Decks, sunrooms, pergolas and outdoor kitchens. The cheapest room you will ever add to a house is the one without walls — and the one most often built as though it were a piece of furniture rather than a structure. We build outdoor rooms the way we build the rest of the house: on footings, with flashing, to the same code the house was built to, so they are still level, dry and in use in fifteen years.
Before the finishes
Nobody goes looking for a contractor in the abstract. These are the three things we hear first, and what we do about each of them.
Every post on a poured footing to the engineered depth, so nothing heaves in February or settles in August.
Where the deck meets the house is where decks fail. Membrane, metal flashing and structural fasteners, detailed and photographed before it is covered.
Composite or hardwood decking on a ventilated frame, stainless or coated fixings, and a rail that does not loosen.
Roof pitch, post size, trim profile and colour all taken from the existing elevation, so the addition reads as original.
The floor set to the door threshold, stairs where the garden actually is, and a change in level used to define a room rather than to trip over.
Beams, posts and rafters sized and spaced to look right, not just to pass. A pergola is nothing but its structure.
We track where the sun is at six in the evening in July before we decide where the roof goes and which way the seating faces.
Insect screening, infrared heaters, ceiling fans and proper lighting are what turn three months of use into nine.
A door in the right place, or a real outdoor kitchen with gas, water and a fridge, so nobody has to carry a tray through the house.
The four rooms
A deck, a sunroom, a pergola and an outdoor kitchen are four different structures with four different permit paths, and we have built all of them. The photographs are references for a treatment rather than our own projects — bring us the one you keep coming back to.
Our process
Six stages, in order, with what you get at the end of each one. Nothing here starts until the stage before it is finished and signed off — which is the whole reason the schedule holds.
Setbacks, HOA rules, impervious-cover limits, easements and how the house meets the ground at the back. A deck over a walk-out basement, a sunroom off a brick veneer wall and a pergola on an existing slab are three different jobs, and we find out which one you have on the first visit.
A written answer on what is permitted, and how far it can go.
Deck, covered porch, screened porch, sunroom, pergola, outdoor kitchen — or two of them together. We decide by how you will use it and by where the sun and the neighbours are, and we test the options against the existing elevation before drawing any of them properly.
A site plan and a massing you have chosen between, not been handed.
Floor levels set to the doors, the stair to the garden, seating zones, the dining table with room to pull a chair out, the kitchen run with its clearances, and the railing or the planter that defines the edge. Then the roof, if there is one: pitch, tie-in, and what it does to the windows above.
A complete plan set, with elevations against the house.
Footings to engineered depth, post and beam sizing, the ledger and its flashing, lateral bracing, the roof structure and its connection to the existing framing. For a sunroom, the foundation, the wall and the glazing are engineered as a real addition. For an outdoor kitchen, the counter is a masonry structure on its own base.
Engineered drawings, stamped where the structure requires it.
Gas to the grill, water and a drain to the sink, a dedicated circuit for the fridge and the heaters, lighting and fans on a switch you can reach, drainage under and around the structure, and the screening, shade and heating that decide how many months a year the room is actually a room.
A permit-ready set with every service and penetration resolved.
Decking laid on a ventilated frame with hidden fixings, rails plumb and rigid, trim and colour matched to the house, stone and counters set, appliances installed and tested, and the flashing inspected and photographed before anything covers it.
An outdoor room that reads as part of the house and stays that way.
What’s included
Need inspiration?
Bring us the pictures you keep coming back to and our designers take it from there — working from the exterior style of the house, its proportions, its era and its materials, so every room reads as part of the same building rather than a set of separate good ideas.
One vision, carried through, inside and out. The image here is a reference for a treatment, not a photograph of one of our own projects.
Talk to a designer →What it takes
Every job is priced from its own drawings, so what follows is scope rather than a menu: what falls inside each level, in the order the decisions actually get made. The same three names run through our finish levels below, because the two questions — how much work, and to what standard — are answered together.
