Yardistry assembly
Costco will put a 633 pound gazebo on your driveway and drive away.
Costco do not install these. They will refer you to Yardistry, who will hand you a list of assemblers. That is the whole service, and it is why you are on this page.
The numbers, from somebody who does this for a living
A professional gazebo assembler with more than six hundred Yardistry installs behind him publishes his own figures, and they are the most honest thing written about this brand anywhere. On his own: five to eight hours. Anybody else: twelve to twenty-four hours, with between two and five people.
That is not marketing. That is a man who has built 632 of these telling you what happens when you have built none.
A homeowner in California bought a hardtop from Costco, saw a six-hour estimate online, and finished two and a half days later. Plus another day to undo the mistakes they had made putting the roof panels on.
How long a Yardistry actually takes
Owner reports, and a professional assembler’s published figures.
| Model | Time | People |
|---|---|---|
| A pro who has done 632 of themAlone. That is what technique is worth. | 5 to 8 hours | 1 |
| Everybody elseThe same assembler’s estimate for a first-timer. | 12 to 24 hours | 2 to 5 |
| 12ft Contemporary with barOver two days. The owner said a third person would have helped. | 7 to 8 hours | 2 |
| 12x14 hardtopPlus a day to fix the roof panels they got wrong. | 2.5 days | 2 |
| Peeling the film off the roof panelsBefore you have built anything at all. See below. | 1 hour | 2 |
Costco’s listing has been known to describe this as a six hour project. Nobody who has actually built one recognises that number.
What goes wrong, specifically
It will not fit in your car
A 12x14 Meridian ships as three boxes: 210 lbs, 175 lbs and 248 lbs. That is 633 pounds, and the long boxes are 104 inches. One owner rented a Ford Expedition, put every seat down, and it still would not close: the Costco crew helped him shove it in and gave him twine to tie the hatch. Online orders are delivered curbside, meaning your driveway.
The plastic film on the roof panels, and the cut you are going to get
Every metal roof panel is covered in protective film, and peeling it takes about an hour with two people, before assembly has even started. Here is the part nobody tells you: you cannot do it wearing gloves, because you need the dexterity. So the hour you spend handling bare sheet metal edges with bare hands is the hour you get cut. Do it in advance, carefully, and do not do it at hour eleven when you are tired.
The roof panels punish you at the end, for what you did at the start
The roof panels are the single biggest source of trouble, and the failure shows up late. If everything below is not flush and square, the panels will not sit, and you discover it when you are nearly finished and standing on a ladder. The professional advice is blunt: make everything flush before you go up.
The manual has been wrong
A buyer reported that pages 16 to 17 of their manual contained the wrong assembly instructions, and the advice going round was to call the manufacturer before starting if anything looks off. It is a good habit with this brand.
The tool list is not a suggestion
A cordless drill for every helper. An eight-foot ladder and ideally another. Bar clamps, which are what let one person hold a beam that two people would otherwise be holding. Wrenches, a square, sawhorses to lay parts on, and a stick to prop up the roof. Turning up with a screwdriver and enthusiasm is how a weekend becomes a fortnight.
The order that actually works
The professional method, and it is a good one: assemble EVERYTHING first. All the roof panels, all the beams, all the posts, laid out and built as sub-assemblies. Then erect it.
That matters because it means you only need your helpers for the three or four hours at the end when things are going up, rather than for the whole build. You can do the sub-assembly work alone across a couple of evenings, and your friends turn up for the part that actually needs them. Friends like it much better that way.
Check your local code before you start. Most places treat a gazebo as a non-permanent structure and no permit is required, but most is not all, and finding out afterwards is expensive.
Costco do not install them, and they will tell you so
Costco sell the gazebo and deliver it to your driveway. If you ask them about installation, they refer you to Yardistry, who give you a list of independent assemblers.
So the assembler was always going to be somebody local. The only question is whether you find one who has built a Yardistry before, or one who is learning on yours.
Ask them how many they have done. The good ones will know the number.
What an installer does
- Collects it, or handles a 633 lb curbside drop that is sitting across your driveway.
- Levels and squares the site, because the roof panels at the end depend on it.
- Peels the film off the roof panels, which takes an hour and cuts people.
- Builds the sub-assemblies first, then erects the structure, which is the order that works.
- Gets the roof panels flush and sealed, on ladders, without denting them.
- Anchors it, and takes three very large boxes away.
Get it built by someone who has built one before.
Tell us your ZIP and what you bought. Installers near you will quote you directly, and you deal with them, not with us.
Questions people ask
How long does a Costco Yardistry gazebo take to assemble?
A professional assembler with 632 of them behind him says five to eight hours on his own, and twelve to twenty-four hours for anybody else, with two to five people. Owners report two and a half days on a 12x14. Costco has listed it as a six hour project. It is not.
Does Costco install Yardistry gazebos?
No. Costco deliver online orders to your driveway and that is where their involvement ends. They refer people to Yardistry, who provide a list of independent assemblers.
Will a Yardistry gazebo fit in my car?
Almost certainly not. A 12x14 Meridian is three boxes totalling around 633 pounds, and the long ones are 104 inches. One owner could not close the hatch of a Ford Expedition with all the seats down.
What is the hardest part?
The roof panels, and they punish you late. If the structure below is not flush and square, the panels will not sit properly, and you find that out at the top of a ladder near the end. The other one is peeling the protective film off those panels, which takes an hour, cannot be done in gloves, and is where people cut their hands.
Do I need a permit for a Yardistry gazebo?
Usually not: most jurisdictions treat it as a non-permanent structure. But that varies, and it is worth ten minutes with your local code office before a 633 pound delivery arrives.
Installers.org is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Yardistry or Costco Wholesale. Yardistry is a trademark of its owner, referred to here only to describe the assembly services that independent installers on this directory provide.