Not exactly a hard top, but about 10 years ago when I had the siding and roof replaced on the house, I had them extend the roof line over 1/2 of my back deck to form a covered porch. I ended up with a 10' deep and 35' wide covered porch that is 9' tall at the edges and the interior ceiling line slants up to about 13 1/2' flat where the two ceiling fans are mounted. Not including the ceiling fans & wiring, it only costs me $600 extra to add that cover to the deck. Best $600 I ever spent. The $600 was for the small amount of wood and extra shingles as they were doing all the other work already as I had a contractor strip the roof and all the siding off (we had that old press board Louisiana Pacific stuff that was the subject of all the litigation - stripped it all off, added insulation and put back on hardi plank).
Since I added that, I have smoked in rain, snow and 10* weather with no problems. So a hard top or anything that gives you a similar protected outdoor area is worth the money and time in my book.
