Composite vs wood deck, a 25-year total cost breakdown

Published March 15, 2026 by the DeckCalc team

Composite deck with outdoor patio seating showing long-term outdoor living value — Photo via Pexels

Every homeowner pricing a deck hits the same fork. Wood costs half as much up front, but the sales rep at the Home Depot contractor desk keeps saying composite "pays for itself in 10 years." Is that true? I ran the numbers on a standard 320 sqft deck across three materials over 25 years. Results below.

The build cost

A 320 sqft ground-level deck with 52 linear feet of railing and 4 stairs, contractor-installed, breaks down like this in 2026 pricing:

Pressure-treated pine: $7,040 deck + $1,560 wood railing + $800 wood stairs + $200 permit = $9,600
Western red cedar: $9,600 deck + $1,560 wood railing + $800 wood stairs + $200 permit = $12,160
Trex Enhance (mid composite): $12,800 deck + $3,640 composite railing + $1,200 composite stairs + $200 permit = $17,840
Trex Transcend (premium composite): $16,000 deck + $3,640 composite railing + $1,200 composite stairs + $200 permit = $21,040

The spread between pressure-treated and premium composite on day one is $11,440. Nothing else in residential home improvement has that kind of material-choice variance for the same footprint.

Year 1, the first stain

PT and cedar both need a first coat of penetrating stain in year one, typically at month 8 after the wood has dried enough to absorb. I use Ready Seal natural cedar tone on cedar and a semi-transparent redwood stain on PT. Costs: 3 gallons at $55, 8 hours of my time, plus cleaning the deck with oxygenated cleaner first. Material cost $165. Time cost, if you value your Saturday at $50/hr, $400. Composite: zero maintenance year one. Cedar and PT are already at a $165 disadvantage.

Year 3, re-stain

PT needs a re-stain every 2 to 3 years in most climates. Cedar every 2 to 3. Call it $165 in materials and a full Saturday at year 3. Composite still zero. PT and cedar now at $330 behind composite on maintenance alone.

Year 5, first board replacement on PT

A 320 sqft PT deck starts showing cracked or cupped boards around year 5 to 6, usually 3 to 6 boards per sqft. I budget $85 per board replacement (5/4 x 6 x 12 ft PT board from Home Depot plus screws plus time). Six boards: $510. Cedar holds up better here. Composite: nothing wrong. PT now $840 behind composite just in maintenance.

Year 6, re-stain cedar

Cedar gets another stain coat. Another $165. Running total.

Year 10, the big picture

By year 10 the running maintenance total looks like this:

PT: stain year 1, 3, 6, 9 = $660 + 10-15 board replacements = $1,270. Total maintenance: $1,930
Cedar: stain year 1, 3, 6, 9 = $660 + 4-6 board replacements = $510. Total maintenance: $1,170
Trex Enhance: cleaner twice = $80. Total maintenance: $80
Trex Transcend: cleaner twice = $80. Total maintenance: $80

10-year TCO (install + maintenance):

PT: $9,600 + $1,930 = $11,530
Cedar: $12,160 + $1,170 = $13,330
Trex Enhance: $17,840 + $80 = $17,920
Trex Transcend: $21,040 + $80 = $21,120

PT still wins by $6,390 over Trex Enhance at year 10. The "pays back in 10 years" pitch is not accurate. Composite doesn't catch up in a decade.

Year 15, the inflection point

Between year 12 and year 17 is where PT boards start to fail faster than the homeowner can stay ahead of it. Cupping becomes severe. Screws start to back out. Structural joists can start showing rot if the flashing on the ledger wasn't done right. Most PT decks see a 20 to 30 percent board replacement between year 12 and year 17, which is an $1,800 to $2,700 line item all at once, or a full re-skin of the deck at around $4,500 in materials plus labor if you're paying someone.

Cedar extends that failure curve by 5 to 7 years. Composite doesn't have a failure curve in that timeframe; the 25-year warranty on Trex Enhance and 30-year warranty on Transcend are both realistic in my observation. The one Trex Enhance deck I know that's 14 years old looks essentially new, minus minor color fade.

Year 20, composite catches up

20-year TCO, assuming PT gets a re-skin at year 17:

PT: $9,600 + $1,930 (yr 1-10) + $4,500 (yr 17 re-skin) + $1,200 (yr 11-20 maintenance) = $17,230
Cedar: $12,160 + $1,170 + $800 (yr 11-20) = $14,130
Trex Enhance: $17,840 + $160 = $18,000
Trex Transcend: $21,040 + $160 = $21,200

At year 20 cedar wins. PT and Trex Enhance are basically tied. Premium composite is still the most expensive.

Year 25, the full picture

At 25 years most PT decks need full replacement. Add another $9,600 or so in materials and labor to replace. Cedar usually needs 40 to 50 percent board replacement plus structural review. Composite keeps going.

PT with full replacement at year 25: roughly $27,000 lifetime
Cedar with partial rebuild: roughly $19,000 lifetime
Trex Enhance: $18,200 lifetime
Trex Transcend: $21,400 lifetime

So composite genuinely does pay back, but the crossover is year 18 to 22, not year 10. The sales rep is shading the truth.

What this means for your decision

If you're staying in the house 10 years or less, pressure-treated is the right call on cost. Save the $10k and spend it on something else.

If you're staying 15 to 20 years, cedar is the sweet spot. Real wood look, lower maintenance than PT, reasonable install cost.

If you're staying 20 plus years or this is your forever home, composite wins. Trex Enhance for mid-budget, Trex Transcend if you want the premium look. Azek cellular PVC is the most durable long-term but the upfront premium is hardest to justify unless you specifically need zero-organic content (termite pressure, coastal salt air, fire code).

The real-life factor nobody talks about

The homeowner who picks PT and then doesn't stain it on schedule gets the worst of both worlds: cheap deck that fails in year 8 because nobody maintained it. If you know you won't stain it on time (be honest with yourself), the pencils-out calc tilts toward composite even if you're only staying 10 years, because the "I\'ll stain it this spring" promise you make in year 2 is usually broken by year 4.

I stain mine every spring. It's a Memorial Day tradition, cleaning the deck Saturday and staining Sunday. If that sounds awful, pick composite. If it sounds like a decent way to spend a Sunday with a cooler and a Bluetooth speaker, PT or cedar is fine.

Run your own numbers

Plug your specific deck size, material, and options into the DeckCalc home page for your install cost. Then apply your own maintenance assumptions to get the real 10, 20, and 25-year TCO. The math is transparent. No lead form. No sales call.