After it was shipped, I seal coated all the wood parts before the set up. It took 3/4 of a gal of sealer. I had a 3rd party set it up. Well worth the extra cost. Here in Texas with it +85' in the sun all day in July. Looks GREAT. Only concern are the concrete anchors in a plastic support without washers. I wish that they were made of aluminum or steel. And I wish that they added a stain touch-up kit. I did chip a few spots. That's on me.

This was a great pergola for my patio. It is about 400 lbs and the weight is well distributed across all the pieces. The product was delivered in two packages and was easy to assemble with my wife's help. I got a UV resistant awning canopy of same size and tied it down with ropes to make a great shade on our patio. Great product and looks very pleasing to the eye.

The wife and I purchased this item and had it put up in 6 hours spread over two days. We initially waterproofed the boards and laid them out to dry. Some boards were warped but we were able to bend them back into shape and fit the pre drilled holes. I highly suggest getting the BOLT app to watch a 3D representation and instructions to build the pergola along with the booklet. Pay attention to where the holes have to be facing up on the cross boards. The instructions recommend hand tighten all bolts till the end but we squared and leveled the base and tightened all bolts before adding the top boards and cross boards. Then for privacy we added curtain rods with curtains.

My 83 year old husband and myself were able to assemble this ourselves with minimal effort! We love it and many people can't believe how well it turned out and we were actually able to do it ourselves.

Bought a month ago. We love our new pergola!

We had the delivery person put it in our garage and we sealed it before assembling. (tip: seal it before assembling. I put on a second coat after it was assembled and it was so much more difficult trying to crank my neck and have my hand fit between the slats. Plus it got so messy.) It took my husband the weekend to put it together. It's helpful to have a 3rd person when connecting the two ends together with the long piece on top otherwise it gets a bit tricky. We did have some pieces that were warped,cracked and dings in the wood, but it's wood, so were not too bothered by it. He did mention that some of the top slats did not line up so had to drill some holes, but mostly assembly wasn't too difficult. It's a pergola so you won't really get much shade unless you have either vines growing on top or some kind of shade canopy. We get full sun for 8+ hour during the summer so had to buy a canopy for it. We really love it. It looks more expensive than it is. Ours did have a strong cedar smell when it came. It was pre-stained and color is really a nice rich color that would compliment any backyard.

It was just myself and my husband that put this together. Not easy but at least all the parts were there and we didn't have to do any cutting. Same as some of the other reviews about the alignment. Some of the pieces were slightly warped. Did seal the wood again before assembling. It's not going anywhere even with the gusty winds and we didn't drill the base into anything. Happy with the way it looks and free shipping.

The usable inside dimensions are really about 8ft. by 10 ft. I'm not certain why many of the boards were cut unless it made shipping easier. It did not make construction and stability easier or better. The hardware was really difficult to use. It took a lot of manipulation to get the two parts of the hardware to match since they could not be easily seen where they came together between the two boards. I would have just drilled matching holes through the boards and secured them with bolts and nuts that could be easily seen, matched, and tightened. Once the pergola is up it looks nice.

The measurements are so false. I now have maybe 5 x 8 sitting area. I measured off an area 10 x 12 but this thing looks small now. No shade at all since the boards are not positioned correctly. I know a pergola does not provide a lot of shade, but I will probably get material for inside the ceiling. 2 men took 2 days in the FL sun putting this up. Some holes were not drilled correctly. Lots of pieces to work with.

We bought this item 05/03/18 with installation included, we received 05/17/18 and the company assigned to install has yet to show up.The package has been sitting in our front yard since 05/17/18. Installation Company Has called and cancelled once and rescheduled for 05/26/18 and still no show or phone call. This is not good.