scubasteve said:
I could look over these photos endlessly. Love it.
sS
Thanks.
Funny story about the bridge between the pool/pond... The pool people weren't going to do the bridge, that was for the landscaper I hired. This was back in late 2000 (anyone remember the height of CSCO/NASDAQ? I do...
(The Joke around the house is we should have sold our CSCO at $80... or $70..., or $40... etc...
(I digress))). So, I hire the landscaper and give him close to $10K (a "down payment").
The hole for the pool is dug, and the landscaper asks me to keep the dirt because we're going to use it. Two days later, he shows up with his bob-cat and starts taking some of the dirt away. Then, I start getting "change-ordered" for this and that and whatever, and I'm starting to get upset. All they did to this point was put in 100' of bender board.
NEXT: the cost of the bridge was originally $3000 in the landscaper's quote - then he calls me up and tells me that he's thought it over and needs to hire-out to an engineer to have the bridge designed, because he doesn't want to be liable if the bridge breaks/tips while someone is on it - ADDITIONAL COST, $5000.
So, I fired him right there on the spot and asked for my money/deposit back, minus whatever "fair value" for the few days of work his crew actually did.
Ready for this? When I got the bill, he said I OWED HIM MONEY (after the $10K deposit!). His summary was something like this:
- Use of tractor for two weeks (he brought it over, and only used it to "steal" dirt for another one of his jobs): $3500[/*:m:spvdjno0]
- Design - $5500 (Waitaminute - the design was MINE! He just transferred it to velum!)[/*:m:spvdjno0]
- Labor and Materials $3000 (remember, the ONLY thing they did was put in 100' of bender board)[/*:m:spvdjno0]
I was PI***D! So, I wrote a letter to the State Contractor's Licensing Board explaining the whole thing, went to the Landscaper's office, slid the letter across his desk to him and told him it would be in the mail in the morning - and walked out with almost all my money (and never sent the letter).
Long story short, when the pool was almost finished, I built the bridge for less than $300 in redwood in three hours, and had a friend help me set it in place. That bad boy is rock solid.
Sorry for the rant, but there's a lot of my (and several "friends" from the Home Depot) sweat in those pictures, with the "Bridge story" always in the back of my mind...
Thanks for the complements team.
- Jeff
