Custom pergolas, built for Miami sun and hurricane code.

Size first, and it drives most of what follows. The footprint sets the outside dimensions of the pergola; where the posts land inside it sets the span, the distance a beam has to cross between posts. A beam crossing 16 feet is not working a little harder than one crossing 12. The bending it has to resist rises roughly with the square of the span, so the span is what decides beam size and how many posts you end up with. Height is next: a taller post puts more leverage on its footing when wind pushes against the structure. From there it is the roof type — open slats, a fixed roof or motorized louvers — louver and rafter spacing, the material and the finish color. Last is how the structure meets what is already there: an eave height, an existing roofline, or the level of a pool deck.

If the yard is a clean rectangle, the size you want is sold as a kit, and the structure can stand on its own away from the house, a kit is a fair buy. Check two things before you order one: whether its parts carry a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance, the county product approval, and what your own city requires — a permanent pergola needs a permit and engineering for local wind load even when it arrives in a box. Custom is the answer when the site or the house will not cooperate. A narrow or irregular yard. A width no kit spans. Sun coming in at the wrong angle: late afternoon light from the west sits low and arrives under the roof, so what is overhead does not stop it on its own. What helps is which way the louvers close, or a vertical screen on that side — both decided by orientation, before anything is ordered. Matching an existing structure, so post size, beam depth and finish read as part of the house. Or posts that cannot land where a kit's layout puts them, because a pool line, a drain, a setback or an existing footing is in the way. That last one is the case where a kit arrives complete and still stalls at installation: every part is in the box and the post layout does not fit the yard.

Yes, in one specific way. A kit usually arrives with the manufacturer's engineering, and some kits carry their own Miami-Dade product approval (an NOA). That approval covers the structure only as it was tested and drawn: those sizes, those spans, those anchors and footings, within stated wind pressures, and only in the mounting configurations it lists. Change a span, raise the height, move a post, or attach it to the house when the approval does not cover attached mounting, and you are outside it. A custom pergola gets drawings engineered and sealed for your address instead, with the wind load calculated for that lot, because pressures are not the same on a sheltered inland yard as on an open one near the water. Pergola installation goes through plan review either way — your city building department, or Miami-Dade County directly if your address is unincorporated. What custom buys you is a structure engineered around the yard, rather than a yard bent to fit the structure.

The first thing we look at on a pergola installation is access. The machine that digs the footings, the concrete delivery and the wheelbarrow route all need a way into the yard. A narrow side gate or a screen enclosure can mean the digging and the concrete get moved by hand instead. After that, the sequence is the same on most jobs: post locations are marked and checked against the approved drawings, footings are excavated to the engineered depth, steel and anchor hardware are set, and in most municipalities that work is inspected before any concrete is poured. The concrete then has to gain enough strength to carry the frame, so the posts do not go up the day the holes are dug. Frame, roof, wiring and finishes follow. On site, inspections and concrete govern the pace, not how fast a crew can work.

Plan on one part of the yard being a work area and off-limits. While the footings are open, the hole and the fresh concrete are not safe around kids or pets, so that section stays closed off until the concrete has set. Some days are loud: excavation, drilling into a slab or a wall, and cutting metal or wood to length. Dust comes with any cutting or coring, and the material dug out of the footings gets hauled off site. You do not have to be home the whole time, and most of the work does not need you there. Two moments are worth being present for: when the post positions are marked on the ground, because that is the cheapest moment to move them, and at handover. Beyond that, the crew needs a clear route in and access to water and power.

Yes — what changes is what happens under each post. A patio slab or a paver deck is not a foundation: it was poured to be walked on, not to hold a pergola down against wind uplift. So the slab is normally cored or saw-cut where each post lands, and an engineered footing is poured underneath. If the surface is pavers, they are lifted out and reset around the post afterward. Whether an existing slab can carry any of that load instead is the engineer's call — it depends on the slab's thickness and reinforcement, and on what the product approval for that system allows. Over a pool deck the posts also have to stay clear of the pool shell and its bond beam, and that can shift a layout that looked obvious on paper. Irrigation is the other thing to find before digging: those lines sit shallow and almost never where anyone remembers, so they are located first, then capped or rerouted. Be realistic about the seam, though. A patch in poured concrete never disappears completely, and pavers that break on the way out, or the cuts around a new post, are hard to match years later. If you have spares from the original job, keep them.

