We hired Southern Outdoor Appeal to build a composite deck around a ground pool in the spring of 2018. We contacted the company August of 2023 with our concerns that the deck was falling apart and had Matt Channel come look at it. He did nothing about it and in June of 2024 he and Southern Outdoor Appeal accept no responsibility and claim its normal wear and tear. Look at the pictures. read more

See all

Initially we were excited to work with Matt and Sunnie Channel- Matt has great charisma and talked over details with us about a deck design we came up with- offering tips on what he would do differently and truly appearing to care about the project. They provided a great design that we were happy with so we decided to move forward with Southern Outdoor Appeal. We signed our contract in February 2024 with written assurance that the project would be complete by the end of May/first week of June as I was planning my daughters 2nd birthday party that was going to be held in the backyard and needed it to be complete by then. Months went by without any movement. I began emailing asking when we would expect to begin framing, worried we were pushing close to the end of May and no work had begun and I was met with many excuses. I was then informed Matt tried to subcontract the job and was planning to keep the 30% deposit we placed in February and there was no discussion about this with him or Sunnie. They expected the company they were trying to dump our project on to eat this cost and finish what had not even begun. It all unraveled more from here when I personally spoke with three other neighbors in Circle C who were dealing with the same situation. Some of these families lost much more than the almost $6k we put down. 1+ years have gone by without movement for some of these other families which is appalling. They are STILL met with excuses as to why no work has been completed but are so financially invested they don't know what to do. When my husband called to cancel the project and request our 30% deposit back (as no work AT ALL had begun), he was met with resistance from Matt. He even mentioned my daughters birthday party as a reason not to cancel the project- trying to guilt us into continuing the project so we could host the party. From our perspective, he likely had no intention to ever begin the project/or could have begun framing and halted work after receiving more payment installations-as is the case with other families in the Circle C area. On top of all of this- Matts wife, Sunnie, finally replied to one of my many emails regarding refund after I offered to pay $1000 for two 20min or less visits by Matt for his "time" but asked they pay the difference from the 30% deposit. In her email, she agreed to this repayment plan and even sent a credit memo. I waited months and never received any money. She finally cancelled my Venmo request days ago (which is how I initially paid them)- indicating she has no intention of fulfilling her side of the deal. They have no right to my or anyone else's money as it appears they are not using it toward its intended purpose. God forbid something awful is going on behind closed doors for their family but if that's the case, don't even start a project you know you can't finish. It is not fair to the people who are investing/trusting them. I highly encourage anyone considering working with them to not. Do not make the same mistake we did. read more

Great Choice!! Matt and his crew are my go to for outdoor projects. Design and build maintaining my budget was key, zero surprises and excellent work, thanks again Matt! read more

Unprofessional and lacks ability to overcome small problems. Left my yard in a complete wreck. I expect some damage sure, but this was way beyond. Cody Pools recommended them and I'm sorry I trusted them. Go with anyone else. But let me get more detailed: Showed up for 3rd or so visit for what I assumed was to move project forward, give me a start date, start work, etc. and when I started referencing plans / blue prints had no idea what I was talking about. I asked if he'd looked at the plans he'd been emailed weeks prior and hadn't. Printed him out a copy. Spoke about deck and how we'd need to dig into the ground to keep it flush with the doors. Him being unprepared at this stage had me rethinking using them. I called two other companies about the job. One couldn't do it in time and the other gave a quote slightly higher so I stuck with them. At a later meeting we're discussing something or other and he suddenly notices that I have a 1 foot cement slab around my house. He says he hasn't noticed this before and it will be extra to remove the cement. Not sure how he missed this after being at the house several times as it's clearly visible. He didn't know how much extra it would be to remove the concrete and I'm not sure if he charged me or not. Regardless, it's a big deal and will push things back. Once digging began the guys came and got me (I work from home) and said they ran into some plumbing pipes. I showed them a schematic of the outside plumbing and told them to dig up the pipes with a shovel to find the ones that were old vs the new ones. No one seemed to be digging so I grabbed a shovel and started doing it myself when a laborer decided to help me. We figured out the old vs new and I showed them active plumbing pipe leading to the clean out. Asked them not to break it as we had multiple family members coming in that night for the weekend. 15 minutes later they come and get me to tell me they busted the active sewer pipe. Couple of days later a guy is using a bobcat w/ a front end loader to dig and he starts chipping into a cement slab on our house and I'm yelling at him to stop. He stops and asks me why. I tell him because that's the foundation of our house. He looks, agrees and moves on. Glad I happened to be out there. The dirt from these two large decks has to go somewhere. Guy starts spreading the dirt on my lawn and I ask him why. He asks me if it's ok to spread it there instead of hauling it away. Sure I say, just put it in the low part and make sure it's spread out evenly. He puts the dirt on the road to get from the front yard to the backyard, the path everyone is taking to do this job, but it's not even close to being even and giant portions of cement, some cinder block big are sticking out. Also, large baseball bat sized tree roots, chunks of 4 inch diameter pvc and my favorite, rebar, are sticking out of the nearly impassable dirt road like a porcupine. I assume they aren't going to leave it that way. They do. I'm talking with the guy who is managing the pool part of the project and we're both shaking our heads at this freaking road on how it even seemed somewhat reasonable to leave it that way. The project manager tells me he'll make a special trip back out with his bobcat and fix the road and remove all of the debris. He does. The debris fills a truck bed. Once construction has begun on actual deck they call out an inspector to inspect something that hasn't been started yet. The inspector looks at me like, "Are you seeing what's happening here?" Our house is at the end of a slope where water regularly runs. Digging a large hole will hold water under the deck. Guy tells me he'll put sand or gravel underneath to act as a sieve, but instead puts some type of plastic down. Not sure those work the same way, but at this point I'm starting not to care. When it rains now water pools underneath our deck and is a mosquito breeding ground. It's getting better as I slowly build a barrier around the deck to wick away run off. The best part of this whole thing are their workers that do the actual labor, that actually build the deck. They are fast and do good work. I ask these guys not to leave screws laying around since I have a young child and plan to mow back there again once grass has been planted. To this day I have pulled 3 screws out of my lawn mower tires and find them on a regular basis. They used a very unique square headed screw. At our wrap up there was a 2 foot wide x 1+ foot deep moat around both decks. Piles and mounds of dirt create a lip on the moat so you can't simply walk off the deck. You have to jump the moat to get off the deck. I ask them if they are going to leave it like this. They say yes. Fine. I'll take care of it myself. At this point I just want them gone. read more

