Patio Math
Wednesday, March 29th, 2023 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudio36F out there this morning. Partly sunny with a few cold gusts here and there. The garbage was picked up while I was out with the pets, so I brought the bins back to the dog yard.
Speaking of the dog yard, I did managed to lug the box with the chipper into the back door last night and it's in the back room with me now, along with the sledge hammer.
Found a proposal and quote in my email this morning from Green Turf.
The quote for this job was $5,968.00! Basically six grand!
So I crunched the numbers... and to pay off the car, the credit cards, and pay the tree guys, all comes to $13,672.00.
If you add in this patio, it leaves me with a little over $15,000 of loan money to survive on... which would probably still float me for one year.
--<>--
So I called them and we talked. And the guy, Sergio, said if i paid with a card they'd have to charge an extra three percent. But if I paid cash, which I can, they could go lower on the whole bill.
So he said he'd send me a revised quote for cash payment.
But I did figure out while talking to him that this was not the guy who'd sent Francisco out yesterday!
So I called Francisco, and asked who was he with???
He was with Lockhardt Landscaping.
I told him to please ask his guys to send me their quote, because Green Turf had quoted me six thousand, but it sounded like Lockhardt could do better, because Francisco had talked about using used pavers, and a simpler fire pit without cap stones.
He said he'd let them know.
--<>--
So now I'm really hoping and praying that Lockhardt sends me their proposal and quote, because I'd really like to go with them.
But now I've got Green Turf all hot and bothered about a cash job and they think I'm all ready to go!
--<>--
Well, while I'm waiting on Lockhardt to either drop the ball, or beat the Green Turf quote, I do finally know this patio is doable!
And this also forced me to add up that $13,672.00 figure for paying off the car, cards, and tree removal... which I'd been procrastinating about.
All of that stuff, and the bills and mortgage have to be dealt with pretty soon, as March ends on Friday!
------------{=0=}------------
12:05AM
Well, I did get that quote from Lockhardt while I was at work today and... turns out they really DID drop the ball!
That bastard quoted me $9,137.50 for the same size patio, with used pavers, and a cheepy metal fire pit!
I thought six thousand was pricey this morning, but holy crap! At least with Green Turf I'm getting all new materials and a matching brick fire pit with cap stones!
And they kept their quote under six grand!
Lockhardt couldn't resist bumping his quote a hair over nine grand!
--<>--
Green Turf also sent their revised quote for paying cash, which knocked off $200.00. That's not much, but hey! I'll take it!
--<>--
I was shampooing a classroom, asking myself, Am I just getting carried away with this patio thing?
I mean, this whole plan to survive on the loan was already predicated on the mistaken idea that the payments would be three to five hundred max... and instead they're over seven hundred a month.
But my back was against the wall on that, so I committed.
But this patio has nothing to do with my survival! Sure if it was under three thousand like I figured, then maybe it was worth doing, but it's twice that!
The tree guys were affordable. The wood chipper was a justifiable expense to maintain the yard. The dumpster... another justifiable expense to get rid of the old shed, the SCOP, and the barbecue.
Shouldn't I just be happy with that?.. with resetting the yard back to just grass, like it hasn't been since... well, since the 1920s actually!
There was a garage built back there in the early 1930s, and the barbecue was built in the 1940s so... I'd be accomplishing a lot! And for less than $3000.00 total!
--<>--
I almost convinced myself too!
But then a voice emerged out of the back of my mind and said, God Dammit!.. I am fifty three years old! I may only have twenty years left! Maybe thirty, but I doubt it!
Sure, I'm resetting the yard back to where it was in the 1920s, and that's great, but it should have had a patio back then!
My grandparents settled for a crappy hand-made brick barbecue that fell apart in twelve years!
My parents settled for using the concrete slab that the old garage had stood over, as their excuse for a patio, after that garage fell apart!
Nobody's ever done anything nice to that yard, so goddamit!.. maybe I'll go bankrupt, but you know what?..
I'll still have a patio with a fire pit, that's paid for, in that back yard... to sit my bankrupt ass by the fire and figure out my next move! And I'll have it for the rest of my life!
No!.. by God!.. No, I will not settle!
------------{=0=}------------
1:15AM
Okay, it's done!
I printed the revised quote from Green Turf, for $5,768, and signed it.
Then I scanned that, as a PDF and emailed it back to them.
Don't have a date nailed down, but we're doing this! The final puzzle piece, for the back yard, is in place!
A beautiful, free-floating, circular brick patio, with a nice built-in fire pit at the center of it!.. there in the mid-back yard!
It'll sit under an open sky... with a good view of the moon on summer nights.
--<>--
Other than the family reunion in October, will anybody ever hang out on that thing besides me by my lonesome? I dunno.
But I won't mind being out there, drinking my beer... burning all the logs I'm gonna produce from all the saplings I'm gonna be cutting down.
