Landscape Design- Builders of Decks and pergolas in Hamilton - Burlington Ontario

Welcome Denis Nadeau. Click links below to see more of Denis' Work.

15 years in the landscaping, landscape design and outdoor woodwork business. Hundreds of happy clients before even joining our builder Group! He’s looks at woodwork through the highly trained eye of a designer and is well known in the Burlington, Ancaster and Hamilton Ontario area for his outdoor kitchens and pergolas.

Denis is booking weeks in advance already for both landscape design and installed decks, fences, pergolas and patios.

You will find Denis at the Brantford Home and Garden Show all weekend. Few candidates as good a fit as Denis Nadeau. He builds well, he has great people and his designs are creative and inspired.

L

Help Wanted - Deck Builders - Carpenters

We still need Deck Builders and Carpenters and Landscapers

Help Wanted— Hourly or Sub-Contract

Denis Nadeau is Booking July in Hamilton / Burlington—He needs carpenters and interlock-stone installers and a little general labour--(strong like bull he says)

Tony Fredericks Is also Booking work in Mid July in Mississauga / Etobicoke—Most of what Tony does would be deemed “Architectural Woodwork”, so he needs talent or smart helpers that are eager to learn.

Lance Hans in Tampa / Naples, Florida is also looking for more talented carpenters. He is booking this summer quickly.

Jamie Elliot in Barrie is also looking for help, however his wife is having a baby in the coming week—so don’t be too disappointed if he doesn’t call you back as soon as you send in a resume. "We hope it goes well Jamie!"

Muskoka, Kitchener Waterloo, North York, Orangeville Caledon and Guelph are all available for future Builder Group Locations and the phones are ringing in all those areas right now!
If you are looking for work send your resume to plans@gardenstructure.com and if you are interested in the Deck and Pergola Builders Group please call Lawrence at 888 293 8938 or 416 951 9998.

L

Collapsed Decks

Sometimes decks collapse because of creativity.

This looks to most people like a good idea--few things are as strong as Polycarbonate.

Polycarbonate is a very strong plastic. The trouble is that every product will eventually meet their maximum level of usability. Most plastics do react with UV exposure and get brittle.

In this case they were overloaded to the point of failure. I found 3 broken clips...not sure how many there were.

These brackets were designed to hold the snow on steel or aluminum roofs rather than folks slamming the door and it landing on their heads.

Trouble is that they work very well. It keeps the snow on the roof... long enough to turn it to ice during protracted cold spells.

The ice builds up over the months and eventually the weight is too great--for the plastic snojacks in this case. If they were made of metal--it is not likely that they all would have failed simultaneously as in this case.

This was a deck that was sturdy enough for the owners to have a party on last weekend--and a week ago 2 or 3 tons of snow and ice slid off the roof and impacted the deck, punching the support posts up through the platform.

When a deck is just under built or a ledger fails the entire platform typically collapses.

Now, lets not rush to hasty judgement that the polycarbonate brackets caused the failure.

4 snowfalls with very little melt, protracted cold weather and a not so well insulated home causing the snow to condense into ice and a metal roof and a not so new deck all had a part in this deck failure.

This was in fact a fortunate accident.

Because this is the main entrance to the house.

No one was home at the time of the collapse.

L

Gazebos - New Designs

The first of Our new Gazebo Designs -- (just kidding, there will be more new gazebos this summer)

This floating gazebo showed up in my in-box this morning... Thought I'd share it.

L

Help Wanted - Deck Builders in GTA and Toronto

Deck Builders Wanted in Toronto and GTA

We need capable deck builders in the GTA and Toronto. When we say Capable builders that means that you can look at a job, learn our methods, and build to our quality with very few pointers from our Senior Deck Builders .

It means you have mastered reading the English language.

You are an actual carpenter that can frame a house, or trim a house and actually do it well enough to get paid for the job.

We need helpers too, Tony in the West End has space for 2 or 3 carpenters and helpers.





Dave in Aurora Richmond Hill needs 2 complete crews.

Jamie in Barrie-Newmarket needs 3 builders.

Terry Grosjean in Oshawa Whitby needs helpers and also a post hole augur operator.

Denis in Burlington-Hamilton is likely to need up to 5 crews this year for both patios and decks.

There are still GTA locations available within our Deck Builders Group--Get in touch. Kitchener Waterloo and North York and Oakville still available.

All of us will entertain the possibility of sub-contractors, however we aren't interested in calling a helper a sub. We won't send you to your insurance agent to get liability and disability insurance and educate you on how to file for workman's comp so that we have proof that you are an actual contractor just in case the government comes calling.

We want intelligent, polite and thoughtful people that will get the job done to our typical stellar level-while representing us well as efficiently as possible. (We have to keep a schedule too).

For the right people you will get steady work, we will teach you some new tricks and you will earn top wages in the field. (not to mention bragging rights of working with the Best Deck Builders in Canada ).

Now, if you built a deck from your dad a couple of years ago, and think cleats are a creative way to build deck stairs (like many of the local builders seem to think--I just think it's neglectful and dangerous), you need something.

You need to look at exactly why you want to be a deck builder. You need to ask yourself why you feel it is OK to BS your way through life. Likely why you dropped out of school... why you never did your homework.

