Flyover
Pergola roof clears the existing house roofline by ~300mm, with optional skylight panels through the overlap. Full ceiling height underneath, windows behind stay bright. Built in Bruce, Dunlop, Spence, Gowrie, Charnwood.
Canberra outdoor structures
Pergolas and carports built for Canberra homes
Talk to Ben or Ryan about shade, cover, access and the right structure for your place.
Project gallery
Recent pergolas, carports + decks across Canberra
A representative sweep of what we've built. Every image below is a delivered BRT job.
WHAT WE BUILD
Pergolas, carports, and integrated outdoor structures
Most of what we build is outdoor structures. Twenty-one of the last twenty-seven projects on the board were pergolas, carports, or pergola + deck combinations. We work in every common style fixed to the house and freestanding over a patio or deck. Roof choice depends on what the space is for: shade, weather, light, or all three. We help you make that call before the quote is written.
Pergolas
Six pergola styles we build regularly, fitted to the house or freestanding over a patio or deck:
- Flyover, clears the roofline, daylight retained
- Freestanding, detached, sits over a deck or patio
- Freestanding Dutch Gable, pitched feature roof
- Fascia-fixed with riser brackets
- Fascia-fixed with receiver channel
- Wall-fixed with receiver channel
Carports
Single-vehicle, double-bay or side-of-house. Fixed to the house or built as a standalone:
- Fascia-fixed with receiver channel
- Wall-fixed with receiver channel, side-of-house
- Freestanding, double bays, no roofline tie-in
- Flatdeck or Polycarbonate roofing
- Louvrescreen end walls for wind and privacy
Integrated outdoor rooms
Pergola + deck + screen combinations, one build, one quote, one crew:
- Pergola over Composite or Merbau deck
- Louvrescreen privacy panels and end walls
- Dominion cladding on end walls
- Steel cable balustrade on raised decks
- Carport tied into pergola + deck (Bruce build)
ROOF MATERIALS
Roof materials we work with
The roof is the single biggest decision on a pergola or carport. It shapes the temperature underneath, the noise in rain, and the daylight in the room next to it. Six materials we use regularly, and what each is best for.
Insulated roof panel
Our most-built roof. Quiet in rain, insulated against summer sun, clean modern lines. The space underneath stays usable in February heat and through Canberra's winter. Eleven of our last twenty-one pergola builds were Insulated panel.
MOST POPULAR · 11 of 21 builds
Flatdeck
Durable metal decking profile. Common choice for carports and flyover pergolas where the roofline needs to read clean against the house. Available in Monument, White, and the standard Colorbond colour range.
CARPORTS · FLYOVER PERGOLAS
Trimdeck
Corrugated metal decking profile with a finer rib than Flatdeck. Reads warmer and softer at distance. Used on our Freestanding and Dutch Gable builds where the profile is part of the look.
FREESTANDING · DUTCH GABLE
Spandeck
Premium metal decking profile, broader pan, cleaner shadow line. Used on freestanding builds where the underside is visible from inside the house and the roof has to look as finished from below as it does from above.
PREMIUM FREESTANDING
Polycarbonate
Translucent roof option. Lets daylight through to the windows underneath, so the room behind doesn't go dark when the structure goes up. Good for the south side of a house and for narrow side carports.
DAYLIGHT THROUGH
Laserlite
Fibreglass-reinforced translucent panel. Lighter than Polycarbonate, with a slightly diffused finish. Used on Freestanding and Flyover builds where weight matters or the look needs to be softer than glass-clear poly.
FREESTANDING · FLYOVER
DECK MATERIALS
Decking that pairs with the build
A pergola over a deck is one build, not two. We pick the deck material to match how the space gets used: bare feet, dogs, furniture, sun, the lot.
Composite (Smoked Ash or Blackbutt)
Low-maintenance, splinter-free, weatherproof. Holds colour through Canberra summers without oiling. Smoked Ash reads grey-brown; Blackbutt reads warm tan.
Merbau hardwood (90mm)
Premium hardwood, 90mm boards, deep brown finish that ages naturally toward silver-grey if left unoiled. Hard wearing, dense, sits well alongside cable balustrade.
Spotted Gum
Australian hardwood with distinctive grain and tonal variation board to board. Suits builds where the deck is meant to be the feature, not a neutral platform.
