Shade for the stoep, gone when the winter sun is welcome

A stoep that works in both directions

A fixed roof over a stoep solves summer and creates a winter problem — it blocks the low, welcome sun just as much in June as it blocked the harsh sun in January. A folding-arm awning retracts, so the same stoep gets full shade on a hot afternoon and full winter sun with one motion, no posts interrupting the mountain view either way.

Specified for the Cape Doctor, not just the sun

The City Bowl's south-easter is funnelled hard between the sea and the mountain, and upper-slope addresses like Higgovale feel it hardest — gusts through Table Bay have been recorded well into storm territory. An awning caught open in that wind is a real risk to the fabric and the arms, not a theoretical one, so we specify a motor with a wind sensor as standard: it retracts automatically before a gust arrives rather than waiting for someone to notice.

Fixed to the substrate that's actually there

Brick, timber and rendered stone all take a cassette mounting differently, and on a heritage-listed stand a facade-mounted cassette can fall under Heritage Western Cape's rules for structures over 60 years old. We assess the fixing substrate and flag any permit question at the free measure, rather than discover it on install day. A heritage permit is not the only sign-off in play across the City Bowl. On a Gardens apartment conversion the decision sits with a body corporate instead, and a cassette going onto the facade needs their approval as much as it needs a sound fixing.

What an awning costs above a City Bowl terrace

Awnings are quoted per square metre of projection — the terrace actually put in shade when the arms run out — installed. Crank-operated, R3,500 – R5,500 the square metre, an open or semi-cassette in a sheltered corner at the cheap end, a full cassette out on a wind-hit elevation at the upper. Motorise it, sensor and all, and the figure rises to R5,500 – R7,500 for every square metre of projection.

On a slope that takes the wind at full strength, the motor and the sensor are worth more than another metre of fabric, because an awning left out in a rising south-easter does not survive many summers. A narrow awning above a door carries a minimum charge, and what the brackets go into — brick, an old parapet, a steel post — changes the figure as well. That is what the free site assessment is for, and the written quotation that follows carries the actual figure for your terrace.