Deck Safety Month is in May, and April decides if it pays

The last full week of April is when deck and fence crews stop quoting and start digging. Across the northern states the frost is coming out of the ground, post holes are going in, and the calendar for May and June fills by the day. Two observances frame the next six weeks. April is National Safe Digging Month, and May is Deck Safety Month for the North American Deck and Railing Association, better known as NADRA.

Neither one is a discount. Both are a reason to talk to homeowners who are not ready to buy a new deck yet, and that makes them worth more than a spring special. Here is how we would use them, starting this week.

What NADRA hands its members for May

NADRA promotes May as Deck Safety Month every year and gives members a kit to run with: a 10-point consumer checklist and 31 days of social media content. A member builder quoted on NADRA’s site sums up the case in two sentences: “Spring is an ideal time to evaluate your deck. Winter weather has passed, and the outdoor entertaining season is about to begin.”

That is a better opening line than any coupon. It gives a past customer a reason to hear from you, and it gives a stranger a reason to book a visit that does not feel like a sales call.

The timing suits the business, too. By May most northern builders have new construction booked weeks out. An inspection and repair offer fills the gaps between those jobs, keeps a crew working when a permit or an HOA approval runs late, and puts you in the backyard of a homeowner whose deck will need replacing in a few seasons.

Why existing decks are where the work is

On new homes, decks are getting rarer. NAHB’s analysis published last November found the share of new homes with a deck edged down to 17.4% in 2024, an all-time low. The split by region is stark: 69% of new homes in New England had a deck, against 3% in the West South Central states, where 82% got a patio instead.

For a builder in the North, that says the deck stock that needs attention is mostly attached to houses that already exist. Two more figures from the same NAHB article back that up:

• In NAHB’s Remodeling Market Index survey for the fourth quarter of 2024, decks ranked seventh among 22 common remodeling projects, named by 23% of professional remodelers.
• In NAHB’s research on what buyers want, 79% of recent and prospective home buyers rated a deck as essential or desirable.

That second figure belongs in every conversation with a homeowner thinking about selling. A tired deck shows up in the listing photos, and a sound one is part of what buyers say they are looking for.

The code is your inspection checklist

Homeowners rarely know the rules, and a plain explanation reads as expertise. Under the 2021 International Residential Code, the model code that states and counties adopt with their own amendments:

• Any walking surface more than 30 inches above the floor or grade below needs a guard, and the guard must be at least 36 inches high.
• A deck skips the permit only if it is under 200 square feet, no more than 30 inches above grade at any point, not attached to the house and not serving the exit door. Every other deck needs one.
• Composite deck boards, stair treads, guards and handrails have to meet the ASTM D7032 standard.

NADRA points out that building codes are updated on a recurring basis, typically every three years, and local amendments vary from one county to the next. That is why an inspection should be checked against the rules that apply in your county now, not the ones in force when the deck went up. Say which code your county uses on the inspection page, and list what you look at, from the ledger and footings to the guards and stairs. That page will answer half the questions that come in during May.

Fence crews: April belongs to 811

The Common Ground Alliance runs National Safe Digging Month through April. Its 811 site asks anyone digging to contact 811, or the state 811 center’s website, a few business days before starting, and it names fences among the common projects that need a call. The service is free. The same site says that not contacting 811 before digging is the top driver of damage to buried utilities every year.

For a fence company, this is a habit you already have, so put it where homeowners can see it:

• On the fence page. One sentence: we call 811 and wait for the utility marks before any post goes in.
• In the estimate. A line that shows who makes the call and how many days it adds.
• On your Business Profile. A post during April with a photo of marked ground and a crew waiting to dig.

811 Day falls on August 11, which gives the same message a second outing just as late-summer fence calls pick up.

Where to put the May push

The kit is only useful if it reaches people. Four places carry it:

• Your Business Profile. A Deck Safety Month post, inspections and repairs listed as services, and photos of railing and stair work beside the new builds.
• Your past-customer list. An email or text to everyone whose deck you built or sealed a few years ago, with the checklist attached.
• Facebook and Instagram. NADRA’s month of posts, adapted with your own photos, aimed at the neighborhoods where you have already built.
• Your website. An inspection page with what you check and how to book, linked from the deck page.

What to do this month

• Download NADRA’s kit if you are a member, and schedule the first week of posts before May 1.
• Write a one-page inspection offer that lists exactly what you check.
• Send it to past customers this week, starting with the oldest decks on your list.
• Add the 811 sentence to your fence page and your estimate template.
• Ask every customer whose job finishes in May for a review, so June shoppers see recent ones.
• Hold a few crew days open in May for inspections and repairs, so those calls do not wait three weeks behind new builds.

A Deck Safety Month campaign pays when the profile, the inspection page and the follow-up are ready before the first of May, not halfway through it. The deck and fence builders page lays out how we plan the whole year for this trade, and our Business Profile service covers the posts, services and photos that carry a seasonal push like this one.