Decking Garfield, Cardinia Shire VIC: Deck and Pergola as One Build

If you want the pergola standing over the deck rather than beside it, the post positions get settled before the first board goes down. Big Fella Landscapes frames decking and the pergola above it as one structure, with qualified carpenters, rather than as two bookings. Kane Dalman has run the business since 2007, and Garfield sits in the Cardinia Shire stretch of West Gippsland his crews build across. He prices the deck, the pergola and the steps in one quote. Ring 0412 881 728.

Big Fella Landscapes on a Deck and Pergola Build

Kane Dalman started Big Fella Landscapes in 2007, and thousands of residential and commercial projects have gone through the team since. Decking is carpentry before it is landscaping, and Carpentry is a qualification the business holds alongside Landscape Construction and Concreting, with qualified carpenters on the tools. That Landscape Construction qualification is the work we do as a landscaper in Garfield, on the yard the deck and pergola sit in. The rest of what we build in timber is on our decking page.

Accept the quote and your build gets a crew and a place in the schedule, with Kane the one person you deal with through to handover. It lands on time and on budget, and carries a 12-month workmanship guarantee.

Timber or Composite Under a Pergola

Everything under a pergola sits in shade most of the day, which sharpens the board decision without settling it.

Merbau and Spotted Gum are the hardwoods most surfaces get laid in: dense, good underfoot, rich in colour while there is oil on them. Treated pine costs less and more often ends up as the frame. Left bare all three silver off, and West Gippsland winters are cool and long on rain, so a coating works harder here than on a metro block.

Composite, with Ekodeck, Modwood and WoodEvo among the ranges, runs its colour through the board, so there is no annual coat. What it will not do is build its own frame, still timber or steel on footings and still what decides how long the deck lasts.

Grip on Boards That Sit in Shade

Damp boards grow algae and mould, that film makes a deck slippery, and on steps down to the lawn it stops being cosmetic. A pergola adds to it either way: open battens drop leaf litter through, a solid roof throws run-off onto the boards at the drip line.

Most of the answer is built in: gaps wide enough that water and litter fall through, ground graded to drain, frame clear of soil so air keeps moving. Under a pergola that shade is permanent rather than seasonal, so a grooved profile earns its place, and several composite ranges carry a tested slip rating.

Oiling, Washing and the Re-Coat Cycle

Hardwood wants a wash and a re-oil about once a year, sooner where it never gets sun, with a light sand of the traffic lanes once the coating wears through. Treated pine runs on a stain at the same interval. Leave either three or four seasons and it becomes a full sand back. Composite wants a wash, plus a look over the fixings every couple of years.

Two Things to Confirm About Your Own Address

The first is height. In Victoria a building permit is generally required once a deck’s finished floor level sits more than 800mm above the ground. How that applies to your build is confirmed with Cardinia Shire, the responsible council for Garfield, or with a Registered Building Surveyor. Ground that falls away catches people out, so we settle the height and the engineering at the site visit, and any permit step is priced and scheduled from there.

The second is bushfire. Whether a bushfire attack level applies is decided parcel by parcel against the Victorian bushfire-prone-area mapping for your address, and where one applies it governs the timber species permitted and how the substructure is detailed.

What a Deck and Pergola Quote Is Built From

No square-metre rate survives a real site. What moves the figure:

• Area, and how much of it is a plain rectangle
• Height, which brings deeper footings, taller posts and engineering
• Substructure: treated pine, hardwood or steel, and footing depth
• The board on top: composite costs more to buy, less to own
• Stairs and balustrade, which arrive with height
• The pergola, its posts and roof
• Access to the back of the block for materials and machinery

The on-site visit and the quote are free, and no design or figure is locked in.

One Visit Settles Most of It

Deck height, post positions and what goes over the top are one set of decisions, quicker to make in the yard with a tape than over email. Ring Kane Dalman on 0412 881 728, or leave the details on the enquiry form, and he will set a time for the free on-site visit.