Deck Designer

You've heard the expression measure twice, cut once. The same principle applies to deck design. Before you install your first joist or deck board, you'll want to have a deck design that's completely planned out from the foundation to the ledger board. But you probably don't want to spend your entire spring or summer designing it. You want to go outside and build.

So use SmartDraw's deck planner to design a deck to be the envy of your neighbors.

Start with a deck design template and quickly drag-and-drop deck elements like boards, railings, planters, and even patio furniture. Deck designing made simple!

• Don't Forget to Get a Permit
  You could face fines or may even have to tear down all your hard work if you don't get the right permits before you start building your deck. Find out what codes you have to follow in your area and make sure you create your deck plan accordingly.
• Use Protection
  Protect your hard deck design work from the elements whether it be rain, excessive sun, or frost. Make sure you apply both paint and an oil or water-based sealant.
• How to Make Sure Your Deck is Flat
  Your boards won't always be perfectly flat. To help flatten them out, always install them with the curves or crown going upward. That way as the deck sags over time, they will flatten out.

• Elevation posts
• Support and surface boards
• Planters and flowers
• Hot tubs and Jacuzzis
• Umbrellas and patio furniture
• Benches

Need to create a jaw-dropping landscape to go with your impressive deck design? We also offer a complete landscape design software package.

• Pre-Made Deck Designs and Patio Designs
  The included deck design examples will give you a much needed head start. In many cases, all you have to do is customize an existing professionally designed example. You'll spend more time building, less time designing.
• All the Deck Design Visuals You Need
  SmartDraw's extensive libraries will let you quickly stamp everything from outdoor spas to umbrellas and benches. If for some reason you don't see what you need, you can even create your own custom library of deck design symbols.
• Automatic Dimensions
  You can show dimensions and area in a single click or hide them if your deck design feels too busy. To change the length of a board, you can drag-and-drop the ends of it or you can just type in a new dimension and the board will stretch or shrink to the correct size.
• Free Support
  Have a question? Call or email us. SmartDraw experts are standing by ready to help, for free!

The beauty of working with SmartDraw is that you can design your deck or patio on a Windows^® machine or a Mac^® laptop or really any other platform with an internet connection. Whether you're in the office, at home, or on the go, you'll enjoy the full set of features, symbols, and high-quality output you get only with SmartDraw's deck design app.

Once your design is complete, show it off in a variety of common graphics formats such as a PDF or PNG. You can also export it to any Office^® or G Suite^® application in just a few easy clicks.

SmartDraw helps you get started with built-in templates and examples. Use them as your starting point or just browse through them for inspiration.