General Contractor
in Kansas City

A covered deck, screened porch, porch or gazebo is structural construction outside the house: footings, posts, beams, a floor and often a roof. That outdoor work is our scope, which is narrower than a full-service general contractor's.

We build decks and the outdoor structures that go with them. KC Deck Builds is a locally owned, licensed and insured contractor for decks and outdoor structures serving the Kansas City metro.

Each of the structures we build starts the same way, with footings that carry the load into the ground and a frame sized for what sits on it. What changes from one to the next is the load and the purpose.

Decks

an open platform with guards and stairs, covered on our new deck construction page, with separate pages for repairing and replacing existing decks

Covered decks

a covered deck adds a roof, and the roof's weight, plus snow and wind, travels down its posts to footings that have to be sized for it

Screened porches

a screened porch is a covered structure with framed screen walls, a door and a floor detailed to keep insects from coming up between the boards

Porches

an open porch, usually at the front entrance, where the posts, steps and railing are seen from the street

Gazebos

a freestanding roofed structure set out in the yard on its own footings, covered on our gazebo construction page

Height adds requirements of its own. Overland Park's deck guidelines apply the same guard rule to porches as to decks, and they state that insect screening isn't considered a guard, so a screened porch floor more than 30 inches above grade still needs a railing along its open sides.

Because a roof is the biggest structural change on this list, adding one to an existing deck starts with confirming that the posts, beams and footings beneath it can carry the new load. Patio construction for ground-level outdoor space has its own page.

Even a straightforward outdoor structure can touch another licensed trade, and electrical work is the most common. Overland Park's deck guidelines, for example, require an exterior light for the stairs, and a GFCI outlet within the deck's perimeter when the deck is accessible from inside the house. The same guidelines keep overhead power lines at least 10 feet above the deck floor or at least 3 feet away from it horizontally. Ceiling fans and lights under a covered deck or screened porch add wiring as well.

Electrical work is licensed separately from building work on both sides of the state line. Johnson County issues a separate electrical contractor license, and Kansas City, Missouri requires anyone doing electrical work to be licensed as an electrical contractor or to work for one. For that reason, an estimate for a covered deck or screened porch with lights or a fan should state who performs the electrical work and under which license, so it isn't left between two contractors.

Roof drainage is the other detail that crosses from the structure to the house. Water from a new roof over a deck needs a path off the structure and away from the house foundation, which is planned along with the roof framing rather than added afterward.

Class A, general

construct, remodel, repair and demolish any structure

Class B, building

the same work on structures up to three stories

Class C, residential

single-family and duplex homes and the structures accessory to them

Class DW, wood framing

wood framing and rough carpentry, with a scope that names wood decks, exterior staircases and their guard rails

None of the A, B or C classes allows the holder to perform heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical or fire protection work, which have their own licenses. Overland Park and Olathe both require a Johnson County license for permitted work.

Kansas City, Missouri licenses contractors through its City Planning and Development department. Its code requires a residential building contractor license for anyone who contracts to construct, structurally alter or enlarge a one- or two-family home or townhouse, including detached accessory buildings larger than 400 square feet. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical work each need their own license there as well, and every licensed company has to work under a qualified supervisor.

For a homeowner, the practical result is that a company's title describes a role, while its license class describes what it's actually allowed to build in your city.