I was disappointed. After receiving their name from a neighbor who raved about them, they wouldn't even come to my house to bid a fence job. They asked me to just send them the dimensions from another bidder's info. I didn't select them. read more

After majority of the job was almost completed, they attempted to bill me for more than what they had originally estimated in an attempt to pass on what one of their subcontractors had over-billed them. And once the job was completed, they failed to respond to my repeated requests to correct my leaking pergola. I finally had to employ another contractor to correct the leaks. read more

Matt was great to work with and helped us design something we are really happy with. He communicated with us during every part of the process and answered all of our questions. We had a pergola, cement flooring and fire pit put into our backyard. Everything was done on time, and the end result was beyond our expectations. read more

We are thrilled with our outdoor kitchen structure built by Southern Outdoor Appeal. They made sure they understood what we wanted, made great suggestions, and delivered a structure that is everything we were hoping for and more. They have been great on followup and it was a pleasure to do business with them. They worked and coordinated well with my pool builder. I recommend them without reservation! read more

They turned my lifeless backyard into a beauty with the addition of a covered patio. Our roofline is unique and the patio blends into the house perfectly and ilooks like it was part of the original build. The owners were easy to work with and eveything was completed to expectations. We are proud of our patio and the feedback we've received from friends and neighbors further confirms the great job they did. I would highly recommend Southern Outdoor Appeal. read more

I recently embarked on a major project to extend my outdoor living area. We entertain a lot with family and friends. Our existing patio and pool deck is quite large, but during parties, we would often have folks congregate under the patio which congested the flow in/out of the house. My goal was to create additional seating away from the existing patio. To do this, we had to extend the existing pool deck by pouring additional concrete which would become the base for the new 8' x 10' cabana. I am extremly picky when it comes to contracting a company to do work at my home and I always get a minimum of 2-3 additional bids to ensure price competitiveness. The pricing was inline with the other bids I had recieved; and after careful consideration, I awarded the job to Matt and Southern Outdoor Appeal (SOA). One of the biggest reasons why I chose Matt and his company was the level of professionalism - from the initial site visit, to the proposal and on-going communication. Its clear that Matt sets a very high bar for his company and crew, as everyone we encountered throughout the entire project, was extremely professional and would always pick-up and clean the work area each day. As with any major project, there always seems to be issues that crop up. We had a major issue with the initial concrete pour, where the concrete started to crack almost immediately. JW, our site supervisor, worked with Matt to remedy the issue to my satisfaction; which resulted in the removal and repour of the slab. This is a HUGE testament to Matt and SOA. In my many dealings with other contractors, rennovators and remodelors, I would rate Matt and SOA at the very top in terms of customer service and overall product quality. Despite the concrete hiccup and rainy weather, the overall job moved along and was completed in a timely fashion. The extended patio and cabana were exactly as I had envisioned and we couldn't be more happy with the final result. I also had SOA redo my existing patio cover to match the cedar finish on the cabana so it appears as if they were built at the same time. If you are looking to create a unique, personalized outdoor living space, I would highly recommend Matt and Southern Outdoor Appeal. read more

