A patio is only as useful as the days you can actually sit on it. In East Tennessee that means shade in the summer, cover in the afternoon rain, and a roof you can hang a fan and lights from. A cover is what turns a slab you use a few evenings a year into the most-used room of the house.
There are two honest ways to get there — a manufactured kit cover or a site-built custom structure — and the right one comes down to your budget, your roofline and how far you want to push the design. We build both, and we’ll tell you straight which one fits your project.
Kit cover vs. custom — the honest comparison
Neither is “better.” They solve the same problem at different price points and levels of flexibility.
- Kit / manufactured cover — engineered aluminum or pergola-style systems in defined sizes. Faster to install, strong value, insulated roof options, and clean lines. Best when your patio is a standard rectangle and you want shade, rain protection and lighting without a full custom build. This is the heart of our $15k–$25k patio-plus-cover package.
- Custom, site-built structure — framed and finished on site with unlimited spans and footprints, materials matched to your house, and full integration of an outdoor kitchen, fireplace, ceiling, fans and lighting. Best when the roofline has to tie into the home, the span is wide, or the cover is one piece of a larger build. Starts around $25k and scales with size and finish.
What’s included in a covered patio project
- The slab or paver base — poured or laid, sloped for drainage, sized to the structure
- Footings and posts engineered for the load, not just set in the ground
- The cover structure itself — kit system or site-built frame and roof
- Electrical rough-in for a ceiling fan, recessed or string lighting, and outlets
- Provisions to tie into the house for an attached cover, or a freestanding footprint
- Flashing and attachment detailing so water goes where it should — never into your wall
Built for East Tennessee weather
A cover is a structure, and structures here have to handle real snow load and the wind that comes with our storms. We size the posts, beams and footings to the span and the load — and where a cover attaches to the house, the flashing and ledger detailing is what keeps the connection dry for the life of the roof. Attached or freestanding, we plan that before anyone digs.
What it costs
A patio-plus-cover package typically runs $15,000–$25,000 for a concrete or paver patio with an engineered kit cover, lighting and a fan. Fully custom, site-built covered structures start around $25,000 and scale with span, roofline, materials and any integrated kitchen or fireplace. We price the slab, the structure and the electrical separately on your proposal so you can see exactly what drives the number.