I'll do it in the summer, and the fall... and hell!.. maybe even in the winter!
--<>--
Three days down, and two to go until my three day weekend!
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
Speaking of the dog yard, I did managed to lug the box with the chipper into the back door last night and it's in the back room with me now, along with the sledge hammer.
Found a proposal and quote in my email this morning from Green Turf.
The quote for this job was $5,968.00! Basically six grand!
So I crunched the numbers... and to pay off the car, the credit cards, and pay the tree guys, all comes to $13,672.00.
If you add in this patio, it leaves me with a little over $15,000 of loan money to survive on... which would probably still float me for one year.
So I called them and we talked. And the guy, Sergio, said if i paid with a card they'd have to charge an extra three percent. But if I paid cash, which I can, they could go lower on the whole bill.
So he said he'd send me a revised quote for cash payment.
But I did figure out while talking to him that this was not the guy who'd sent Francisco out yesterday!
So I called Francisco, and asked who was he with???
He was with Lockhardt Landscaping.
I told him to please ask his guys to send me their quote, because Green Turf had quoted me six thousand, but it sounded like Lockhardt could do better, because Francisco had talked about using used pavers, and a simpler fire pit without cap stones.
He said he'd let them know.
So now I'm really hoping and praying that Lockhardt sends me their proposal and quote, because I'd really like to go with them.
But now I've got Green Turf all hot and bothered about a cash job and they think I'm all ready to go!
Well, while I'm waiting on Lockhardt to either drop the ball, or beat the Green Turf quote, I do finally know this patio is doable!
And this also forced me to add up that $13,672.00 figure for paying off the car, cards, and tree removal... which I'd been procrastinating about.
All of that stuff, and the bills and mortgage have to be dealt with pretty soon, as March ends on Friday!
Well, I did get that quote from Lockhardt while I was at work today and... turns out they really DID drop the ball!
That bastard quoted me $9,137.50 for the same size patio, with used pavers, and a cheepy metal fire pit!
I thought six thousand was pricey this morning, but holy crap! At least with Green Turf I'm getting all new materials and a matching brick fire pit with cap stones!
And they kept their quote under six grand!
Lockhardt couldn't resist bumping his quote a hair over nine grand!
Green Turf also sent their revised quote for paying cash, which knocked off $200.00. That's not much, but hey! I'll take it!
I was shampooing a classroom, asking myself, Am I just getting carried away with this patio thing?
I mean, this whole plan to survive on the loan was already predicated on the mistaken idea that the payments would be three to five hundred max... and instead they're over seven hundred a month.
But my back was against the wall on that, so I committed.
But this patio has nothing to do with my survival! Sure if it was under three thousand like I figured, then maybe it was worth doing, but it's twice that!
The tree guys were affordable. The wood chipper was a justifiable expense to maintain the yard. The dumpster... another justifiable expense to get rid of the old shed, the SCOP, and the barbecue.
Shouldn't I just be happy with that?.. with resetting the yard back to just grass, like it hasn't been since... well, since the 1920s actually!
There was a garage built back there in the early 1930s, and the barbecue was built in the 1940s so... I'd be accomplishing a lot! And for less than $3000.00 total!
I almost convinced myself too!
But then a voice emerged out of the back of my mind and said, God Dammit!.. I am fifty three years old! I may only have twenty years left! Maybe thirty, but I doubt it!
Sure, I'm resetting the yard back to where it was in the 1920s, and that's great, but it should have had a patio back then!
My grandparents settled for a crappy hand-made brick barbecue that fell apart in twelve years!
My parents settled for using the concrete slab that the old garage had stood over, as their excuse for a patio, after that garage fell apart!
Nobody's ever done anything nice to that yard, so goddamit!.. maybe I'll go bankrupt, but you know what?..
I'll still have a patio with a fire pit, that's paid for, in that back yard... to sit my bankrupt ass by the fire and figure out my next move! And I'll have it for the rest of my life!
No!.. by God!.. No, I will not settle!
Okay, it's done!
I printed the revised quote from Green Turf, for $5,768, and signed it.
Then I scanned that, as a PDF and emailed it back to them.
Don't have a date nailed down, but we're doing this! The final puzzle piece, for the back yard, is in place!
A beautiful, free-floating, circular brick patio, with a nice built-in fire pit at the center of it!.. there in the mid-back yard!
It'll sit under an open sky... with a good view of the moon on summer nights.
Other than the family reunion in October, will anybody ever hang out on that thing besides me by my lonesome? I dunno.
But I won't mind being out there, drinking my beer... burning all the logs I'm gonna produce from all the saplings I'm gonna be cutting down.
I'll do it in the summer, and the fall... and hell!.. maybe even in the winter!
Three days down, and two to go until my three day weekend!
°¦}