We asked SOA to remove a set of windows and section of exterior wall and installed a sliding glass door at our home. They did great work, were always professional, seemed happy to answer our questions, and provided sound advice and guidance throughout the project. I also appreciated that they did a great job in communicating the project status and set our expectations on timing. Our sliding glass door works and looks great. read more

We interviewed several contractors to help us build a screened in porch before we received a referral for Matt and Southern Outdoor Appeal. We feel so lucky to have found him. Our project was done quickly and professionally. His subcontractors were easy to communicate with and would always confirm details with me to make sure we were all on the same page. I never had to call Matt to come out to the site. He was a consistent presence on this project and he, himself would show up to monitor every phase of the build. He also worked very well with our architect. Other subcontractors who have helped us with other parts of the house have commented on the quality and beauty of his build. I can not say enough good things about Matt and his company. They are prompt, reliable, and professional. Highly recommend. read more

I was very happy with our deck and porch addition. We had an issue with some of the wood separating after several years and they stood by their work with a fast and thorough solution to the problem. Highly recommend. read more

We used Southern Outdoor Appeal to put in our new cedar fence and was so pleased start to finish. From the price to the quality of the materials and craftsmanship were stellar. Matt Channel was who we worked with and everything was smooth and finally no more chain link fence! We are so happy we finally did it after years of talking about a new fence! read more

We recently had a backyard remodel done by Southern Outdoor Appeal. Matt Channel was incredible! He is responsive, creative, very friendly, respectful and communicated well. The contractors he works with are on time and were respectful of our time and time limitations. His mason and was particularly incredible - the work and time he put in to get everything done is worth mentioning. We were also very pleased/impressed with the carpentry and staining done by Matt's crew. Sunnie also provided us with up-to-date receipts and was always willing to discuss any questions we had. If changes happened in our construction/layout (as they always do when you are knee-deep in a remodel), Matt always made time to meet with us to discuss the complications/changes that occurred and we would develop a plan together to move forward. He was quick to appropriately fix any complications we encountered and responsive to our concerns at all points of the remodel. All in all, we were very pleased with our backyard remodel experience with Southern Outdoor Appeal. We absolutely recommend them! read more

Southern Outdoor Appeal added a balcony to our house that required structural alterations to the roof and the upstairs game room including framing, roofing, electrical, waterproofing, masonry, tile, ironwork, and painting (and probably others I don't even know about). The project ran like clockwork. Everything was clean and weather-proofed at the end of each day, and they even swept the yard with a magnet to find stray nails or staples. The finished product is beautiful, exactly what we hoped for. Best of all, we got four bids, and Southern Outdoor Appeal was significantly lower than the rest. All I can say is Hire This Company! You won't be sorry. These guys are professionals! read more

We're so glad we found Southern Outdoor Appeal and the project was great from start to finish. Our expectations were met and exceeded. They were very timely in contacting us and Matt, Sunnie, JW, and all involved were great to work with. They take pride in their workmanship and it shows, we could not be happier. We are looking forward to calling them back for future outdoor projects and highly recommend them! read more

We had SOA design and build the outdoor kitchen and patio of our dreams. Matt was always kind, respectful, and honest. From design to finish answered all of our questions and gave us many options and various pricing options to get us exactly what we wanted. We were always aware of what was next and when there would be a weather delay or hold up of some sort. We wanted a top notch job and we very happy with the quality and the follow through with every aspect of the job. Thanks Matt and Sunnie for a great experience. read more

I bought an older home in Austin and needed to have my deck replaced. After interviewing many (6) deck builders and carpenters, I was refered to Southern Outdoor Appeal. They replaced the top of my deck and did structural work that was needed. It looks beautiful, and I feel really good about the structural work. They are professional, use a contract, are members of the Better Business Bureau, honor their deadlines and schedules all for a very fair price. And they do remarkable work. I recommend them. read more

We recently had a tiger wood deck built with a pergola and outdoor kitchen. We could not be more pleased. The Beefeater grill with pizza hood is nothing short of amazing! We will be spending many hours out on this deck. We will gladly recommend Matt & his crew at Southern Outdoor Appeal. Great job guys! read more

I have nothing but good things to say about Southern Outdoor Appeal. They responded quickly to my initial request and were excellent at communicating with me throughout the project and beyond. The workmanship was superior, and there were no surprises at any point along the way. After the consultation and sale, the contractors who came and performed the actual work were a pleasure to have around. I highly recommend them! read more

Just had a fire pit and stone work done in my yard from Matt and his team. Cant be happier with the experience. Absolutely would recommend him and plan to use them again. read more