Pergola prices, from a simple frame to a motorised roof

Rung one, the open frame

A timber or basic aluminium frame with open beams overhead is the cheapest thing sold as a pergola. It defines a space and eventually supports planting, but it gives no rain cover and only broken shade. If your reason for buying is looks and structure for climbers, this is a legitimate purchase. If your reason is using the patio when the weather turns, it will disappoint within a season.

Rung two, a frame with a fixed cover

Adding a fixed roof, whether polycarbonate, solid panels or glass, moves the structure into genuinely useful territory and moves the price up with it. At this point the frame must be engineered for load rather than appearance, drainage becomes necessary, and the posts need proper bases. Most of the extra cost is in the parts you cannot see.

Rung three, the motorised louvred roof

A louvred pergola adds rotating aluminium blades, a motor, a linked drive and integrated water channels. You are paying for engineering and for the ability to change the roof through the day. This is the band most people mean when they ask about smart pergolas, and it sits comfortably above an equivalent sized fixed roof structure.

• Blade span and blade count rather than floor area drives the mechanism cost
• Rain and wind sensors are modest additions individually
• Zip screens per bay are one of the larger single upgrades
• Integrated LED and heating are cheapest specified upfront

Site factors that move any quote

Two identical structures rarely cost the same to install. Access decides how materials reach the garden, ground conditions decide how much digging happens, and exposure decides how the frame is engineered. A garden reached only through the house adds hours. A hillside plot adds structure. These are practical realities, not padding.

• No side access, materials carried through the house
• Ground with services running under the post positions
• Sloping patio needing bases built up to keep the roofline true
• Exposed site needing heavier fixings and deeper footings

What a quote should tell you

A quotation you can compare needs to name the frame profile, the roof type, the number of posts, how water leaves the structure, what base work is included and what the electrical arrangement is. If a quote is a single line and a price, you cannot compare it with anything, and you will not know what was left out until installation day.

• Frame and beam specification stated
• Post count and base preparation included
• Drainage route described, not assumed
• Electrical supply and controls listed separately
• Lead time and installation duration given

Where louvres are worth it and where they are not

If you eat outside regularly, host in the evenings, or want the sky back on a good day, the motorised roof earns its money. If you mostly want a dry, bright covered patio and you would rather never think about the structure again, a glass veranda costs less and does that job better. We fit both, so that advice costs us nothing to give.