Deck Builder in Sunnyvale, CA
Deck Builder in Sunnyvale, CA
Avis Builders and Design is a licensed general contractor working across Sunnyvale and the rest of Santa Clara County.
- Licensed & Bonded, CSLB #1142220
- TREX PRO & TimberTech PRO Certified
- Free In-Home Consultation
- Rated 5.0 on Google
Fast & Free
Request your free in-home consultation
Rated 5.0 on Google
Sunnyvale is built tight, and that is the first thing a deck design has to answer to. Around one hundred and fifty-five thousand people live on a little over twenty-two square miles of land, something over seven thousand to the square mile, and the residential half of the city filled in fast between 1950 and 1970. Modest lots and close neighbors mean a deck here is a privacy decision as much as a structural one, because lifting a walking surface thirty inches changes what you can see over a fence and what can be seen back, and setbacks decide the footprint before anything else gets a vote.
The other Sunnyvale specific is the housing itself. More than a thousand post and beam mid-century houses sit across sixteen tracts in the southern neighborhoods, and they were designed around exactly the indoor to outdoor transition a deck is meant to finish. They also settle the biggest deck decision for you. On those houses the roof deck is the finished ceiling and the rear elevation is largely glass, so there is often very little solid wall left to bolt a ledger into, which is why so many of these projects end as a free-standing frame on its own posts and bracing.
Read more
Many of them heat through tubing cast into the slab as well, which is worth knowing before anything is cut or cored anywhere near the edge of that slab. Avis Builders and Design builds decks and outdoor living areas across Sunnyvale and the rest of Santa Clara County as a licensed California general building contractor, CSLB #1142220, classification B general building, licensed and bonded, with a $25,000 bond and workers' compensation carried through the State Compensation Insurance Fund.
The state issues that classification for work involving two or more unrelated trades, which is what a deck becomes once concrete, framing and exterior lighting sit under one contract, and the whole status is a public lookup that takes a minute, for us or for anyone else bidding your yard. We are a TREX PRO certified installer, which sets how composite is spanned, gapped and fastened once the frame is signed off. The City of Sunnyvale Permit Center issues the permits.
We put the submittal together, answer plan check and meet the inspector at footings, framing and final. The first visit is a free in-home consultation, and it happens at the house, because a low-slope roofline and a glass rear wall are not things anyone can judge from photographs. Once the project goes ahead the workmanship carries a labor warranty, third-party financing is available, and seniors and veterans get a discount. Call (408) 208-0551 or email info@avisbuildersanddesign.com.
Remodeling & general contracting in Sunnyvale
Remodeling inside the house in Sunnyvale too? See home remodeling in Sunnyvale.
What we build in Sunnyvale
New decks are the core of the work: layout, footings, framing, surface, railings, stairs and the lighting run through the frame, taken on as one scope rather than a surface laid over somebody else's guesswork. Free-standing frames matter more in this city than in most, because a post and beam house with a glass rear elevation frequently has nowhere honest to hang a ledger, and a frame on its own posts with proper bracing is a better deck than a ledger fastened to a wall nobody has opened.
Where a ledger does make sense, it gets through-bolted into solid framing, flashed above, and given the lateral connections California requires in seismic country. Rebuilds and resurfacing start with a look rather than a number. We open a section and check the ledger and its flashing, the joists and beams, what the footings actually are, and whether the existing joist spacing suits the boards you want. A sound frame is worth resurfacing. A frame with an unflashed ledger or soft joists is not, and new boards over it would only hide the reason the old deck wore out.
Read more
Composite is installed as a TREX PRO certified contractor, to the published span, gapping and fastener details for the line chosen. Another capped composite such as TimberTech is a decking product you are free to choose, and the framing beneath gets set by whichever board wins, which is why material selection happens before the permit drawings are finished. Joist tops get flashing tape before decking lands on them, and guard posts bolt into the frame with blocking behind them rather than being lagged to a rim board.
Pergolas, gazebos and patio covers are designed with the deck rather than onto it. On a flat or low-slope roofed house that is a roofline decision as well as a structural one, and either way the posts have to land on framing and footings that were sized to carry them, because retrofitting a cover onto a finished deck usually means opening the deck back up. Landscaping and grading are planned in the same pass so the deck, the paving and the planting drain to one place and the step down to soil is drawn rather than left to settle.
