When my wife and I decided to move to the south, one of the prerequisites for a house was that it have a porch so that she could have a "true" southern home. Well, as it turns out, the house we bought does not have a wraparound porch or even a long porch. It has an attractive brick arch over a cove that is the front stoop.
My wife said that she'd take a gazebo in place of the porch. I think she was kidding when she said it, but I've been looking online. They are not cheap. Lowes has an assemble-it-yourself model for $1800, but that's just for the wooden gazebo. The concrete slab (or whatever floor is used) is not included.
Prices go up from there.
A few weeks ago I went shooting at a range about 70 miles from here and passed a house that had a gazebo in the front yard with a for sale sign on it. I called the owner, and he's a woodworker (amongst other things), and builds gazebo's. This one is a demo model, so it's not painted. He said he'd sell it to me for $1000 plus the cost to get it to my place on a trailer. We haven't figured out what that cost will be.
I took a trip over there today to inspect it again. It's solid, but it doesn't have some of the fancy decorative wood pieces that the box store models have.
So. I'm trying to figure out what to offer the guy. I've never bought a gazebo before. The photo before is from today.
Any suggestions as to what to offer?
Thanks in advance for any advice.