I just had my 24-year-old deck rebuilt by Mike Davin and his crew at Deckmasters Pittsburgh Northwest, and I am very happy with the exceptional job done by them. Mike builds a lot of decks, so he runs multiple crews around the area and does things in a very streamlined fashion. As a result, the quote that he gave me was very competitive (comparing to multiple deck builders and general contractors), and he takes pride in honoring the quotes even when he runs into unexpected situations. Mike and his buddy (also called Mike) went above and beyond to re-level and reinforce the deck frame and joists, as well as building a beautiful new stair for me. They worked very hard to compensate a few days of weather delay, and still finished the job with minimal delay (and still faster then two other quotes that I received before.) Overall, I would highly recommend Mike and his crew to anyone in the area. They are very courteous, highly professional, and always arrive on-time, clean, and well-prepared for the job.

I had a deck built by Mike Davin and his crew in June of 2014. I was most impressed by the "Lifetime Guarantee" on the workmanship of the deck offered by Deckmasters. After the deck was built I noticed some things that did not seem right to me, as I began to check the deck with a more critical eye, I even crawled underneath it, I noticed more things that seemed.. off. I asked another contractor to look at it for me and he brought along the local code book. My deck did not meet the standards of local code in several areas. First the posts, none was three feet deep and at least one was less than one foot deep with no more than 2-4 inches of concrete surrounding it. Next was the frame or joists. He used single 2x10's all around, code calls for double joists and joist hangers, which were not used. This was a 14x14 free standing deck and that is all the support he built, code calls for anything over 12' to have additional posts and joists. There were two sets of steps, each with three stairs. All of them were different heights (against code) and at least one exceeded the maximum of 8" in height. Mike told me that their "signature" thing is to angle the corners of the deck (he talked me into this, I did not ask for it), but the treads of the angled steps were not deep enough at just over 6". They ripped one of the 2x4 treads in half. I do not know why this was done. One of the tread boards was cut too short so they actually cut a 2x2 square and tacked it on the end of the step. This deck was built around a large oak tree in my yard and they anchored the deck to my tree. They actually screwed the deck to my tree. Again, I do not know why this was done and it obviously posed real problems. When I called Mike to tell him about the issues with my deck he kept putting me off. I called the township because before he began construction I spoke to him about the permit, I had spoken to the township prior to getting quotes on building a deck and didn't know if I should get the permit or if he should so I asked him about it. He told me he would get all the necessary permits. When I called the township they informed me that no permit was ever issued. They also informed me that I would be fined without a permit. In Mike's defense, he did get the permit, it was issued in December of 2014. I expected to hear from Mike as soon as winter broke but instead I received a letter from the township in February stating that they have my permit and my contractor failed to pick it up. When I asked Mike if he was going to pick it up, he kept saying he would do it on Monday. In March I finally picked up the permit myself. The inspector came out and of course my deck failed. Mike made no attempts to address the issue on his own, that is when I chose to take the matter to court. I won a judgment but Mike has not paid me. Please BEWARE of this contractor. If I could post pictures of the deck I would. My deck was hazardous, in fact one of the joists began splitting by September of 2014 and by the time it was torn down the crack spread even further. AVOID THIS CONTRACTOR!! Save yourself the hassle.