Pergola wood

For a natural finish and disregarding cost I'd prefer untreated Siberian Larch over pressure treated spruce (i.e. regular construction timber), but if you're wanting a stained or painted finish stick with the cheaper stuff.

Pressure treated wood generally requires different finishing products than untreated.

Also think about whether you want a planed or rough finish.

If you want it to last keep the wood out of ground contact using post holders with a stand off or concrete footings/piers.

Interesting.

That looks hard.

Brick piers would be easier though.

Great suggestions. What would the typical cost of a pergola be (all timber) for an area of 10 ft x 10 ft?

I wasn't all that impressed by Pollard's timber - I bought a fairly large quantity of larch and I thought the quality was not amazing. It was (I thought) very rough sawn and several pieces had partially bark edges on one corner. Fortunately the guys putting it up did a good job of hiding it but I seem to recall it cost me around 1,500 for the timber. That was a couple of years ago, since then the timber has weathered in and plants are doing a good job of covering it so its not a big deal in the long run.

I got some rough treated timber from Trihy's recently, the quality is fine but what is delivered is a bit hit and miss, the lengths can vary, you will get the total no problem, but if you are relying on 16ft lengths for cutting without waste you end up doing hard sums trying to make it work (I know that 16ft is not actually 16ft, that was allowed for) 12 and 14 ft lengths make a lot of difference though.

Go to the sawmill and actually look at what you are getting.

Just an opinion but I really don't like those twisty brick pillars. I'd prefer timber or plain brickwork, but that's a personal preference.

I would imagine - though I have not had experience of building pillars - that you would make a concrete foundation and set a length of steel, or at very least rebar, into it as reinforcement, and work round that.

Just thinking about it, I think if I were doing it I would turn a small angle on the bottom of three lengths of rebar, wire them together then set them into concrete using the angles to reinforce the anchor into the concrete. There's probably a more 'official' or recommended way of doing it though.