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Custom Deck Building

Complete deck builds from the first walk of your yard to the final inspection card. Design, engineering, permits, footings, framing, stairs, and railings, all handled by one contractor who has been doing it here since 1990.

Deck Construction

One Contractor, Start to Finish

A deck build is a structural project. It starts with soil and setbacks and ends with an inspector signing a card, and there are a dozen places in between where a job goes sideways. BPP Construction handles all of it. Ben walks your yard, draws the deck, prepares the plans, pulls the permit, pours the footings, frames the structure, builds the stairs, sets the railings, and meets the inspector at every required stage. You hire one contractor and deal with one person the whole way through.

That matters more than it sounds. Homeowners who split a deck across a designer, a permit expediter, and a framing crew end up refereeing between them when something does not line up. Ben has been building in Riverside and San Bernardino counties since 1990, so the plans he draws are the plans he builds, and if a detail needs to change at the footing stage he adjusts it on the spot instead of waiting on a redraw.

He also knows the counters. Thirty-five years of pulling permits across more than 25 cities in the Inland Empire means Ben knows which building departments want wet-stamped plans, which ones will red-line a submittal over a missing connection detail, and who to call when a review stalls. Those relationships are the difference between a permit that clears in two weeks and one that sits for six.

Completed composite deck with wood pergola cover by BPP Construction in Riverside, CA
Built to Standard

Decks Engineered for California

35
Years Building Decks
in the Inland Empire
42″
Code-Required
Guardrail Height
100%
Fully Permitted
& Inspected
25+
Cities Served
Two Counties
Our Process

From Design to Final Inspection

01

The Walk and the Drawing

Ben comes out and walks the yard with you. He checks grade, soil, drainage, where the water goes in a hard rain, how the house framing sits behind the stucco, and where your setback lines fall. Then he draws the deck: footing locations, beam and joist layout, stair placement, railing runs, and the lumber schedule. You see the design and the quote before anything is submitted anywhere.

02

Plans and the Permit

Ben prepares and submits the permit package himself: structural plans, footing sizes, ledger and connection details, span calculations, and the material schedule, all to current California Building Code. You do not stand in line at a counter or chase a plan checker. When a department comes back with a correction, he answers it directly and resubmits, usually the same week.

03

Build and Sign-Off

Footings get dug and poured to the engineered spec, then inspected before anything goes on top of them. Posts land on approved bases, beams and joists go in at the spans on the plan, and the ledger gets bolted to real framing and flashed. Decking, stairs, and railings follow. The inspector comes back at framing and again at final, and Ben is on site for both.

Cedar deck with stairs and wood railing by BPP Construction

Elevated, Multi-Level, and Everything Under Them

A platform deck near grade is a straightforward build. The projects that separate a deck builder from a handyman are the ones that go up. An elevated deck off a second-story slider carries its load through posts and footings that have to be sized for it, with a ledger bolted into house framing and flashed so water never reaches the band joist. That connection is the single most common failure point in deck collapses nationwide, and it is the detail Ben spends the most time on.

Multi-level decks give you separate rooms outdoors. Dining at the door height, a step or two down to a lounge, sometimes a third landing for a spa or a fire table. Each level needs its own beam line and footings, and the transitions between them have to work as real stairs rather than an afterthought. We build stringers cut to consistent rise and run, treads that stay flat over time, and graspable handrails on every flight, because uneven stair rise is what inspectors catch and what trips people at night.

Railings do structural work. A guardrail post has to resist a 200-pound load applied in any direction at the top, which means it is blocked and bolted into the framing, not lag-screwed to the rim and hoped for. We also build wraparound decks, pool surrounds, and spa platforms, and we frame decks to accept a wood patio cover overhead or an under-deck drainage system below when you want the space beneath a raised deck to stay dry. Choosing between redwood, cedar, pressure-treated, and composite is its own conversation, covered on our wooden decks page.

Ready to Build Your Deck?

(909) 227-4193

Call Ben and get on the schedule for a walkthrough. He looks at the yard, talks through what the deck should do, and puts a written quote in your hands. No pressure and no obligation.

Book My Deck Walkthrough
Related Services

What Homeowners Add to a Deck Build

Most deck projects pick up one or two of these along the way. Building them at the same time is cheaper and cleaner than coming back later, because the posts, footings, and flashing get planned together from the start.

Wood Patio Covers

Shade over the deck, framed so the cover posts land on the deck’s own footings instead of bolting onto finished decking after the fact. In Inland Empire summers it is what turns a deck you use in the evening into one you use all day.

