Made-to-measure aluminium pergolas from Pergola Pros typically cost £8,000–£20,000 supplied. Specialist HIAB crane delivery is quoted separately once we know the distance and site access. The exact figure depends mainly on the size and model, while groundworks are a separate site cost. Every pergola is manufactured to your dimensions and quoted individually, so this guide explains what moves the price and what to compare before you order.
Span matters more than floor area
Size is the first lever, but not in a tidy pounds-per-square-metre way. Cost is driven less by the area you cover than by span: the distance a beam crosses with no post underneath it. Stretch that distance and the structure has to work considerably harder, so the frame gets heavier before a single other thing changes on the specification.
Past a certain width the sensible answer is a second bay — two structures sharing a post line rather than one very ambitious one. Bays add posts and a shared beam, and they are often the more sensible answer than forcing a single span further than it wants to go. That decision gets made early, because everything else follows from it.
The roof is the second big variable
There are two roof principles in our range. A motorised louvred roof lets you angle the blades for light, shade and ventilation, then close them over the space. A retractable roof lets the louvres stack aside for open sky. Add sliding glass walls when the brief is a complete bioclimatic room.
Motorisation is not a line on our quote
On a lot of quotes, electric operation appears as an optional extra with its own price against it. On ours it does not, because every model is electric as standard. The motor is weatherproof and concealed inside the frame, and a remote comes with all models. Gold and Platinum add app and smart-home control on top.
Worth checking on any quote you are comparing: if motorisation is priced separately, the headline figure you were given is not the figure you will pay.
Why a cheap pergola and an expensive one are different products
Here is the honest core of it. The number that separates one aluminium pergola from another is wind resistance, and it tracks fairly closely with how much metal is in the posts.
A UK bioclimatic pergola we saw quoted at £25,790 is rated to 100 km/h on posts measuring 100 x 100 x 1.6 mm. Renson publishes 120 km/h. Our Gold sits on a 150 x 150 x 2.0 mm post. Platinum sits on a 150 x 150 x 2.8 mm post.
Read those figures side by side and the picture is clear enough. A 150 mm post section against a 100 mm one, with a wall nearly twice as thick, is not a styling choice. Aluminium is bought by weight, and wall thickness is where the money either goes or quietly does not. A rating is a laboratory figure rather than a promise about your particular exposed corner plot, but the metal is the metal, and you cannot add it later.
So when a pergola looks surprisingly cheap, the useful question is not "why is this one cheap" but "what is the post section, what alloy and temper, and what is guaranteed". Ask it of everyone, including us. Wind figures are worth less than they look: most of the ratings quoted in this market are estimates rather than test results, which is why we publish the metal and the guarantee instead and say so plainly in our FAQ.
If you are weighing a boxed kit against a made-to-measure quotation, we have set the two side by side — sizing, structure, roof, delivery, foundations, guarantees and total cost — in kits versus made-to-measure.
Groundworks: the bit that lands in the wrong budget
A pergola needs a prepared, level base capable of taking the posts, and that base is a separate piece of work from the pergola itself. It is the single most common thing missing from a homeowner's budget, usually discovered at the least convenient moment. Whatever you are planning — new paving, an existing patio, a fresh slab — get it costed at the same time as the structure rather than afterwards. Our installation page sets out what needs to be in place beforehand.
HIAB delivery: budget for it, do not discover it
Pergolas arrive on a lorry with a HIAB crane, which lifts the sections onto the prepared base. That is the practical way to move something this size and this heavy without a small army, and it does mean access is part of the conversation: the vehicle has to get close enough for the crane to reach. Narrow lanes, low branches, awkward side returns and shared driveways are all worth mentioning early. The delivery process is explained here, and it belongs in your budget from day one rather than as a late surprise.
Getting an actual number
The fastest route to a real figure is rough dimensions, a note of what the ground looks like now, and some idea of how the lorry would reach it. From there we can talk about span, bays, roof type and model, and quote properly. Send us your measurements and we will do the arithmetic — rather than a figure that moves with how big the project looks.