Pergola and gazebo builders in Ottawa

The City lists a gazebo as a detached accessory structure that needs no building permit when it measures less than 10 m² (about 108 sq ft). Its page on detached garages and sheds gives the line for a gazebo as less than 15 m² (162 sq ft), so for anything between those sizes we confirm with the City before the plan is final. Exempt or not, the structure must still meet the Ontario Building Code and the Zoning By-law, and designated heritage buildings and buildings in a Heritage District Overlay get no exemption. On a deck, the deck rules count too: a deck attached to or next to the house needs a permit once its walking surface is more than 600 mm (24 in.) above grade. We go over what applies to your lot at the visit.

A pergola has an open top of beams, rafters and slats. It gives filtered shade, lets rain through and suits a deck or patio you want to keep bright. A gazebo has a solid roof, so it keeps off sun and rain, carries more snow and is a larger build, often on its own floor. Choose by how you will use the space: a dining area off the kitchen door, a spot at the back of the yard, or cover over a hot tub. We talk it through on site, where the sun and the view are easy to judge.

Often, yes, once the deck has been checked. Pergola posts add weight and wind load at points the deck was never built to carry. We lift boards where the posts would land and check the joists, beams, footings and the connection to the house. Where the frame can take it, the posts are fastened into reinforced framing. Where it cannot, the posts drop through to their own footings below the deck, or the frame is repaired first. The quote says which applies and why.

Snow sits on whatever the top holds. Open slats catch some of it, and a solid gazebo roof carries all of it until it melts or slides off, and late-winter snow is wet and heavy. So the post, beam and rafter sizes, the spacing and the bracing are set at the site visit for your span and the top you choose. The Ontario Building Code sets the minimum requirements for framing and foundations, and the frame is sized from there.

Footings that stay put through frost. Ottawa clay holds water, and wet clay around a post freezes and lifts it, so a post standing on a patio block or in a shallow hole rises and drops each winter and racks the frame. Footing type and depth are chosen at the site visit for the soil at each post, the same way as for our decks. Over interlock, the footing goes in under the paving base. Near a City-owned tree, work inside its critical root zone that may injure it needs the City’s written approval, so posts are placed with the root zone in mind.

Yes. On a deck, screen posts are fastened into the deck frame, or carried down to their own footings where the frame is light, because a solid screen takes a lot of wind. Along a lot line at grade, the City’s fence by-law defines a fence as a freestanding structure, wall or barrier erected at grade to mark a property’s boundaries, control access or protect the property, and it caps fence height at 2.13 m in side and rear yards. A fence that does not enclose a pool needs no building permit. We check how your screen fits those rules at the visit.

Ask us at the estimate. Tell us what you have in mind and we tell you what we can take on alongside the pergola, deck or patio. On the City side, a one-storey detached storage shed of 15 m² or less, ancillary to the house and without plumbing, needs no building permit, though the Zoning By-law still applies. Swales also have to stay open: the City says they cannot be blocked by sheds, gardens or other landscaping.

It depends on the size, whether it stands on its own or on a deck, an open top or a solid roof, the number of posts and footings, any screens or lattice, and how easily the yard can be reached. Korvex Construction looks at the site in person anywhere in Ottawa and the suburbs, checks the ground or the deck where the posts will go and asks how you want to use the space. The written price follows that visit.