Some might say that Greg Berner is not playing with a full deck. After all, he spends ten to 12 hours every day toiling in the hot Southern Illinois sun. Six days a week — sometimes seven — he’s out there, sunlight reflecting up at him from the deck he’s building.
Berner’s the owner of Pro Deck Builders, an Elkville-based company that deals with the design and construction of outdoor decks. For 42 weeks a year, Berner and his son Zachary, a student in construction management at John A. Logan College build outdoor decks in backyards across the region.
“We probably build 35 to 40 decks a year. Everything from a little front porch on the front of a trailer to large, multi-level decks and some that wrap all the way around pools,” Berner says, adding that he’s about to begin work on a 40-foot by 70-foot project in the coming weeks.
He says he started the company eight years and hundreds of decks ago.
“This is one of the true passions that I’ve had,” he explains. “I like building and then standing back and being able to look at what you’ve created.
Berner says he also enjoys the variety of projects he is able to complete.
“You know, we’re able to build the decks quickly — most in three days to a week, and then we’re on to a different town, a different environment.”
In fact, the wait time for Berner to begin construction can be up considerably longer than the time it takes to build a deck.
“We’re currently booked out six weeks, and that’s six weeks of working as hard as I can to get to the customers. Often people just got their pool in and they want the deck right away. I think sometimes they forget that if you’re a pretty good deck builder that has a niche in the market, you’re going to be booked out a ways.” Berner contines, explaining that he has resisted adding additional deck-builders to his team, “I don’t run two or three crews; it’s just the two of us. I don’t bunch of guys because I like to be there when everything is done so I know that it is done my way. That way, if a customer has a question when we’re done, I can answer it.”
He says customers will often call him saying that they are not sure exactly what they want in a deck, but that they definitely want a deck.
“I’ll sit down with them and ask a few questions, then together we will design something that the family is going to use,” he outlines. “It may not fit any other family out there, but we’re going to custom design it for exactly what they need.”
Berner says that many of the finished decks include customization such as benches, plant holders, pergolas or even special places to store swimming pool accessories.
“Customers will ask, ‘Can you do this?’ and we’ll figure out a way to give them what they want. Early this year, we built a bar top into a lady’s hand railing so her grandkids could have a place to sit and eat snacks,” he says.
He explains that he’s found benefits to specializing in one type of project in addition to the “tricks of the trade” and experience.
“There are some great contractors out there and I don’t step on their toes,” he says. “I don’t remodel garages and I don’t do bathrooms. I do outdoor living spaces and since I do them every day of the week, that puts us up a level from people who don’t do this all of the time. Plus, I absolutely love what I do.”
Source: https://bit.ly/2s2NOTB
