A bloke out at Figtree rang me before last Christmas wanting shade over his back deck. He'd already had two quotes, one around six grand and one closer to eighteen, for what he reckoned was the exact same job. He wanted to know which mob was having a lend of him. Turned out neither was. One had priced a simple open timber frame, the other a full roofed patio with a proper pitched cover tying back into the house. Same corner of the yard, two completely different builds.
That's the trouble with putting one number on a pergola. So here's how the pricing actually works, before you ring anyone.
What a pergola actually runs
Rough shape of it for the Illawarra in 2026. A modest open-frame timber pergola over a courtyard or a bit of deck, no roof sheeting, sits somewhere around $3,500 to $8,000 supplied and built. Put a roof on it and turn it into a patio you can sit under in the rain, Colorbond or polycarbonate up top, tied into the existing roofline, and you're more like $12,000 to $25,000 depending on size and how it attaches. Start adding café blinds, privacy screens, a fan and some lighting and it keeps climbing from there.
Big range, I know. Same reason the deck price is all over the shop, and I go through that in the deck cost guide if you're weighing up both. A pergola is really a frame, a set of footings and a decision about whether water runs off it. Each of those three moves the number more than the size does.
The things that push the price about
Here's what actually shifts it, in the order it usually matters:
- Open or roofed. An open pergola is posts, beams and rafters, and that's your lot. The second you sheet the roof you're shedding water somewhere, which means gutters, a downpipe, flashing into the existing roof and somewhere for the runoff to go. That's a fair chunk of extra work and it's where a lot of the jump between those two Figtree quotes lived.
- Attached versus freestanding. Bolting a patio onto the house looks tidier and usually costs a bit more, because getting the flashing right where new meets old is fiddly and it has to be watertight for twenty years.
- Materials. Treated pine framing is the budget play. Merbau and spotted gum cost more and look the part left exposed. Powder-coated steel posts and beams sit higher again but shrug off the weather. Most of what we build out here is timber, with steel when someone wants long spans and no posts in the way.
- Footings and slope. Flat block, easy. A fall across the yard, which half the blocks up against the escarpment have, means stepped or deeper footings and a bit more setting out before a single post goes in.
- The finishes. Screens, blinds, downlights, a ceiling fan, decking underneath. None of it's dear on its own. It adds up quick.
Size matters less than people think. There's a fixed lump of setup, footings and design in every job, so a little pergola can feel pricey by the square metre. Spread that same setup over something bigger and the rate settles down.
The roof is where approval comes in too
Worth knowing before you commit to a design, because it can change your timeline as well as your budget.
An open pergola on a standard block will often go through as exempt development, meaning no approval needed as long as you stay under the size, height and setback limits. Put a roof on it and you're shedding water, and that can tip the same structure into needing a Complying Development Certificate or, on a tricky block, a full application to council. Heritage overlays and bushfire-prone land, both common around the Illawarra, can knock the easy path out entirely. I wrote the whole thing up in do you need council approval for a pergola or patio, and the current thresholds sit on the NSW Planning Portal. Sort which bucket you're in before you get attached to a design.
One more on the money side. Once the job's over $5,000, all up, it has to be done by a licensed builder under a written contract. That's the NSW Fair Trading rule, not a made-up one, and most patios clear that easily. Ask to see a licence. Any decent chippy will show you without blinking.
Salt air changes what you should spend it on
Near the water, the cheap stuff bites you. Standard galvanised brackets and screws streak and rust within a couple of years down here, so we run stainless or properly coast-rated coated fixings on anything close to the coast. Same thinking on the timber. Spotted gum handles the salt and the southerly busters better than most, which is why you see so much of it on the exposed decks and patios at Thirroul and Austinmer.
If you're roofing it, get the pitch and the eaves right so the weather actually runs off instead of blowing back under. A pergola that doubles as a proper outdoor room, somewhere to run an alfresco or built-in BBQ setup, earns its keep about eight months of the year out here. It's worth building once and building it to cop the weather.
So if you're picturing something over the back of the house anywhere from Helensburgh down to Nowra, get me out to have a look at the block. I'll talk through open versus roofed against your budget, tell you honestly which way the approval's likely to land, and give you a real figure instead of a guess. Have a look at the pergolas and patios side of what we do, then call Dave on 0414 007 351 or send the form through. No charge for the quote, and you'll be dealing with the fella doing the work.
Want a hand with this at your place? Get a free quote or call 0414 007 351.
