Construction & installation
Tiki Hut Construction in South Florida
Building a tiki hut is two jobs in one: a timber structure that has to resist uplift in a storm, and a thatch roof that has to shed water purely through how it is layered. Neither part forgives shortcuts, and it is usually the roof that gives a rushed build away — within a season.
- New builds
- Residential backyard and poolside huts, and commercial structures
- Existing huts
- Re-thatching, repair and maintenance
- Thatch
- Natural sabal palm, or synthetic where upkeep must stay low
- Service area
- Miami-Dade, Broward and the Upper Keys
On site
How a hut goes up
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Siting
Where the hut goes decides most of how good it will be. Prevailing breeze, the sun path, distance from the pool and the house, and what you will be looking at from underneath it all get walked before anything is marked.
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Footings and posts
Posts are set to carry the roof and, more importantly, to resist uplift. A thatch roof is light, which makes wind the governing load rather than weight.
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Frame and rafters
Ring beam and rafters set the pitch. The pitch is what makes the roof shed water, so it is a structural decision rather than a stylistic one.
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Thatching
Fronds are layered from the bottom edge upward, each course overlapping the last, until there is no water path through the roof. This is the slow part, and the part where skill shows.
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Trim and finish
Ridge detail, edge trimming and any lighting or fan mounting. Then the site gets cleared of offcuts and thatch debris, which there is a lot of.
Residential and commercial builds
Residential huts are usually about a single space doing one job well — shade beside the pool, a covered spot for a table, a destination at the far end of the yard. Scale is modest, access is often tight, and the finish matters because you look at it every day from the kitchen window.
Commercial structures — restaurants, resorts, marinas, event spaces — change the priorities. Spans get larger, the structure has to take heavier use, and the maintenance plan matters from day one because a roof that needs attention in three years is a very different proposition on a business property. Fire treatment requirements are also more likely to apply. [FIRE_RETARDANT_POLICY] — state what is offered and where it is required.
Re-thatching and repair
Thatch wears out. That is the nature of the material, and re-thatching is a normal, expected part of owning a hut rather than a sign that something went wrong. The frame stays; the roof is stripped and rebuilt.
Signs a roof is due: visible thinning at the ridge or the eaves, light coming through from underneath, water making it into the space during ordinary rain rather than wind-driven downpours, and debris shedding heavily after storms. If you are seeing any of that, it is worth looking at sooner rather than after the next hurricane season.
[TIKI_SERVICE_SCOPE] — confirm here whether re-thatching and repair are offered on huts built by other contractors, and any limits on what can be worked on.
Timelines and permits
Thatching is hand work and it sets the pace of the job. Beyond that, the elapsed time depends on design, any required drawings, building department review and material availability — none of which happens in your yard. [LEAD_TIME] — add realistic durations once they can be stated accurately.
Permit requirements vary by jurisdiction and by structure, and some building departments treat traditional chickee structures differently from other accessory buildings. [PERMIT_POLICY] — describe exactly how this is handled.
Our work
Construction photography
Build-stage photographs of tiki hut projects are being added here.
Every photograph on this site is a structure we actually built, so nothing goes here until the tiki hut photography does. Placeholder tag for the site owner: [TIKI_HUT_PHOTOS_NEEDED]
In the meantime, the pergola and outdoor living gallery shows the framing, finishing and site work that go into every structure we build.
Get a tiki hut estimate
For a new hut, tell us roughly what size and where it would go. For an existing structure, photographs of the roof — from underneath as well as outside — are the fastest way to a useful answer.
New build or a roof that has had its day?
Either way, start with photographs. They answer more questions than a phone call does.