We’ve been thinking of building a new deck for a few years now. Our old deck was just too small and it the wood deck railing was starting to rot. When we first moved into our house the new deck was smaller than our old covered patio but it seemed large enough. We put our wood table and chairs and wood bench on the deck and it seemed that we had enough room.

For the four of us the deck space was fine, but when we had a few friends over we realized it was way too small. And this was only with a couple of additional friends or family members. Once you were sitting down at the table it was okay, but if someone wanted to get up it was very tight. The barbecue only complicated things and there was no room for a patio heater.

After a few years of being short of space we moved the table off of the deck and kept the chairs and wood bench. This gave us a lot more room to entertain but we could no longer eat outside on deck. That’s when we started planing for a new deck. I won’t go into all of the details on this post, but last year we finally decided it was time to build a larger deck.

Reasons to have a plan:
This is where deck design software comes in. If you are going to build a new deck you need a plan. Even if it is a small deck it’s good to have a deck plan and here’s a few reasons why:

• Provides drawings of what you are building so everyone agrees on itEnsures you purchase all of the necessary parts.
• If you are building the wood deck it provides your plan to ensure you build it correctly.
• If a contractor is building your deck then this is an important document to agree on price and ensure they build it to your specifications.
• And finally, depending on the deck you may need to have the plans approved by city hall before you can start the work

7 reasons to use deck design software to easily create your deck plans:
If you are making a small or simple wood deck, then you can probably purchase or download a free deck plan. If your deck is more complicated or unique you will want to use deck design software or have an architect create a set of plans for you. Here’s additional benefits of using design a deck software:

1. Most software packages will create a list of all of the parts and supplies you need to purchase. This will help you to determine the cost of your project and make it easy when you go to the building center to get everything. 
2. Provides a realistic drawing of what your deck will look like when it is finished. Some packages will do this in 3D colour and allow you to move around your deck. This will show you exactly what your completed deck will look like and how much space you will have.
3. You can quickly come up with a few different designs to help you decide on what is the best style of deck for your available space and purpose. This helps when you are trying to decide on your deck layout. Do you want a wrap around deck? Where should the stairs go? Do I want to add build in deck benches? 
4. Provides a library of parts, deck furniture and even items like barbecues and deck heaters that you can drag and drop into your design. This makes your deck plans look very realistic and helpful as you design your deck. 
5. With some packages you can create your landscape and hard scape design. This was very helpful for us because we were doing a complete back yard makeover.
6. It’s easy and inexpensive to make changes to your plans. We originally used a draft person to create our plans and when we had to make a change because the deck was over the setback we had to pay another $500 for the change. 
7. The software allows you to create different views and drawings. the list can include: a top down view, side view, a structure view that just includes the posts and beams.
8. Some packages will come editable designs. This makes it easy to get started because you are working on a pre-completed plan and you just add your changes and additions to the plan.

Please comment on this post if you have any questions or would like more information.