When I worked concrete, I was 20, so it's been a bit. But it's really very simple, especially for a slab. Hell, even if you spend for rebar, the material will be less than $500. I'd spend for a vibrator to even it out, but for a slab that's probably not necessary. It's comes out of the shute, you push it around with a shovel and rake. As it dries, give it a surface. Broom. That's it. Rent a surface and push it around if you want it smooth.
Worst that can happen is theyll charge you $4k to chop it up Which, again, you could do yourself in an afternoon
Honestly for a simple slab, I think it would be fun, even if I fucked it up. Let the neighborhood kids sign their name, whatever. But truly, there isn't much to it.
Again, depends on your expectations. I'm 100% good with owner sweat equity and learning as you go. Concrete isn't a good medium to screw up. ramszoolander as with anyone else ITT, if you want to give it a go, holler if you have questions along the way.
It makes it almost worth it for me to hire you, house you and the crew here, and ask for your local prices lol
Also have a potential slab on the horizon. When you said, “isn’t a good medium to screw up” are you saying, 1- big problem if you screw up or 2-hard to screw up? I’ve done some small projects with a wheel barrow full of concrete but the prospect of a slab requiring a volume well beyond that is unnerving. What does a consumer even do to mix enough concrete and keep it from setting while you fill in a frame? I’m guessing renting something is the ticket but haven’t even had the courage to YouTube this thinking it’s more than I want to bite off. Greatest fear (besides heavy equipment and a literal ton of material) is doing something to it that makes it prone to cracking…
This is not meant to be a personal attack, so please don't take it as such, but you continue to gloss over or minimize some important factors. There are genuine reasons to enlist professional help on projects where you want professional results.
If you screw it up, whether in the prep stage, pouring/placing, or finishing, you're done. It is going to be like that forever. Not a forgiving material. You can order concrete from a local company and have it brought out. By all means hit me up with specifics or questions via DM.
Our local ready mix will send a guy out to see what you have/need (from their end) a couple days before the pour is planned. Typically a free service.
I will resume my thinking about a wooden rabbit hutch as next project I take on, and disregard these delusions of heavy infrastructure grandeur GBR NFM
I see we're talking advanced projects this morning. Not to brag, but thinking about hanging a 32" tv today
If I drop a piece of broken concrete into a black hole, will it...... A. Be emitted as Hawking Radiation as a grand piano? B. Its' information be saved in the "soft hair" of the holes fabric? Need answers ASAP plz.
Yeah my issue would be fucking something really small up. Easy to go back and fix with a car or whatnot, not as much, it would seem, with concrete.
Very fair. As a very non-professional that wielded a shovel for a bit, I would t have an ounce of fear doing my own pad. Hell, given some mdf, i'd do curved steps. Shit can go very wrong, but $4-6k for a 20x20 pad is while, probably par, a thing a couple of guys can bang out with no problems
Celebrate me, everyone. Although I have no idea if my toggle bolts opened, so I may bless this thread with a good story at some point
Tree fell down last week as soon as we went on vacation. Somehow missed our house, damnit. $3k to remove it bc the whole thing needs to come down due to rot. Most likely will just cut it up as much as I can with pole saw, then who knows what. Tree is like literally right on the property line with our neighbor.
I’d recommend pouring a concrete slab where that tree fell. You’ll just need a few bags of concrete and shovel. Don’t worry about measuring or leveling. That’s how the “pros” get ya on their price gouging quotes.
Anyone have experience with moles/voles in your yard? I have used castor oil, garlic, hot pepper sauce, sonar devices from Amazon, snap traps, and glue traps and the fuckers keep coming in the yard, the garage, and occasionally the basement. Pest companies won't touch them.
we hired a mole guy. It was something like $400/year and he comes out on call to trap them. Sends pictures every time. Spoiler
Got two quotes for this tree removal. One for $3000, one for $950. We're still not sure if the tree is on our property. May try to find the pin in the front (we know where the one is in the back). Both companies agree it'll take a bucket truck and the whole thing needs to come down. Internet tells me it costs between $200-$800 to have a surveyor out.
My quotes varied widely like that as well. I went with someone on the lower end that was insured and had a bunch of good reviews. They also offered to take down/reinstall my fence and repair any busted sprinkler lines. They did great.
I haven't been able to talk to them, but I did mention to my wife that we need to check their insurance.
You may have spoken to this already, but if it's close, any chance you could go halfers with the neighbor? I would go for that instead of potentially having mine do a survey and being on the hook for all of it.
I am guessing the lower quote is from a larger company? Smaller groups have to price in rental costs for things like bucket trucks that they don’t already own. Three small tree companies quoted me $10kish on a large oak removal (not including stump removal), two larger companies were in the $5-6k range (including stump removal).