Cedar Mill Property Repair puts up new decks, deck stairs, railings, pergolas and arbors around Cedar Mill, Bethany, Beaverton and nearby. On a deck around 300 square feet, Portland-area prices mostly land between $10,000 and $30,000 with materials, about $16,000 on a typical job (market data, November 2026) . Text a yard photo to to start.
If your current deck is solid underneath and only a few boards or a rail have gone soft, that's a smaller job. See deck repair.
What goes into a new deck build?
Most jobs are a deck off the back door, a freestanding platform in the yard, stairs to the lawn, or an open pergola or arbor. The order of work:
- Layout. String lines for the shape, a mark for every footing.
- Footings and posts. No hole gets dug before the utility locate .
- Framing. Beams and joists in pressure-treated lumber.
- The joint with the house. Either a ledger fastened to the house with flashing above it, so water sheds off rather than soaking into the wall, or a frame on its own posts that never touches the siding .
- Decking, steps, rail, and cleaning up .
A sloped yard changes the plan. On hillside lots like those around West Slope, the ground drops away from the house and the downhill posts get long. That extra height is usually what takes a deck over the 30-inch mark in the permit section.
What do decks and pergolas cost in the Portland area?
| Job | Range | Typical | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| New deck, about 300 sq ft | $10,000-$30,000 | $16,000 | with materials |
| Pergola or arbor | $4,000-$12,000 | $7,000 | with materials |
Market figures, November 2026, not our quotes yet. Height moves the number most, because taller means longer posts, a guard rail and maybe a permit. After that come size and shape, the board you pick, how many steps reach the yard, an old deck that comes off first, how far lumber travels from the street, and any permit fee.
Each job in that table tops $2,000, the amount above which Oregon requires the agreement to be in writing. Yours will be. Our contract guide shows what it should contain, and the pricing page has our other ranges.
Does a deck need a building permit in Oregon?
The 2026 Oregon Residential Specialty Code, effective October 1, 2026, lets a deck go without a building permit when its walking surface is 30 inches or less off the ground. The height counts at every point up to 3 feet out from the deck's edge, so on a slope the downhill side decides it. Attached and freestanding decks follow the same line. An exempt deck still has to meet the code, and local governments keep the right to enforce their own rules.
| Where the house is | What the local office publishes (read 2026-11-08) |
|---|---|
| City of Portland | Above 30 inches you need a permit, plus a site plan, an elevation drawing and structural plans, and the job ends with a final inspection. Zoning applies even with no permit, for instance in environmental zones. |
| Unincorporated Washington County | No building permit for a deck at ground level, but setbacks still count; the county's Current Planning staff can tell you yours. |
| City of Beaverton | Ask the city's building office about its deck threshold before planning around one. |
Cedar, pressure-treated or composite boards?
Underneath, the frame is pressure-treated lumber no matter what. The real choice is the surface and the rail:
- Cedar looks warm and feels good barefoot, and it wants stain every so often.
- Pressure-treated decking is the cheapest and takes the most upkeep to keep looking decent.
- Composite skips the staining and costs more on day one.
Shade matters here. Lots of older Cedar Mill houses sit under tall Douglas firs, and a deck in that shade dries slowly after rain and fills its gaps with needles. After a wood deck goes up, we can stain and seal it too, so the same crew takes it from framing to the first coat.
Pergola or patio cover over the deck?
Both are possible, at the pergola range in the table above.
A pergola has an open, slatted top that lets sun and rain through; a cover has a solid roof. The state code exempts deck, patio and porch covers up to 200 square feet that sit 3 feet or more from the lot line. Portland asks for a permit on a house-attached cover larger than 200 square feet, and not on a smaller one held up by the house wall. Nothing we've read says whether an open pergola counts as a "cover", so we ask the permit office first.
No gas lines for patio heaters or fire tables; that's on our list of work we don't take on.
How does a deck job start, and which photos help?
- You text photos and rough measurements.
- Slava visits and puts the quote in writing .
- A permit, when the height and the jurisdiction require it.
- An 811 locate request, two business days or more ahead of digging. The service costs nothing and is run by the state's Oregon Utility Notification Center .
- Building day one .
Useful photos: the yard from the back door; a tape from the door sill down to the dirt; the slope from one side; the underside of any old deck; the route lumber would travel from the street; any fence or boundary marker near the spot.
Also say which jurisdiction the house falls in: Portland, Beaverton or the county. Portlandmaps.com or your tax bill shows it.