Wednesday, February 28, 2007

This Rocks

Landscaping has begun with a small experiment. Since there are no rain gutters and having standing water next to your house could be bad, follow these instructions:

  • Order 1.5 cubic yards of cobblestone and 3 cubic yards of pea gravel
  • Rent BobCat
  • Buy 125 feet of bender board
  • Dig trench 6 inches deep, 53 feet long and 4 feet wide
  • Place rock as pictured

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Got Work Ethic

Remember elementary school where you got kudos for perfect attendance? There were some kids who went 3-5 years without missing a day. I remember my 2nd grade teacher never missed a day of school for 4 years. Amazing consistency and dedication to her job.

My parents have an amazing work ethic. My mother worked her way up from the fabrication line at a semiconductor company to upper management within 10 years. Before my mother returned to work, my father worked two jobs to make ends meet and was still working 2 jobs in his 50s'. They instilled a similar work ethic in me. Sometimes it is to my detriment, but it has been more good than not.

That said, I have decided to do the landscaping on my own. This after 8 months of dealing with the local landscaping companies that do not call back, do not show, and do not follow thru. They all talk a good game, tell you how much they know, kick down some knowledge but then they do not follow thru.
Here is the list of landscaping companies who failed to either call back, show up, or follow up after the initial meeting:

  • R&S Landscaping
  • Elements Landscaping
  • C&C Landscaping
  • AAA Landscaping
  • John Flanigan Landscaping
  • Cumbria Construction

In the event that I would get a bid, it would be so generic that I could not tell the scope of work, would be rife with misspellings and if you can believe it, there would be simple mathematical errors in square footage/material costs. My two favorite interactions have been:
  • The initial $18k bid that morphed into a $36k bid when I asked the person to come back with a lower cost proposal.
  • The father of one 'contractor' who tells me his son went to the snow and will get back to me and the other 'contractor' who calls to tell me he is going to the snow and does not have access to the bid to discuss the inaccuracies.
Remember, Paso is Darn Near Paradise!