Steff Ivory and Lee
We built a Toja Grid Hexagonal Kit for 6x6 Posts last weekend.
Pros - The pieces arrived fast, were packed well and seem sturdy - ish (except the post base ground anchors)
-Assembly went fairly quickly once we shaved down all our 6x6 pressure treated posts using an automatic planer for wood, but that definitely took extra time.
-Actual pergola looks GORGEOUS now that it's done, and we're confident that because we spent the extra $$ to do it as a 6x6 it *should* last longer than the cheap pre-fab all metal pergola kits you can buy from the hardward store.
Cons -
-We were shorted a rafter kit and had to push back full installation until they arrived.
-The Post Base Ground Anchors are cumbersome and very tricky to use. Because they ship flat, and then have to be slid together to form the "x" structure, they're quite flimsy, and don't really attach very well to the post base when trying to sledgehammer a 6x6 into the ground. Rather than ship them as a flat pack, we wished they'd been welded together like your standard post base stakes for fence building (that can be picked up at a local hardware store). This flimsy base definitely worries us as it's the foundation for a fairly large structure but I digress.
-we loved the "choose your own adventure- style of purchasing the parts you need to build the pergola of your choice, however, the Hex kit came with little to no instructions available on Toja Grid's website, which meant we were woefully unprepared when it came to actually lifting and assembling the cross beams on each side. We ended it up getting it done with three people, three ladders, a tractor jack and a LOT of know how, but having an installation video (or two!) or written instructions available on purchase would've really prevented a lot of head scratching and frustration.
-Because the kit didn't come with any installation videos or tips that actually pertained to this particular style, we inadvertantly installed our pergola with the bottom (ground) post brackets with the pre drilled holes facing outwards on some of the posts (we were fighting with the post base anchors so much to keep them together and keep them from breaking/bending/twisting as we drove the 6x6 upright posts into the ground, that we didn't notice the pre drilled holes until it was too late) so now we cannot use any of the additional Toja grid accessories/screens as the holes are inaccessible.
-there's no shades or screening available for the Hex kit anyways, so I guess it's not so bad that we can't use the ground post holes to attach side screens since they don't exist yet.
All in all - it's a good product - it just needs better instruction manuals and videos for ALL the products, not just the square pergola or pergola hammock kits (which are currently the only video/manuals available online)