What a cedar pergola costs in Texas

The number

The job was a freestanding two-layer open-top pergola in Western Red Cedar on 9 6x6 posts. The structure was $15,900. Permitting and city fees were $500. Stain on the whole thing was $600. Total, $17,000.

We don't publish a per square foot rate for pergolas. Nobody wrote the square footage down on that job, and we won't back into a rate we can't prove. We publish the project price instead, with the post count, so you can size your own against it.

Nine posts is a large pergola. If yours needs four or six, it costs less than $17,000. How much less depends on the rest of this page.

What was in that price

The knee braces matter more than they look. A pergola has no roof deck to stiffen it. The braces are what stop it racking sideways in a wind. Skip them and the thing sways like a folding table.

What moves the price

Post count

Posts drive the most cost. Each one is a pier, a base, a length of cedar and a connection to the beam. Fewer posts means fewer of all four. Longer spans between posts mean bigger beams though, so dropping posts isn't free. At some span the beam gets heavy enough to eat the savings.

Layers

A two-layer pergola has rafters and purlins on top of the beams. A single layer stops at the rafters. The second layer adds shade and looks finished. It also adds lumber and labor. If you want real shade out of an open top, you want the second layer.

Freestanding or attached

The job above was freestanding. Attaching to the house means a ledger on the wall and a tie-in at the roofline or fascia. That's more engineering and more places for water to find its way in. Freestanding needs more posts but leaves the house alone.

Demo

That job included tearing out the old structure. If you've got a bare slab or a yard, there's nothing to tear out. If you've got a rotted pergola with posts set in concrete, getting those footings out is real work.

Stain

Stain on that job was $600. Cedar left bare goes gray in the Texas sun. Some people want that. Most don't. Stain goes on best before the structure is up or right after, so decide early.

What is not in it

A roof isn't in it either. An open-top pergola keeps sun off. It does not keep rain off. If you want to sit outside in a storm, you want a patio cover, and that's priced differently.

Pergola or cover, by the dollar

A roofed cedar patio cover runs $119 per square foot with a $20,000 minimum. Add $2,200 for engineering and permits. Below 169 square feet the minimum governs, so the smallest cover we build lands around $22,200 with design included.

So a large pergola and a small cover can land close together. The cover buys you a roof, drainage and a place to hang a fan. The pergola buys you open sky and a lighter look. If rain is the problem, the pergola doesn't solve it. If sun is the problem, the pergola might be enough.

Why cedar

Western Red Cedar holds up outside better than pine. It resists rot and bugs without the green tint of treated lumber. It also moves less as it dries. Treated pine is cheaper up front, but it twists and checks as it dries out in August, and a twisted post on a pergola is hard to unsee.

The dirt under the posts

Most of our service area west of Canton sits on Blackland Prairie clay. It swells when it's wet and shrinks when it's dry, every year. A post set in a shallow hole on that soil will heave and lean. We set posts on piers sized for the clay. East Texas soils run sandier, which moves less but can settle if the base isn't compacted.

Pier depth is one of the quiet cost items. You won't see it once the pergola is up. You'll see it in three years if it was done wrong.

Permits

Most cities in DFW want a permit for a pergola. On that job, permitting and fees came to $500. Out in unincorporated county land the rules are often lighter. Your HOA is a separate approval either way. We handle the city side.

Where pergola money gets wasted

The last one is the most expensive. If you already know you'll want to sit out there in the rain, a pergola is the wrong structure. Buy the roof once.

Size it before you price it

Put your furniture out where the pergola will go. Walk around it. A dining table for six wants more room than most people guess once the chairs are pushed back. A pergola that's two feet too small costs almost as much as one that fits, and you'll notice every time you sit down.

Height matters too. Too low and it feels like a carport. Too high and the shade lands on the grass instead of on you. We set height against the roofline and the sun angle on your lot, not a default.

How long it takes

Permits run first, and that clock belongs to the city. Once we're cleared, a pergola goes up fast. Piers, then posts, then beams and the top layers. Stain goes on last or in stages. Most of the calendar is paperwork, not building.

How we price yours

We come out, measure, look at the ground and the house, and ask how you want to use the space. Then you get a lump sum against a written scope. Not cost-plus. The quote is good for 30 days because lumber moves.

If you want a ballpark before we come out, count the posts you think you need and compare it to nine. That gets you closer than any online calculator will.