Garden Pergola: How to Get a 50 to 70% Discount

When the Egyptians came up with the concept of the pergola, they no doubt saw its intrinsic value of offering solace and serenity after a hard of day work. Whatever their reasoning, one thing is for sure, in our modern times, the garden pergola reigns supreme in terms of adding beauty to your landscape and providing owners with an instant getaway from our high paced lifestyles.

Once constructed, you can use your garden pergola for everyday uses such as barbecues, cookouts and just hanging out. Since pergolas are designed to be places of enjoyment, you can use yours for weddings, anniversaries and romantic interludes. It's the perfect place to relax while watching the sunset at dusk and the sunrise in the morning. Owners of garden pergolas have a long standing little secret they have finally decided to share. They plant arbor vines along the base of their pergolas and allow them to grow up the posts and intertwine the trellis tops. This provides a naturally appealing respite from the glaring sun.

I Want a Garden Pergola But They Cost Too Much!
If you're wondering how much does a garden pergola cost, get ready for sticker shock! There are a number of factors that drive up the cost. Factors such as the contractor you choose, the part of the country you live in, costs of the materials, permits and of course the design and square footage. Building a pergola is going to cost more in states were labor unions are prominent versus states that have no unions.

Lets say you decide on a nice fifteen feet square design with elegant columns; a rough estimate would be around $7000.00 to $9000.00. If you go with a bare basics garden pergola, your costs are going to be much less. However, you might not like the finished product!

How To Slash The Price of a Garden Pergola By 50% to 75% or More!
Now that you've gotten over the sticker shock, let's talk about how to slash those costs by fifty to seventy five percent and get the exact same pergola. You first must understand where the bulk of the money is being spent. Can you say, ON LABOR? To prove this point, I've got some homework for you...

(1). Call some of your local contractors who give free estimates and get a price on a nice garden pergola. I did and then that's when I got hit with garden pergola sticker shock! The firsts ones my wife and I looked at were priced in the eight thousand to ten thousand dollar range. We wanted enough space for chairs and a nice retractable outdoor dining table for our family gatherings. When we lowered our standards, one contractor came up with a final price of $7936.12.

(2). Have the contractor provide you with a cost breakdown. When we did this, we found that $1350.86 went to materials with about $450.00 of that $1350 going to miscellaneous costs we never really understood and he never really could explain. The figure that raised our eyebrows was the $6585.26 for two days of LABOR!

We calculated it out and he was charging us $411.58 per hour. Come on people, if my accountant or attorney found out I was going to pay those types of wages to improve my backyard, they'd FIRE ME as a client! I believe in paying the next guy for worked performed, but that was outrageous. What was more astonishing is that virtually all of the contactors were priced around the same.

The Garden Pergola Homework Is Over It's Time To Graduate
At some point during these discussions I looked at my wife and said, "We're going to build a pergola ourselves!" Looking at the cost breakdown, we had everything to gain. We ended up getting the exactly what we wanted in the first place, which was an extravagant 14 x 24 garden pergola with Tuscan columns. Hiring a contractor to build that baby would have cost us $11,900.00. Our total outlay for the plans, material and sweat equity was only $1900.00, a savings of $10,000.00.

Just Follow The Plans And You'll Be Fine
The first thing I did after getting over the sticker price shock was to start reading. To my amazement, there were garden pergola plans available at stores like Home Depot and Lowe's and online. On average you can expect to pay between twenty and sixty dollars for these plans. Just take into consideration; garden pergolas are top heavy structures that are constantly exposed to harsh weather conditions. Consequently, the plans that you ultimately acquire should reflect this fact.

The materials and tools you need will be clearly spelled out in your plans. It's pretty much a no -brainer; you simply go to your local building supply store and order the materials right off the list. Remember, you are not building a hybrid car or a five hundred gallon salt-water aquarium. Probably the hardest task you will perform while building a garden pergola is leveling the flooring if you decide to add a brick or concrete floor.

Oh Yeah... You've Got Options!
You essentially have two options you can take to complete your garden pergola project and either way, it'll be done in one weekend. The first option is to hire a handyman to do the work while you oversee the project. He follows the plans you provide and uses materials you bought. Most guys will charge around five to six hundred dollars for a weekend gig like that. We took the second option, which is bribing friends to help us.

We used barbecue, lobster, coconut shrimp, fresh oysters, corn on the cob, tossed spinach salad, Merlot wine and Key Lime pie as the bait. It worked like a charm! Four of us started early Saturday morning and we were done with everything before Sunday evening.

It's Party Time...
The next weekend, we unveiled our handy work to family and friends at gathering that should have been on the Food Channel. There you have it! Why put off getting that garden pergola because of the high sticker price. If you do it yourself, you will save a minimum of fifty percent. Actually, the average savings is going to be closer to seventy five to eighty two percent. And just think, because of the savings, you can upgrade to a more expensive design that you might not have looked had you paid a contractor. Enjoy!