What the permit records show
Every patio cover in the valley needs a permit, so the records are a good read on the market. The valley permits about 2,500 patio covers a year. In the City of Las Vegas, from January 2025 to early October 2026, there were 1,155 prefab cover permits and 219 custom ones. Prefab covers cluster tightly around $3,000; custom covers spread from $5,000 into the tens of thousands.
Prefab aluminum: what you get
An engineered aluminum kit, often sold under names like Alumawood, in solid or lattice style, bolted to the house and set on posts. It is quick to install, needs little upkeep and handles the sun well. Choices are limited to the kit’s spans, colors and roof styles.
Custom: what you get
A cover designed for your house: wood, steel or a roof that ties into the existing one, wider spans, higher ceilings, fans, lights, misters or an insulated roof that keeps the space cooler. It costs more to design, permit and build, which is where the wide spread in the permit values comes from.
How to choose
If you want shade over an existing slab at the lowest cost, a prefab cover does it. If you want the cover to look like part of the house, span a large patio without many posts, or carry fans and lights, price custom. Either way, the HOA in a master-planned community reviews it first, and your contractor pulls the permit.
Sources: permit records pulled by GetProEstimate from the City of Las Vegas open-data permits layer, Clark County’s Accela building-permits report and the City of Henderson permits service, January 2025 to October 2026. Values are what contractors declared when they filed, not final invoices.