An enclosed courtyard or atrium counts as outdoor living too, and the surface, the drainage and the transition through the house are the whole job in that space. Where a ledger or a post comes off a stucco or sided wall, siding and exterior painting put the wall back properly. Design and 3D planning run ahead of all of it, and whether modeling is included in a given deck contract is settled in the written scope rather than assumed.
Sunnyvale homes, and what that means for a remodel
Sunnyvale went from roughly ten thousand residents in 1950 to roughly ninety-six thousand by 1970, and most of what a deck attaches to in this city was framed inside that window. Most ground north of State Route 237 is zoned industrial and the southern half is predominantly residential, so the back yards are concentrated in one band of the city, on lots that were laid out for volume rather than for elbow room. The Heritage District beside the Caltrain station is the downtown, with historic Murphy Avenue still working as its main street, while the blocks around Las Palmas Park, Ortega Park and Raynor Park hold much of the residential core.
Working at the back of a post and beam house is a specific discipline and it deserves to be described properly. There is no attic and no ordinary framed wall behind the glass, so the assumptions a deck builder brings from a conventional house do not transfer. A ledger needs solid framing to through-bolt into and a flashed detail above it that keeps water out of the band joist, and where neither is available the correct answer is a free-standing frame carried on its own posts, footings and diagonal bracing rather than a ledger fastened hopefully to whatever is there.
Read more
That is not a compromise. The ledger is where the large majority of deck collapses begin, almost always because it was fixed over a wall finish with nothing flashed behind it and water sat in the framing for a decade. These houses also sit on slab, low to the ground, which pushes decks down toward grade. A low deck is a simpler permit conversation and a harder drainage one, because the space under it has to breathe and the water that lands on it has to go somewhere that is not the slab edge.
The flat and low-slope rooflines that define the style govern what a cover can look like as well: a gabled patio roof grafted onto that shape reads as a mistake from the street and complicates the roof drainage besides. The conventional tracts around them have the ordinary postwar profile instead, slab on grade with the drain lines cast in, two-by-four exterior walls and aluminum sliders, and they usually take a ledger without argument once the wall is opened and looked at.
Under all of it is the same expansive clay the valley floor carries, soil that swells with winter water and shrinks back through a dry September. Nothing freezes here, so frost depth is not what sets pier depth the way it does elsewhere in the country; bearing sets it, along with getting under the layer that is still moving with the seasons, and pier size and spacing come out of the beam and joist spans.
Height above grade decides the rest of the scope. California requires a guard on a walking surface more than thirty inches above the ground, that guard stands at forty-two inches rather than the thirty-six most out-of-state deck articles quote, guard openings must reject a four-inch sphere, and stair handrails sit between thirty-four and thirty-eight inches above the tread nosings. On lots this close together, that height is also what decides whether the deck needs screening designed into it rather than added later in a hurry.
Materials get decided by the summer. Months of hard ultraviolet with almost no rain is the cycle that grays and checks wood and produces the annual sanding weekend, and capped composite skips it while still wanting soap, water and a soft brush a couple of times a year for March pollen and summer dust. Dark boards run hot underfoot in a west-facing yard. Permitting runs through the City of Sunnyvale Permit Center, anything structural goes to plan review, and the inspector sees footings before concrete and framing before decking covers them.
California's energy standards reach outdoors as well, so permanently mounted exterior light fixtures have to be high-efficacy or else run on a motion sensor paired with a photocontrol or an astronomical time clock, which is a decision to make while the frame is still open and the wiring is easy.
Official permit information for Sunnyvale: City of Sunnyvale Permit Center.
Serving the Sunnyvale community
Licensed & Bonded
CSLB #1142220
Santa Clara County
Sunnyvale sits inside our core service area, not at the edge of it.
Real Reviews
What our customers say
Wonderful company that helped build a railing on our deck. Shay, from Avis Builders and Design, was prompt, answered all my many, many questions, and helped to create a wonderful final product. Everything was explained well and the price was very reasonable. I cannot recommend them enough!
We recently hired Avis Builders and Design to make long needed repairs and restore the finish on our redwood deck. Everything went smoothly from start to finish. Project manager Shay assessed the job and made sure all our questions were answered and needs met for a fair price. Oscar and crew mate were on time, courteous, and efficient and completed the work as outlined in our contract. Very happy we chose Avis to do the job. Definitely recommend Avis Builders.
We contacted Avis Builders and Design because we wanted to remodel several areas of our home, including the kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, painting, and a few other updates throughout the house.
