I installed the Yardistry 12x14 gazebo in 2018, and I'm very very pleased with it. Yes, you can add a fan and lights to it. You can add the lights and fan at any time. Most people run power from a nearby outdoor outlet, usually by means of an extension cord from the outlet to the gazebo. Alternately, you can hire an electrician to run wiring to the gazebo, install an outlet, and either hardwire the fan, or use a power cord to connect it to the outlet. You can use electric lighting in the gazebo, or solar. I use both - decorative solar string lighting outlining the exterior edge of the roof, interior patio lights strung on the rafters and connected to a smart dimmer switch, so I can adjust the brightness. If you live in a climate where you get accumulating snow, you may need to periodically remove snow from the roof. Per the company, the roof has been tested to hold snow loads of up to 36 pounds per square foot, which is pretty impressive, actually - where I live, building code requires a minimum of 35 lbs/sq. foot for home roofs. However, when we get a lot of snow, I play it safe and rake it off the gazebo. If you live in a climate that gets rain, you may want to add gutters to the gazebo. Again, this can be done at any time. In a heavy or prolonged rain, the runoff from the roof splashes onto the hard surface of the patio. That splashing, especially if there's a wind, ends up wetting the the area a good ways inside the gazebo itself. You may want to live with the rain for a year or two to determine if gutters are needed. There are a number of ways to provide shade and privacy. Hanging outdoor curtains or (to filter the light, with minimal blocking of the view) dense mesh mosquito curtains is the simplest option. You can install tension curtain rods or curtain draw rods. Advantage - inexpensive, and you just pull them to the sides when you want the view/sun. Disadvantage - on windy days, they'll blow well inside the gazebo. I minimize this by hooking a thin bungie to the bottom corner of the curtain, wrapping the other end of the bungie around the nearest gazebo post. Roller shades are another option, but it's difficult finding them wide enough to fit this gazebo. You would probably have to install two per side, or have one custom made, which gets quite expensive. You can also buy or build a privacy panel to attach to the gazebo. For that matter, there are companies that build custom slider window/screen panels for gazebos. They allow you to enclose the gazebo to keep out rain, wind, and insects, but they are pricey. Installation on a paver patio: per Yardistry, their gazebos must be bolted in place. This isn't too difficult on decks or poured concrete patios, but with paver patios you will probably have to pour concrete footings to bolt the the gazebo posts to, since obviously bolting a post to a paver will not provide a stable footing. You might be able to use ground anchors connected to the posts with steel cables, instead of pouring footings. You can contact Yardistry for advice. Installation - assembling the parts wasn't difficult, just very time-consuming and tedious. Lifting the roof panels onto the frame was the most difficult and scary part. I'd recommend a minimum of three guys to do it, preferably four. We did it with two women and two men, but as we learned, in reality the majority of women don't have the upper-body strength to lift and hold a large heavy panel up over their heads...especially while simultaneously climbing a ladder. In 2017-2018, when I was researching the cost to have someone else install it, quoted prices around the country ranged from $600 in certain areas of California (where a company had so much experience building these that their four guys could put it up in 6-8 hours), to $1500-$2500 in most other parts of the country, especially when quoted by local indie handymen. I expect current quote will be several hundred dollars higher. Frankly, those higher prices seemed fair to me, since it has to include the wages of four workers for 8-16 hours, depending on their skill and experience with assembling these gazebos. You might be able to negotiate the price downward if you could do the initial parts assembly yourself and just hire the handymen to do the final assembly of the frame and mounting the roof panels.