We have been waiting for years to create a patio space and this pergola is everything we could have hoped for! We absolutely love the aesthetic; it was straightforward to assemble; and it fit within our budget! We wanted one that could withstand high winds. It is already been wind and kid tested, and we couldn't be happier. Thank you for making our backyard dreams come true!

I never leave reviews. And I'm the person that wondered why people say that. I assumed it's either because they may be trying to persuade someone either or way, who may be on the fence about buying a product. They are satisfied or dissatisfied. In this case, I am highly satisfied. The pergola is great. A few minor cracks in one of the 4 main corner posts, due to shipping I am assuming. I didn't call or complain, I didn't notice to I had put it up. It should be okay. I bought 2 months ago. It's been up a month now. Took about 7 hours over two days. I did alone. I had my wife to the corner post once I stood each side up. I attached all the separated parts together first in the garage. Then moved to the outside to set up. Went very smoothly. Please see attached photos.

We hit a few snags in assembly but it's pretty obvious when the instructions are missing a step (for example, when the diagonal braces need to be screwed in using a drill, which isn't listed as a step). The final product is gorgeous and looks much more expensive than it was.

Started with just myself up thru STEPS 7, then two men for STEPS 8, 11, 14 thru 16, and 18. Most of the entire family joined in from this point on. Preliminary assembly and assembly-STEPS 1 thru 7, 9 thru 10, 12 thru 13, and 17 I did in my garage while waiting for HOA approval and concrete slab completion. (The good news is, there were no missing/damaged parts, save for what I considered to be minor blemishes in the surface of three different boards. Upon final assembly, there were no shortages and surplus in nearly all of the hardware parts). We chose to pre-stain everything from this point forward in the installation. 1st complaint: The sum of the various lap-joints does not produce the same thickness as the original board. Note: Depending on your selection of stains, this can be less noticeable in the final assembly. 2nd complaint: The depth of the lap-joints is often inconsistent, resulting in gaps as large as 1/8 inch. I know of no easy way to camouflage this, Note: I consider both of these complaints to be the result of a quality-control problem. If you choose to follow the Manual (Anchoring Layout pg-3, as we did), this can result in some of the Posts not standing perfectly vertical. To the critical eye, this can be annoying. Suggestion: Follow the Manual (Anchoring Layout pg-3) for a starting point, but before anchoring the base of any Post, tighten all hardware except those affecting the Post alignment. Then, make any fine-tune vertical alignments to the Posts using a carpenter’s level. (If everything has been done correctly up to this point, this should be very minimal). Lastly, anchor the Posts. Caution: I didn’t pay enough attention to the location of the pre-drilled holes in the JOIST and ended up with some of the pre-drilled holes facing down instead of up and on the outside instead of the inside (or vise-versa) of the POST. This will extend the installation time no matter how you choose to solve it. 3rd complaint: Neither of the inside POST (POST P03) were pre-drilled for the CORBEL on one side only as they should have been. Note: This I consider to be another quality-control issue. 4th complaint: Because there is no staggering of the lengths of the PURLINs, all the joints fall on a single SLOTTED-JOIST at each splice point. This leaves you with no attachment to the PURLINs to those two particular SLOTTED-JOIST leaving them less stable than the others. I chose to replace the PURLIN splicing bolt, nut, and washer in four staggered locations across the length of these tow JOIST with a 3” long - ¾” lag bolt and washer making the splice point serve as the anchor point to the JOIST in those four locations. If you are anchoring your Pergola to concrete, I discovered that dipping the concrete anchor screws in thick liquid soap such as hair shampoo before driving them will keep them from seizing up during driving. (Learned this the hard way).

Really well designed “DIY” kit, with everything labeled nicely. With intense sunshine in Albuquerque, I added shade cloth, and redistributed the top 1”x2” wood strips (for added shade), and I’m very happy with it. I’ve already received compliments of how great it looks, and how well the 14x10 size fits the spot I placed it in. It took me 3 days (with my neighbor helping for 20 minutes, to connect the 2 main 14’ beams, otherwise- fairly easy for one person to assemble (of course- 2 people could build it quicker and easier). Great quality wood and assembly parts, and I’m looking forward to enjoying its use for many years to come.

I've had the pergola built for about 2 months now and absolutely love it. Its sturdy and heavy but also easy-ish to put together. Realistically you should have at least two people building one pergola. I would budget about 5 hours with two people to put it together completely. Overall great pergola, very happy with the purchase!

I love everything about our new Backyard Discovery Pergola. Ordering was easy, and it was shipped right to my door. Communication with the shipping company was fast and easy. I had intended to install it myself but other things took my time so I hired the company suggested and they were very professional and did a great job. This will infancy our enjoyment of our backyard for years to come.

I’ll admit a little slow becoming a pergola advocate. With the Texas sun, I do want a little more protection when cooking outside than these things natively offer. This 12x20 monster replaces a pair of 10x13 canopies. The wind has blown here more this year than in the past 60 years. My cheap canopies didn’t stand a chance. The vibration from the wind loosened half the screws and both simply collapsed. And they acted like sails before collapsing. The family joke was me getting everyone to help move them back into place at family gatherings. This baby is over 700 lbs and rated for 100 mph winds. I cannot imagine it moving for some wimpy 40 mph breeze. I need to conjure up some Sun/rain protection, but I am beyond thrilled with it. I ordered the installation when I purchased the pergola. A precise date/time was set for the installation from emails they were coming from Back Yard Discovery. However, when the installers arrived without the pergola at the appointed hour, I realized there was a disconnect somewhere. The pergola magically arrived Friday before the 4th of July weekend. I called the installers back and darned if they didn’t come Saturday morning to install this thing. They just left. Other than signing their paperwork, I actually haven’t goner over it closely yet. But the installers were punctual, polite, and very, very efficient. This is the summer for backyard projects that I have anticipated for a long time. This pergola is key to housing my entire outside cooking world and to have it dine in time for the 4th of July makes me very happy. Thanks to everyone involved!

Overall the pergola is very nice and instructions were clear. Unfortunately the instructions for how long the base is were wrong. All the concrete was laid out exactly to their plan of 114" on center, but when assembled the posts were just over 115" on center. I recommend building all of the long pieces FIRST, then calculate how far apart the posts will be. I am a woodworker and teach engineering. Normally you would cut everything to size as you are building because there can be some changes in wood or other things. So for a pre-made, pre-drilled pergola it's understandable that some holes don't line up, kind of annoying the post distance wasn't correct as they will not be centered on my columns. One thing to add, all of the pieces are short and use a lap joint and bolts to secure them. Cedar is a soft wood, so I glued all of the lap joints and bolted them. Because all of the pieces are bolted together I would not trust standing or putting anything heavy on top. From a learning experience, I recommend building all of the long parts in sections and then sealing them before assembly. Overall it is a fairly good product. The only reason I did not build this from scratch is because the price of lumber to make something similar would have been as much or more than the kit. Had I known all of the long pieces were bolted lap joints and the 6x6 columns are hollow I may have just held out and designed and built my own.

After researching many pergola manufacturing companies, we chose Backyard Discoveries. The price was the best and photos and reviews appeared to be of good quality. I was relieved when the boxes were delivered and I could confirm the quality of the manufacturing and design. The instructions were well written, and the assembly was clearly well thought out. My son and I were able to easily assemble the pergola in about 8-10 hours on a Saturday. I was impressed at how easily it went together with pre-drilled holes everywhere and top quality hardware. The product and company exceeded all my expectations. In sunny California we enjoy the pergola almost every day. I would highly recommend this product to anyone considering a pergola to enhance their property.