Custom decks built for Illinois summer nights.
Xcel Outdoor Living builds custom decks out of Spring Valley, Illinois, serving Bureau, LaSalle, Putnam, Marshall, and Lee counties. New builds and full tear-out replacements, in wood or composite. Built for cookouts, morning coffee, and the long evenings this part of Illinois earns.
Composite deck build · Illinois Valley
New composite deck · white rail, framed skirting
New deck builds
A new deck starts with how you live outside. Where the sun lands in the evening, where the grill goes, how many chairs you actually fill. We design around that, then build it so it feels like part of the house from the first step out the back door.
Talk through a new deckDeck rebuilds & replacements
Old wooden patio past saving? Deck boards going soft underfoot? We demo the old structure, haul every scrap of it away, and build new in its place. One crew handles the tear-out and the build, so your yard is only a job site once.
Talk through a replacementSigns it is past patching
- A soft spot underfootWater has been sitting in that board, and most of the time in the joist under it.
- Bounce when you walk acrossThe framing is undersized for the span, unblocked, or both.
- A rail that moves when you leanThe post connection has let go. That is the failure that hurts somebody.
- A gap where the deck meets the houseThe ledger is working loose, and nothing about that gets better on its own.
Composite decking detail · picture-frame border
Wood or composite decking
Either one makes a deck worth sitting on. Jake looks at how you use the yard when he comes out for the free estimate, and you land on the right one together.
- Wood decking. The classic. It takes stain or sealer in any shade you like, now or years from now, and it will weather to a soft silver-gray if you would rather let it.
- Composite decking. Color-stable boards that never need staining and clean up with a garden hose. It is what you see on the builds pictured on this page.
Composite stairs · black aluminum balusters
Deck railings & features
The railing is what you see first and touch most. White posts with black aluminum balusters is the combination pictured on this page: crisp against dark boards, nearly invisible against the yard beyond. Fitted post caps, framed skirting that hides everything under the deck, and stairs built like furniture.
Talk through railing optionsBones that don’t bounce.
The part of a deck you never see decides how it feels underfoot. Ours are framed to stay quiet, level, and solid with a full crowd on them.
- Framed square, level, and solid underfoot, so the deck feels planted from the first step.
- Ledger bolted to the house structure and flashed, so water sheds away instead of into your wall.
- Joists sized and blocked for the span, so the floor stays stiff instead of springy.
- Stairs framed on their own footings, with even rises from the top step to the bottom one.
Under the boards
Those four words show up in every deck bid you will read. Now you know what they are holding up.
You pick the deck. We handle the build.
The estimate is free. Jake Palmieri owns Xcel and he is the one who walks the yard with you. The number comes after. From there the materials, the scheduling, the build, and the cleanup are ours.
Your only other job is picking the patio furniture.
Get a free estimateThese guys are great! I had them demo an old wooden patio, then build a new. They were fast but didn’t overlook any details. They actually worked in the rain! These guys have old school working habits.
Asked at almost every free estimate.
What happens at the free estimate?
It costs you nothing. Jake comes out, walks the yard with you, and looks at where the deck would go and what the ground under it is like. You talk through how you want to use the space and what it should be built from. The number comes after, not on the doorstep.
Wood or composite: which should I pick?
Both build a deck worth sitting on. Wood takes stain or sealer in any shade you want, and it wants that kept up to still look new years from now. Composite holds its color and asks nothing of you but a rinse. Which one suits you comes down to how you use the yard and how much upkeep you want, and that is what the free estimate is for.
How long does a build take?
It depends on the size of the deck and on what the weather does, so we would rather give you a real answer for your build than a number off a web page. We are usually booking a few weeks out, so the earlier you get on the calendar, the better your pick of dates. And we will not rush a footing pour to beat the rain.
My old deck or patio is shot. Do you replace them?
Yes. We demo the old deck or patio, haul away every scrap, and build new in its place. Tear-out and build are one job with one crew, so you are never stuck coordinating between anybody.
Is the deck covered by any warranty?
The build is. Our craftsmanship warranty covers defects in how we put it together, on any deck we build, whether it is wood or composite. What it does not cover is settling, weather, impact or ordinary wear, and it is about our workmanship rather than about the boards themselves. Ask what the material you pick carries from its own manufacturer, and get that answer in writing alongside the rest of the scope.
Let’s stand in your backyard.
The estimate is free. Jake comes out and stands where the deck would go, wood or composite. The number comes after, built on what he saw.
Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PMCall any time.We’re usually booking a few weeks out.
Limited lifetime manufacturer warranty on non-wood fence materialsCraftsmanship warranty on our deck builds and non-wood fence installsFully insured & registered