Can you build yourself? You have to be honest about answering this question.

If you are the kind of person who does not have the time or energy to complete a physical and labor intensive job or you lack some basic building skills you should not waste your time building a deck on your own.

You will just end up with an unfinished mess that looks like so many after thought style decks in the neighborhood.

Probably the simplest question to ask is not whether you have a lot of previous carpentry experience because building decks isn't that hard.

But rather, the question you should ask yourself is are you a person who likes details and perfection to any degree. A good finishing carpenter is like any other professional who cares about the aesthetics of a finished product.

Are You a Details Kind of Person?

If you like to take your time to think of the details and like a perfect job then you likely will do just fine building your own deck.

If however, you tend to be impatient, can't be bothered measuring accurately, don't believe in needing to use a plan, you are not a good candidate for building a deck.

Maybe you can frame a house with a chain shaw and air gun in record time, but don't try building a deck that has real finishing details.

Building Yourself Can Be Very Satisfying

On the other hand, and as a word of encouragement, building a deck is probably the easiest of building projects a DIY'er could ever do. That is assuming of course that you are on solid soil and do not need specially designed footings or the site is relatively flat.

Introduce some of these complicated variables and things can change. But it is also very satisfying to see the fruits of your labor if you can pull off this kind of a project on your own.

And if you dig deep enough into this site it should really help you get from the point of not being ready to take this job on to the point where you are now educated enough to go ahead and build yourself.