Some of my best memories growing up were eating outside with family on our back patio in Falls Church, VA. Back then, we had trees shading our patio. Later in life, as a husband and dad, our patio had full sun late in the day. It was unbearable in the South Carolina humidity. In 2013, we purchased our first pergola, and a friend and I set it up and turned it into a business, sourcing products from the Amish in Pennsylvania.
I wanted a pavilion so I could grill in bad weather and we could enjoy the space during those frequent afternoon showers. But my wife wasn’t having it… it would block the natural light in our den and cost a fortune to install against our home.
So we compromised with a pergola. (Happy wife, happy life.) It looked beautiful and defined the space perfectly. But honestly? It was pretty useless. I was still grilling under my umbrella, the space was still hot and sunny, and we still had to go inside when it rained. But hey, at least it was pretty. (Don’t tell Cara I said that.)
Then in 2014, Sam Mazarelli, founder of Roll-Flex, contacted me. We worked together to test the proto-type for the Roll-Flex retractable canopy system. We still enjoy that pergola/canopy combo today. But at over $200/square foot, we only sold one system in 10 years – to Jockey Hollow Bar and Kitchen in Morristown, NJ (which, by the way, is an incredibly cool spot).
Since 2011, our team has sold thousands of shade structures nationwide. But these premium louvered pergolas were a more recent discovery. Starting in 2022, we explored options and realized we wanted to focus on customers who didn’t have the time or desire for DIY—and leave the cheap products to Costco and Amazon.
What we found shocked us. The higher-quality options started at $200/square foot for a bare-bones pergola. This pricing seemed opportunistic, targeting either high net worth individuals or people over-extending on credit.
We wanted to make luxury pergolas more accessible and affordable, which led us overseas. We brought in a sample, and candidly, we couldn’t believe the quality. The packaging was immaculate, it came with an accurate packing list and extra hardware parts, and the instructions were crystal clear. The fit, finish, and performance rivaled the finest European automobile—without the Ferrari prices.
Some of my best memories growing up were eating outside with family on our back patio in Falls Church, VA. Back then, we had TREES shading our patio. Later in life, as a husband/dad, our patio had full sun late in the day. It was unbearable, especially adding in the South Carolina humidity. In 2013, we purchased our first pergola, a friend and I set it up, and turned it into a business. We sourced our products from the Amish up in Pennsylvania.
At that time, I wanted a pavilion because I could grill out in bad weather, and we could enjoy the space during the frequent afternoon showers. But my wife wasn’t having it. It would have blocked the natural light in our den. And it was going to be very expensive to install up against our home.
So we ended up with a pergola. (Happy wife – happy life.) It was very pretty, and defined the space. But honestly, it was pretty useless otherwise. (I still feel the same. Don’t tell Cara I said that.) I was still out there grilling with my umbrella, the space was still hot and sunny, and we had to go inside when it rained. But it was pretty.
Sam Mazarelli, founder of Roll-Flex contacted me in 2014, and we worked together with he and his team to test the proto-type for the Roll-Flex retractable canopy system. We still enjoy that pergola/canopy combo today. Due primarily to the cost, over 10 years we sold one system to Jockey Hollow Bar and Kitch in Morristown, NJ. Which, by the way, is an incredibly cool spot to dine and connect outdoors.
Since 2011, our team has sold thousands of shade structures nationwide. These super cool, beautiful, and functional louvered pergolas are a more recent discovery. Starting in 2022, we took our time exploring options and sources and what we decided is that we wanted to focus on customers who didn’t have the time or desire for DIY. And leave the cheap products to Costco/Amazon and the like.
What we found was that the higher quality options available were incredibly high priced- as in starting at $200/square foot for a bare bones pergola. This pricing seemed opportunistic, where the buyers either were either high net worth individuals, or over-extending themselves of credit.
We sought to make this product more accessible and affordable, which led us to explore overseas options. We brought in a sample, and candidly, could not imagine the quality being any higher. The packaging was immaculate, it came with an accurate packing list, included a few extra hardware parts, and the instructions were very clear. The fit, finish and performance were as good as the finest European automobile, but without the Ferrari/Bentley prices.
