Middle Tennessee gives you seven or eight months of outdoor weather a year and a mosquito for every one of them. The right outdoor room depends on how you will use it, what your yard looks like and how many of those months you want to spend outside. The four options we build most, with 2026 ranges: a screened porch ($35,000–$75,000), a covered patio ($25,000–$60,000), a deck ($15,000–$45,000 for most sizes in composite) and a sunroom ($60,000–$120,000). Here is how they compare.
Screened porch: the best-used room in the house
A screened porch is a roofed room with screen walls — bugs out, breeze in. Ours are built as additions: engineered footings, a roof tied into the house, a ceiling fan and lighting, an outlet for the TV, often a stone fireplace, and a stained tongue-and-groove ceiling. It is usable from March through November in Tennessee, and with a fireplace, on plenty of winter afternoons. Cost: $35,000 to $75,000 for most, depending on size, roof, ceiling and fireplace. Best for: evenings, dinners, a level or gently sloped yard, and anyone who has given up on the mosquitoes. Permit: yes, always.
Covered patio: the simplest outdoor room
A covered patio is a roof over a slab or pavers, open on the sides. It is the least expensive way to get shade, a fan and a dry place to grill, and it is the natural home for an outdoor kitchen and fireplace. On an existing slab it starts around $25,000; with a new travertine or paver patio, a stained ceiling and an outdoor kitchen it reaches $60,000 and beyond. Best for: level yards, grilling and entertaining, homes where the back door is at grade. Permit: yes for the roof structure and any gas or electrical.
“The whole project went smoothly, and we couldn’t be happier with how our new porch turned out.”
Deck: the answer for a sloped yard
Where the back door is four feet above the grade — most of the two-story homes in Hendersonville, Mt. Juliet and Spring Hill — a deck is the practical answer, and a multi-level deck with a screened room on top is the luxury one. Cost: pressure-treated decking runs $35 to $55 per square foot installed; composite $60 to $100. A 16-by-20 composite deck with aluminum railing most often lands between $25,000 and $40,000. Composite or wood? Composite for a deck you never want to stain again; wood for the lowest first cost. Either way the frame is treated lumber built to code. Permit: yes for a deck attached to the house or more than thirty inches off the ground.
Sunroom: conditioned square footage
A sunroom or four-season room is enclosed in glass and insulated, heated and cooled — which makes it usable twelve months a year and counts as living space. It costs the most, $60,000 to $120,000 for most, and it is the right choice if you want a breakfast room or a home office rather than an outdoor room. A three-season room, with screens or vinyl panels and no conditioning, sits between a screened porch and a sunroom in cost and use.
A side-by-side comparison
| Screened porch | Covered patio | Deck (composite) | Sunroom | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 range | $35k–$75k | $25k–$60k | $15k–$45k | $60k–$120k |
| Months of use | 8–10 | 7–8 | 6–7 | 12 |
| Bugs | Out | In | In | Out |
| Fireplace / TV | Yes | Yes | Fire pit / TV on a wall | Yes |
| Sloped yard | On a deck | Needs grading or a wall | Ideal | On a foundation |
| Counts as living space | No | No | No | Yes |
| Build time | 3–6 weeks | 2–5 weeks | 1–3 weeks | 4–8 weeks |
Our recommendation
If you can only build one thing, build a screened porch with a fireplace: it is the room you will use most, it works on a deck or a slab, and it adds a genuine room to the house. If the yard is level and you cook outside, a covered patio with an outdoor kitchen is the better first move, with screens added later. If the back door is high above the grade, start with the deck and design it to carry a screened room on top. We walk the yard with you and show you what each would look like against the house — porches and patios, decks and outdoor kitchens and hardscapes are all ours to build.
