The craft
The cheapest room you'll ever add.
A pergola is the cheapest square footage you'll ever add to a house. It turns a patio nobody sits on into the place everyone ends up — not by enclosing it, but by giving it edges, a ceiling line and somewhere for the light to break up before it lands on you.
It's also, structurally, the most exposed carpentry we do. Every joint is visible. There's no drywall to hide a sloppy cut and no roof to keep the weather off the joinery. We build ours with proper footings, real joinery and beams sized for snow load — because a pergola that racks or sags does it in full view of your whole yard.
choose your wood
Three builds, three budgets.
The right build depends on how much control you want over the weather and how much upkeep you're willing to do. Here's how we help homeowners decide.
Western Red Cedar
Naturally rot-resistant, light enough for long spans and beautiful the day it goes up. Takes stain, ages gracefully and looks like it belongs to the house rather than the catalogue.
Pressure-Treated
The most cost-effective way to get a properly engineered structure overhead. Heavier and less refined than cedar, but stain it any colour and it does the same job for less.
Louvered Aluminum
Powder-coated blades that pivot from open sky to closed roof on a remote. Full shade when you want it, rain protection when you need it, and nothing to sand or stain.
The shade
Everyone promises shade. Here's what you actually get.
This is the part homeowners are disappointed by, and it's entirely avoidable. An open pergola is not a roof — at noon in July, standard rafters at 24″ centres put roughly a third of your patio in shadow, and the rest of it in stripes. That's a beautiful thing if you wanted dappled light. It's a bad afternoon if you wanted to eat lunch out there.
Two decisions fix it, and both are free at the design stage. Tighten the rafter spacing — 12″ centres roughly double your coverage. And run the rafters east–west, so at midday the sun crosses them broadside and each one throws a wide shadow instead of hiding behind itself. Want certainty rather than physics? That's what louvers and canopies are for.
How We Build It
From footing to final rafter.
Design & Permits
We measure, track the sun across your yard and handle all permit drawings and approvals.
Footings & Posts
Frost-depth piers or engineered deck anchors, with posts plumbed and braced to carry the span.
Beams & Rafters
Beams notched and through-bolted, rafters set to the spacing your shade plan calls for.
Finish & Walkthrough
Lighting, screens and canopies fitted, sealed and walked through — with our written guarantee.
WHY ACORN
Carpenters, not crews of subs.
One accountable crew
The carpenter who quotes your pergola is the one who builds it. No middlemen, no finger-pointing.
Shade by design
We plan the spacing and orientation around your yard's actual sun, not a catalogue drawing. You know what you're getting before we dig.
Fixed, honest quotes
A clear scope and a fixed price up front. The number we quote is the number you pay.
Recent Pergolas
Built across the GTA.
A selection of cedar, pressure-treated and louvered pergolas we've delivered for Toronto-area homeowners.
Good To Know
Pergola questions, answered.
Still unsure about something? We'll walk through it all at your free on-site consultation.
Ready to make the patio the best room in the house?
Get a free, no-obligation on-site consultation and quote from
Toronto's trusted deck builders.