Answer seven questions and get a planning range for your pavilion — the structure, your foundation situation, roof, ceiling, electrical and your city's permit — with every line labeled by where its number comes from. Change an answer and the range updates. Print it, or take it straight to the quote form so the free on-site design meeting starts with your choices already on paper. No email, no phone number, no account.
breakdown ↓
Your pavilion
Adjust any choice. Your planning range updates immediately.
Preliminary planning range
$37,500–$62,000
Model v0.1.0 · Evidence 2026-09-30
uncalibrated — public research basis; not a contractor price book
Custom cedar / Douglas-fir post-and-beam (KC builder)
16 × 20 ft · Not sure
Lawn — new piers · No electrical
If building-permit exempt
$37,000–$59,000
If a building permit is required
$37,500–$62,000
| Scope | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Custom structureOur published priceCedar; design/mobilization, frame, standard 36-in concrete pier footings, architectural shingles over sheathing + underlayment, tongue-and-groove ceiling, haul-off. Public-price synthesis, uncalibrated. | $33,800 | $51,200 |
| New pier footingsOur published price6 assumed piers; included in custom structure. | $0 | $0 |
| Architectural shinglesOur published priceIncluded in selected structure/kit scope. | $0 | $0 |
| Tongue-and-groove includedOur published priceNo separate ceiling charge. | $0 | $0 |
| Building permitAssumption — verifyUnmodeled valuation fee: planning allowance only. | $100 | $800 |
| Drawings / engineering allowanceNational estimateUnknown jurisdiction: includes possible drawings for this camp. | $500 | $1,500 |
| Contingency (10–15%)Assumption — verifyApplied to priced subtotal only. | $3,440 | $8,025 |
| Preliminary planning rangeAssumption — verify | $37,500 | $62,000 |
Planning range rounded outward to $500; line items displayed to whole dollars.
Check before you build
- Jurisdiction or exemption is unverified: compare both camps and confirm which applies. The table below shows the permit-required camp.
- Zoning, height, setbacks, easements and HOA requirements are separate from building-permit exemptions. Confirm the jurisdiction and rules.
Not included: unpriced items, grading/drainage, tree work, patio surfacing beyond a plain slab, landscaping repair, furniture, hot tubs, pools, pool-bonding electrical, design fees beyond bundled design, financing and taxes.
This tool does not approve your slab, size beams or posts, or produce drawings. A licensed contractor or engineer does that.
What the estimate includes — and doesn't
Included for the path you choose: a custom cedar/Douglas-fir pavilion with shingles over sheathing, tongue-and-groove ceiling, standard frost-depth piers and haul-off; or a shipped timber kit at its list price plus freight, roofing, piers and local assembly; or a big-box kit at list price plus assembly and anchoring. Then the lines you select: building on an existing slab, a new slab, a standing-seam upgrade, electrical by distance from your panel, permit and drawings for your city, stain, and allowances for a fireplace, gas line or outdoor kitchen. A 10–15 percent contingency is shown as its own line.
Not included: stone-wrapped columns (we price per column — the result lists them as unpriced), grading and drainage, tree work, patio surfacing beyond a plain slab, landscaping repair, furniture, hot tubs, pools, design fees beyond what we bundle, financing and taxes. If your site needs equipment access or hand-carry over 100 feet, the result flags it; there is no published number for that and we will not invent one.
This tool does not approve your slab, size beams or posts, or produce drawings. A licensed contractor or engineer does that; the free design meeting is where it starts.
How the numbers are built
The custom-build line is anchored to our published pricing — pavilions from about $15,000, most $30,000–$60,000, and a real 16×20 at $59,950 — and expressed as a fixed amount plus a per-square-foot range so that a 12×16 and a 20×24 both land where our quotes land. Kit lines use makers' list prices read on the evidence date. Everything else — piers, slabs, roofing, ceilings, electrical, permits — uses national cost-guide ranges dated 2025–2026, adjusted only where a Kansas City rule (a 36-inch frost line, a city's fee schedule) changes them. Each line carries a chip: Our published price, National estimate, Kit list price, or Assumption — verify. Model version and evidence date are printed on every result and every printout; the cost guide shows the full table and three worked examples. Until we have calibrated the model against enough of our own itemized quotes, it is labeled "uncalibrated" — the ranges are honest, and the design meeting narrows them.
When an online estimate is the wrong tool
Over 600 square feet; attached to the house; a steep or retaining-walled site; a hot tub or masonry fireplace on the structure's footings; a pool within reach of the structure; anything commercial; or a Kansas City, Missouri lot where the pavilion exceeds 10 feet tall or 200 square feet and a variance is in play. The tool says so and sends you to the quote form instead.
Model v0.1 · evidence date September 30, 2026 · uncalibrated. Changelog: v0.1 initial release.