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Plans For Building A Pergola

If you have plans for building a pergola, you're 80% of the way there. When you pay a professional to build your pergola, most of his work will be in the pergola design phase. Pergolas are not a one size fit all answer - each is slightly unique - as it should be. Here are some tips to help you create your plans for building a pergola.

Pergola Plans

Timothy Payn

Pergola plans are, in fact, hard to come by. If you want to know how to build a pergola yourself, you may find you're up against it to locate decent advice.

There is no need to panic. Several reputable companies offer pergola plans and how-to guides at very reasonable prices.

Craftsmanship, skill and an excellent detailed plan are all essential to a good pergola design. Second to a good selection of pergola plans is sensible advice on materials, which wood will produce particular effects, how different woods are worked and maintained, and what sort of aesthetic pleasure they bring.

But to concentrate on pergola plans, they should be well presented and illustrated to make your choice of design straightforward. You should be able to visualize how the end structure will look in your individual and particular garden.

Let's face it, building your pergola from pergola plans will save you up to 80% over hiring a contractor. And a pergola isn't that difficult to construct yourself, even if you've never done it before. All you need are good pergola plans.

So why even consider building your own pergola? When you are quoted up to $6,000 by builders to put one up, that's enough incentive in itself. What is even more frustrating is when contractors simply order a prefabricated kit costing 4 to 6 times the price of ordering the materials yourself. That normally amounts to over $1,000 just for making a call to place the order. You could have done that yourself!

Building contractors are turning such a quick buck from erecting pergolas, they just don't have the financial carrot proffered to induce them to lower their prices. Effectively there is no competition. Well, no competition from other contractors. The simple fact is that pergola kit builders are making a fortune from people who are unaware they could do exactly the same job, and much better, from easy plans and buying their own materials.

For virtually anyone with basic domestic tools, the ability to get on the phone and place orders for materials or visit their local hardware store, and in possession of a how to build a pergola guide, there is simply no excuse for not putting up their own pergola to suit their own tastes and at a fraction of commercial prices.

Any good pergola build guide will list all the materials to purchase, how to go about dealing with suppliers, the tools required for the job, detailed plans and building methods. It really is not complicated.

You will normally need an assistant, but a standard pergola done yourself should never take more than a day, possibly two. Even if you do not want to take on the job yourself, getting plans and employing a handyman and his mate will save you at least 50% off the cost of taking on a pergola contractor.

To give you some idea of costs, the materials I required for my own pergola amounted to a grand total of $376. (I did it myself, so that was my total expenditure, apart from plans I found online which cost me around $30.) I then asked my much used, and very useful, handyman for a quote to erect the pergola from the plans I showed him. He quoted me $370. How much do you think three pergola contractors quoted me for the exact same job? $3,105, $3,900 and $4,800. It really does beggar belief, doesn't it?

Of course, it is entirely your own choice, but I would strongly advise you to check out online pergola plans which include both designs and construction methods.

Tim's pergola web page here: http://technohelpblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/pergola-plans.html