Does composite pay for itself?
Sometimes, and later than the brochures suggest. Here is a 12 × 16 deck over 20 years at our October 2026 prices, with the wood deck washed and stained by a painter:
| 12 × 16 deck | Built | After 20 years, stained every 2 | After 20 years, stained every 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure-treated pine | $6,910 | $10,810 | $9,640 |
| Cedar | $7,490 | $11,390 | $10,220 |
| Composite | $10,750 | $10,750 | $10,750 |
| PVC | $11,330 | $11,330 | $11,330 |
Read across the pressure-treated row. Stained every three years, it's still the cheaper deck after two decades. Stained every two, the two decks end up level. Composite wins on money mainly when the wood deck gets a lot of paid upkeep, or when you compare it with cedar.
What the calculator counts
For both decks, the cost to build the platform. For the wood deck, a staining in the first year and again every two or three years after that. For composite and PVC, nothing: they need washing, which we count as free.
You can change every one of those prices. If you'd stain the deck yourself, switch "Who stains it" and the wood deck gets a lot cheaper to keep.
What it leaves out, on purpose
We don't guess how long either deck lasts. A wood deck that's looked after can go for decades, and one that's neglected can need boards replaced in ten years. Putting a number on that would be inventing it.
We also leave out the things that aren't money. Your Saturdays, for one. Staining a deck with a railing is a full weekend every time it comes around, and for a lot of people that's the real reason they buy composite.
The trade-offs that aren't on the chart
Wood can be sanded and refinished, so a scratched or stained board can look new again. Composite can't. What you see in year ten is what you've got.
Composite gets hotter in full sun, especially in dark colors. Wood splinters as it ages and composite doesn't, which matters if kids run on it barefoot.
And both decks sit on the same pressure-treated frame, so the structure underneath ages the same either way.
Fair questions
Why does the wood line go up in steps?
Each step is a staining. The flat line is the composite deck, which costs the same in year 20 as on the day it was built. Where the stepped line crosses the flat one is the year composite pulls ahead.
What does one staining cost?
It depends on the size and on whether the railing is included. The deck staining calculator prices one job in detail.
Is PVC different from composite?
PVC boards have no wood fiber in them at all. They cost a little more, weigh less and shrug off moisture, which is why they turn up around pools and docks. For this comparison they behave the same: more to build, nothing to stain.
Sources
- How we calculate: every suggested price behind this calculator, with the date it was last reviewed.
