Pergola Construction
Handis pergola construction puts an open-roof shade structure on a residential deck, patio, or backyard — Western Red Cedar timber-frame or powder-coated aluminum with motorized adjustable louvers, attached to the house with a ledger or freestanding on four to six concrete-set posts — from $5,000 for an 8-by-10 cedar plan to $30,000 for a large motorized aluminum louvered configuration. The deck that gets full afternoon sun from 2 PM to 7 PM in July and is unusable for the family dinner. The patio under the maple where the dappled shade only lands in a corner. The hot tub that the neighbor's second-floor window now overlooks. A pergola is the shade infrastructure that turns those spaces into usable summer rooms. Four variants below cover the budget natural-wood plan, the premium controlled-blade aluminum system, the attached-to-the-house configuration with the structural permit, and the freestanding plan that often clears the permit threshold entirely. Same crew, same concrete footings, same hardware torque spec on every build.
Variants
What Does Pergola Construction Include?
Pergola construction is the open-roof shade structure that sits on a residential deck, patio, or backyard — covering site review and post-location layout, footing dig with a power auger to 24 to 30 inches depending on the wind and snow load, concrete pour with Simpson ABA or ABU post-base anchors set in the wet pour, 48-hour concrete cure, post raise with a deck post jack, beam set with two installers, rafter install with chamfered tails, hardware torque to manufacturer or engineer-of-record spec, and finish detailing (cedar post-base trim, decorative post caps, rafter-end chamfer). Handis covers four pergola variants from $5,000. Each variant has its own page below with the build sequence, the material spec, and what the structural permit scope looks like.
Cedar Pergola
Western Red Cedar timber-frame — 6x6 posts, 4x8 or 6x8 beams, 2x6 or 2x8 rafters. The natural-wood pergola most Seattle backyards ask for. Cedar weathers silver in 12 to 18 months in PNW exposure, requires no sealing or staining (we recommend leaving it to weather naturally), and reads as warm honest woodwork rather than manufactured product. From $5,000 for an 8-by-10 freestanding plan, $11,000 for a 12-by-16 build. Best fit when the budget is in the $5,000 to $14,000 range and the look matters more than rain control.
Cedar Pergola — Western Red Cedar timber-frame, $5,000
Aluminum / Louvered Pergola
Powder-coated aluminum frame with motorized adjustable louvers — blades open in summer for shade with airflow, close in October for rain-shed through an integrated gutter, and the controller drops to a wall switch or a phone app. We install Struxure, Renson, Equinox, and Solara lines as trained dealer-installers so the manufacturer warranty stays in force. From $12,000 for a 10-by-10 motorized configuration, $25,000 for a 16-by-20 with integrated low-voltage LED. Best fit when you want the open-or-closed flexibility year-round and the budget supports the manufacturer premium.
Aluminum / Louvered Pergola — Struxure, Renson, Equinox, Solara, $12,000
Attached Pergola
Ledger-bolted to the house wall — typically along a deck rim or against a south- or west-facing wall — with two posts at the outer corners (smaller plans) or four posts on larger configurations. Structural building permit pulled by Handis on every attached configuration; engineer-of-record sign-off when the jurisdiction requires it. The ledger gets through-bolted into the rim joist with structural-screw fasteners, flashed at the top with a Z-flashing kit, and sealed against water intrusion behind the ledger. From $6,000 for a 10-by-12 attached cedar plan, $15,000 for a 10-by-12 attached louvered. Best fit when the deck or patio sits against the house and the look benefits from the structure tying visually to the building.
Attached Pergola — ledger-bolted to the house, permit pulled, $6,000
Freestanding Pergola
Four to six concrete-set posts, no house attachment — the structure stands on its own footings as a yard feature, a patio cover, or a hot-tub canopy. No ledger flashing, no rim-joist through-bolting, and on plans under 200 square feet usually no building permit (jurisdiction-dependent — we confirm on the booking call). From $6,000 for an 8-by-10 freestanding cedar plan, $16,000 for a 16-by-20 cedar build. Best fit when the structure sits in the middle of the yard or on a patio away from the house, or when avoiding the permit and the attached-structure complexity is the goal.
Freestanding Pergola — concrete-set posts, no house attachment, $6,000
Pergola Construction Pricing
Final pricing depends on size, material (cedar vs aluminum louvered), attachment (attached vs freestanding), and the structural permit scope on attached configurations. Each variant page below lists detailed pricing for that build type. Permit fees on attached pergolas pass through transparently as a named line item. Line-voltage lighting and motorized-louver line-power circuits are invoiced separately by the licensed electrician. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Tell us the footprint and whether it attaches to the house or stands free — we will quote the cedar plan, the louvered plan, or both so you can compare honestly.
Why Handis for Pergola Construction
The most common booking call we get is the homeowner who has been looking at pergola photos on Pinterest for a year, has a 10-by-12 deck or a 12-by-14 patio that needs shade from June through August, and cannot decide between cedar and aluminum louvered. The honest answer is the choice between accepting open-roof shade (cedar — rain falls through, sun filters in dappled light, the wood weathers silver) and paying for controlled-roof shade (aluminum louvered — blades open and close, rain sheds through an integrated gutter, the manufacturer warranty stays in force for a decade). Both are good answers; they solve different problems. A cedar pergola is a furniture-grade backyard feature for $5,000 to $14,000. A louvered system is a year-round outdoor-room infrastructure for $12,000 to $30,000. We quote both on the booking call so you can compare the numbers without a sales pitch and pick the one that matches the use case.
