A new deck in 2026 runs roughly $30 to $60 per square foot installed for pressure-treated wood, and $45 to $90 per square foot for composite. For a common 12 × 16 deck (192 sq ft), that's somewhere around $6,000–$11,500 in wood or $8,500–$17,000 in composite. But the sticker price is only half the story — the more interesting question is which one costs less over ten years, and the answer surprises people.
Decking gets all the attention because it's what you see and touch, but it's only one layer of a deck. Underneath sits a frame of joists, beams, and posts, all resting on concrete footings. Those structural parts are nearly identical in cost whether you finish with cheap wood or premium composite — which is exactly why the "composite costs double" headline is misleading.
Cost per square foot by decking material
| Decking material | Installed cost/sq ft | Lifespan | Upkeep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure-treated pine | $30–$45 | 15–20 yrs | Seal/stain every 2–3 yrs |
| Cedar / redwood | $35–$55 | 20–25 yrs | Seal every 2–3 yrs |
| Composite (mid-grade) | $45–$70 | 25–30 yrs | Wash only |
| Composite (premium/capped) | $60–$90 | 30+ yrs | Wash only |
| Tropical hardwood (ipe) | $55–$95 | 40+ yrs | Oil annually (optional) |
Material is roughly 50–60% of these figures; the rest is labor, fasteners, and the substructure. If you're doing the build yourself, your per-square-foot cost drops toward the material-only numbers — but decks involve real structural work, and a framing mistake is dangerous, not just ugly.
The 10-year picture: where composite wins back its premium
Here's the part the per-square-foot table hides. Wood is cheaper to install but needs cleaning, sanding, and re-staining every two to three years — materials and a weekend each time, or a few hundred dollars if you hire it. Composite costs more upfront and then asks for almost nothing. Over a decade, the gap narrows hard.
Take that 192 sq ft deck. Pressure-treated at ~$38/sq ft installed is about $7,300; mid-grade composite at ~$58/sq ft is about $11,100 — a $3,800 gap on day one. Now add upkeep over ten years:
The $3,800 day-one gap shrinks to roughly $1,400 over ten years — and if you'd otherwise pay someone to stain the wood deck, it can vanish entirely. Composite also wins on the things money doesn't capture: no splinters, no annual weekend of sanding, and color that holds. The honest verdict: choose wood if cash upfront is tight or you enjoy the maintenance ritual, and composite if you plan to stay put and value never thinking about the deck again.
The structure under the boards
Whatever you put on top, the frame below has to meet code, and that's where DIY planning most often goes wrong. Joists can only span so far before they bounce or sag, and the allowable span depends on lumber size, species, and spacing (12, 16, or 24 inches on-center). Get this wrong and you've built something that fails inspection — or worse.
The Deck Joist Span & Spacing Calculator gives you IRC-compliant joist counts and maximum spans so the frame is sound before you buy a single board. Then the deck rests on footings, and those need to be sized and counted correctly too — the Deck Pier & Footing Calculator works out the concrete bags and volume for each pier.
Deck planning checklist
- Size the deck and pick a material — deck cost calculator.
- Verify joist spans and spacing meet IRC — joist calculator.
- Count and size the footings — footing calculator.
- Check whether your locale requires a permit — most do for decks over 30″ high or attached to the house.
What drives the price up
Two identical-size decks can differ by thousands. The big swing factors:
| Factor | Effect on cost |
|---|---|
| Height off the ground | Taller = more posts, longer footings, often railings & stairs. |
| Stairs | A stair run can add $1,000–$3,000+ depending on rise. |
| Railings | Composite or metal rail systems can rival the decking cost itself. |
| Shape | Angles, curves, and multi-level designs raise labor and waste. |
| Site access & soil | Hard digging or tight access slows the crew and adds hours. |
A worked example
You're planning a 14 × 16 attached deck (224 sq ft), mid-grade composite, hiring a standard contractor, ground-level with no stairs.
- Area: 14 × 16 = 224 sq ft
- Composite installed @ ~$58/sq ft: ~$13,000
- Of that, decking material is roughly $4,500; framing, footings, and labor make up the rest.
