Pergola Cost: What a Built Pergola Costs in Lumber, Footings and Labor

Pergola cost pages give you a number that sounds precise and is not: a range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, for a structure nobody has defined. This guide breaks down the pergola cost the other way round. It prices a wood pergola as a list of lumber, hardware and concrete for three standard sizes, shows which line most estimates leave out, and then sets that list next to what the cost sites publish for installed pergolas, named and dated.

We are not a contractor and we do not quote labor. A figure is ours when it comes from our designer, and every other figure is attributed to its source.

What Drives Pergola Cost

Four things decide it: size, material, how the pergola meets the house, and the roof you put on top. Of these, the way it stands up is the one buyers forget.

Size

Pergola cost grows with the area, but not in a straight line. In our three presets the cost per square foot runs from $12.93 to $13.81, and the 12x16 is not twice the price of the 10x12, because the beam, post count and footings are sized for the span. Going from our 12x12 to our 12x16 adds about $645, or 35%, for 33% more area.

Wood or metal

We price wood: pressure-treated posts, beams and rafters, which is what a build from plans uses. Metal pergolas are mostly sold as kits, and Fixr lists a metal pergola at $500 to $3,000 for a 10x12 (August 2022), a kit price that does not include the same footings. Kit prices and best-of lists belong to our sister site, and we link to it below.

Attached or freestanding

An attached pergola fixes one side to the house, and the house takes the sideways load through a ledger. Our designer treats that as its own design problem. A freestanding pergola carries its own sideways load, which is why ours has knee braces and posts on footings sized for uplift. The attached version usually needs fewer posts and adds flashing and ledger fasteners, so neither is automatically cheaper.

Height and the roof

A taller pergola needs longer posts and bigger footings, since the wind has more lever to work with. All three of our presets stand 9 ft high. A solid roof changes the loads too, and we take that up in its own section below.

The Pergola Material List, Priced

A priced list is the only honest answer to “how much does a pergola cost”, because it shows what the money buys. These lists come from our designer for a freestanding pergola, 9 ft high, with 6x6 posts, a built-up beam, 2x6 rafters at 16 in and 2x2 slats at 8 in. Prices are Home Depot, Hamilton Mill store, shelf prices read between September 30 and November 4, 2026. Your store will differ.

What is on the 12x12 list

The lumber is four 6x6 posts, four 16 ft 2x12 boards for the beam, twelve 16 ft 2x6 rafters, eight 8 ft 2x6 boards cut into the knee braces (30 in legs), and 50 pieces of 8 ft 2x2 for the slats. A 2x2 is stocked at 8 ft only, so slats that run longer are spliced with a 4 in half-lap centered on a rafter, which is why the slat count is higher than the bare length. The posts are priced from a nearby length, so treat them as an estimate. The rafters and the slats are the lumber you see; the beam and the posts are the lumber that holds it up.

Hardware is the surprise

On the 12x12, hardware is $705, which is 38% of the total and nearly as much as the lumber. A pergola is bolted and tied together at every joint: 12 bolts of 1/2 by 10 in, 24 of 1/2 by 8 in and 24 of 1/2 by 6 in, with the nuts and washers, 24 rafter ties and 264 exterior screws for the slats. The four post bases, at $59.42 each, are the largest single item.

Where the lists stop

These are floors. They leave out tax, delivery, stain or sealer, tools, and the permit. A budget needs those lines. The prices behind them are real shelf prices, but a few lines are estimated from a nearby length or another store, and the plan page marks each one.

Pergola Footings and Hardware: The Line Estimates Skip

Most pergola cost pages price the pergola and wave at “foundation”. The footings are not a rounding error.

The footing line

On our 12x12, the post bases, the tube forms and 27 bags of concrete cost $492, which is 26% of the total. On the 12x16 the same line is $689, or 27%. A pergola is light, and the wind pulls the posts up, so the footings are sized for uplift rather than weight. Our designer enlarges each footing until enough of its concrete weight resists the pull. That sizing is our own design choice, and our pergola footings guide explains it.

