Best Decking Timber in NZ: Kwila vs Pine vs Vitex vs Garapa

This is the comparison most Palmerston North homeowners make. Pine is the affordable choice: it is NZ-grown, H3.2 treated, and takes stain in any colour. It is softer, so it marks and splinters more as it ages, and it needs staining every year or two to look its best. Kwila costs more but is much harder, naturally durable and has a rich colour that pine cannot match. It bleeds tannin when new and wants oiling once a year to hold its colour.

If budget is the main driver, pine on a well-built frame is a good deck. If you want a deck that looks premium and wears hard, kwila is worth the extra. More on our pine decks and timber decking pages.

Purpleheart (purple heart) decking

An extremely hard, dense tropical hardwood with a striking purple colour that mellows to brown with sun. Very durable, but hard to work and usually expensive.

Accoya decking

Radiata pine that has been chemically modified (acetylated) to make it very stable and durable. It moves less than most timbers and takes coatings well, but it is at the premium end on price.

Abodo decking

A NZ-made, thermally modified timber. Heat treatment makes it more stable and durable than untreated wood without chemical preservatives. It has a warm brown colour that greys off without oil.

Macrocarpa decking

NZ-grown macrocarpa has a lovely golden colour and smell, but it is only moderately durable. It is better suited to decks well clear of the ground with good airflow, and needs regular oiling.