Document the site first
Record layout, slope, sun exposure, and drainage. Photos and rough measurements make the first conversation more useful.
Read the local context
The city's Old West Side, platted starting in 1845 and listed on the National Register in 1972, still carries two-story frame houses built for a fast-growing 19th-century college town -- about 85% clapboard-clad, the rest brick or stucco -- later filled in with Dutch Colonials, bungalows, and Tudor cottages on small lots. Underneath that older core and the newer subdivisions built across Washtenaw County sits a mix of sand, gravel, and clay-rich glacial till left by retreating ice roughly 14,000 years ago -- fertile ground that also drains poorly, one reason deck footing and outdoor-structure work stays in steady demand across the area.
Ask what gets covered up
A workable scope addresses layout, setbacks, permitting, footings sunk below the frost line into glacial till, ledger flashing, stair and guard framing, and material access on a sloped lot. The written scope should explain prep and verification work that won't be visible once it's complete.
Weigh the complete scope
Look for protection, access, materials, permitting, testing, cleanup, restoration, exclusions, warranty, and change-order terms.
What official local sources add
Two unrelated things govern a deck here. On a parcel inside the 2021 Floodplain Management Overlay District, floodplain standards can reach whether and how a structure may be placed — a siting question best answered before design. Everywhere else in the city the binding constraint is frost: southeast Michigan frost depth governs footing design, and a footing that does not reach below it will heave a little more each winter, racking the frame and stressing the ledger connection at the house.
Sources were reviewed June 20, 2026. Confirm parcel-specific flood zones, historic-district status, permits, and current requirements with the relevant authority before authorizing work.