Post bases

A post base joins the post to the footing and has to resist the uplift, so choose it by rating rather than price. A cast-in standoff base like the Simpson¹ Strong-Tie CBSTQ is rated at 2,680 lb of uplift on a 6x6, per the maker’s table read on October 26, 2026. That is one product. Our price list uses an adjustable standoff base at $59.42, and you must look up the rating of whichever base you buy.

Bolts, ties and screws

These lines are cheap one at a time and add up across a frame. A bolt priced at $3.58 and a rafter tie at $0.98 look like nothing, until the plan calls for 24 of each. They are also the lines a rough estimate drops, which is part of why a list priced from the plan runs higher than a lumber-only guess.

Pergola Installation Cost vs DIY

Installation adds labor, and the sources disagree about how much.

What the cost sites publish

Fixr, in a page dated August 2022, lists $1,900 to $6,500 for a pergola, with a national average of $4,500, and $10 to $40 per sq ft installed. It puts the labor of a custom pergola at $500 to $1,000. Angi, as of November 2026, lists an average of $4,242 and a typical range of $2,102 to $6,382, with labor around a fifth of the project. HomeGuide lists custom wood pergolas at $30 to $65 per sq ft installed.

Angi’s fifth of an average $4,242 is about $850, which sits inside Fixr’s $500 to $1,000. But Fixr’s own size table puts a custom 12x12 at up to $7,000 installed, so the sources are not describing the same job. We will not average them.

Installed totals for our sizes

Multiply the sources’ per square foot rates by the area and you get a sum anyone can check. At HomeGuide’s $30 to $65, a 10x12 comes to $3,600 to $7,800, a 12x12 to $4,320 to $9,360 and a 12x16 to $5,760 to $12,480. At Fixr’s $10 to $40 the same pergolas come to $1,200 to $4,800, $1,440 to $5,760 and $1,920 to $7,680. For a 12x12, Fixr lists $2,000 to $7,000 for a custom build and Angi $4,300 to $8,600.

What DIY costs

Building from plans costs the material list plus the lines the list leaves out, plus your time. The list is the part you can pin down, and the labor is the part the sources argue about. If you hire out the build, ask for materials and labor on separate lines and hold the materials line up against the list.

Adding a Roof to a Pergola

A pergola is open, and the moment you cover it the cost, and the structure, change.

Why a roof changes the loads

Our designer assumes a roof live load of 20 psf over the plan area and works out snow from your ground snow load. An open grid sheds most of both. A solid or louvered cover catches the full load and more of the wind, which can mean a larger beam, closer posts and bigger footings. That is our design assumption, not a code table, and an engineer should confirm it for your site.

Roof cost is mostly the cover

The cover itself, whether polycarbonate, metal or louvers, is a product with its own price and its own load rating. We do not price it, and cost pages that include a roof in a single number are mixing two different purchases.

Check the permit

Many offices ask for a permit based on size, height, whether the pergola attaches to the house or whether it has a solid roof. Our pergola permit guide covers what changes the answer. For a solid roof, see covered patio cost.

Pergola Kit or Build It: Where to Look

A kit and a build from plans are different purchases, and the cost guides treat them as one.

What a kit includes

A kit ships cut and bundled, with its own hardware. Check what it includes for footings and post bases, since the kit price may not. Fixr lists prefab pergolas at $1,100 to $3,000 for a 10x10 and $1,700 to $5,000 for a 12x12 (August 2022), against $1,700 to $4,500 and $2,000 to $7,000 for a custom build. Those are installed figures from one old page, so use them only as a rough guide to the gap.

Where to read about kits

We design and size pergolas built from plans. Kit reviews, prices and rankings belong to our sister site, which compares them in its best pergola reviews. Read those if a kit suits your yard.

Where to start a build

If you build, start with how to build a pergola, which gives the order of work and says which sizes have to be calculated. If the pergola will sit on a deck, the pergola over deck guide covers the load path. That guide’s FAQ also answers whether it is cheaper to buy a pergola or build one.