The Value of Partnering with a Turnkey Shade Structure Company like Apollo Sunguard
For full-service engineering and design consulting firms and even playground companies and commercial pool contractors, success depends on delivering safe, comfortable and visually appealing spaces that stand the test of time.
One of the most impactful ways to elevate those spaces – and streamline the construction process – is by partnering with a shade structure company that offers a custom design-build, turnkey solutions like Apollo Sunguard.
Whether it’s a playground, public gathering space, athletic complex or aquatics center, the addition of a thoughtfully designed, custom shade structure enhances both the user experience and the project’s long-term value. Here’s why partnering with Apollo Sunguard, a design-build shade provider, can be one of the smartest business decisions you make.
Simplified Project Management with a Single Shade Partner
Every contractor knows that coordinating multiple vendors can complicate even a simple project. A design-build shade partner like Apollo Sunguard simplifies this process by handling every stage of the shade portion of the project – from concept and engineering to fabrication and installation.
This single-source approach streamlines communication, reduces scheduling conflicts and ensures accountability. Instead of juggling multiple contacts or managing separate bids, contractors can depend on one experienced team to manage the shade portion of the project efficiently and transparently.
Time and Cost Efficiency with a Shade Partner
Partnering with a design-build shade company like Apollo Sunguard can lead to significant savings in both time and money. Because the design and construction phases are integrated, decisions are made faster.
Including the full design of a shade structure in your initial overall project design means that the concept of the structure is done at the start of the project. When you bring Apollo Sunguard into the planning at the beginning, your company can expect to work directly with an experienced shade engineer and obtain the necessary paperwork to add to your proposal. This saves time.
A design-build partner like Apollo Sunguard also reduces the administrative workload associated with managing subcontractors and multiple contracts. Apollo Sunguard handles it all, from the design and engineering to the manufacturing and the installation. The company even will train your client on maintenance (which is designed to be easy).
With fewer moving parts and a partner you can depend on, projects move more smoothly and stay on schedule.
Enhanced Aesthetic Integration with a Shade Partner
A playground, pool area or public gathering space isn’t just about functionality – it’s about creating an environment where people want to spend time. Shade structures are highly visible elements that can enhance or detract from a site’s overall aesthetic, depending on how thoughtfully they’re designed.
Working with a shade company like Apollo Sunguard that specializes in custom design services ensures that structures complement the surrounding architecture, color palette and landscape.
From custom fabric shapes that echo natural forms to color choices that align with branding, a design-build shade partner like Apollo Sunguard can help ensure every detail fits seamlessly within the project’s vision.
Engineering and Code Compliance Expertise with a Shade Partner
Outdoor environments present unique challenges – high winds, UV exposure, sleet and snow and other varying site conditions. But experienced shade companies like Apollo Sunguard – which has installed shade structures throughout the nation – employ seasoned engineers who specialize in the design of shade structures ideal for various geographic locations, ensuring each structure meets local building codes, wind load requirements and safety standards.
Apollo Sunguard engineers its structures to withstand wind loads in accordance with the American Society of Civil Engineers, International Building Codes, and applicable city, county and state codes. The same is true for its snow load capacity.
For high winds, Apollo Sunguard’s structures can withstand winds up to 115 MPH with the shade covers in place and up to 180 MPH with the shades removed. The company recommends removing the shades when winds are predicted to exceed Category 1 hurricane speed of 74-95 mph. To make this easier, the company has designed a patented Quick Release System – the simplest and most practical release system in the shade industry. With just a wrench, Apollo Sunguard’s shades can be removed quickly and reinstalled just as fast.
Your Shade Partner can Provide Value-Added Offerings for Clients from the Start
With a shade partner, companies can offer clients a complete outdoor solution from the very beginning of the project – rather than just a single element. Including high-quality, custom shade options in project proposals can be a differentiator in competitive bids.
The benefits of shade are far reaching. Apollo Sunguard’s shade structures are designed to mimic trees – the air flows through the canopy sail like air flows through tree leaves. The result? Ambient temperatures beneath an Apollo Sunguard structure are 20 degrees cooler than outside.
