Yep -- I remember seeing your collection of photos w/ a monster rock in the bucket. I thought of those pictures when I picked up that rock today. I'm amazed at how easily it just rolled back in and was picked up. When I found out my building contractor used his truck to pull it out of the hole where the sonet tube needed to go, I didn't think the tractor would be able to pick it up and thought I might have difficulty rolling it away -- I was completely wrong. It could be rolled with ease and moved by picking the whole thing up in the bucket no problem.
I'm using Trex for decking. The beams, footings, and joists are pressure treated. The decking and railings are all composite -- I wanted a maintenance free deck since my original mahogany decking looked like petrified wood from the prehistoric era from whethering. The railing isn't Trex because my building contractor has had issues w/ it cracking. He's using another brand that installs more solid and allows the used of a 4x4 post inside the composite railing so the posts around the deck end up nice and solid.
I've got another thread I posted that shows the Greenline post hole digger we used to dig 6 sonet tube holes. That worked great.
The tractor has been very useful on the deck project even though I'm not doing the actual construction. I'm confident I could build it, but it would take me forever, probably wouldn't be quite as straight and true (this guy is very accurate and does a great job) and we want the deck completed for a reunion party coming up.