How we write, source, and correct our guides.
We help homeowners make informed deck-building decisions. That only works if we tell you where our information comes from — and what we’re not.
Who writes this site
Deck Quotes Near Me is a small independent publisher run by its founder. We are not licensed deck-building contractors, structural engineers, or permit expediters, and we don’t pretend to be. Our content is produced by a small editorial team — not a single credentialed expert — working from published government data, building codes, and public statute text. When you see “The Deck Quotes Editorial Team” as the author on an article, that is the real attribution: a small team that did the research. We do not invent expert bylines.
Where our facts come from
Every legal claim, statute citation, permit office name, cost figure, and code reference on this site is either:
- Pulled from a named government or regulator source — state statutes, the International Residential Code (IRC Section R507), the American Wood Council’s DCA 6, local permit portals, or state contractor licensing boards — with a link to the original source, or
- Labeled as a range that reflects typical quotes in a metro and explicitly marked as “directional” — not a binding quote for your home.
Every state guide and city guide includes a Sources list at the bottom with the URLs we used. If we got something wrong, you can open the original source and check us.
What this site is not
We are not a substitute for a licensed local deck builder. We do not inspect decks. We do not write bids. Every specific decision about your project — material choice, framing method, ledger attachment, footing depth, permit strategy, contract terms — requires a qualified local professional who has actually looked at your property. Our guides explain the framework a homeowner should understand; your contractor explains what’s right for your house.
We also don’t:
- Claim expertise we don’t have.
- Publish fake reviews or astroturfed testimonials.
- Buy backlinks or participate in link exchanges.
- Recycle AI output without an editor reviewing it before it goes live.
- Publish city or state pages where only the location name changes — every page is researched against that specific jurisdiction’s statutes, permit office, and local amendments to the IRC.
AI-assisted drafting
We use AI (Claude, made by Anthropic) to draft research-heavy content. A state guide requires reading dozens of statutes, agency pages, and code amendments; AI helps us do that research faster than we could alone. Every draft is reviewed by a human editor who checks the code citations, confirms the permit URLs resolve, and verifies IRC and DCA 6 references before publishing. We disclose AI assistance because readers have a right to know how their information was made.
Updates and freshness
Building codes change. Permit fees change. New material products come to market. When a page needs updating — a new IRC edition, a local code amendment, a change in permit requirements — we update the content and move the “last updated” date forward. We do not rotate the same facts in slightly different words on a schedule just to look fresh; that’s cosmetic and doesn’t help anyone.
Corrections
If you find a factual error, email corrections@deckquotesnearme.com with the page URL and the passage in question. We respond within two business days. If we got it wrong, we correct the page and post a visible note at the top explaining what changed and when. If we think the original is right, we’ll tell you why and show our source.
Business disclosure
Deck Quotes Near Me is a lead generation service. We earn revenue by selling homeowner quote requests to lead partners who route each request through their own contractor network. Homeowners never pay us. This incentive means we profit when homeowners who want quotes get connected with deck builders — it does not influence our editorial advice, our material recommendations, or which contractors we feature in guides. We don’t accept payment to include, exclude, or rank specific contractors or product brands.
We also don’t claim the contractors who reach out to homeowners through us are “the best” or “pre-screened experts.” Today, every contractor who contacts you from a request submitted here is vetted by the lead partner we sold the request to — not by us directly. We plan to onboard direct-network deck builders in the future; our screening policy for that path is documented publicly. Either way, every homeowner should verify licensing and insurance before signing a contract. The full policy and the homeowner verification checklist live at How We Screen Contractors.