Every time you drink a beer on my parents’ deck, you save a penguin from choking to death on a plastic bag! That’s right, we built the deck out of Trex, a plastic, wood composite. Interesting fact: Trex is the largest consumer of post-consumer plastic grocery bags. Trex also doesn’t warp, doesn’t splinter, and doesn’t need to be maintained at all! The only thing Trex doesn’t do is write power point slide decks.

When I tell people I built a deck at my parent’s house over the holidays, the most common response is, “well that must be one hell of a power point presentation.” In B-school parlance, “deck” means multimedia-slide-show.

The project came out great and I can’t wait to visit my parents again in the spring so I can do some outdoor grilling.

In case you’re wondering, the final bill, including labor and waste removal, came to $7800. Almost half of that was the Trex decking which comes in at a whopping $30 per 12ft board!! You mess up a cut? That’s worse than setting a $20 bill on fire.

Here’s a slide show of the finished product:

I’d like to thank the following people for their extraordinary help on the project:

Travis Sorensen, for making the project a reality by signing on to help even before he know what he was getting himself into. Travis also provided building expertise, tools, planning, and was my gateway to Carlos y Oscar.

Tom Rose Sr, for providing countless tools and for cleaning the project site regularly (and financing).

Kathy Kircher, for cooking for the team, providing moral support, and of course financing.

Carlos Chadha-Kaye and Stephanie Chadha-Kaye for clutch support. Carlos showed up in the final hour to keep my spirits alive after the sun had gone down.

Carlos and Oscar, two hired hands that powered through a ton of work with super human strength and stamina, including a 15hr work day on the final day to meet our deadline.

Tracy Rose, for being lonely up in Boston without me while I ran around in Maryland for 5 extra days doing man things.