house
Deck vs patio: grade first, then the lumber
A patio sits on the dirt. A deck is a structure with posts and a permit. What those two jobs cost in 2026, when height turns into a railing, and what has to be on the bid.
A patio is a floor on the ground. A deck is a building: posts, beams, joists, and usually a permit. If the salesperson says “outdoor living” and writes one number, you do not know which of those you are buying.
This is a hire guide. Framing, footings, and a second-story ledger are not a Saturday with a circular saw. Screened porch vs sunroom is the next building if you already know you want a roof. Stay here until the floor is named.
What is actually on the dirt?
A patio is concrete, pavers, or stone on compacted base. It follows the grade. Water has to leave. There is no walking surface hanging in the air, so there is usually no railing conversation.
HomeGuide’s 2026 patio guide is $5 to $35 per square foot installed. A 10-by-20 (200 square feet) is $1,000 to $7,000. A 20-by-20 is $2,000 to $14,000. Poured concrete is $5 to $15 per square foot. Pavers are $10 to $17. Flagstone is $15 to $32. Those prices assume the ground is already compacted, level, and draining.
Angi’s 2026 patio page puts the national average at $4,006, with most jobs $2,028 to $6,088. They price a basic patio around $5 per square foot and a high-end one around $50. Leveling a lawn for the pad is $500 to $1,000, or up to about $5,000 on a heavy slope. Patio permits, when the town wants one, are $50 to $200.
If the yard already sheds water away from the house, a slab is the cheap floor. If the back door is four feet in the air, a patio is a pit with a staircase, not a patio.
What is actually in the air?
A deck is a framed floor on posts, or hung from the house with a ledger. It can sit close to grade, or it can be a second-story platform. The walking surface is wood or composite. The structure underneath is the expensive part.
Angi’s 2026 deck page, from 20,403 verified projects, puts the national average at $8,321. Most jobs land $4,338 to $12,653. They price construction around $30 to $60 per square foot. A 12-by-12 is $5,760 to $8,640. A 16-by-20 is $12,800 to $19,200. A 20-by-20 is $16,000 to $24,000. Deck permits are typically $230 to $500.
HomeGuide’s deck guide is $25 to $50 per square foot installed. A 12-by-12 is $3,600 to $7,200. A 20-by-20 is $10,000 to $20,000. Pressure-treated pine is $25 to $50 per square foot installed. Composite is $40 to $80. Labor is $11 to $22 per square foot.
HomeGuide: cost to build a deck
Angi prices the boards themselves separately: pressure-treated wood $2 to $5 per square foot, composite $12 to $22. The installed gap is framing, rail, and stairs, not just the walking surface. If one bid is pine and the other is composite, you are not looking at a $3,000 disagreement. You are looking at two products.
The boards you see are not the whole bid. Footings, beams, joists, flashing at the house, stairs, and a railing can each be their own line. A ground-level rectangle is one job. A second-story deck on a slope is another.
Frost and water decide more of the number than the stain color. A patio that ponds against the siding is a wet rim later. A deck footing that sits on topsoil heaves. Ask where the downspouts go after the new floor is in, and whether the patio slopes at least away from the house. If the yard already dumps water at that door, fix drainage first or the slab is a shallow pool.
Height is the fork
Walk out the door you actually use. Measure from finished grade to the walking surface you want.
If that number is a step or two, a patio or a low deck can both work. The patio is cheaper if the dirt cooperates. The deck still makes sense when the soil is a swamp, the frost heaves slabs, or you want the floor even with the kitchen.
If that number is more than about 30 inches, you are in railing and stair country. Towns copy that height from the residential code for a reason: a fall from a dining-table height is a different injury than a stumble on a slab. Ask the inspector what they measure, and put the railing on the bid as a named line, not “included.”
A second-story door with no landing is not a patio problem. It is a framed deck, a ledger into the band joist, and flashing that does not rot the rim. That is carpenter and permit work.
Do not let a patio bid quietly grow a three-foot retaining wall so the slab can meet the door. That wall is its own structure.
Three jobs that all say “outdoor living”
Bid A, 12-by-16 patio, poured slab. HomeGuide’s 10-by-20 band is $1,000 to $7,000. Angi average around $4,000. Ask for thickness, base, slope away from the house, and control joints. If they have to import fill or cut a bank, that is extra.
Bid B, 12-by-16 ground-level deck, pressure-treated. Angi 12-by-16 is $5,400 to $10,800. HomeGuide 12-by-12 is $3,600 to $7,200, so scale the square footage, do not invent a third table. Same size as Bid A, different building. Ask for footing depth, post size, joist spacing, and whether the stairs and railing are in the number.
Bid C, composite, second story, roof later. Angi 16-by-20 is already $12,800 to $19,200 before composite’s $40 to $80 per square foot. A patio roof on Angi’s patio page is $5,000 to $25,000. A screened porch on top of a new deck is the screened porch job, not a line item called “maybe screens.” If the envelope is a year-round room, you are in sunroom vs three-season money.
Do not compare Bid A to Bid C and call the difference a material upgrade. Those are three buildings.
What has to be on the quote?
Get three bids with the same written footprint, the same height off grade, and the same door.
Ask for, in writing:
- Patio or deck. Slab on grade, or framed floor on posts. “Outdoor living” is not a product.
- Finished height at the door. Inches from grade to the walking surface, and how many risers.
- Footings or base. For a patio: thickness, gravel, compaction, slope. For a deck: footing depth, diameter, and whether they hit frost.
- How it ties to the house. Ledger with flashing, or a self-supporting frame that does not cut the siding. A wet rim joist is a later leak.
- Stairs and railing as separate lines. Count the risers. Name the railing height. If the walking surface is more than about 30 inches up, the railing is not optional in most towns.
- Material, by name. Poured concrete vs pavers vs pressure-treated vs composite. HomeGuide’s pine and composite bands are not interchangeable.
- Permit. Angi deck permits $230 to $500, patio $50 to $200 when required. Who pulls it.
- What happens to water. Slope, drains, and where the downspouts go after the new floor is in.
If two bids are a 12-by-16 slab and the third is a second-story composite deck at twice the money, you do not have three prices. You have two jobs.
How do I decide this week?
- Measure from the back door to the dirt. If you need more than a couple of steps, you are shopping a deck, not a patio.
- Pick the footprint in feet, not “a sitting area.” 12-by-16 and 16-by-20 are different Angi rows.
- Put height, material, stairs, and railing on every envelope so the numbers can be compared.
- Price a patio only where the grade already works. A retaining wall to fake grade is a third job.
- Leave screens, glass, and HVAC off this bid. Those are porch and sunroom envelopes.
- Hire the floor you would still want if nobody ever roofed it.
A patio is the ground. A deck is a structure. Ask which one they are building, then hire that.