Why you believe that knowing how to build the best decks is something you garnered through breeding--like you are smarter than 100% of all the other builders out there.

You need to go away and learn something.

Anything.

Study, Learn, Do.

Become confident in your skin and trade then call me.

Some of our competitors are advertising for work and help on sites like Craigslist. People look on sites like Craigslist for handy people. Not professionals. Handy guys advertise there so they don't have to go back to the check cashing center for another advance.

It's like free classified ads that anyone can get no questions asked. Like a big free box of chocolate but half are rotten.

Bottom of the barrel work for scant wages.

Here's what the other deck companies ads look like (they have been truncated and contacts removed). I just can't believe that is where they advertise for skilled help! It certainly explains some quality issues I have seen within their portfolios.

Craigslist Deck Company #1

Deck Intallers needed (GTA)
Date: 2008-04-04, 2:53PM EDTWe are currently looking for Deck installers for the upcoming season. Requirements: - truck - tools - carpentry experience - clean record - general liability insurance - WSIB independent contractor registration Please call 1-888-676-3325 We do work all over the GTA from Burlington to Oshawa, Downtown Toronto to Keswick.

Craigslist Deck Company #2

Carpenters/Deck Installers in the GTA
Date: 2008-04-04, 12:11PM EDTDelta Decks, is seeking full time carpenters/deck installers... experience is needed for those unforeseen situations. Here is what we are looking for in a successful candidate: - Must have some carpentry experience (typically minimum 3 years) - Able to work quickly - Good common sense ...Able to supervise at least one helper - Be willing to travel anywhere in the GTA (milage paid for outside of GTA)...Please apply by e-mail only.

Final Word on Free Deck Designs

Our poll shows that nearly 50% of our visitors are homeowners looking for ideas. That means that the majority of contractors think that offering free designs is short sighted.

Who's idea was that?

When you are good at something you should get rewarded well for your efforts. When you are practicing your craft--sure, you are willing to do for the experience of doing.

In my case having my work showcased in numerous magazines, being emulated by Landscape Architects and Builders worldwide, (and shipping historical plans worldwide), being on TV, in Newspapers and having tens of thousands of websites pointing to us as the world's best means that we don't have to do design work for free.

Free deck plans?

The trouble is, if we offered free deck plans--that's all we'd have time to do.

The fact is, there are stores and companies that offer free deck designs and plans, however they normally turn out to be worth precisely what you pay.

Most of the time these "Free Deck Plans" are loaded into the cost of the materials (in the case of big box stores), and into the cost of the Deck that many companies offering free deck designs will high pressure sell you in your living room.

A Call to your local GardenStructure.com Deck Builder for a quote and for our input into how to improve your deck design ideas or to find out what options we can add to bring the deck design up to our level of detail will get you on the right track. Our Builders may have a token fee however I am confident you will find them knowledgeable and creative.

Our Deck Builders will always supply free quotations on decks or pergolas if you have deck designs already.

If you don't have plans and need design assistance and don't trust lesser builders to design your dream deck--you can contact Paul Corsetti at 416 455-5515 for complete landscape plans as well as structure and deck designs,

Or Lawrence Winterburn (Principal Designer for GardenStructure.com ) at 416 951 9998. Paul and I do charge for consultations and design work--but keep in mind we do it professionally. L

Starting A Deck, Fence or Pergola Company in 08

Best Places to Start a Deck or Fence Company in 2008

There are always locational factors to starting a deck, fence or pergola company. Economics have to be examined when deciding where to locate your company. Certain areas are on trend for a healthy economy going forward, Calgary Alberta, Waterloo Ontario, New York City, Long Island, New Jersey, DC, Connecticut, Washington State, Coastal Florida, San Diego, and most of California in the older cities still have strong markets for Deck and Fence Builders. There are about a thousand cities with healthy economies in the US that I have missed.

…Others may go through some economic pain yet, however we have proven that even in a slow economy we can help you sell more. Just talk to Lance Hans in Tampa. 35% real estate price depreciation—and he’s booked up.

Every year there are hundreds of deck and fence companies starting businesses--they will usually sell on price because typically—that’s all they have to offer. When you are looking to compete you can either work for free (like them), or position yourself with us ( Deck Builder Group click for details )

There is another option - buy a franchise from a deck franchise company. Please don’t treat this as me telling you that you should buy a deck franchise, because some of the Deck Franchise Companies in business today may not make it through this recession. $50-100,000 is a lot to pay to have a boss.



I know of one Deck Franchise that has lost nearly 20 franchisees in the recent past. When they are fleeing in those numbers there are troubles.

Before you buy a deck franchise be aware that most countries mandate that they have to make available a list of past franchisees and their contacts so that you can contact them and get feedback.

Because of the economy more people will be fixing rather than moving. Housing prices will come back up, and everyone knows that they always have. The jobs may be a little smaller than in years of the strong economy but that doesn’t mean less profit—It will likely mean more referrals in fact!

This has been the longest winter in many years in Toronto—there’s 4 feet of snow in places and folks are calling to build fences and decks every day. There are still areas around Toronto Available, North York, Oakville, Orangeville-Caledon and Kitchener Waterloo.

Give me a call to get involved—and if you are looking for sub-contract or hourly work, get us resumes or summaries of experience soon.

Lawrence Winterburn
888 293 8938