This means those enjoying your project will feel cooler temperatures.
They also will be protected against harmful UV rays. Tested by International Testing Laboratories, an independent US laboratory, many of Apollo Sunguard’s shade sail colors meet a minimum of 93% UV Block as recommended by sun safety organizations and advocates, and some block up to 96% of UV rays.
Apollo Sunguard’s engineers can provide custom schematics and drawings to accompany your project proposal. A contractor who can deliver an integrated design – complete with shade – demonstrates foresight. This ability to offer a finished, fully functional space equipped with shade can be the deciding factor in winning a project.
Consistent Quality Control Backed by a Warranty
Quality assurance is one of the biggest advantages of the design-build approach. Because Apollo Sunguard designs, fabricates and installs the shade structures, there is continuous oversight throughout the process and beyond to make sure shade structures can be enjoyed today and tomorrow.
Apollo Sunguard is committed to making the highest quality shade available. The company uses only top-of-the-line materials to build both the shade sails and structures. It imports its fabric from MultiKnit out of South Africa (one of the first modern creators of shade cloth). The fabric is made from a high-density polyethylene material that includes ultraviolent additives and is breathable. The fabrication plant in Sarasota then custom cuts each panel to exacting measurements, sews and reinforces the fabric. They use a non-aging stitching thread able to withstand direct sunlight for the life of the shade.
The steel framework for Apollo Sunguard shade structures is manufactured to specific, high-quality standards. The company uses cold-rolled, galvanized tubular steel with a triple layer of protection. This creates more tensile strength and longer term corrosion resistance than most steels. The company’s fabricators use special galvanized welding wire and triple-treat each weld with zinc coating for extreme corrosion protection.
Because of the superior design and engineering, Apollo Sunguard is able to offer the strongest warranty in the business – 15 years on the shade fabric and 20 years on the structures. Your clients will have peace of mind knowing they are protected.
When you consistently bring on a shade partner like Apollo Sunguard, continuity eliminates discrepancies between design intent and finished product, ensuring the final installation meets both performance and aesthetic standards while also lasting.
Access to Design Expertise and Innovation with a Shade Partner
Apollo Sunguard brings specialized expertise that extends far beyond fabrication. Its team understands sun-path analysis, fabric performance, structural dynamics and user comfort – knowledge that adds measurable value to outdoor projects.
A professional shade designer like Apollo Sunguard can introduce creative, eye-catching forms that elevate the visual appeal of a space while meeting both form and function. In fact, custom designed shade structures are Apollo Sunguard’s forte.
“I consider us the ‘Frank Lloyd Wright of Shade Manufacturers,’” said Ernesto De Oliverira, chief operating officer and VP of engineering for Apollo Sunguard. “We produce a product that is timeless and artistic and really fits in the surrounding environment.”
Whether it’s a tensioned sail that mimics a wave beside a pool or a geometric canopy that frames a playground, these design touches make projects more memorable and distinctive.
Reduced Risk for Contractors with a Single Shade Partner
Managing multiple vendors inherently increases project risk. By working with a single design-build shade company, contractors shift design, engineering and installation responsibilities to a single expert source.
This transfer of risk means fewer liability concerns, less chance of errors and greater assurance that the final product meets performance expectations. In essence, the shade partner becomes an extension of the contractor’s team – one that carries its own expertise and accountability.
And when you bring Apollo Sunguard’s team on as part of your own, you are getting conscientious people who care about what they are doing, exceptional materials that stand up to long-term weather exposure and innovative engineering that is a step ahead.
Enhance Your Project with Apollo Sunguard as Your Shade Partner
Partnering with a design-build, turnkey shade structure company like Apollo Sunguard offers clear benefits: streamlined project management, cost and time efficiency, design cohesion and peace of mind. For playground builders, pool contractors and landscape professionals, this partnership isn’t just about adding shade – it’s about adding value, quality, efficiency and reliability to every project.
Do you have a project and in need of shade? Fill out our custom quote form and one of our shade experts will be in touch with you. For more information, call 1-800-319-1010.
