If you’re a handy person, and please be honest with your level of “DIY’ness”, as you won’t be doing yourself any favors by destroying thousands of dollars of material, perhaps purchasing building plans for your gazebo is the way to go.

Gazebo plans will include everything you need to know to build your gazebo, including:

• General Details - foundations, tools, construction and how to email technical support for help
• Materials list – all the required items you'll need to build your gazebo
• Cut list – Instructions on what to do with the material you’ve purchased
• Construction instructions – CAD (blue prints) drawings that outline the framing process for the gazebo – please note that doors and windows are separate documents
• Assembly details – Complete details from A to Z on the assembly of your gazebo

For more information, photos and ideas on Gazebos Plans, visit Summerwood.com.

If your gazebo is over 110 square feet, the biggest issue will be permit drawings. Most jurisdictions require that buildings over this size be subject to the normal building permit process. This means getting special permit drawings done and stamped by a local engineering firm to ensure that the building meets or exceeds local building codes. Depending on where you buy your plans from, they may be able to help with permit drawings – then you just need a local engineering firm to review and sign off on them. Either way you can anticipate spending a little extra for this process, and don’t leave it till the last minute. As soon as you buy the plans get moving on this as it can take time to get things approved.

Other more obvious items that aren’t included is live technical support, unless you’ve had a firm create custom plans from scratch (much more expensive), you’re not going to have access to live technical support for $100 plans. You should expect email support though – so make sure you check this out before you buy anything. Materials, landscaping and foundations are obviously not included either – keep these costs in mind when considering gazebo plans.

Building a gazebo from plans can be quite easy if you’ve had a little framing experience and know how to read basic blue prints. If you haven’t then you might want to consider a precut or preassembled gazebo kit – as they come almost prebuilt, making the construction process a snap compared to doing it from plans.

If you think you’re up to the job, then you’ll need to consider the following:

• Materials – costs, type, and where you’re going to buy it.
• Foundation – depending on the size, location, and use for the gazebo you’ll need to consider what type of foundation is appropriate – patio stones, concrete slab, or sono-tubes are all options.
• Landscaping – you’ll need to consider where the gazebos going and what landscaping issues are presented given your choice.
• Costs for everything – obviously gazebo plans are pretty inexpensive, but there’s many other costs to keep in mind – materials, foundations, landscaping, doors and windows, permits, etc… there are all above and beyond the costs of the actual building plans.

So you’ve selected a design, have the perfect location in mind, bought the plans, built the foundation – and now you’re ready to order your materials from your local building center. But what wood type do you go with? With gazebos there’s really only one choice – cedar. Cedar has great properties, longevity being the best. Cedar can take all sorts of weather conditions and age with grace. It’s not the cheapest wood that’s for sure, but you don’t want to be rebuilding your gazebo in 5-7 years do you? Cedar is also really easy to work with – it’s forgiving, light and looks great in a wide variety of finishes.

Your other consideration will be doors and windows, only if you’ve selected a fully enclosed gazebo that is. Your local home building center will have a large selection of doors and windows to choose from, or as a lower cost alternative, check out eBay and other online classified sites – there’s a huge selection available online.

For more information, photos and ideas on Gazebos Plans, visit Summerwood.com.