Choosing a patio cover scheme is a personal choice.
If an architect designed your patio then the cover will most likely need a professional contractor's touch.
A remodeling contractor can help you decide on a patio cover suitable for your patio or deck and explain some of the products capable of surviving the extreme high desert climate.
The Desert Places like Palmdale California experience severe summers and near constant Santa Ana Winds.
The winters can be blistering cold and your patio cover will experience every extreme of those conditions month in and month out.
Before you call a professional contractor to help you build your patio cover, consider doing some research first.
Think about the patio's primary use, will the patio be used for entertaining? Think about the Intended Use For example, will he patio be a place to put your barbecue, a table and some chairs? Are you envisioning an enclosed or climate controlled patio design, or something that simply keeps the sun off your back as you enjoy a nice Mojave Desert summer evening? The possibilities are endless and it's best to have an idea in your mind before accepting offers from prospective general contractors in your area.
Collecting Ideas Another fantastic idea is to consult the internet and magazines for creative ideas.
Design ideas are plentiful and available to you if you look hard enough.
Think about the Mojave Desert weather conditions.
The sun and wind can quickly ravage any untreated or improperly treated patio cover.
Think about the Santa Ana winds.
Something impervious will need to be built.
  You the consumer should be armed with this kind of knowledge when consulting with a contractor.
Budget Once you have an idea in mind, contemplate budget.
Decent patio covers can range anywhere from a couple thousand dollars on up depending on the complexity of the project, materials used and quality contractor involved.
Having a Picture One of the best pieces of advice that I can give is that a picture does speak a thousand words.
If you can show a contractor an image of what you want, you'll be fifteen steps ahead and closer to getting what you want.
Be it a page taken from a book or an image from the web this will save you big time.
Now delegate your efforts towards tweaking the details.
No sense in wasting time,struggling to draw a mental model of what you desire and expecting the professional contractor gets it.
Knowing that the professional contractor has a good idea of what you want brings good piece of mind.
Also, you'll get more realistic estimates in return.
Finally Always, get a second estimate.
Get three or four estimates if time allows for it.