Planning a deck and a fence for the same yard
If you want both, plan them together, even if one gets built months after the other. The deck stairs decide where people step into the yard, and that path usually ends at a gate. A fence line drawn on its own can put the gate far from where the stairs come down. Sketch both on one drawing of the lot so the gate sits on the path you will actually walk.
In many yards it makes sense to build the deck first. Deck lumber and the equipment for digging footings have to reach the backyard, and on most lots they come through a side yard. Once a fence closes that side, everything has to fit through a gate. If the fence has to come first, say because a dog needs a yard now, plan a gate wide enough for materials to pass. A drive gate can do that job, and later it lets a mower or a trailer through.
Choosing materials and heights that work together
The deck and the fence do not need to be the same material, but they should look like they were chosen together. Cedar and pressure treated pine weather differently, so a bare cedar fence beside a bare pine deck usually will not match in color. Using the same stain on both helps, though the two woods take stain a little differently, so test it on a scrap of each first. Composite deck boards come in set colors and generally are not stained. With composite, pick a fence stain close to the deck color instead of chasing an exact match.
A raised deck changes what a fence can hide. Standing on the deck, you are above the yard, and a privacy fence of the usual height may not block your view into the yard next door. When privacy up on the deck matters, a screen along one side of the deck often does more than a taller fence. Many cities and HOAs cap fence height anyway, and the limits vary by address. Read more about raised decks on sloped lots and choosing a privacy fence style.
What to gather before you ask for an estimate
Photos taken after a hard rain are worth having. They show where water sits, which matters for deck footings and for the bottom of a fence. Find your survey or plat too. It shows where the lot lines run and whether an easement crosses the yard, and you may have gotten a copy with the closing papers when you bought the house. The guide on fences and property lines explains why the lines come first.
In an HOA, pull the covenants and the architectural guidelines before anything is drawn, and find out how the committee wants requests sent in. Knowing the limits on fence height and stain color early keeps the plan from being drawn twice. It also helps to note anything buried that the 811 utility locators usually do not mark, since they mark lines that member utilities own and not private ones like sprinkler lines or septic lines. For the submission itself, see the HOA approval guide.
