Pergola Plans

  "How to build a pergola this weekend even if you have never built anything before—and save thousands of dollars doing it? Do you want to save 40%, 50% or 70% over hiring a contractor?      This Pergola was built by Milton "Skip" Webb Jr. Dunn, NC Does it frustrate you when you look at the high cost of pergola kits that are being sold today? I’m sure you know it doesn’t really cost $2,500-$5,000 to build a simple garden pergola. What makes me really mad about this is the fact that most of the time the pergola kit builder or contractor just calls up Home Depot or Lowe’s, and they deliver the same materials you could have ordered yourself.   The difference is they just charged you an extra $1000 or more to make the phone call.   I guess a $1,000 profit is not bad money for a simple 5-minute phone call.   We built a 8'x10' Pergola. Put a 4' swing in the middle and it looks great. Used 6"x6" poles cemented into the ground. If there is a big storm coming it will be the safest place to be. Thanks for the great set of plans!!!!   Charles Jackson   "It sounds to me like those contractors are basically stealing your hard-earned money right out of your wallet while they smile in your face"   Contractors are making so much money from pergolas, they really have no incentive to cut prices or give the average hard-working person a break. With the real estate boom over the last few years, contractors and kit builders have been living high on the hog from building simple pergolas. "But how would you like to have the beautiful pergola that you have always wanted in your yard at only a fraction of the cost of paying a contractor or ordering a kit?" Now you can simply build it yourself over the weekend and start enjoying your yard again. Or you can hire a local handyman to follow the simple step-by-step plans and instructions. Either way, you are sure to save a ton of money. Recently I wanted a pergola for my back yard. Since I’m a nationally syndicated home designer with plans featured in books, magazines, and newspapers all across the country, I knew what a good quality pergola should really cost. I had sticker-shock after checking out what these pergola kits were selling for online. And most of them didn’t really include everything that I need to build it. Then I called a local contractor to see what it would cost me. After our meeting he told me it would be about four weeks before he could get started. Plus it would cost me about $4,500 to build it. I quickly told him he was insane. Since I’m a home designer and work with builders all day I know the materials were less then $300 from Home Depot. I could also estimate his labor for two days of work and there was no way possible I was going to pay him $3,700 in pure profit for just two days. I don’t think my lawyer even makes that kind of money. I didn’t fall off the truck yesterday. After confronting the contractor about this, he confessed that pergolas have a really high profit margin, and that is where the big money is. He told me that building pergolas is what pays for his Harley, his custom trucks and the jet skis. I did appreciate his honesty but I told him I would look for a better way to get my pergola built. After that I called a local handyman who told me if I would get a complete materials list and draw up some detailed step-by-step plans he would build it for $500 plus materials and two cases of beer. Since I knew that material would only cost about $300 I had a deal. I spent the next weekend drawing up pergola plans that were monkey-proof. I made sure I explained everything no matter how simple or small it was. I created what I thought would be something so simple anybody could do it. After seeing the plans the handyman asked if he could use them on some other jobs he had coming up. I told him sure. I had no idea that they would become so popular in such a short amount of time. People and builders started calling me, asking me to print some pergola plans for them. I don’t mind printing out a plan for people I know, but it got crazy with people wanting the pergola plans. People I had never heard of would call and ask me to mail them a set of plans. I created pergola-plans.com so people could download their own copy of the pergola plans and simply print them with a home computer.       "This would allow anybody who wanted a pergola at a reasonable price to be able to afford it." How would you like to have the beautiful pergola that you have always wanted in your yard at only a fraction of the cost of paying a contractor or ordering a kit? Now you can simply build it yourself over the weekend and start enjoying your yard again. Or you can hire a local handyman to follow the simple step-by-step plans and instructions, like I did. Either way, you are sure to save a ton of money. These are just some of the ways that I have made building your pergola faster