I purchased this to assist with rebuilding a deck. I helped a friend build a deck a few years ago and he had one of these and I loved it! With previous deck builds, it makes it nearly impossible to pull deck boards together and hold them tight enough by one person. With this, not only does it make it easier to pull the boards together but easy to hold them in place. Nearly all 5/4 decking has a small bow in it but this helps to pull that bow out and hold it in place. What would normally take a couple days to put deck boards on, especially if it is pretty high in the air like mine, now takes a couple hours.