Shay was great to work with from the beginning. He explained everything clearly, helped us understand our options, and made the whole process feel much more organized. There were a lot of details to figure out, but Shay helped coordinate everything, including the design side and communication with the engineer when needed.
The team did a great job, paid attention to the details, and we're very happy with how everything turned out. We would definitely recommend Avis Builders and Design to anyone looking for a reliable remodeling contractor.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions: Sunnyvale remodeling
Do I need a permit to build a deck in Sunnyvale, CA?
Most raised decks do. A ground-level platform often does not, though setbacks, lot coverage and drainage rules still apply to it, and on a lot this size those are usually what shapes the design anyway. The City of Sunnyvale Permit Center issues them, and anything structural goes to plan review. We prepare the submittal under our general contractor license, CSLB #1142220, answer plan check comments and meet the inspector at footings, framing and final, so you are not the one coordinating with the counter. What your specific scope requires comes out of the drawings rather than out of a general rule.
Can you build a deck on a post and beam mid-century home in Sunnyvale, CA?
Yes, and it gets planned differently from the start. On those houses the roof deck is the finished ceiling and the rear elevation is largely glass, so there is frequently no solid framing to through-bolt a ledger into and no clean way to flash above one. The right answer there is a free-standing frame on its own posts, footings and diagonal bracing, which is a better deck than a ledger fastened to a wall nobody has opened.
Two more things get checked before anything is cut. Many of these houses heat through tubing cast into the slab, so nothing gets cored or saw-cut near the slab edge until that is settled, and any cover has to work with a flat or low-slope roofline rather than fight it.
How close to the property line can a deck be built in Sunnyvale, CA?
Setbacks decide it, and at something over seven thousand people to the square mile Sunnyvale lots are not generous, so on most parcels that is the number the design gets drawn against first. The required distance depends on your zoning and your specific parcel, so it is confirmed from the drawings at submittal rather than assumed from a neighbor's deck. Two practical points that come with a tight lot. A walking surface more than thirty inches above the ground needs a forty-two inch guard, which is tall enough to change sightlines both ways, so screening or planting is worth designing in rather than adding in a hurry afterwards. And where the deck meets the fence line, the water coming off it still has to go somewhere that is not your neighbor's yard.
What kind of footings does a deck need in Sunnyvale, CA?
Ones designed for expansive clay rather than for frost. Nothing freezes here, so the frost depth that governs footings across most of the country does not set pier depth locally. Bearing does, along with getting the pier below the layer of clay that swells with winter water and shrinks back through a dry September. Piers left riding in that moving layer are why an older deck bounces in one corner or opens a gap where it meets the house. Pier size and spacing come out of the beam and joist spans for the boards being used, so the framing plan is resolved before anyone digs, and the inspector sees the holes before concrete goes in.
Composite or wood decking for a Sunnyvale, CA backyard?
The long dry summer is what usually decides it. Months of hard ultraviolet with almost no rain is exactly the cycle that grays and checks wood and produces the annual sanding and resealing weekend, and capped composite skips that entirely and never wants sealing. We are a TREX PRO certified installer, so composite goes down to the manufacturer's published spans, gapping and fastener details, and another capped line such as TimberTech is a product you are free to choose inside the same framing conversation.
It is not maintenance free: pollen in March and dust all summer mean soap, water and a soft brush a couple of times a year, and dark boards get hot underfoot in a west-facing yard. If you want real redwood or cedar grain, or the option to sand out a scratch rather than replace a board, wood is the better fit and we build with it.
How do I get a deck estimate in Sunnyvale, CA?
Book the free in-home consultation. Somebody comes out, walks the yard, looks at the slope, the soil, how the doors open, where the afternoon sun lands, how close the neighbors are and what the wall of the house is doing where a ledger might attach. There is no cost and no obligation, and no estimate is issued from a satellite photo, because footings and framing decide what a deck costs and neither is visible from above.
A written scope comes before any number. If a patio, a pergola or landscaping is anywhere in the plan, even a year out, say so at that visit, because footings, conduit and grades are much easier to plan once than to retrofit. Call (408) 208-0551 or email info@avisbuildersanddesign.com.
Where We Work
Serving Santa Clara County and the greater Bay Area
Where We Work
Service access and local routes in Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale, CA
Mountain View, CA
Straight-line distanceAbout 2.9 miles, not a drive time
Deck building in Mountain View →