How the two differ in kind
Before taste gets a vote, look at the ground. A deck is a structure — footings, posts, a frame — and structures do not care what the ground under them looks like: a slope, a rocky grade, a metre of fall across the garden are all just different post lengths. A patio is a finished surface ON the ground: every centimetre of slope must be excavated, retained or accepted, and cut-and-fill on a real slope can cost more than the entire surface going on top of it.
Height is the second decider. A door threshold well above grade wants a deck at exactly that level — the patio alternative is steps down and a level change in daily life. A door at grade wants a patio; building a low deck there means a frame in the splash zone doing nothing a slab would not do better.
Then comes the ownership contract. Timber asks for its ritual — wash and re-oil or re-stain on a cycle, board replacement eventually, and fasteners backed out by seasons of movement. Pavers ask for weed control in the joints and a re-sand every few years. One is a relationship; the other is furniture.
The factors that actually differ
Show
| Timber deck | Paver patio | |
|---|---|---|
| Sloped or poor ground | Its natural habitat — longer posts, same deck. | Excavation, retaining and drainage before a single unit is laid. |
| Door threshold height | Meets any height exactly; step-free indoor-outdoor flow. | Lives at grade; a high threshold means steps. |
| Maintenance contract | Recoat cycle, seasonal fastener checks, eventual board swaps. | Joint weeds and periodic re-sanding; the units themselves just sit there. |
| Fire and embers | Timber near the barbecue is a management question. | Masonry does not care. |
| Underneath | Usable void — storage, or a skirted dead zone that wildlife loves. | No void; services below are under a liftable surface, which trumps a framed one. |
| Lifespan character | A maintained deck lasts decades; an unmaintained one announces itself. | Ages by settling, which is repairable unit by unit. |
| Sloping ground | Spans over it on posts of varying height. The steeper the ground, the more a deck wins. | Needs the ground brought to level and compacted, which on a slope means retaining, importing or excavating. |
| Level relative to the house | Can meet a threshold without a step, because it is built up to it. | Must finish a code margin BELOW the damp-proof course, which usually means a step down from the door — and raising a patio to door level is a recognised route to damp in the wall. |
| What is underneath | A ventilated void that must stay ventilated and, ideally, accessible. Blocking it is what rots a deck from below. | A compacted sub-base. Once built, nothing underneath needs attention. |
| Slip in the wet | Algae on damp timber is genuinely slippery, and grooved boards trap water and debris in the grooves rather than shedding them. | Also slippery with algae, but easier to clean and available with a textured or riven surface. |
| Maintenance | A cycle: clean, treat, replace boards, and eventually the frame. Timber outdoors is a maintained asset. | Weeding the joints, occasional re-sanding, and lifting and relaying anything that has settled. |
| Lifespan | Decades for the frame if detailed to keep water off end grain; less for the boards, which are replaceable. | Effectively indefinite, because the units are renewable and the sub-base does not wear out. |
Which one, and when
Choose timber deck when…
- The ground slopes or the door sits high — the frame solves what earthworks would.
- Barefoot warmth and the timber look are the point of the space.
- You accept the recoat ritual as part of owning it.
Choose paver patio when…
- Flat ground at door level — the patio's home fixture.
- Minimum maintenance is the requirement, not a preference.
- Fire pits, planters and point loads that timber would need designing around.
Now run your own numbers
This page holds no prices on purpose — a national average is wrong for almost every real project. Quantify both options with your dimensions and your local quotes.
Frequently asked questions
- Which is cheaper to build?
- On flat ground at grade, the patio usually wins: base, sand, units versus footings, frame, boards and railings. On a slope the ledger flips fast — the deck's extra cost is longer posts, while the patio's is earthworks, retaining walls and drainage. Price BOTH against your actual ground with the two calculators; the site conditions dominate the material list.
- Does a deck need a permit when a patio doesn't?
- Frequently, yes: decks above modest heights trigger structural, railing and sometimes setback rules, while a ground-level patio is often exempt landscaping. Rules vary by jurisdiction — check before designing, because 'just under the trigger height' is a real and legitimate design strategy.
- Composite decking — does it change the comparison?
- It trades the recoat ritual for a higher material price and keeps everything structural the same: same frame, same footings, same slope advantages. Think of it as moving the deck toward the patio's maintenance contract while keeping the deck's ground-and-height superpowers — at a price that narrows the patio's flat-ground cost win.
- Which is better on a sloping garden?
- A deck, usually by a wide margin, and the steeper the slope the clearer it becomes. A deck spans over the ground on posts cut to length, so the earthworks are a set of holes rather than a re-shaping of the garden. A patio on the same slope needs the area cut into the bank or built out on fill, both of which mean retaining structure, drainage behind it, and a great deal of material moved. The crossover is roughly where the level difference stops being something a couple of steps absorb. The other consideration is what the space under a raised deck becomes: useful storage if it is accessible and ventilated, and a damp, unreachable void collecting leaves if it is not.
- How far below the damp-proof course does a patio have to be?
- Enough that splash and standing water cannot reach the wall above the damp-proof course — commonly a couple of brick courses, with the exact figure set by the local code. It is not a formality: a patio built up to or above the damp-proof course bridges it, and moisture then rises into the wall above, producing damp that appears internally and is expensive to trace. The other half is falls: the surface must drain away from the building, not toward it. Where a level threshold is genuinely required for accessibility, the detail is a drainage channel immediately outside the door with a gap behind it rather than a raised patio, and that channel is a designed element with an outlet.
- Why is my decking so slippery?
- Algae, in almost every case, and grooved boards make it worse rather than better. The grooves were sold as a slip feature and they act as channels that hold water, dirt and organic debris — which is exactly what algae needs — while a smooth board sheds. Cleaning with an appropriate treatment restores it, and a board laid groove-side down, which many manufacturers permit, performs better. The positions that stay slippery are the ones in shade with poor air movement, and no surface treatment fixes a deck that never dries. If a deck is permanently damp and shaded, the honest answer is that it is in the wrong place for timber.
- Does every deck post need its own footing?
- Yes, and the footing does two different jobs depending on the deck. On a low deck it carries vertical load, and the size follows from the tributary area and the ground's bearing capacity. On a raised deck it also resists overturning, because a tall post with a deck on top is a cantilever under any lateral load, and that is a moment the footing has to take. In frost climates the footing must reach below the frost line or be frost-protected, because a footing that heaves lifts one corner of the deck. And the post must not sit in the concrete: a post base that keeps end grain clear of standing water is what decides whether the deck lasts twenty years or eight.