A household will find a place to erect their temporary, fragile hut. They will build it alone, with friends, with neighbors, or as a community together. Many build it in their yards, on their patios, on a park, lawn, or roof. They either build the walls with lumber, fabric, or ready made kits that use tent poles of fabric. The roof consists of a lattice work that holds up the roofing material, which is called s'chach.
Many people use boughs of trees, corn stalks, harvested vegetation.
The roofing material must provide shade from the sun, but you need to be able to see some stars through it. The Sukkah is usually decorated with gourds, indian corn, or fruits that hang from the latticed roof or drawings of the harvest that are taped to the walls. A table and chairs are usually then added to a Sukkah so that meals may be eaten in it, and the blessings over bread and the kiddush over wine may be recited in it. The Sukkah reminds Jews of the agricultural character of their ancestors' lives, who used these temporary huts in their fields while harvesting the final Autumn crops before the Winter rains of the Middle East began. The Sukkah reminds Jews that they live in nature, and are subject to the laws of the natural world.