My house had a small porch on the front and an awning on the side over the door.  I removed both and built a wrap around porch.  I set 10" schedule 40 pipe in the ground and filled with concrete to make the "posts" to build the porch on.

I wish I would have used composite decking instead of 5/4 treated lumber.  And I definately wish that I would have used screws instead of nails for the decking.

Here is a picture:

(DSCN0177 (Medium).JPG)

DSCN0177 (Medium).JPG (87KB - 285 downloads)