Here’s a quick overview if you’re short on time:
Build now or wait? This is a common question for homeowners who have a bigger vision for their outdoor space but aren’t ready to tackle the entire project at once.
You don’t have to build your entire outdoor living space at once—but you should plan for it from the start. Designing with future additions like a roof, outdoor kitchen, or lighting in mind can make it easier to build your project in phases without having to redo work later.
Fall and winter are a great time to start that process. Working with a consultant now gives you time to design the full vision, think through structural and logistical needs, and decide what makes sense to build now versus later.
Start Planning Now, Build When You’re Ready
As summer winds down, you may be looking at your backyard thinking about everything you wish you had done differently this year. Maybe you wanted more room to entertain. Maybe you spent another summer without enough shade. Or maybe the dream has grown from “we need a new deck” into a full outdoor living space with a covered area, outdoor kitchen, fireplace, lighting, or other upgrades.
The good news? You don’t necessarily have to build everything at once.
Fall and winter are a great time to start working with a deck consultant to plan your outdoor living project—even if you’re not ready to complete the entire vision right away. With thoughtful planning, a larger project can often be designed in phases so you can start with what makes sense today without making future additions unnecessarily difficult or expensive.
What Does It Mean to Phase an Outdoor Living Project?
Phasing means looking at your outdoor space as one complete project, then determining which portions make sense to build now and which can be added later.
For example, your ultimate plan might include:
- A custom deck
- A covered or roofed area
- An outdoor kitchen
- Low-voltage lighting
- A fireplace or fire feature
- Privacy features
- A screen room or three-season space
- Additional entertaining areas
You may not want—or be ready—to invest in all of those features today. That’s completely different from saying you shouldn’t plan for them today.
Instead of designing a deck in isolation, we can look at what you eventually want the entire space to become. That allows us to think through the structure, layout, utilities, traffic flow, permitting considerations, and logistics that could affect future phases.
You can build in phases without planning in phases.
Ideally, the planning happens upfront.
Why Fall and Winter Are a Great Time to Start Planning
Outdoor living projects naturally get a lot of attention in the spring and summer, when homeowners are spending the most time outside. But waiting until you’re ready to use the space to start designing it can put you behind.
Fall and winter give you an opportunity to start thinking ahead.
Working with a consultant now gives you time to explore ideas, make material selections, think through your wish list, develop a design, and work through the logistical details of your property without feeling like you need to rush into a decision.
It can also be helpful to think back on how you actually used your backyard this summer. Where did everyone naturally gather? Where did you need more shade? Did you have enough room for your grill and furniture? Would lighting have kept everyone outside longer?
Those experiences can help shape a better design for next year and beyond.
Start With the Entire Vision, Not Just Phase One
One of the biggest benefits of planning ahead is being able to prepare today’s project for tomorrow’s additions.
Imagine that you want a new deck now, but your long-term dream includes an outdoor kitchen. An outdoor kitchen can add significant weight and may require specific structural support. If we know about that future kitchen while designing the deck, the structure can potentially be planned around those future requirements from the beginning.
The same idea applies to a future roof.
Adding a roof isn’t simply a matter of putting posts on top of an existing deck. The loads have to transfer properly through the structure and into the foundation. If a covered area is part of your long-term plan, knowing that upfront can influence how the deck and its footings are designed today.
Planning ahead may also allow us to think through electrical needs, lighting, gas, drainage, stairs, furniture placement, access, and other details that become much harder to address after a project is already complete.
The goal is to avoid building Phase One in a way that creates obstacles for Phase Two.
Planning Ahead Can Help Prevent Paying Twice
Sometimes, homeowners build a deck based only on what they need right now and decide a few years later that they want to expand it or add another major feature.
That’s when they may discover that portions of the original project need to be modified, removed, or rebuilt to accommodate the addition.
That doesn’t mean every future feature can be perfectly prepared for years in advance. Building codes, products, property conditions, and your own plans can change. But when we know your long-term goals, we can make informed decisions about what makes sense to prepare for now.
Spending more time planning at the beginning can help reduce the chance that you’re paying later to undo work you’ve already paid to complete.
What Should You Build First?
There’s no universal order that works for every outdoor living project.
For many homeowners, the deck is the natural starting point because it creates the foundation for how the space will function. From there, additional features can potentially be incorporated as future phases.
For another homeowner, it may make more sense to complete the deck and roof together, then save the outdoor kitchen or other upgrades for later.
That’s where working with a design-build team becomes important. Phasing shouldn’t simply be based on which features you want most. It should also consider which parts of the project depend on one another structurally and logistically.
Sometimes spending a little more on Phase One can make Phase Two significantly easier. Other times, a feature can be added later without much additional preparation today.
Those are decisions that are much easier to make when the entire project has already been considered.
Don’t Let Your Current Budget Shrink Your Long-Term Vision
If your dream outdoor living space is bigger than what you want to invest in right now, you don’t necessarily have to shrink the dream.
Design the space you ultimately want. Then have a conversation about what can realistically be completed now, what can wait, and what needs to be prepared for during the first phase.
Maybe this year is the deck.
Next year, you add the outdoor kitchen.
A few years from now, you complete the covered entertaining area you’ve always wanted.
The important part is that those projects aren’t being treated as three completely unrelated decisions. They’re pieces of the same long-term outdoor living plan.
Build for Today. Plan for Tomorrow.
The end of summer doesn’t mean you’ve missed your opportunity to improve your backyard. In many ways, it’s the perfect time to start thinking about what you want your outdoor space to look like next summer—and several summers from now.
At Legacy Decks, our Planning & Design process looks beyond the surface of your project. We take the time to understand how you want to use your space today, what you may want to add in the future, and the structural and logistical details that can help make that vision possible.
You don’t have to build your entire dream backyard at once.
But you should know where you’re headed before you start building.
Ready to start planning your outdoor living project? Schedule a consultation with Legacy Decks and let’s create a plan that works for today while keeping tomorrow in mind.
