Terrace substructure

DeckKing or a welder on site

The frame is the part you never see again once the boards go down. Which is exactly why it gets cut, and exactly why the deck goes wavy in year four. Here is when a local welder is the right answer, and when it isn't.

The short answer

A small platform close to the ground, simple geometry, budget deciding — use a welder, it is sound engineering. Tens of square meters, changes in level, boards that cost more than the frame, or a deck you expect to last decades — buy a system with a written warranty. The difference isn't the steel. The difference is the coating, the geometry, and who you call in year four.

1 · Where the welder is genuinely right

Why half of Almaty builds it this way

Cheaper, and by a lot. Profile tube and a welder's labor cost a multiple less than a system frame. If budget is the binding constraint, that's an honest argument.
He starts on Monday. No production backlog, no lead time. Our frame and timber run 8–10 weeks.
It adapts as it goes. An old footing, a pipe, a tree root turns up — the welder solves it on the spot, today. A system needs that anticipated on the drawing.
It can be repaired locally. Years later any welder can cut out and re-weld a section. That's a real advantage and we aren't taking it away.
On a small platform there is barely a difference. Fifteen square meters low to the ground with a simple outline will outlive both approaches.

2 · Where it fails you

It is decided by the coating, not the steel

The steel is much the same for everyone. The difference is what protects it, and what happens to that protection at the moment of welding.

A weld burns the coating off. Factory hot-dip galvanising lasts decades — on the order of twenty years in a suburban environment before surface rust appears. But a frame welded on site can no longer be galvanised: it is welded in black steel, or welded through the zinc and burning it away at every seam, then brush-painted over the top. Corrosion starts exactly there — at the welds, the cut ends and the drilled holes.
What rusts is what you can't see. Once the boards are down the frame is closed in. The first years look perfect because there is nothing to look at, while the process runs underneath, from the joints and the bearing points.
Dissimilar metals. Stainless fixings in black steel form a galvanic pair, and with moisture present it works against you. It is manageable, but it has to be known about and designed for.
Nobody holds the geometry. A terrace settles: ground, frost, water. Re-levelling isn't a one-off but a seasonal job — and in the welder arrangement there is simply nobody to do it.
In year four there is no one to call. That's the heart of it. A warranty on a site-welded frame doesn't exist as a document: if the deck goes wavy, you lift the boards at your own cost to find out what is underneath.

3 · What DeckKing gives you

What the money is actually for

The frame is 110,000 ₸/m², and it is never discounted. It is the load-bearing structure, not a bargaining line. We would rather say that plainly than stage a discount and win it back on the timber.

Six years of written "won't sag, won't break" warranty on the frame. Plus 2 years unconditional on installation work and 30 days to clear every snag.

Eight inspections instead of three. The warranty requires three. We do eight — one a season, with re-levelling. Five visits beyond the requirement, because "holds the warranty" and "stands perfectly level" are different things.

Levelled to a tolerance a timber substructure can't reach — and steel doesn't move with moisture the way joists do.
One party responsible. Frame, boards, installation, care and guarantees from one team. Not "one man welded the frame, another laid the boards, a third is to blame".
The lead time is honest: 8–10 weeks, express 4 weeks with a surcharge. We don't promise faster.

The full value maths per m² — what the Elite bundle includes and what it honestly costs.

A DeckKing frame before the boards go down: level steel, the install

4 · Where we lose

Honestly: when you don't need us

We cost more, and we don't negotiate on the frame. Compare the line "frame" against the line "frame" and the welder wins every time.
We won't start tomorrow. 8–10 weeks. If the terrace has to be ready for guests next month, that's an argument against us.
The full warranty is tied to the care program. Six years is the Legacy program. Without it the term is different, and we say so before signing rather than after.
We don't work with the client's own material. We answer for what we make ourselves — so "your boards on our frame" isn't a format we offer.
On a small, simple platform it is overkill. Fifteen meters close to the ground doesn't need seasonal re-levelling. We'll say so at the survey.

Choosing in under a minute

Three situations, three answers

Under 20 m², simple outline, low

The welder. Ask for galvanised profile, cold-zinc treatment of every cut and weld, and feet that don't sit directly in the ground.

The boards cost more than the frame

DeckKing. The "no warp, no split" guarantee on the timber is worth as much as the boards it protects — and it rests on the frame's geometry.

Level changes, water, a slope

DeckKing. This is where seasonal re-levelling stops being a service and becomes the thing keeping the deck flat.

If you do go with welding, do three things. Galvanised profile, not black. Treat every cut and weld after welding. Adjustable feet rather than set solid in concrete. None of that sells us, but it will save your terrace — and here is the honest cost maths.