Engineering, and who signs for it. A kit can be a decent product. What it does not come with is footings sized for your soil, or drawings a Miami-Dade plans examiner will accept — in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone a pergola installation is normally a permitted structural job, calculated for your site. So ask any builder: who prepares the structural drawings, and are they signed and sealed by a Florida-licensed engineer? Does the roof system carry a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance (NOA), or a statewide Florida Product Approval that covers use in the HVHZ? An approval that does not cover the HVHZ is not enough in Miami-Dade or Broward. What is the number, and is it still current — an NOA has an expiration date, and anyone can look the number up in the county's public Product Control search. Then the question people skip: does the approval cover the span, post spacing and height actually being built? A rating only holds in the configuration it was approved in.

The builder pulls it, under their own license. If a contractor asks you to pull it yourself as an owner-builder, treat that as a warning sign: Florida's own owner-builder disclosure says plainly that unlicensed people frequently do exactly that. Know what the exemption means. It is for your own home, you have to supervise on site any work not done by a licensed contractor, and it is on you to confirm that everyone you hire is licensed. Nobody pulling one at all is worse. Unpermitted work surfaces when you sell, the building department with jurisdiction — your city, or the county if your address is unincorporated — can require an after-the-fact permit or removal, and a storm claim on a structure that was never permitted is a fight you do not want. Before anyone digs a footing for the pergola, get it in writing. The scope, with materials and dimensions named. Who pulls the permit, and under which license number. That the engineered drawings will be signed and sealed, and that you get a copy. A payment schedule tied to completed stages, not calendar dates. How change orders are priced and approved. What is excluded. Florida also prints a warning in capitals on every permit card: failing to record a Notice of Commencement may result in your paying twice for improvements to your property. It is recorded and posted at the job site before the first inspection. Recording it is not by itself protection — what protects you is a lien release collected with every payment, and a final payment affidavit from the contractor at the end.

Almost always, yes. A pergola set on footings or attached to the house is a permanent structure, and Miami-Dade municipalities require a building permit with engineered drawings. Exact thresholds differ between Miami, Coral Gables, Key Biscayne and Hialeah, so the requirement is confirmed for your address before design begins. We prepare the drawings and handle the permit submission as part of the build.

Miami-Dade and Broward sit inside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ) of the Florida Building Code — the strictest wind standard in the country. A pergola here is engineered for those wind loads through its posts, connections and footings, not just its roof. Many components carry a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance (NOA), the county product approval. A structure built without this is both a permit problem and a genuine safety risk in a storm.

Powder-coated aluminum is the lowest-maintenance choice: it will not rot, warp or feed termites, and it holds up best within a few blocks of salt water. Ipe is an extremely dense tropical hardwood that lasts decades and takes the heat well, but it silvers over time unless it is oiled periodically. Cedar is lighter, warmer in tone and gentler on budget, though it asks for the most upkeep in this climate. The honest trade is aluminum for longevity, ipe or cedar for warmth.

A fixed roof is simpler, costs less and has nothing to service. Motorized louvers rotate closed against rain and open to let heat escape, which matters through a South Florida summer when a covered patio can otherwise trap heat. Louvers add a motor and controls, so they add maintenance. If the space is used daily year-round, louvers usually earn their keep; for occasional shade over a seating area, a fixed roof is often the better value.

Both work. An attached pergola reads as an extension of the house and needs careful flashing and a structural connection into the wall or tie beam so water is kept out and wind load transfers properly. A freestanding pergola gives you freedom to place it anywhere in the yard and avoids touching the roofline entirely, which is sometimes the simpler path on an older house.

We build across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach — including Key Biscayne, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Pinecrest and Fort Lauderdale. We also take projects further up the state, including the Tampa Bay area — Tampa is a same-day trip from Miami. Because permitting rules and wind requirements change from city to city, the first step is always confirming what your specific municipality requires.

It varies with the design and the municipality, and it is worth being straight about why: permitting is usually the longest single step in Miami-Dade, and it is the part least under anyone’s control. Design and engineering come first, then permit review, then footings, structure and finishes. We give you a schedule once the design is settled and we know which city is reviewing it, rather than a number that sounds good and slips.

Yes, and it is far cheaper to plan it during the build than to retrofit it afterwards. Wiring runs concealed inside the structure for lighting, ceiling fans, heaters and outdoor audio, so nothing is surface-mounted or visible later. Fans in particular make a covered South Florida patio usable through the summer.