A city built on the sides of things
Chattanooga sits in a bend of the Tennessee River with Lookout Mountain on one side, Signal Mountain on another and Missionary Ridge running through the middle of it. The consequence for anyone building here is simple: a great many houses are on slopes, and a great many back yards fall away from the house rather than sitting flat behind it.
That shapes what we get asked for. Elevated decks with long stair runs are ordinary work in this city, not a complication — and so is the engineering that goes with them: deeper footings, larger posts, proper lateral bracing, and above all a ledger connection flashed and bolted correctly, because on a deck eight or ten feet in the air that connection is carrying real load. Fence lines here have to step rather than follow the ground, for the same reason.
The housing stock is varied and a lot of it is old, which is the other half of what we do here. Bathrooms in older Chattanooga houses are frequently small, awkwardly laid out and still carrying whatever was done to them in the 1980s. Rebuilding one properly — a tiled walk-in shower, a leveled floor, lighting that works for a mirror — is one of the more common calls we take from this side of the state line.
- Elevated decks are routine. Footings, post sizing and lateral bracing for decks well off the ground, which is most of them here.
- Ledger connections flashed. The most common serious deck failure anywhere, and it matters more the higher the deck is.
- Stepped fence lines. On sloped yards each section is built level and the run steps, rather than chasing the ground.
- Older-house remodeling. Small, dated bathrooms rebuilt properly, including the surprises behind the tile.
- Garage conversions. Finished, heated space inside a footprint you already own.
- The state line is not a barrier. Much of Chattanooga is a shorter drive from Dalton than parts of Georgia are.
What we build in Chattanooga
Carports
Single and multi-bay carports built across Chattanooga.
Learn more ›Pole Barns & Shops
Post-frame buildings for equipment, workshops and storage.
Learn more ›Custom Showers
Tiled walk-in showers with benches, niches and glass doors.
Learn more ›Garage Conversions
Attached garages turned into finished, heated living space.
Learn more ›Decks & Porches
Decks, covered porches, stair runs and fencing.
Learn more ›Covered Porches
Gabled or shed porches added to an existing home.
Learn more ›Why Chattanooga homeowners call us
Slope is our normal
Long stair runs, tall posts and stepped fence lines are ordinary work rather than something that gets priced as a complication.
We flash the ledger
On an elevated deck the ledger is a safety item, not a detail. It gets bolted and flashed properly, and it is invisible once the boards are on.
Old bathrooms hold surprises
Rot behind a shower wall and a soft subfloor are common in older stock. You see a photograph and a price before we build over anything.
Close enough to be responsive
Chattanooga is a straightforward run from Dalton, so being over the state line does not mean waiting a week for us.
Chattanooga Questions
Regularly. Much of Chattanooga is a shorter and easier drive from Dalton than parts of Georgia are, so it is a normal part of our working area rather than an outlying one. What does change across the line is permitting and code, and we will tell you what we understand applies to your address when we come and quote.
Yes, and it is a good share of what we build here. Height changes the footing design, the post sizing and the lateral bracing, and it makes the railing a safety item rather than a style choice. It also means the price has to come off the actual site rather than a square-foot figure — the ground decides the cost more than the deck size does.
Water damage that somebody covered rather than repaired. Soft subfloor around a toilet flange, rot at the base of a shower wall, and old flashing sealed over instead of replaced. None of it is unusual in housing of this age, and all of it is far cheaper dealt with when the room is already open.
Yes, and the constraint is usually the existing roofline rather than the porch itself. Eave height decides what pitch a new porch roof can have, and a pitch too shallow to shed properly is a leak with a delay on it. We measure that before designing anything, and where the new porch roof meets the existing wall it gets flashed and kicked out properly.
Yes, and the answer is a stepped fence. Each section is built level and the line drops in even increments, so the top reads as a series of deliberate horizontal runs. It takes longer to set out because every post height is worked out before anything is concreted, and it is the difference between a fence that looks built and one that looks improvised.
Yes, though the terrain means there is more variation in whether a given site suits one. On a level or gently sloped area there is no difficulty at all. On a steep lot the question is whether there is anywhere to put it and how you would drive in, which is exactly the kind of thing we work out on the estimate visit rather than over the phone.