Serving the greater Tampa Bay area
Decks and Outdoor Living in Clearwater
Clearwater is about as coastal as it gets, and the ocean is generous and rough on a build at the same time. People call wanting to make the most of the weather and the water views, and they're right to. But a deck or a pool enclosure this close to the gulf has to be built for salt, sun, and the flood rules that come with living near the beach. Skip any of that and the job doesn't last.
I'm Ricky Powers. I've been building in Tampa Bay for 30+ years, and I still walk every job myself. When you call, you talk to me.
Deck, patio, pool enclosure, or screened lanai?
Around Clearwater the pool changes the conversation, so there's a fourth option on the table more often than not.
A wood or composite deck gives you a raised, finished surface. A paver patio sits low and takes the heat. A screened lanai keeps the bugs out at dusk. And a pool enclosure, the screened cage so many homes here have, keeps leaves, bugs, and a lot of sun off the water and the people in it. Plenty of Clearwater homeowners want some combination: a paver pool deck under a screen enclosure, with a covered section for shade. We sort out which mix fits your house before anyone draws a thing.
Building for the coast: salt air and sun
This close to the gulf, the salt air is the deciding factor, and it's unforgiving on the wrong materials.
Salt eats cheap fasteners and finishes, and the sun bakes everything that isn't shaded. So near the beach I lean toward composite decking, stainless or heavily coated hardware, and screen and frame systems rated to take the coastal air. It costs more than the budget build. It also means the enclosure is still standing and the deck still solid after a few hard seasons, instead of streaked with rust and pulling apart. I'll give you the real numbers and let you make the call.
The part you can't see: footings, drainage, and elevation
This is where coastal decks go wrong, and it's the part nobody photographs.
Near the water in Clearwater you're often in a flood zone, which means elevation and the local flood rules are part of the build, not an afterthought. Footings have to be sized and set right in sandy coastal soil. Drainage has to move heavy rain and any flood water off the structure and away from the house. Build a beautiful deck that ignores the elevation requirements and you've got a problem with the inspector and, worse, a problem when the water comes up. We build to the rules and pull the right permits, through the City of Clearwater or Pinellas County depending on where you sit.
The homes we see around Clearwater
A lot of the work here is on coastal and beach-adjacent homes, the ones where a pool and a screen enclosure are almost standard and the view is the whole point of the backyard. These houses live with salt air every day and many sit in flood zones, so the build has to respect both. The plan starts with how close you are to the water and what your elevation requires.
One crew, start to finish
You won't get handed off. The same crew that sets your footings is the one that builds the enclosure and the one that sweeps up the last day. We tell you what's happening at each step, and if your budget doesn't match your wish list, I'll say so before we start. I'd rather lose the job than sell you a coastal build I know the salt and the flood rules will defeat.