When G & B Carpentry drew up the initial contract information, they did not include staining, which we had specially asked for since my husband and I are seniors and don't need to be doing ladders, etc. I take responsibility for not noticing this, but we had to get them to add this, unfortunately, at an additional $1200. I already felt that we were overpaying, but I had searched for someone build a pergola, and I had only found but three others who did not want to do something this small (10' by 10'). We had to get everything approved by our HOA and when we were given the OK, we had to wait about 3 weeks to start, due to G & B not being able to get supplies. We requested that they saw and stain everything off-site because we live in a townhouse and we have no room to be doing that at our home. On the day of building, G & B was late, we had to call...they showed up with boards and planks and such, boards, etc. barely cut, not stained...and a saw. They did not follow the specifications we have given them, but because we were having so much trouble getting anything done, we accepted the outcome from that day. I had to ask one of the builders to move two of the planks for overhead because they were not spaced properly. We lost half of a bush because one of the workers apparently stepped right in the middle of it. Again, we had to wait almost 2 weeks for them to come out and stain, due to the rain we had during that period. When the day came for them to stain, the project manager called and said his crew of two were at Lowes trying to get the stain. They could not find it (I did not realize I had actually purchased the kind we wanted from Walmart for an earlier project.) But, this was the day of...they should have had the materials all ready to go straight to work that morning. Anyway, I drove to Lowes, met them and told them that I would go to Walmart and get the stain. They had been told by G & B to only get one gallon. I would have to travel to a Walmart farther down the road into another county to get more because, as they worked, we all realized 1 gallon would not be enough. Furthermore, we had to call and ask why the crew was still not in place to do the staining that morning since I beat them getting back to our house. The finished pergola is not bad, not what we asked for, but I am learning to like it more everyday. I am just so frustrated it was so hard to get it done!