OP here. After some more research, we hopefully have someone to do the cement pad.

For the pergola: We want a 10'x20' (or 12'x20') pergola, and I see some online (at Costco and Home Depot, for instance) in both metal and wood.

What are the pros and cons of metal vs wood pergolas?

We're thinking that metal might end up looking cheap, and we only want to do this once, so quality is our #1 priority.

I would give Leiveille HIC a call. We used them for an addition of a screened in porch after they did one for a friend and we liked it, and friend said they were good tonwork with. They were great to work with - I am willing to recommend

Look up in Consumers Checkbook. Go through the MoCo library website if you have a library card and don't want to subscribe.

I think you should go with two companies.
Start with people who work with concrete and another one with patio.
You can call Pro-Build Construction for Patio work.

I've reached out to multiple neighborhood WhatsApp groups and list serves, and I keep getting the same few people who recommend themselves or the same person, and others have told me to steer clear of that person (their new stuff looks great but in a few years things fall apart, and the ones recommending him have new installations).

We are in Silver Spring and need recommendations for someone to do the following:
- Rip up the cement pad in our backyard (it's cracking and tilted toward the house, so water pools right against the back door, which is only 1 step down)
- Install a new cement pad, slightly bigger (to match the depth of the existing pad behind our garage)
- Install a pergola to our specifications, including:
- Adding awning that can be opened or closed above the pergola (to keep the sun out when it's overhead, but we want it open to the sky otherwise)
- A ceiling fan installed in the middle of the pergola
- Adding lighting (although we might end up stringing up lights; this is not our #1 concern)

For those who have done this, how have you kept the pergola's wood in good shape? Our #1 goal is something that lasts, not something cheap.

Should we be looking at two different contractors for this? One for the cement, one for the pergola? We're not sure how to go about doing this, and no one in my neighborhood seems to be responding to my e-mail/WhatsApp requests.

TIA!