Remodeling Project Overview:
Project Date: September, 2022
Service Provided: Full Deck Design and Remodeling
Location: Ted Black Woods Park Area, Okemos, Michigan
For Tim and Cathy Staudt, their Okemos home near Ted Black Woods Park has always been a central place for gathering, hosting, and enjoying their backyard space with family and friends. After connecting with the team at Custom Built, they began planning a full replacement of their aging wood deck to create a larger, low-maintenance outdoor living area better suited for entertaining in this established Okemos neighborhood.
After more than 20 years in the home, the couple wanted a deck designed specifically around hosting, durability, and long-term enjoyment in Michigan’s changing climate.
The Challenge: Expanding an Aging Deck for Large-Scale Entertaining
For the Staudts, the biggest frustration was functionality. Their original wood deck simply wasn’t large enough to support the way they entertained, especially during their annual fundraiser benefiting the Sparrow Foundation and the MSU Marching Band, where hundreds of guests visit their home.
Beyond the limited square footage, the deck required constant upkeep after years of exposure to Mid-Michigan weather. Every season brought another cycle of power washing, staining, and maintenance.
The homeowners were looking for:
- A significantly larger entertaining space
- Low-maintenance decking materials
- Safer, more functional stair access
- A design that blended naturally with the sloped backyard landscape
Because the redesign dramatically expanded the deck footprint, our team also had to carefully navigate the property’s steep backyard grade changes and completely rebuild the structure from the footings up.
The Solution: A Custom Trex Outdoor Living Space Built for Hosting
After meeting our team at the MSU Home and Garden Show, Tim and Cathy moved forward with a fully customized Trex deck remodel focused on durability, entertaining, and long-term performance.
Using detailed 3D renderings during the design phase, our team created a custom outdoor living plan featuring:
- Premium Trex Transcend Decking: Selected for its sleek appearance, low-maintenance durability, and resistance to fading, staining, and Michigan weather conditions.
- Custom Octagonal Design Feature: A unique architectural focal point enhanced with breaker board detailing for added visual definition.
- Black Aluminum Signature Railings: Modern railing systems providing safety without obstructing backyard views.
- Two-Landing Staircase System: A durable staircase engineered to transition naturally with the property’s dramatic slope changes.
- Integrated Trex Deck Lighting: Custom lighting features improving nighttime visibility, ambiance, and event hosting functionality.
- Landscape-Blended Stair Landing: Finished transitions designed to integrate seamlessly into the surrounding landscaping near the wooded backyard setting.
Because of the extensive structural changes, the original deck was fully demolished down to the footings before construction began. Despite the project’s size and grading challenges, our production team completed the entire build in just two weeks.
Today, Tim and Cathy have a spacious, low-maintenance Trex outdoor living space designed not only for everyday enjoyment, but for the large community gatherings and family events that matter most to them.
If you want to get a transformation like this or want to learn more about our decking services. Visit our deck builder services page.
“It amazed me they could do this in two weeks. They said it was two weeks and it was two weeks,” the Staudts shared. “It’s exactly what we were looking for.” - Tim and Cathy Staudt
