Shade you can sit under. Not a roof.
Pergola Installation Across Georgia
A pergola is a frame of posts and beams with an open slatted top. It breaks up direct sun, gives a seating area a shape and an edge, and lets air and light through. What it does not do is keep rain off, and knowing that before you build one is most of being happy with it. Aqualis Pools also takes on projects across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Functional Design Meets Timeless Style
What a Pergola Does, and What It Does Not
It filters sun. Depending on how the slats are set it takes the edge off the middle of the day and leaves the space usable rather than dark, which is the whole point of choosing one over a solid roof.
It does not shelter you from rain. A standard pergola with fixed open slats will not keep a table dry, and no amount of building it well changes that. If the requirement is to sit outside in a downpour, what you want is a roof, and that is a pavilion.
There is a version that closes: a louvered pergola has slats that rotate, and a motorized one does it from a switch, so the same structure gives you filtered sun in the afternoon and a closed roof when it rains. It costs meaningfully more than a fixed frame and it is a different product to specify and to maintain.
And it is not a kit. A retailer will sell you a boxed pergola to bolt to a patio for a fraction of this, and for some backyards that is the right answer. What we build is a structure set on proper footings, sized and fixed for the span and the exposure, which is a different thing that lasts a different length of time.
Attached or Freestanding
Attached. Fixed to the house along one side, so it reads as an extension of the building and shades whatever is directly outside the back doors. Fewer posts, a tidier look, and the roof line of the house has to be able to take the fixing, which is checked before anything is drawn.
Freestanding. Four or more posts standing on their own, which means it can go where the shade is actually wanted rather than where the house happens to be. Over a seating area away from the building, over a dining table in the garden, or beside the pool. It needs all its own footings and it works harder structurally, because nothing is holding it up but itself.
The practical test: if the space you want to shade is against the house, attached is simpler and cheaper. If it is anywhere else, freestanding, and site it for the view rather than for convenience.
What It Is Made Of
Wood. The traditional answer. It looks the part immediately, it can be stained or left to weather, and in Georgia humidity it is the option that asks something of you: it needs re-finishing on a cycle, and how long it lasts depends on the species, on how well the ends are detailed and on whether water can sit anywhere on it. Cedar is the usual choice for a reason.
Aluminum. Does not rot, does not need refinishing, holds a slimmer profile for the same span, and costs more up front. It is the material most louvered and motorized systems are built in. It reads more contemporary, which suits some houses and not others.
Vinyl. The low-maintenance middle. It is the least convincing up close of the three and it is the least trouble, and whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on how near the structure people actually sit.
Decisions Made Before the Posts Go In
Which way the slats run, and when you use the space. This is the design decision nobody mentions and the one that decides whether the pergola works. Slats cast their shade in the direction they run, and the sun is in a different place at one in the afternoon than at six in the evening. A structure set up for midday sun over a lunch table is not set up for an evening seating area. Decide which hours matter, then set the slats and the spacing for those.
What is underneath. Posts need footings, and footings are far easier before a surface exists than after. If hardscaping or a patio is being laid, the pergola positions should be set at the same time. On a raised custom deck the posts normally need to carry through the deck to their own footings rather than standing on the deck surface, which is a framing decision made at build time.
Wind. An open frame is not a sail, but a large one in an exposed position is still a structure taking a load, and that is what the footings, the post size and the fixings are sized for. It is also why permitting can apply. Both are questions to answer before the drawing is signed off rather than during the build.
What goes on it. Climbing planting, a retractable canopy, fans, or pool lighting and heaters run through the beams. All of them add weight or need power, and all of them are cheaper to allow for now than to add later.
What it shades. A pergola over an outdoor kitchen shades the cook, which is the person who needs it most. Over a dining area it shades the table. Over nothing in particular it is an ornament, and it is worth being honest about which one you are buying.
What a Pergola Costs
The spread is wide because the product is not one thing. A modest attached wood frame over a patio and a large freestanding aluminum structure with a motorized roof are separated by a factor larger than the two structures look.
What moves the number: attached or freestanding, the span and therefore the size of the timber or the sections, the material, whether the roof is fixed or louvered, how much groundwork the footings need, and whether the surface underneath is being built at the same time.
Where a pergola forms part of a larger project, pool financing options apply to it in the same way they apply to the pool.
What Our Clients Say
Aqualis Pools is rated 5.0 on Google, from a small number of reviews, and every one can be read on the profile.
Pergolas Across Georgia
We design and build pergolas for homeowners in Lawrenceville, Buford, Loganville, Athens, Auburn and nearby Georgia communities. The full list is on our service areas page, and finished work is in the gallery.
Frequently Asked Questions
A standard pergola with fixed open slats does not. It filters sun and it will not keep a table dry. A louvered pergola has slats that rotate closed and will, and a solid-roofed structure is a pavilion rather than a pergola. If sitting outside in the rain is the requirement, say so at the start, because it changes which product you are buying.
Attached is simpler and cheaper where the space you want shaded is directly outside the back doors, and it needs the house structure to take the fixing. Freestanding goes wherever the shade is actually wanted, needs its own footings all round, and works harder structurally because nothing else supports it.
Wood looks the part and asks for refinishing on a cycle; how long it lasts depends on the species and on whether water can sit on it anywhere. Aluminum does not rot, needs no refinishing, spans further on a slimmer section and costs more up front. Vinyl is the low-maintenance middle and the least convincing close up. Humidity is the reason the choice matters more here than it would further north.
It depends on how the slats run, how wide they are, how far apart they are set and what time of day you use the space. Slats cast shade in the direction they run, and the sun sits somewhere different at lunchtime than in the evening, so the structure should be set up for the hours that matter to you. This is decided on the drawing and cannot be changed afterwards.
Footings, yes: the posts carry the structure and the loads it takes, so what is under them is not optional. Permitting depends on the size, the type and where you are, and it is a question to answer before the design is signed off rather than during the build. Footings are also far easier before a patio or deck exists than after it.
Less than most things in this part of a backyard, and longer where footings need groundwork or where the structure is large.
Start Planning Your Pergola
Two answers get this priced quickly. Does it need to keep rain off, or only sun? And is it going against the house or standing on its own? The first tells you whether you want a pergola at all; the second decides most of the build.
Call (770) 373-8405 or send us a message.