Pergola with installation

khw1

Hi all, we're looking to purchase an aluminium pergola for our garden (approx. 3m x 3m - something like a Palram), but I don't feel too confident about assembling it. I've found plenty of sellers - Robert Dyas, Argos, various garden centres - but struggle to find somewhere that will assemble and install for us. We could find a local handyman, but having the same company that sells it do the assembly/install work might be better (if a little more costly). Does anyone know a seller who will install - in London? We're looking at around the 1k mark for the pergola, and accept that the assembly/install would be a few hundred pounds. Thanks! 

ComicGeek

Suns Lifestyle (sunslifestyle.com) do really nice pergolas and offer installation. Certainly not around the £1k mark though, more like £3-4k for that size.

Ganga

Do you not have a friendly neighbour who would erect it for you?

khw1

Thanks for the suggestions. I think Suns Lifestyle is beyond our budget! We'd be looking at something around 1k, like one of the Palrams. Unfortunately it's only the more expensive pergola models that come with installation.

@Ganga I don't think we'd have a neighbour able to help. I've got no problem paying a handyman - it usually suggests that 2x people should take 2-3h to do it. Maybe it's a Taskrabbit/Airtasker type job.

casper_gutman

If you're going down the route of getting a handy person to assist with the installation, then do your research and have a clear idea of what you want first. Many of them will be good and competent workers, but they may have limited experience of this sort of job.

At the very least, read all the instructions provided by the manufacturer carefully and mention any key points to the person you hire: I rarely see any tradespeople reading instructions!

Think especially carefully about how the foundations should be built, if any are needed - instructions for things like pergolas have a tendency to assume you will put the thing on a massive concrete raft you happen to have, or will just say "provide a suitable foundation" or some such cop out!

Numb_fingers

Are you a member of the Nextdoor community? Download the app and I'll guarentee you'll get a response from your local community

khw1

Numb_fingers said:

Are you a member of the Nextdoor community? Download the app and I'll guarentee you'll get a response from your local community

Thanks, not on Nextdoor, but have a local Facebook group. Maybe that's best. We're happy to pay someone to put it up when we buy it. As an estimated 2-3h by 2x people, we'd be looking at £200ish? The trick is to find someone who knows what they're doing/have done this before.

Silvertabby

When we ordered our Rhino greenhouse they gave us the names of a couple of their recommended fitters.  Perhaps your pergola company offer a similar service?

Cost us quite a bit more than £200 - but expect our greenhouse had more parts to fit (all that glass!) than a pergola.

If not, then your problem will be finding a tradesman willing to work and charge you for just a few hours.  They would be unlikely to get another little job to make up their hours, so it would be normal practice to charge you the full daily rate rather than by the hour.

Alnat1

A pergola isn't complicated to fit, it's a fairly simple DIY job that any handyman could do. Stick a message on FB, pretty sure you'll get a good response.

kipsterno1

What type of surface will it be standing on?

We have this make, https://www.garden4less.co.uk/product/roma-pergola-grey-4m
It simply slots together you just have to square it up. The canopy is removable which we do over winter. We also add a couple of guy ropes to anchor points as it can get quite windy where we are. Ours is bolted into trench blocks that are stood on the patio.

GDB2222

khw1 said:

Numb_fingers said:

Are you a member of the Nextdoor community? Download the app and I'll guarentee you'll get a response from your local community

Thanks, not on Nextdoor, but have a local Facebook group. Maybe that's best. We're happy to pay someone to put it up when we buy it. As an estimated 2-3h by 2x people, we'd be looking at £200ish? The trick is to find someone who knows what they're doing/have done this before.

That sounds very, very cheap for installation. It might be okay for assembling the framework, but that’s just part of the process. Holes will need to be dug for the legs, and these will need to be concreted into the ground. Doing that so that the legs are all vertical and everything joins up and is square is not easy.