Pergolas · Decks · Fences · Arbors & Privacy Screens
Carpentry & Outdoor Structures in Collingwood & Georgian Bay
A pergola turns a patio into a room. A deck connects your home to the landscape. A privacy screen creates a garden within a garden. We design and build outdoor structures that extend how you live, not just where.
An Outdoor Space With No Shade, No Shelter, No Definition
The patio is beautiful but unusable by noon: no shade, no shelter from a sudden Georgian Bay rain. A pergola builder Collingwood Ontario homeowners search for represents exactly what is missing from an outdoor living space that has everything except architecture. The deck built twenty years ago is greying, splintering, and structurally questionable. The backyard has no definition. It is just lawn that blurs into the neighbour's property with no boundary, no focal point, no sense of outdoor structure Georgian Bay properties deserve after a significant landscape investment.
The deeper desire is not really a pergola. It is the August evening a pergola creates: sitting under the structure with friends, watching the sun go down behind the Blue Mountains, hearing the kids in the garden below. It is not a new deck they want. It is the seamless connection between the living room and the landscape that was promised when they bought the property. The thing they pictured themselves doing when they stood on the lot for the first time.
Outdoor structures are what give a landscape architecture. They create rooms, define transitions, provide shelter, and frame views. And when they are designed by the same team that designed the landscape itself, they do not look bolted on. They look inevitable: exactly what the space always needed.
Structures We Design & Build
Pergolas & Arbors
Freestanding and attached pergolas in cedar, pressure-treated lumber, or composite materials. Custom arbors that frame garden entries, define pathways, and support climbing plants including wisteria, clematis, and climbing hydrangea. We position pergolas based on sun angles and prevailing wind: east-west orientation for maximum shade coverage, with rafters angled to let winter light through when the vines are dormant. The proportions are calibrated to the house, the patio, and the surrounding landscape rather than taken from a catalogue.
- Shade structures over stone patios and outdoor dining areas
- Garden gateways and entry arbors supporting climbing plants
- Outdoor room definition on estate properties
Most RequestedDecks & Elevated Platforms
Multi-level composite and natural wood decks designed for Georgian Bay's four-season climate. Proper structural engineering, helical pile foundations where required to prevent frost heave, integrated railing systems, and built-in seating or planters. Georgian Bay winters demand more than deck screws and a prayer. We specify materials and fasteners rated for our freeze-thaw cycle and build on engineered foundations. From simple single-level platforms to complex multi-tier structures with stair systems and lighting integration during construction.
- Rear-of-house living platforms connecting indoor and outdoor spaces
- Elevated viewpoints on sloped Blue Mountains properties
- Pool decking and transitional spaces between interior and garden
Fences & Privacy Screens
Custom fence designs in horizontal slat, board-on-board, louvered, and open-frame configurations that provide privacy while preserving light and airflow. Not prefabricated fence panels from a box store. Designed to complement the property's architecture and the landscape material palette. A well-designed fence is invisible in the best sense: it creates privacy without making the yard feel smaller, and it frames the garden rather than simply enclosing it.
- Pool enclosures and property boundaries with design intent
- Garden room dividers and hot tub surrounds
- Privacy screens that filter light rather than block it entirely
Custom Structures
Garden sheds, pool cabanas, gazebos, shade sails on timber frames, and freestanding seating structures. Any timber or composite structure designed to serve a specific function within the landscape. These are the structures that give an estate property its sense of completeness: the garden shed that looks like it belongs to the property's architectural language, the pool cabana that provides year-round shelter, the timber frame that supports a shade sail over a dining area that is too large for a pergola.
- Pool cabanas and year-round outdoor amenity buildings
- Garden sheds designed to complement the property's architecture
- Gazebos and timber-frame shade structures for large entertaining areas
Designed for Your Landscape, Not Dropped on Your Property
A standalone deck builder builds a deck. It sits on your property. But it does not connect to anything. The steps land on bare grass. The railing style has no relation to the fence on the other side of the yard. The lighting was an afterthought of clip-on solar LEDs from the hardware store. When a structure is designed by the same team that designed the landscape, every detail is coordinated: the deck stonework matches the patio, the pergola scale echoes the house roofline, the fence material complements the garden shed, and the landscape lighting is wired in during construction rather than stapled on after.
