Deck, porch and pergola for Shirley and Gary, west-end Ottawa

Backyard AFTER: covered BBQ area for year-round goodness.

We’ve spent the last two weeks building a deck, porch and pergola for Shirley Roy-Schertzer, Community and Media Relations Manager at The Ottawa Mission (they do fantastic work for people who are homeless); and Gary Scherzer, Director of Client Services at Newcap Radio Ottawa.

Mother nature was on our side, providing two glorious weeks of sun.

Backyard pergola
Living on a corner lot, they have more front- and side-yard than backyard. Proud Canadian that he is, Gary bravely faces the elements each winter to BBQ. It was time to replace the existing leaking structure over the BBQ with something fitting his culinary quest.

Front entrance deck and porch
Gary and Shirley enjoy being outside and weren’t happy with the garden out front. They wanted a better seating area.

Plus, the front door wasn’t covered, so they would get wet while trying to get in during the rain.

Like the backyard pergola, the deck and porch are both made from cedar. The deck includes built-in reclined seating and built-in 12″x12″ planter holders.

We arrived one morning to find them enjoying their morning coffee on the deck a full week before the project was done.

Don and I: structural testing the old fashioned way.

Lemon cake
We work physically hard all day, five days per week. Plus, like anyone, we have our own projects at home. We’re hungry pretty much all the time. The youngest by far and still blessed with a speedy metabolism, Don’s lunch box more closely resembles a full-sized picnic cooler.

We arrived to Gary and Shirley’s one morning to lemon cake. Oh it was good. So very much appreciated.

AFTER: The new porch compliments the existing roof line and is stained Navajo Red by CIL to work with the house colour.

A few words from Gary and Shirley.

“Paul was really helpful to us in the planning stages as we had an idea of what we wanted in a deck but needed someone with his knowledge to tell us if it was logistically possible. He listened, and didn’t laugh (much), when I showed him a little ‘sketch’ of what I was thinking. He went away and later sent us a much better sketch of what the deck might look like and we went from there.

We told Paul we had a hard time making decisions under normal circumstances, so he was very helpful at walking us through some of the decisions that had to be made. During the construction, both Gary and I had to start work quite early, so we usually missed Paul and his team in the morning. But Paul was good about calling us whenever he had questions and he was equally good about answering our calls and questions too!

The team always did an amazing job of cleaning up the front of the house at the end of every day too. We wouldn’t hesitate for a second about recommending Paul, Don and John for anyone considering a renovation“.

Gary, Shirley and me.