Justin Wylie, owner of All Pro Decks & Patios, is a Deckorators Certified Pro Elite located in the San Antonio Hill Country area. He specializes in building decks, patios, patio covers, pergolas, concrete slabs, fireplaces and more while providing quality and service for his customers.
Q: How did you get started in the trades and deck building business?
A: I’ve been in the deck building industry my entire life. In high school, I started working for a guy as a helper and learned that I had a passion for it. I’ve worked my way up the ladder, starting from helper to lead builder to the salesman and now as the owner of a company. We tried out some different avenues. We’ve built houses and did home remodeling, but we didn’t love it so we decided to specialize in outdoor patio spaces and decks. And that’s been the best decision we’ve ever made.
Q: When did you become a Deckorators Certified Pro?
A: I became a Deckorators Certified Pro about two years ago. We were using the product, and we wanted to make sure that we were fully educated and acquired all of the tools that are available to us through the manufacturer.
Q: How many decks do you typically build in a year?
A: We do 200-250 projects per year — some are larger than others. I don’t like to turn anybody away. I believe everybody is just as important as the next guy whether the job is big or small. And you never know whether or not that $300 job is gonna get you that $100,000 job.
Q: Talk a little bit about your crew and your relationship with your crew and how you retain your employees.
A: We are a smaller operation. We have a project manager as well as a sales guy on staff. We only have 3 to 4 crews running at a time. That way we can efficiently watch over everything that’s going on and provide the best quality for our customers. We take a lot of pride in the fact that if you come and work with us, you’re part of the family. We all take care of one another like we’re brother and sister. Every one of my guys knows that we have their back and that we are here to stand behind them and support them in any way that we can. That makes a massive difference in the ability to retain some of these good guys. One of my guys faced a difficult situation with his significant other and didn’t have a place to live. He thought he was going to live in a tent on his parents' property. Right after I learned of this, I knew we were not going to let that happen. We purchased a travel trailer for him and put it on his parent's property, and now that is where he is living for the time being. He owes us nothing for doing that. We are just concerned for our guys, and we want the best for them as much as we want the best for us.
Q: Define your approach to building decks and how you are different from your competitors.
A: What’s most important to us is quality and service for our customers. We believe in going above and beyond. We beef up our structures and make sure our clients have something that’s going to last a very long time. We follow all IRC building codes. We make sure our customers are never going to have any kind of issues with inspectors if they decide to sell their home. Instead of putting our joists at 16” on center like manufacturing specs allow, we install our joists at 12” on center because we believe that makes for a much more sound structure. We also don’t take people’s money upfront. We assume all of the risk for the client, and we protect ourselves with a contract. This allows us to gain our clients’ trust.
Q: When and how did you first encounter Deckorators?
A: I came across Deckorators about 4 years ago. Ironically, I used to try and talk clients out of using composite decking until I met Deckorators. Once I realized Deckorators is a far superior product with great characteristics and an industry-leading warranty to back it up, we fell in love with the product and have been a huge advocate ever since.
Q: Are there any specific products from Deckorators that stand out?
A: We specifically use mineral-based composite (MBC) boards. We believe that works well in our area. It’s a far superior board than any other board on the market. The low thermal expansion and contraction really helps with what the finished product looks like. It handles various weather conditions very well.