- Add a stair run later? Budget another $1,500–$2,500.
Run your real dimensions and material through the deck cost calculator for the split between material and labor, then confirm the frame with the joist and footing tools before you commit.
The 10-year cost, not the sticker price
Sticker price is the wrong number to compare, and it's the one most people fixate on. A pressure-treated deck costs less to build, but it isn't free to keep. Plan on cleaning and re-staining or re-sealing it every two to three years — figure $300 to $600 in materials and a full weekend each time if you do it yourself, or $1.50 to $3 per square foot if you hire it out. Over a decade that's three or four cycles, which quietly adds a few thousand dollars and a stack of lost Saturdays to a wood deck's real cost.
Composite flips that math. The upfront number stings, but maintenance drops to an occasional wash with soap and water. There's no sanding, no staining, no annual ritual. When you lay the two side by side over ten years — build cost plus upkeep plus your own time — the gap that looked huge on day one narrows to something much smaller, and for a lot of homeowners it disappears entirely. The honest way to choose is to decide whether you'd rather pay more now or pay in installments, in both dollars and weekends, later.
| Line item | Pressure-treated | Composite |
|---|---|---|
| Initial build (installed) | ~$9,000 | ~$13,000 |
| Stain/seal cycles (10 yr) | ~$2,000 | ~$0 |
| Cleaning & minor repairs | ~$600 | ~$250 |
| 10-year total | ~$11,600 | ~$13,250 |
A roughly $4,000 gap at the cash register shrinks to under $1,700 over ten years — and that's before counting the weekends. Your local prices will differ, so treat these as the shape of the decision rather than exact figures, and plug your own numbers into the deck cost calculator to see where your break-even lands.
Permits, footings, and the parts you can't see
Here's where DIY budgets go wrong: the money isn't in the boards you walk on, it's in the structure underneath and the paperwork around it. Most jurisdictions require a permit for any deck more than a foot or two off the ground or attached to the house, and an inspector will check the footings, the ledger attachment, and the railing height. Skipping the permit can surface later as a failed home sale or an insurance denial after an accident — it's not a corner worth cutting.
The footings are the other hidden cost. They have to reach below the frost line, which is a few inches in the Deep South but four feet or more across the northern states, and that depth drives how much concrete each pier swallows. A ground-level deck on a dozen shallow footings is a different job from a raised deck on deep piers, even at the same square footage. Size them with the Deck Pier & Footing Calculator and verify your joist spans against code with the Deck Joist Span Calculator before you order a single board — getting the frame right is what separates a deck that lasts thirty years from one that sags in five.
Common questions about deck cost
Is composite decking worth the extra money?
It depends on how long you'll stay and how much you hate maintenance. Composite costs more upfront but skips the staining, sealing, and board replacement that wood demands every few years. Over a ten-to-fifteen-year horizon the lifetime costs converge, and if you'd rather spend summer weekends on the deck than sanding it, composite earns its premium. For a deck you might tear out in five years, treated wood is the cheaper bet.
Does a deck add value to a home?
A well-built deck is one of the more reliable outdoor improvements for resale, though it rarely returns 100% of its cost. The bigger payoff is usable living space — a deck effectively adds an outdoor room for a fraction of what an interior addition costs per square foot. Quality of construction matters more than size here; a small, solid, code-compliant deck shows better than a large, bouncy one.
Do I need a permit to build a deck?
Usually yes, especially for anything attached to the house or more than a foot or two off the ground. Permits exist mostly to confirm the structure is safe — proper footing depth, ledger attachment, and railing height. Skipping the permit can haunt you at resale, when an unpermitted deck becomes a negotiating chip or a teardown. Check with your local building department before the first hole is dug.
The bottom line
Budget $30–$60 per square foot for a wood deck and $45–$90 for composite in 2026. Composite's higher sticker price largely closes over a decade once you count staining and repairs, so the real decision is upfront cash versus long-term convenience. Whichever you choose, the frame underneath is where safety lives — size the joists and footings properly, and the deck on top will last as long as the material promises.