Concrete footings dug to depth, sized to wind load
Every freestanding pergola post sits on a concrete footing dug with a power auger to 24 to 30 inches below grade — below the frost line for the King and Snohomish County jurisdictions and sized to the wind-load calc for the structure. Simpson ABA or ABU post-base anchors set in fresh concrete, 48-hour concrete cure before the post goes up. Footings are not optional structure — they are the structure. A pergola on a buried 4x4 (the DIY-handbook shortcut) leans within five years; a pergola on a properly sized footing stays plumb for the life of the cedar.
Western Red Cedar on every wood pergola — heartwood when available
We build wood pergolas in Western Red Cedar — heartwood when we can source it (the darker, denser, more rot-resistant inner cuts), structural-grade clear when heartwood is unavailable. Pressure-treated pine is not a substitute on visible structure because the green-yellow chemical look does not match what Seattle homeowners want when they say they want a cedar pergola, and the dimensional instability of PT pine in the PNW wet-dry cycle is worse than cedar. PT pine still goes on the buried portion of the post-base hardware blocking, but every visible 6x6 post, 4x8 beam, and 2x6 rafter is cedar on every cedar build.
Aluminum louvered systems by trained dealer-installer protocol
Powder-coated aluminum louvered pergolas — Struxure, Renson, Equinox, Solara are the lines we install most often — come with manufacturer warranty that stays in force only when installed by a trained dealer-installer. Handis runs the dealer-installer protocol on every louvered system: manufacturer-supplied installation manual followed step-by-step, torque values to spec, motor commissioning per the controller setup procedure, and the final motor-test run before sign-off. Manufacturer registration filed on completion so the warranty clock starts cleanly.
Structural permits pulled by Handis on attached and large structures
Attached pergolas (ledger-bolted to the house) require a building permit in every Seattle, King County, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Sammamish, and Mercer Island jurisdiction we work in. Handis pulls the permit as the responsible builder, manages the engineer-of-record sign-off when the jurisdiction requires it for the wind-load and snow-load calcs, schedules the framing and final inspections, and stays on site for the sign-off. Freestanding pergolas under 200 square feet usually do not require a permit — we confirm the threshold for your specific jurisdiction on the booking call. Permit fees pass through as a named line item without markup.
Hardware torque to engineer-of-record spec
Post-base anchor bolts torque to the engineer-of-record value (typically 50 to 75 ft-lb on a 5/8 inch hex bolt into the Simpson ABU base) with a calibrated torque wrench, not by feel. Beam-to-post connections use Simpson ZMAX or stainless hardware (galvanic-corrosion compatible with cedar tannins), through-bolted with structural screws or carriage bolts depending on the connection. Rafter-to-beam attachments use Simpson H1 or A35 hurricane ties on the structural rafters and concealed structural screws on the decorative rafter tails. Hardware is the structure on a pergola — it does not get torque-by-feel.
One-year project warranty on carpentry
One-year project warranty on our carpentry — post-set, beam-raise, rafter install, hardware torque, louver-frame assembly (on louvered systems), finish detailing. Manufacturer warranty on aluminum louvered systems runs 10 to 20 years depending on the line and is preserved through the trained-installer protocol. Cedar weathering to silver in 12 to 18 months is the natural patina, not a warranty issue. The licensed-electrician portion (line-voltage feeds, motorized-louver line power, ceiling-fan circuits) carries the electrician's separate L&I-trade warranty, named on the quote.
Estimate
Tell us the footprint (rough length and width — a 10-by-12 measurement off the deck or a sketch of where the posts could land), the material preference (Western Red Cedar timber-frame or aluminum louvered with motorized blades), whether the structure attaches to the house or stands free, the use case (dining, seating cluster, hot tub canopy, full outdoor room), and any low-voltage lighting or motor wiring you want integrated. We name the permit scope and any licensed-electrician scope on the estimate so you see the full project cost up front.
Customer Reviews
Recent pergola construction reviews from real Handis customers.
12x16 freestanding cedar pergola over our flagstone patio in Magnolia. Handis power-augered the six footings, set 6x6 cedar posts on Simpson ABU anchors with the 48-hour concrete cure, raised the 4x8 beams with a deck post jack on a Saturday, and had the 2x6 rafters trimmed and the tails chamfered by end of Sunday. Reads exactly like the inspiration photos we showed them. Two summers in and the cedar is right at that silver-grey patina we wanted.
14x16 Struxure motorized louvered pergola attached to our deck off the master bedroom in Bellevue. Blades open in summer, close in October when the rain returns. Handis ran the structural permit through Bellevue, coordinated the louver-motor wiring, and the electrician sub trimmed the line-voltage feed on the same day. Manufacturer warranty stays in force because they ran the dealer-installer protocol. Three days of work, one framing inspection, one final inspection, no surprises.
10x12 attached cedar pergola off the back deck in our 1962 Mercer Island split-level. Handis pulled the Mercer Island permit, through-bolted the ledger into the rim joist with the Z-flashing kit at the top to keep water out of the wall, and set the two outer posts on auger-dug footings. Cedar reads as if it has always been there. Final inspection cleared first pass.
8x10 freestanding cedar pergola over our hot tub in Kirkland. Smallest plan they build but Handis took the same care — power-augered the four footings, set the 6x6 cedar posts plumb against a 4-foot level, raised the 4x8 beams, chamfered the rafter tails. Under the 200-square-foot threshold so no Kirkland permit was needed. Five days from booking call to finished pergola.
12x14 freestanding cedar pergola in our Ballard backyard — full dining-table size. Handis dug six footings with a power auger because the lot has heavy clay (would have taken a week with a manual post-hole digger), set the posts on the cured concrete, raised the 6x8 beams (they up-sized the beams from 4x8 because of the 12-foot span), and chamfered the rafter tails. Looks like furniture-grade carpentry, not a kit assembly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Handis pergola construction — pricing, the cedar-versus-louvered choice, attached vs freestanding, permits, lead times, and licensed electrician handoff.