I've been in construction ALL my life, and I love it. For the last 20 some years I've focused on decks. Yes ... I'm "The Deckman." I'm the fourth generation builder in my family, and my 39 year old son is now the fifth generation.

I am often astounded, and frightened I might add, at some of the construction situations I find myself in. I well remember one deck I re-built proabably a dozen years ago. It was a second story deck and was literally hanging off the house at a 45 degree angle. The home owner, customer, opened the sliding door and bounded out there to show me what he wanted me to do. I refused to step on it.

After a succesfull re-build, he shook my hand, paid me, and told me that he was a "structural engineer" at the largest state University in Washington state.

After all my years of construction experience, I'm still very quick to pick up the phone and call Kristin ... my "structual engineer." She has saved my butt many times. And, here on the West Coast, the recent earthquakes are causing us to re-think our earthquake codes. It's almost a full time job just to keep up with the building code changes.

When bad construction fails, people die. I know. I've had to testify twice as an "expert witness" in casuilty claims. Not nice. CHEERS, Bob