We put together this pergola, taking a bit longer than expected, but 2 of us got it up. It looks beautiful! I've ordered shade screens from SAMs too to add to the privacy. The interior dimensions are important to note for the actual living space when planning your little retreat (7x10 roughly). There are extra screws provided in case you strip one trying to get them in- like we did. Great quality!

I love this pergola! It was easy to put together as it was already precut and stained. Looks awesome next to our pool. I was nervous about if the stain would hold up during the winter, but it looks brand new. This pergola was much cheaper than buying one from Menards or Home Depot. Love it and would definitely recommend it to others!

I bought this when it went on sale, but of course the price changed to the sale price as a permanent price a week after buying. Anyways i put it up with the help of two people and it went together pretty well except for a few misaligned pre drilled holes but not a big deal. We were going to go with one of the metal pergolas at the big box store but after reading all the problems with rust we changed our minds and are glad we chose this one. It looks great and i would buy again.

I am really happy with my pergola. It was easy to assemble and provides nice shade to the area we put it. If you have it delivered to your house, you definitely need someone or two people to help unload. The driver isn't allowed to help. Just an FYI. Also, definitely takes at least two people to put together.

Great item, we were worried about it looking cheap but it's everything but. It has a GREAT presence in our large yard. It's made of Quality Material and my Wife and I put it together in 1 Day. Just take the time and separate all the pieces from the boxes and there should be NO problems.

Decent materials, extra hardware that is pretty good, except for the long bolts which, as has been said, occasionally cross thread. Put it up in about six hours with a helper for two of them. As for the pine comment, it smells like cedar to me, and appears lighter than comparable pine. I expect it to weather and fade, but I will not be using a sealer - would rather stain it once a year. If you insist on anchoring it, you must be guarding against a hurricane or a tornado.

We were disappointed with the size. Dimensions were not the undercover dimensions as we thought it would be so rather small to be quite honest. My husband had to use more tools and drill some holes bigger than allowed to make things square up and line up properly. It took all day and into the night to assemble; roughly 8 hours. Two friends stopped by and helped us with the top portion assembly. Each piece was nicely identified; however, some boards were warped. Not solid cedar so not expecting product to have a long life. False advertising in my opinion. Cedar coating on plywood disappointed us tremendously.

While I'm pleased with the final result from this pergola, I cannot offer an enthusiastic endorsement of it. The kit is (mostly) designed and engineered well, but the materials were very unsatisfactory. There's a real problem with quality control at the site of manufacture (there doesn't appear to be any). As others have noted, wood pieces may be warped and/or twisted. After initial delivery, construction of my unit was delayed five weeks because of this. Most of the pieces originally shipped were unusable, and required replacement. Then the replacements needed to be replaced, and those did too -- even after I requested that replacement parts be inspected before shipment. A complete, usable set of parts required five separate shipments. I now have nearly enough lumber to build another pergola, except for the posts and some small parts. I finally just used the parts I had, even though some were still imperfect. Most were okay to use, but the long joists were still somewhat bowed -- which caused problems later. However, customer service was very polite and my requests were never questioned, although I was asked to send photos of the unusable parts. Replacements were delivered within three days. Assembly is not especially difficult. The only bit that required two people was positioning the joists that create the square frame around the posts. The joist ends were most difficult -- holes were misaligned, and I had to re-drill them. This part of the design is cumbersome, and one wonders why the manufacturer didn't just make single lengths of board. Also problematic was attaching the slotted joists to the main joists. Because I had to build with parts that were bowed, the slots were out of alignment, requiring the use of a jigsaw. When starting assembly, you should position the square plastic footers first (see the manual's basic setup dimensions) but be sure to consult the triangular dimensions on the next to last page. Step 13 instructs that entire structure must be moved into final position upon completion, but it's way too heavy and there's no good way to move it. If you measure correctly, you can assemble the pergola with the footers in place. Some have suggested the wood is pine, but it's actually Chinese cedar (Cunninghamia lanceolata). It's evidently a species of cyprus, but supposedly still moisture- and insect-resistant. I should note also that the lumber is not sized in standard American thicknesses/widths (2x4s, 2x6s, etc). If you have a mind to replace any parts now or later, you'll have to do so from the distributor. However, if you have access to common power tools, you might be able to make do. Generally speaking I'm happy with the result, but the process of getting to completion is not one I'd care to repeat. If you buy, be advised you may experience disappointment and frustration. I sent this review to the distributor, but they refused to post it. Go figure. Good luck!!!

This pergola is beautiful. It's a 2 man job. It took my husband approximately 7 hours to put up. One star was taken off because there were no pre drilled holes on the top layer for the final row of beams. He had to measure and drill the holes himself. He also had a few issues with screws, but there were extra screws included. Overall, we are pleased with the final outcome.

I got this to use it with our new Hot Tube and love it !