Retreat's carpenters work from the same design plan as our masons, horticulturists, and lighting specialists. The pergola posts are placed to avoid root zones that the horticulturist mapped when designing the surrounding plantings. The deck drainage ties into the grading plan the site engineer designed. The privacy screen height is set to block the specific sightline the homeowner identified during the design consultation, not the height that was easiest to build.
Every structure we build is designed to serve the landscape. That is why carpentry is one of our top four service categories, and why our structural work consistently appears in the same Landscape Ontario Award-winning projects as our hardscaping and planting work.
Why Choose Retreat for Outdoor Structures
A Core Service, Not a Side Offering
Carpentry & Structures is one of Retreat's four highest-revenue service lines. Dedicated carpenters, proven material knowledge, and hundreds of structures built since 2013. We are not a landscaper who also builds decks.
Materials for Georgian Bay's Four Seasons
Cedar, pressure-treated lumber, composite decking, and stainless steel fasteners selected for Ontario's freeze-thaw cycle. Structures that look as good in year five as they do on day one.
Permits and Engineering Handled
Decks, pergolas, and certain fence installations in Collingwood and Blue Mountains require building permits and structural drawings. We manage the entire permit process as part of the project scope.
Integrated Lighting and Plantings
Landscape lighting is wired into the structure during construction. Climbing plants are selected and placed at pergola bases during the landscaping phase. The structure is a living, lit element from day one.
Client Testimonial
We had our entire property transformed by Retreat Landscaping. They updated the 30 year old interlock with beautiful stone paving, added a water feature that provides much needed hydration for all the wild birds that visit the property. The trees and shrubs planted were all healthy and now well established. Patrick and his team excavated first and added much needed drainage, we are one of the only lots that doesn't flood in the neighborhood. Absolutely loved working with Retreat and highly recommend.
Common Questions About Outdoor Structures in Collingwood
Prefabricated pergola kits start around $3,000 but offer limited design flexibility and questionable material quality for Ontario's climate. Custom-designed and built pergolas typically range from $8,000 to $25,000 and above depending on size, materials, and complexity (attached versus freestanding, integrated lighting, climbing plant supports). Retreat's minimum project size is $25,000: this ensures your structure receives full design integration with the surrounding landscape, materials rated for Georgian Bay weather, and professional installation by our own crew.
For Georgian Bay properties, we most commonly recommend pressure-treated lumber for structural framing (rated for ground contact) and either Western Red Cedar or composite decking for the walking surface. Cedar is naturally rot-resistant, weathers to a silver-grey, and has a warmth that composites cannot fully replicate, though it benefits from periodic sealing. Composites such as TimberTech or Fiberon are virtually maintenance-free but carry a higher upfront cost. We help you choose based on your priorities: aesthetic warmth versus long-term maintenance freedom.
In most Ontario municipalities, including Collingwood and The Blue Mountains, a building permit is required for a deck that is attached to the house or exceeds a certain height above grade. Freestanding pergolas may not require a permit depending on size and height, but attached structures typically do. Retreat manages the permit application and any required structural engineering drawings as part of the project scope. You do not need to visit municipal offices or source your own engineer.
With proper construction and periodic maintenance (annual sealing is recommended), a Western Red Cedar pergola in Ontario lasts 15 to 25 years. The key factors are a proper post footing using a concrete pier or helical pile rather than direct ground contact, stainless steel or coated fasteners to prevent rust staining, and adequate drainage around the base. Composite and aluminum structures can last 25 to 40-plus years with virtually no maintenance beyond occasional cleaning.
Related Services
Design Your Outdoor Structure
Pergola, deck, fence, or something we have not built yet: the conversation starts with your property, your lifestyle, and the space you want to create.
We design structures through winter for spring and summer construction. Start now. Our minimum project size is $25,000.