Priced at design
Priced at design
Priced at design
Same Queen Boss craftsmanship at every level. Scope and finish are what move the number, never quality of workmanship — and you get an exact figure for your own project after the walk-through and the drawings, not before.
Define the finish
Two rooms of exactly the same size can cost dramatically different amounts, and the difference is selections. Decking, rails, ceilings, stone, appliances, lighting, screens and hardware all move the number. These three tiers give us a shared language, so when you say “a $50,000 outdoor kitchen” we can talk immediately about what that realistically includes.
A clean, well-built home using quality builder-grade materials — the right choice when maximising budget toward square footage and structure matters most.
Upgraded materials and brands throughout that elevate everyday livability and long-term durability — without moving into full custom pricing.
A full custom finish package with premium brands, natural materials, and designer detailing — built for clients who want the home to be a showpiece.
Per square foot, finishes only — excludes land, site work and structural. Same Queen Boss craftsmanship at every tier: the difference is customisation and material investment, never quality of workmanship.
Pre-construction investment
| Pre-construction stage | Scope | Investment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Design & Architectural | Complete plan set: layouts, selections, construction drawings & renderings | $2,000 – $4,000 |
| 2 — Structural Engineering | Site evaluation, calculations & engineer’s stamp (if required) | $2,000 – $4,000 |
| 3 — City Permit | Plan submission & city stamp · permit fees billed at cost | At cost |
| Total pre-construction | Final range confirmed once scope & areas are set | $2,000 – $8,000+ |
Design, engineering and permit are priced separately from the build, so you can stop at any stage with a set of drawings you own outright.
Financing
A renovation is usually worth more than the house was before it. RenoFi is built on that: their lending partners underwrite against your home’s after-renovation value rather than what it is worth today, which is why the number they can reach is so often larger than a standard home-equity offer.
RenoFi is not a lender; it works with lending partners who make the loans. Queen Boss Construction is not a lender or a broker, does not arrange credit and takes no part in the application or the decision — we point you at them because clients keep asking who to talk to. All terms, rates and eligibility are between you and the lender.
What moves the number
We do not publish prices, because a price quoted before the drawings exist is a number that changes. These are the four things that decide it, so you know what you are choosing between.
An open deck is framing and decking. A covered porch adds a roof, a tie-in to the house and everything that has to be flashed. A sunroom adds walls, glazing, a foundation and conditioning. Each step is a different order of job.
A deck a foot off grade is a platform. A deck ten feet off a walk-out basement is a structure with real loads, tall posts, bracing, a code stair and a rail that has to hold a crowd. Same square footage; not the same price.
A grill on a cart needs nothing. A built-in kitchen needs gas, water, a drain, a dedicated circuit and a masonry base. Heaters, fans, screens and a fire feature each bring a trade with them.
Pressure-treated, composite, cedar and ipe sit at very different points, and so do aluminium, cable and glass rails. Composite costs more on day one and nothing after; the cheaper board is the one you refinish every other spring.
In their words
Robert is a great communicator and we love working with him and his team.
Adam Peter S.They are always professional and strive to provide exemplary customer service.
Shannon L.Common questions
In Charlotte and most of the surrounding jurisdictions, a deck attached to the house does, and anything with a roof does. A freestanding pergola sometimes does not, but the setbacks and HOA rules still apply. We check it before design and we pull the permit as part of the job.
Composite for most decks: it stays flat, it does not splinter, and it is never refinished. Cedar and ipe for ceilings, screens and the places you touch, where the real thing earns its cost. We will show you both and tell you where each one belongs.
Yes, if it is built as an addition — a real foundation, an insulated envelope, glazing specified for the climate and its own heating and cooling. A three-season room is a lighter, cheaper thing, and we will be honest about which one you are buying.
A deck is usually a few weeks once the permit is in hand. A covered porch or an outdoor kitchen is longer, because the roof, the masonry and the trades have to follow each other. A sunroom runs like a small addition. The drawings and the permit are the part nobody budgets time for, and the part we start first.
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A conversation and a walk through the rooms you are thinking about — no charge, and no obligation at the end of it.
