[sa226]

Haha fair enough. I think with a deck, thats an annoying but fair way to go about business. There's enough people doing shoddy dangerous work.

For my application, they were a bit overkill anyway, and if I could go back I wouldn't do it again.

I find it quite silly as well, as far as pergolas go. That sonotubes are a suggested option. You get a lot of weight support and all that, but with the brackets installed on top of sonotubes, there is very little lateral support. But with a deck the lateral support is inherent in the structure, more so than a pergola.