We Built Them For A Year Before We Knew What They Were Called

I enjoyed a visit with Hyrum, one of the founders of Western Timber Frame, a Utah-based manufacturer of fine luxury DIY timber pergola kits. They specialize in easy to assemble pergola, gazebo, pavilion, arbor and trellis kits that can be built in little as one Saturday or weekend. They also manufacture heavy timber trusses as well as post and beam work upon request but it is their beautiful oversize kits that have truly set them apart.

Hyrum is entertaining for anyone to listen to, with a down-to-earth, keep-a-smilin humor. Here is some of his reminiscences in the building of fine outdoor timber frame structures. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Hyrum: You know that energizing excitement you have, when you are doing something you love and are passionate about; when your perception of time changes, where an hour feels like five minutes? When I first had the idea in my mind to build outdoor shade structures, it was like that for me, I envisioned, drew, and even dreamed about my plans for outdoor architectural timber frame designs in my sleep.

The first year we were in business at Western Timber Frame, we were building some awesome "Square Gazebos". They were square gazebos for lack of a better word. It wasn't until after that first year when someone asked about a Pergola that we found it was called a "Pergola".

He laughed, a contagious laugh and continued:

We have people who will come in or call us, who are afraid to tell us what it is they want because they don't know what it's called. Or, maybe they do know what the name of it is but they don't know how to pronounce it. And, more often than not, its the wife who knows what it is. Not always, but quite often it's the wife who knows what it's called and she'll say, "It's a pergola. You know, those shade things?" and the husband is like, "What is it?" or "It's a what?"

The terminology or names for outdoor living structures are as diverse and amalgamated as the English language and very often vary from person to person, and place to place. If you ask a person on the Eastern side of the U.S. what a Cabana is, you often get a description of a shade structure with a grass roof. If you ask someone in the Mid-West what a Cabana means to them, they are most likely going to describe what I might refer to as a Pavilion.

We built a Porte-cochère for a gentleman in a more prestigious, mountain side town and in the course of our conversation, I referred to his Porte-cochère as a Carport.

Hyrum chuckled as he told me:

He was offended that I had called it a Carport and he told me, "I do NOT have a Carport, it's a Porte-cochère. People from the West side of town have Carports."

Talking about being anxious over little things reminded Hyrum of an incident, a few years ago, when he was enjoying an extended family gathering. Some children were running around getting a bit rowdy when an impatient young father took over a microphone and yelled, "Hey! We are NOT here to have a good time!"

Hyrum laughed.

I thought, 'We're not? I thought that WAS what we were here for.'

"Hey, it's okay. If someone can describe and picture it, we can build what they would like, the way they picture it. We enjoy designing and building outdoor shade structures, whether it's an arbor, pavilion, pergola, cabana, a round or 'square gazebo'." he chuckles, "And we ARE here to have a good time. It was my dream in forming Western Timber Frame (and now he is) to build awesome, quality outdoor structures people could enjoy and live a life they love with family and close friends."