General Awnings

The Setting: when we bought our home in 1986, we inherited an 8’x10’ wooden framework and corrugated fiberglass awning attached to the back of the garage. Years of sun and storms, but most recently, Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, brought instability to this fixture. Last January’s snows delivered the fatal blow, when portions of the wood framework collapsed.
Chapter Two: we had long believed that this awning was far too large, and it shaded areas where we would have preferred sun. We explored several options before concluding that the objective of simply shielding the rear door of the garage would be sufficient. Local contractors, whether to build from scratch or hang a pre-​assembled awning wanted far more than the job was worth to us. After extensive internet searching, we identified General Awnings on the basis of price, recommendations and Better Business Bureau ratings. A custom-​sized metal awning, with side panels, was ordered at $ 289– less than half the cost of what we were estimated for a wooden version. Delivery took a little more than two weeks; so far, so good.
The «Cut-​To-​The-​Chase:» For reasons which aren’t limited to the awning, assembling and hanging this awning took about 12 hours over the course of five weekends. The project was quite a bit more than what was bargained for, and I’m fairly good with this type of work (details below). In the end, the finished awning looks very good, appears to be extremely durable and saved us a bundle of cash. On that basis, a solid 3-​star review seems fair. If we had the decision to make again, we would likely avoid the ordeal.
The Ordeal: General Awnings delivered a random assortment of unlabeled sheet metal pieces, all neatly wrapped in newsprint paper. After surveying the project, it became clear that this was a job where the instructions would be needed, as little about this assembly is intuitive. This is where the «fun» began. Part of the packaging directed me to website instructions, which were printed. Yet, an instruction booklet was shipped. Unfortunately, neither the sequence of assembly steps nor the names given to each of the non-​descript sheet metal pieces bore any relationship to each other. Neither pictures nor line drawings of the parts were of very much value; they needed labeling. Further, the way in which the pieces join make it impossible to do a trial assembly where fasteners were not used. It was clear that the number of fasteners required were greater than the number shipped. Next, several seemingly important pre-​drilled holes just didn’t align. Finally, a binding bar designed to hold the entire assembly together was 4″ too short for the custom-​sized awning shipped. Quality control obviously isn’t a significant priority to General Awning.
I have very strong hands, yet the simultaneous action of bending and positioning eight metal clips to hold the top panels was near-​to-​impossible. It did, finally, succeed, but in the process, broke-​off at least half of the metal tabs needed to secure the finished top. At this point both sets of instructions were trashed, and stainless steel sheet metal screws were used in inconspicuous areas to bring stability to the finished awning.
Although the actual hanging of the awning on the garage was postponed (moderate-​to-​high winds) for two weekends, this three-​person job wasn’t difficult. The story has a happy ending, but it was a long time in coming.