (for ceiling lights in the lower deck) and painter. Coordination of the electrical work with the construction work took a fair bit of back-and-forth. The construction crew was incredibly fast. They were really good at dealing with what turned out to be a strange situation with the footings of the existing deck and putting something in place that feels solid and passed inspection. They worked long and hard days and absolutely knew how to build. The supervisor was the main contact during construction. He was great and very easy to work with, so be prepared to communicate early and often with whoever is assigned to your project, and to let that person direct the crew. We had a few instances where we weren’t happy with railing heights and layout and the supervisor did a great job of getting the crew to rebuild them. The lack of basic safety equipment like dust masks, ear protection, and safety glasses was concerning. Again the emphasis during construction was on fast. After the fact we had a contractor friend look at the work, and he pointed out a few spots where flashing should have been added and a few spots where preservative was not added to cut wood ends. Overall the work was well done, just did not include a few of the finish carpentry details that might make a deck last longer. The price was a lot lower than we had expected. In summary, this company is not necessarily awesome at contracts and paperwork, but the designer and the construction crews really want you to be happy, and they work fast to get your job done. The quality of work is really good for the price paid, though I feel they should charge a bit more (if needed) and require use of more safety equipment.