Composite vs Wood Decking: The 30-Year Cost in Calgary
Composite decking costs more than wood. That's the objection we hear first on almost every quote, and it's true — on the day you build it.
It stops being true somewhere around year sixteen. Here's the arithmetic, using our own Calgary installed prices.
What each costs to build
| Material | Per sq ft | 400 sq ft deck |
|---|---|---|
| Pressure treated | $28 – $35 | $11,200 – $14,000 |
| Cedar | $36 – $42 | $14,400 – $16,800 |
| Composite | $42 – $58 | $16,800 – $23,200 |
Composite is the most expensive way to build a deck in Calgary — roughly $5,000 to $9,000 more than pressure treated on a 400 square foot build.
If you stopped reading here, wood wins. Most comparisons do stop here.
What each costs to own
Wood decks in Calgary last 15 to 20 years. Chinook freeze-thaw cycling — repeated expansion and contraction rather than one steady winter freeze — is what wears them out. After that you're not repairing, you're rebuilding.
Composite isn't going anywhere in that time. Trex carries limited residential warranties ranging from 25 to 50 years depending on the line, and TimberTech's composite collections carry 25-year product and fade-and-stain warranties. Those are warranty terms, not marketing estimates — the manufacturer is putting a number in writing.
So across thirty years, a wood deck gets built twice and a composite deck gets built once:
| Material | Build cost | Builds in 30 yrs | 30-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure treated | $11,200 – $14,000 | 2 | $22,400 – $28,000 |
| Cedar | $14,400 – $16,800 | 2 | $28,800 – $33,600 |
| Composite | $16,800 – $23,200 | 1 | $16,800 – $23,200 |
Assumes one wood rebuild inside 30 years, which follows from the 15–20 year lifespan above. Excludes staining.
Composite finishes cheapest. Not competitive with wood — cheaper than either option.
And that's before maintenance. A wood deck needs staining every one to three years, at $500 to $900 a time professionally — five to eight times over fifteen years, then again over the next fifteen. Composite needs washing.
The one case where wood still makes sense
We build all three, so here it is plainly: if you're selling within ten years, build in pressure treated. You won't be there for the rebuild, and the thirty-year arithmetic isn't yours to collect.
That's the exception. For anyone staying put, the numbers above are the whole argument — and they're our numbers, not a manufacturer's brochure.
What else you stop paying for
The thirty-year table above only counts construction. It leaves out everything a wood deck asks of you in between.
| Wood | Composite | |
|---|---|---|
| Refinishing | Every 1–3 years | Never |
| Cost per refinish | $500 – $900 | — |
| Refinishes in 15 yrs | 5 – 8 | 0 |
| 15-year upkeep | $2,500 – $7,200 | Soap and water |
Over fifteen years that's $2,500 to $7,200 in staining alone on a wood deck, then the same again over the following fifteen. Add it to the rebuild and the gap stops being close.
And the part that doesn't show up in dollars
Restaining is a weekend. Stripping, sanding, waiting for dry weather, two coats, keeping everyone off it while it cures — five to eight times over the life of the deck, in a city where the window to do it is short. Most people don't skip it because they're lazy. They skip it because it rained the one weekend in August they'd set aside, and then it's September.
A skipped year is how a fifteen-year deck becomes a twelve-year deck.
Why composite suits this climate specifically
The case for composite is stronger in Calgary than in most of the country, for reasons that have nothing to do with the warranty.
| Wood | Composite | |
|---|---|---|
| Moisture absorption | Absorbs, then expands when frozen | Capped on exposed faces — sealed |
| Checking / splintering | Develops with age | Doesn't check |
| UV protection | Sacrificial stain layer, reapplied | Fade resistance built into the cap |
| Seasonal upkeep | Needs a dry, warm window to restain | Wash it |
Moisture doesn't penetrate it. Freeze-thaw damage in a wood deck starts with water getting into the board and then expanding. Remove the absorption and you remove the mechanism.
UV stability is built in, not applied. We get a lot of clear days at elevation. A stain is a sacrificial layer that burns off and needs replacing; composite's fade resistance is in the cap itself, and it's what the fade warranty covers.
The building season is short. Restaining means finding a dry stretch warm enough to cure, in a season that isn't long. Skipping two years because the weather didn't cooperate is how wood decks age faster than they should.
Installation matters more with composite
Composite is less forgiving than wood. It expands and contracts more along its length, so gapping and fastener choice matter, and hidden-fastener systems have to be set correctly or the boards telegraph every mistake. Joist spacing is tighter than wood framing — the board has to be supported properly or it will feel soft underfoot no matter what it cost.
Done properly, it's the best-value deck you can build in this city. Done carelessly, it's an expensive deck with a bounce in it.
What we recommend, and why
Composite is what we put on our own quotes first. Not because it's the biggest invoice — it's the cheapest deck you can own in this city, and the table above is the reason.
We work with Trex, TimberTech, Fiberon and Deckorators, and we install composite often enough that our crews know the gapping, fastener and joist-spacing detail that separates a composite deck that feels solid for thirty years from one that doesn't.
If you're set on wood, we'll build you a good one — see cedar vs pressure treated for how those two compare. But ask us which we'd build at our own house and the answer is composite.
See composite deck installation for how we build them.
Price your deck in all three
Tell us the size and we'll quote pressure treated, cedar and composite side by side.
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