See Patio Covers →

Under Decking

On a raised deck, a drainage system below the joists keeps the space underneath dry enough to park, store, or sit in. Easiest to install while the deck is still open framing, which is why we ask about it before the decking goes down.

See Under Decking →

Finished decks, stairs, railings, and covered outdoor spaces we have built around the Inland Empire are in the project gallery. If you want to talk through a build, the contact page reaches Ben directly.

Common Questions

Deck Building FAQs

Do I need a building permit to build a deck in Riverside, California?
Yes, virtually all deck construction in Riverside and the surrounding cities requires a building permit. Under the California Building Code, any attached deck, meaning a deck connected to the house via a ledger board, requires a permit regardless of size or height. Freestanding decks that are more than 30 inches above grade at any point also require a permit because they trigger guardrail requirements. Even small ground-level decks may require a permit depending on local zoning setback requirements and lot coverage calculations. Building without a permit is a code violation that can bring fines and an order to tear the deck out. It also follows you to closing, since an unpermitted structure shows up in inspection and can complicate your insurance coverage and your resale. Ben handles the permit on every deck we build.
What are the California code requirements for deck ledger board attachment?
Ledger board attachment is one of the most critical structural connections on any attached deck, and it is the number one failure point in deck collapses nationwide. The California Building Code (CBC Section R507.2) requires that deck ledger boards be attached to the house band joist using approved lag screws or through-bolts with proper spacing patterns. The fastener schedule depends on the joist span, deck live load, and lumber species. Flashing is required at the top of the ledger board to prevent water infiltration into the house framing, this is non-negotiable in California and is one of the most frequently cited deficiencies during inspections. The ledger must be attached directly to the house’s structural framing, not to siding, stucco, or other finish materials. BPP Construction installs every ledger board with code-compliant fasteners, proper flashing, and verified attachment to structural framing.
What type of footings does California code require for deck construction?
California Building Code requires concrete footings for all deck post supports. The minimum footing depth must extend below the frost line and into undisturbed soil, in the Riverside area, this is typically 12 to 18 inches depending on soil conditions and local jurisdiction requirements. Footing diameter is sized to the load each post carries. In areas with expansive clay soils, which are common throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties, deeper footings or pier foundations may be required to extend below the active zone where soil volume changes with moisture content. BPP Construction designs footings based on soil conditions specific to your property and ensures every footing passes inspection before framing begins.
Do you handle the entire deck project, or do I need to hire other people?
Ben handles the whole thing. The site walk, the design, the structural plans, the permit submittal, the footings, the framing, the decking, the stairs, the railings, and every inspection through final sign-off all come from BPP. You are not hiring a designer to draw it, a service to pull the permit, and a crew to build it, then standing in the middle when those three disagree about who got something wrong. On a multi-level or elevated deck that single point of responsibility matters even more, because the footing sizes, the beam layout, and the stair geometry all depend on each other and a change to one has to be carried through the rest. If your project also involves a patio cover overhead or an under-deck drainage system below, those get planned into the same set of drawings rather than bolted on later.
Should I build with wood or composite decking?
Both work, and the structure underneath is identical either way. The framing, footings, ledger, stairs, and railings on a composite deck are built to the same code and the same spans as a wood one. What changes is the walking surface: what it costs up front, how hot it gets in full Inland Empire sun, and how much upkeep it asks for over the years. Ben will give you a straight comparison for your yard and your budget rather than steering you toward whichever one is easier to install. If you already know you want real lumber and are weighing redwood against cedar against pressure-treated, that whole discussion lives on our wooden decks page.
How long does a full deck build take from start to sign-off?
Figure four to eight weeks end to end, and most of that is paperwork rather than carpentry. The walk, the design, and the plan set take a week or two depending on how many revisions you want. Permit review across Riverside and San Bernardino county jurisdictions usually runs two to four weeks, and this is the stage where Ben’s history with these departments earns its keep, since a complete submittal that answers corrections quickly does not sit in a queue. Actual construction on a single-level deck is often one to two weeks of on-site work. Multi-level builds, long stair runs, elevated structures, and integrated features add to that. There are also two hard stops built into the schedule: the footing inspection before concrete is covered and the framing inspection before decking goes down. Reach Ben at (909) 227-4193 or through the contact page to talk through timing for your project.
Talk to Ben

Have Him Look at Your Yard

Ground-level platform or a three-level structure off a second-story door, the build runs the same way: designed for your lot, permitted through your city, and inspected at every stage. Thirty-five years of doing it in these two counties. Call and get on the schedule.

Book My Deck Walkthrough Call (909) 227-4193

Where We Work

Based in Riverside, CA, serving homeowners across Riverside and San Bernardino counties.