It's the first decision every deck project runs into: pressure-treated wood or composite? The honest answer is that wood is cheaper to build and composite is cheaper to own — and which one is "cheaper" depends entirely on how long you plan to keep the deck and how much weekend maintenance you're willing to do.
Upfront cost: wood wins clearly
On the day it's built, wood is the budget choice. Here's how the common materials compare, installed:
| Material | Installed cost / sq ft | 200 sq ft deck |
|---|---|---|
| Pressure-treated wood | $15 – $32 | $3,000 – $6,400 |
| Cedar | $18 – $38 | $3,600 – $7,600 |
| Composite (Trex, etc.) | $25 – $60 | $5,000 – $12,000 |
| PVC / vinyl | $20 – $55 | $4,000 – $11,000 |
So composite typically costs 40–90% more up front than pressure-treated wood. If your budget is the hard constraint and you're comfortable maintaining wood, that gap is real money you can put elsewhere. Run your own numbers in the deck cost calculator — it prices both by size, height, railing, and your ZIP.
Lifetime cost: where composite closes the gap
Wood isn't finished costing you money once it's built. To keep it from graying, cracking, and rotting, it needs cleaning and re-staining or sealing roughly every 2–3 years — commonly $500–$1,200 per cycle for a mid-size deck. Over 20 years, that's six to nine maintenance rounds, easily $3,000–$8,000 in upkeep.
Composite skips almost all of that. An occasional wash is the whole maintenance story. Add up two decades and the total-cost math often flips:
A $5,000 wood deck + ~$5,000 in 20 years of staining ≈ $10,000 all-in. A $9,000 composite deck + a few hundred dollars of washing ≈ $9,500 all-in — and you never touched a paintbrush.
The exact crossover depends on your deck size and local labor, but the pattern holds: the longer you keep the deck, the more composite's maintenance savings erode wood's upfront advantage.
Beyond cost: the other trade-offs
- Look and feel: many people still prefer real wood grain underfoot. Modern composite looks close but not identical.
- Heat: dark composite can get hot in direct summer sun; lighter colors and wood stay cooler.
- Durability: composite won't splinter, rot, or need sanding — a real plus for bare feet and kids.
- Repairs: a damaged wood board is cheap to swap; matching an older composite line can be harder.
So which should you choose?
Choose wood if you want the lowest upfront cost, you like the natural look, or you may not keep the home long enough for maintenance to add up. Choose composite if you're staying put, you hate yard chores, or you want a deck you can ignore for 25 years. Either way, start with a real number for your project in the deck cost calculator, then use the cost-by-state index to sanity-check it against your region.