Patio cover.

[Warpy]

6. Yes, they sock it to you for aluminum awnings

and they wouldn't allow anything combustible when I lived in a trailer (good thing, probably) so I had to bite the bullet and fork over $800 for a small awning about 20 years ago. It was still better than getting conked on the head with ice when it snowed around here.

One thing you need to make sure of and that's that there are adequate supports for a wooden arrangement. This house came with a back patio covering and the guy did a good job with a lot of fancy saw cuts. Unfortunately, it is large and only has 3 4x4 supports so it's at the end of its life. I'm not sure what will replace it, but I doubt it will survive much longer.

One thing I'm considering to lower the cost slightly are corrugated fiberglas panels for the roof. Those aren't that beautiful unless they're done very well, but they do the job and they do it cheaply.

I won't be using aluminum. Yes, I inherited money but not that much.

ETA: Don't believe those adverts. You are going to need at least two men to hoist lumber up, possibly three. Your wife will rebel quickly because our bodies just don't have the upper strength to do heavy carpentry unless we got really lucky in the genetic lottery. IOW, I've done things like shingle roofs and exteriors but somebody else had to hump the bale of shingles to the site. There was no way for me to do that myself.