“I highly recommend Chicago Roof Deck and Garden.”
I highly recommend Chicago Roof Deck and Garden. Let me tell you why:
I recently bought a new condo, in a 30 + unit building in downtown Chicago. Our unit has a terrace, and we wanted to “deck” it to level out the space, build out a privacy fence, and add lighting. I had looked at Chicago Roof Deck and Garden, and while their work looked great, I thought my project was likely way too small.
This led me to reach out to another well regarded roof decking contractor, who has some of the best reviews in the city. They came out to visit the site, took measurements, told me about how they have done this a million times and that my job was no problem. My building approved the plans and materials pending permits and I thought we were all set. I wanted a second opinion so I decided to give Chicago Roof Deck and Garden a call.
Jake from Chicago Roof Deck and Garden reached out to me and asked me a bit about my project. I told him what I wanted to do, gave him the measurements so that he could provide me with a estimate and told him about the types of materials currently spec’d for the project and that I had already received HOA approval. The email I got back from Jake was astonishing, I have never received such a detailed email on a first reply from any builder/contractor/designer. The level of detail in this email confirmed that he understood the project, the budget constraints, and city code. It was this last point that separated Chicago Roof Deck and Garden from the other company I spoke to.
In Jake’s reply to me, he pointed out that the materials that the other contractor was planning to use were not up to city code. In my building all the materials need to be Class A Fire Rated, and what my current contractor was planning to use was not. Jake also pointed out that the privacy fence that I wanted to build would require a permit, another thing that my existing contractor told me I did not need.
So I followed up again with my existing contractor. After some digging the contractor emailed me and confirmed everything Chicago Roof Deck and Garden told me in my initial email exchange. I would need a permit for the privacy fence, the materials currently spec’d were not up to code and could not be installed. More importantly he was unable to complete the work because it was too complex.
This was a big shift from “we have done this a million times”. My building approved the project, which means this deck would have been built, and if anyone had realized it was not up to code, it would have had to be torn down and I would have been left without a deck and been out 10s of 1000s of dollars or worse if the deck ever caught fire. THANK YOU JAKE, AND THE CHICAGO ROOF DECK AND GARDEN TEAM FOR SAVING ME FROM THIS NIGHTMARE.
When I spoke with Jake from Chicago Roof Deck and Garden, I told him this story and he told me that unfortunately this is common. We then focused on my project. Jake was very quick to acknowledge that this job is on the smaller end for the work they do but they could make this project work. He pointed out that my vision for the space was already very solidified which would allow me to save on design costs. He brought up the privacy fence and asked me several questions about why I was putting it in. After listening, he suggested artificial hedges, he suggested this for two reasons. First planter boxes and hedges do not require a permit, where a privacy fence does. Second, the privacy fence was going to require a re-enforced sub-structure to the decking frame to be up to code. This was expensive but would not be required with planters, saving me a ton of money. All of these things helped get the project to fit more comfortably within my budget and led to an overall better design.
I have spoken to a lot of contractors and I have never had a conversation that left me feeling as confident and comfortable as my conversation with Jake.
