Minneapolis Decks
A studio concept for Minneapolis Decks — a twenty-five year old Twin Cities deck builder who outlasts the houses they build on.
Minneapolis Decks designs and builds custom cedar, composite, and stone decks for the Twin Cities and the surrounding Lakes Area. Their differentiator is below the surface — galvanized steel substructure with a twenty-five-year frame warranty, used since before any competitor offered it.
The marketing problem isn’t one buyer — it’s two. A lakehome owner in Excelsior buying a three-level cedar build with a fieldstone fireplace shares almost nothing with a young family in Edina pricing out a four-hundred-square-foot back-yard upgrade. One brand. Two completely different reads.
The strategy
One crew.
Two driveways.
Path 01 · The lakehome
Multi-level cedar over Summit Steel. Fieldstone fireplace on the upper deck, dock connection on the lower. The destination project. They want to see the build sheet, the substructure, the species.
Path 02 · The back yard
Suburban yard, four hundred square feet, kids and a grill. They want to picture it before they spend twenty thousand. They need the consultation kit on the kitchen counter for a week.
What we made first
The wordmark.
Marcellus set in full Roman caps with wide tracking, a thin slate-blue rule beneath, and the place + date in tracked-out Mona Sans small caps. The Roman inscriptional letterforms read like a stone-carved monument or a watch-dial wordmark, not a contractor’s letterhead.
Twin Cities + Lakes Area · Est. 2000Path 02 · Selected work
The marketing site.
The back-yard buyer’s front door. Real projects on the page, the steel-substructure differentiator on the home, and a consult form that promises what we actually do — come measure, listen, leave, and design before we contract.
Path 01 · Selected work
The project sheet.
One page, faxable, the document a lakehome buyer hands to their architect. A featured Lake Minnetonka build with a gradient elevation rule from main entry down to the waterside, materials called out the way an installer reads them, and the substructure spec on the front instead of buried.
Project Sheet
Build #024-12 · Composite
Twin Cities + Lakes Area · Edina, MN
Lake Minnetonka · Deephaven
Down to the dock.
Built once.
Trex Transcend composite on a 1962 lakehome in Deephaven. Two levels stepping down to the water, black aluminum cable rail throughout, integrated LED step lighting. 3D-designed, permitted, and built — one crew, start to finish.
1,140
Sq. Ft.
2
Levels
25 yr
Trex Warranty
What you’re standing on
- DeckingTrex Transcend composite, Gravel Path · hidden fastener
- SubstructurePressure-treated lumber · galvanized hardware
- RailingsTrex black aluminum cable · cedar top cap
- LightingTrex Signature LED step lights · dimmable
- Design3D computer rendering · Alex Knapp, founder
Minneapolis Decks · 6505 Cecilia Cir, Edina, MN 55439 · MN Lic. #BC740807
(952) 767-5550 · Alex@minneapolisdecks.com
minneapolisdecks.com
Front side · 8.5 × 11 · Warm paper, navy-to-brass elevation rule, address-and-license footer.
Path 02 · Selected work
The consultation kit.
A short take-home for back-yard buyers booking a consult. Cover sets the tone — obsidian, a brass hairline, a serif statement of how the build moves, and the three promises ("3-D first. Fixed for 60. One crew.") signed by Alex. Inside is the six-week timeline, the five steps, and what we ask of the homeowner.
Consultation Kit
MN Lic. #BC740807
Twin Cities + Lakes Area · Edina, MN
For the Homeowner
Before we
build anything,
we sit down.
What this kit is, what we’ll bring to the first meeting, and the two things we’ll need from you.
3-D first.
You see the deck in render before any paperwork is signed.
Fixed for 60.
The estimate doesn’t move. What we quote is what you pay.
One crew.
Same faces in your yard from day one through walkthrough.
Consultation Kit · Section 02
How a build moves
The Process
Six weeks. Five steps.
We don’t put a shovel in the ground until you’ve seen renderings, signed an estimate that won’t move, and met the crew that will be in your yard.
- 01Week 1
Site visit
Alex walks the yard with you. We measure, we listen, we leave.
- 02Weeks 2–3
Design + 3-D render
You see your deck in 3-D before any paperwork. Materials, rail, lighting — all to scale.
- 03Week 3
Fixed estimate
One number, locked for 60 days. No surprise change orders once we break ground.
- 04Weeks 4–6
Permit + build
We pull the permit. The same crew that starts your deck finishes it.
- 05Week 6
Walkthrough
Every board, every screw, every light. Final payment comes after, not before.
What we bring
- –Sample boards — Trex + cedar top cap
- –Three nearby builds you can drive by
- –A blank page and a pencil
What we ask of you
- –Your survey or plat, if you have one
- –An honest budget range
Minneapolis Decks · 6505 Cecilia Cir, Edina, MN · MN Lic. #BC740807
(952) 767-5550 · Alex@minneapolisdecks.com
minneapolisdecks.com
12-page booklet · Cover and the timeline spread shown.
Path 01 + 02 · Selected work
The yard sign.
Staked at the curb during every build. Reads from the road, sits on the lawn for two months, and stays after the build is done if the homeowner wants. Every yard becomes its own salesperson — back yard or lakeshore.
24 × 18 inches · White panel with a brass border, the wordmark, and the build line.
Path 02 · Selected work
The fixed estimate.
Sent the day after the consultation. Tactile, one card, the number in serif type on a real piece of paper. The twenty-five year frame warranty seal lives on the bottom half. Locked for sixty days at a quote-specific URL. Built so the homeowner shows it to their spouse and the spouse says yes.
Fixed Estimate · Locked 60 Days
Prepared for
The Wahl family
Wayzata backyard · 480 sq. ft. · Single level cedar with railing
Issued
05.11.2026
Valid through
07.10.2026
- Western red cedar decking — 480 sf$14,640.00
- Summit Steel substructure — 25 yr$5,820.00
- Aluminum cable rail w/ cedar cap — 56 lf$3,920.00
- Permits + design + cleanupINCLUDED
Fixed Total
$24,380.00
Locked 60 Days · No Change Orders
25-Year
FRAME
Steel substructure, twenty-five years. Cedar surface, lifetime against rot. Transferable when you sell.
5 × 7 oversize postcard · Warm paper, obsidian header, brass warranty seal.
Path 02 · Selected work
The paid social.
Geo-targeted to lakeshore zips for the spring booking window. Obsidian backdrop, a single thin brass rule, the line that tells the truth: you build a deck once and stand on it for thirty years.
1080 × 1080 · Static · Obsidian + brass.
The brand system
Identity.
Twin Cities + Lakes Area · Est. 2000Palette
Obsidian
#15181C
Lake
#1F3A4D
Mist
#5A6E7A
Brass
#B89160
Smoked Oak
#3E342A
Type
Marcellus
Display · Roman inscriptional serif by Astigmatic. The wordmark, all headlines, the price.
Mona Sans
Body · GitHub’s premium humanist grotesque. UI, body, the small caps under the wordmark.
Why this works
Most deck builders sell on photos. This one sells on what you can’t see.
Every deck builder shows the same lifestyle photography — family, sunset, glass of wine. Minneapolis Decks owns the substructure conversation: galvanized steel, twenty-five year frame warranty, the reason the deck still stands at year thirty. The brand puts that fact on the front of the spec sheet, the yard sign, the home page. Differentiation isn’t new photography. It’s a fact nobody else mentions.
Built something good and want a brand that says so?
david@marketing-lions.com