Log Dog TimberworksHand-cut timber frames for Colorado backyards
Pergolas, pavilions, arbors and hewn beams. Every joint is cut by hand and pinned with oak, so there is no hardware to loosen over time.
Solid 7×7 and 8×8 Douglas Fir
Mortise and tenon, drawbored oak pegs
Fire pit pergola, after dark.
What goes into a Log Dog build
A kit from a big-box store looks like timber framing from the driveway. Up close it is smaller lumber and a lot of hardware.
- Timber
- Solid 7×7 or 8×8 Douglas Fir posts and beams. Cedar or Douglas Fir for arbors and trellises.
- Joinery
- Mortise and tenon, laid out and cut by hand.
- Fastening
- Drawbored oak pegs instead of bolts and screws. The peg holes are offset on purpose, so driving the peg pulls the joint tight.
- Roof
- Open rafters over a deck, or a full roof of tongue-and-groove decking under metal.
- Design
- Modeled in 3D, down to the peg holes, before a single timber is cut.
- Permits
- Most Denver suburbs do not require a permit under about 200 square feet (roughly 14×14). If yours does, we handle it.
- Where
- The Denver metro, and north along the Front Range.
Pergolas, arbors and beams
Describe the space and what it is for. We will tell you what we would build.
Write to usA model first, then the timber
- I
Walk the yard
We visit with a tape measure, not a template. Where the sun sits at 6 pm in July, where snow drifts in January and what the frame goes over all change the footprint.
- II
Model it
Every post, beam, brace and rafter is built in 3D at real dimensions, down to the peg holes. That gives us a cut list, so nothing is sized by eye on site.
- III
Cut it by hand
Layout goes onto the timbers at full scale. Lines get snapped, joints get scribed, and the mortises and tenons are cut with chisels and saws.
- IV
Raise it
Posts go up, beams go on, pegs get driven. Every joint fits because we already knew it would.
Recent builds
- Aug 21, 2026A Family Pavilion in ArvadaArvada
A wide concrete patio, a grill, and kids who needed to stay in view of the kitchen window.
- Jul 3, 2026A Hot Tub Pavilion in ErieErie
Shelter for a new hot tub, with room left over for chairs and a table.
- Jun 12, 2026A Pergola and a New Cedar Deck in GoldenGolden
A small, aging patio became a cedar deck with a knee-braced timber pergola over it.
- May 18, 2026A Cedar Trellis With a Bench Built InBackyard trellis
Something for new roses to climb, a screen from the yard behind, and a bench.