PERGOLA STYLES EXPLAINED
Pergola styles for Canberra homes
Six styles we build regularly, each suited to a different roofline situation and a different relationship to the house. The right one depends on the eaves, the fall, and what you're trying to do with the daylight underneath. Here's how we use each one.
Freestanding
Detached from the house, usually over a deck or patio. Own posts, own roof, no fascia tie-in. Built freestanding over Merbau in Rivett, polycarbonate in Burra, Spandeck in Royalla, Laserlite + Louvrescreen in Torrens.
Freestanding Dutch Gable
Freestanding variant with a pitched feature roof. Two slopes meet at a centre ridge, small gable face at each end. Architectural rather than utility. Built in Macquarie with Trimdeck.
Fascia-fixed with riser brackets
Attaches to the existing fascia with riser brackets that lift the new roof slightly above the house roofline. Middle ground between Flyover and flush. Good when the house eave is low. Built in Gowrie, Fraser, Florey with Insulated panel.
Fascia-fixed with receiver channel
Attaches via a receiver channel bolted to the fascia. New roof comes off the channel at a lower profile than the riser-bracket style. Suits situations with enough eave height where you don't want the pergola sitting above the house line.
Wall-fixed with receiver channel
Attaches to a wall (not the fascia) using a receiver channel. Typically used for carports built against the side of a house where there's no eave to fix to. Lets us run the roof off the wall at the right pitch.
RECENT WORK
Recent pergola and carport projects
Eight builds from the last twenty-one pergolas and carports we've put up across Canberra.
CANBERRA COVERAGE
Pergolas built across the ACT
Nineteen Canberra suburbs in our active portfolio. The list grows; this is where we've worked recently.
Bruce
Burra
Charnwood
Dunlop
Fisher
Florey
Flynn
Fraser
Gordon
Gowrie
Latham
Macquarie
McKellar
Ngunnawal
Nicholls
Rivett
Royalla
Spence
Torrens
HOW WE WORK
From first call to handover
Five steps. No subcontractor chain. Ben and Ryan run the job between them.
1
Site visit and measure
We come out, look at the eaves, check fall and access, talk through what the space is for. No quote without a site visit. Pergolas are too site-specific for a phone-call estimate.
2
Written quote
Itemised by structure, materials, and inclusions. Locked at quote stage. No creeping costs after you sign.
3
Schedule
We confirm a start date and an honest finish window. We run our own jobs, so the calendar reflects real availability.
4
Build with daily updates
Brief end-of-day message: what we did, what's next, anything that changed. No surprises when you walk out at the end of the week.
5
Snag list and handover
Walk-through together. You list anything you want adjusted, we fix it, and you sign off. Workmanship stands behind the build. Come back to us if anything moves.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Pergola and carport questions
Do I need council approval for a pergola in Canberra?
It depends on size, height, and how close it sits to a boundary. ACT exempt-development rules cover smaller pergolas under specified dimensions, but anything attached to the house or over a certain footprint generally needs approval. We work through the rules with you at the site visit and tell you straight whether your build will need council sign-off. We don't pretend it's exempt to win the job.
Roof material: Insulated panel, Flatdeck, or Polycarbonate?
Insulated panel for most builds where the space underneath needs to stay quiet and temperature-stable. Flatdeck for carports and flyover pergolas where the look matters and the room behind isn't living space. Polycarbonate when daylight to the windows behind matters more than insulation: usually south-facing builds or narrow side carports. We talk you through the trade-off before the quote.
Flyover vs Fascia-fixed: which is right for my house?
Flyover when your eave is low and the room behind would go dark with a flush-fixed pergola, or when you want the roofline to read as a feature rather than tucked under. Fascia-fixed (with riser brackets or receiver channel) when the eave height already works and you want the cleanest possible tie-in to the house. The site visit settles it. We look at the eave, the windows behind, and the fall, and recommend the right one.
How long does a typical pergola take from quote to handover?
From signed quote to handover, most single-structure pergolas land in three to five weeks including lead time on materials. Larger builds (pergola + deck + carport combinations like our Bruce job) run six to ten weeks. We give you an honest finish window at the quote, not a best-case estimate.
Do you handle permits and inspections?
Yes. Where the build needs council approval we handle the documentation, lodgement, and inspection bookings as part of the job. The cost sits in the written quote, itemised so you can see exactly what's for permits and what's for the build.
Get a written pergola or carport quote
Tell us what you're after. We'll come out, take measurements, talk through styles and roof materials, and send back a written quote. Locked at quote stage, no creeping costs.