Free Backyard Planning Software for Upgrading Your Outdoor Living Space

Research shows that remodeling and outdoor living projects are on the rise as homeowners feel more confident investing in their primary residence. Since many people view the outdoors as an extension of their living space, Simpson Strong-Tie offers free backyard planning software to help them design their dream backyard.

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Pergola Planner Helps a Boy Scout Support His Community

Boy Scout Porter Shively shares a pergola he built for his community to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. He built this project using Simpson Strong-Tie® Pergola Planner Software™. 

I’m a junior at William Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Indiana. I’m a wrestler at the school, very active with my Boy Scout Troop, and volunteer in our children’s program at church. In my free time, I enjoy watching movies, playing Minecraft, and hanging out with my friends. After high school, I plan on getting a degree that will allow me to work toward becoming a zoologist.  

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Perfect Pergola Planned: Elements of an Achievable Pergola Plan

Lumber prices are continuing to return to Earth, making it possible to start dreaming once again about backyard projects. It’s the perfect time to take our new, easy-to-use Pergola Planner Software™ for a spin. Pergola Planner Software enables contractors or homeowners to design the perfect pergola in just a few minutes. Earlier this year we asked homeowners who might be considering a new backyard pergola to try out the software and send in their pergola designs.

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How Pergola Planner Software™ Helped Turn My Parents’ Patio into an Oasis

This past summer, my parents and I were talking about some of the latest home improvement projects that they had going on, and the topic of providing more shade for their backyard patio came up. For the last couple of years, they’d been looking into different ideas of what to do with this space, including sketching out on notebook paper layouts and particulars that would be nice to have. They’d tried portable patio umbrellas and various other ways to shade this area and had come to a decision that it was time to add a permanent structure that would serve as both a backyard shelter and an aesthetic complement to their home.

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Outdoor Accents® Avant Collection™ — a New Look for Backyards

One of the ways many homeowners increase the enjoyment (and monetary) value of their property is by adding a well-designed deck, pergola or other outdoor structure to their backyard. Whether it’s for entertaining or just chilling with a good read and a bracing beverage, a beautiful outdoor living space makes any backyard activity more desirable. Perhaps that’s why, in a 2017 survey, 25% of National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) remodelers reported adding a deck as one of their most common projects, and the figure was nearly identical for new home construction.

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