Why North Shore homes go composite
Composite suits two situations I see every week on the Lower North Shore: busy families who want the deck, not the deck maintenance — and shaded, leafy blocks where timber stays damp, grows moss and needs constant attention. A capped composite board keeps its colour, doesn't splinter, and cleans with soapy water. The trade-off is honest: it costs more per metre than pine or merbau, and in harsh western sun the darker colours run warm underfoot.
The brands, compared straight
ModWood is the Australian-made workhorse — solid boards, good value, colours that suit bush settings. Trex is the global benchmark for capped composite: excellent stain and fade resistance and the widest colour range. Millboard is the premium pick — hand-moulded from real oak masters with a resin surface, it's the composite people mistake for timber, priced accordingly. I install all three to the manufacturer's span and ventilation specs, which is what keeps the warranty valid — a detail cut-price installs routinely skip.
Built on the same bones as my timber decks
Composite boards are only as good as what's under them. Boards this stable show every dip in a lazy subframe, so I build the same engineered substructure I use for hardwood — correct joist centres for composite (usually tighter than timber), H4-treated or steel framing, and stainless-grade fixings for coastal air. If you're roofing part of it, I'll design deck andpergola together so posts land once, not twice.
An honest word on the downsides
Composite isn't magic. It can't be sanded back like hardwood if it's damaged; a board gets replaced instead. Dark colours get hot. And cheap no-name boards from importers fade and go brittle — the category's bad stories almost all start there, which is why I only install brands whose ten-year-old decks I can show you. If timber suits your home better, I'll say so — it's the same crew either way. Still weighing it up? Mydeck materials comparison puts composite and the hardwoods side by side, bushfire ratings included.