A starting job
Pick a common call to fill the spans, attachment, shade, and height. Changing a kit never overwrites hours or material costs you have already typed.
The footprint
Width is along the house. Depth is the projection. Post spacing starts at 8 feet — a 10-foot side is two posts; a 16-foot side is three. These are starting points, not a code opinion.
Hours and counts
Post, rafter, beam, and ledger counts start from the geometry. Shade hours apply only when the job is not an open frame. Change them when the site disagrees.
Materials and your costs
Payroll burden covers employer taxes, workers’ compensation, liability insurance, and paid time off. A square-foot special written on the footprint never sees it — or the shade.
Your bid
- Footprint
- Posts / footings
- Shade
- Shade share of direct
- Crew hours
- Loaded labor
- Materials
- Travel, mobilization, extras
- Overhead
- Total cost
- Profit
- Price per footprint sf
- Effective hourly rate
- Walk-away price
Where the hours go
Transparent arithmetic from your own inputs. The starting spans, shade rates, hours, and material rates are common ballpark figures, not a building-code opinion, a permit, a warranty, or an engineering stamp. Time your own crews and replace them.
Common questions
Why does an attached pergola cost more than the same footprint freestanding?
An attached cover ties into a ledger on the house, which means flashing the ledger correctly and framing to it — work a freestanding frame on four independent posts never needs. The calculator prices attachment as its own choice so a 12×16 ledger-mounted cover is not quoted off the freestanding number.
Does this tell me if my pergola needs a permit or an engineered post footing?
No. Permit requirements and footing engineering depend on your jurisdiction, wind load, and span — the “Include permit” toggle only adds a placeholder cost line for your own paperwork time, it is not a determination that a permit is or isn’t required. Confirm with your local building department before you frame it.
Why is louvered or polycarbonate shade so much more than an open frame?
An open rafter frame is mostly post-and-beam labor; louvered and polycarbonate roofs add a second material system, fasteners, and often a drainage detail the open frame doesn’t have. Switch the shade dropdown to see the dollar and hour gap directly rather than guessing at a flat per-square-foot upcharge.
Where do the starting spans and hours come from?
They're common residential ballpark figures for post spacing and shade install time, not a building-code opinion or an engineering stamp. Time your own crew on a job or two and replace the defaults in calc.mjs so the bid matches how your shop actually builds.
Hand the customer a proposal
The price above is for you. This is the page you print or save as a PDF and give to the customer — your details, their details, the scope, the deposit split, and a line for them to sign. Your business details are saved on this device so you only type them once; the customer’s details are never saved.
Everything on the printed page is text you typed or a number this calculator worked out. It contains no warranty, lien, or cancellation wording — those depend on your jurisdiction and your contract, and this tool is not the place to invent them.