Patio Pergola?

Hey guys. I am looking into building a cover for my back porch. First, let me say that I intend for this to be more of an outdoor living area than just an ordinary covered porch. My first step was to construct a brick outdoor fireplace, which has become a mess of its own, but I think some of the guys over on the masonry forum have given me some great ideas to get that squared away and finished.

I have considered several options. The cheapest, and simplest for me is to have someone come install one of those cheap metal "carport" type metal covers. Aesthetically, they are less than appealing to me, but they are functional. My ideal design would be a fully decked and shingled structure that tied into the room of my house seamlessly. That idea, however has been thrown out because #1 it is above my skill level, and #2, it is far outside of my budget to have a contractor come build it for me. All of the quotes I'm getting are in the 11k range. I'm looking at more like $4000 for a budget tops.

I have seen some pergola type patio covers that are freestanding and don't tie into the roof. If I move forward with this, it will have corrugated metal on top of the slats, because I definitely want it to be a dry. or mostly dry environment. It has its disadvantages, but I think it's something that I could build myself and the savings would outweigh the fact that its not tied to the house. Like this:

http://www.houzz.com/photos/73822/All-Season-Covered-Back-Patio-contemporary-patio-other-metro

I do however have one major concern. How sturdy are the brackets used to anchor the posts to the slab? If its not tied to the house, it seems to me that it would lose a great deal of structural integrity just standing on four legs. I do live in an area where thunderstorms can have pretty strong winds. Are my concerns unfounded if properly braced?

Welcome to the site.
Take note of the height of the chimney for the house, you will need to check local codes for what you need for the new one.
Looks like you have two choices, the most expensive and the cheapist, have you looked at trusses that would tie into the house and look like they were there when the house was built?
If you think you can build the one then you can build anything, even if you need help finishing.
Anything built free standing wiull need cross or angle braces to keep it up and what ever you build should have footing and depending on where you are ,may need to below frost level.

A pergola can be simple because it doesn't carry any real loads, like rain or snow, and it's usually built flat because it has no roofing to worry about. Once you add panels, you are basically building a freestanding building, and so there are snow loads (don't know your location), roof pitch, drainage and winds to deal with. That's not to say that you can't do it, just that you have to think about more.