Is This The Dearest Piece Of Concrete In Caloundra?

It was Thursday and D-Day, the day three of us (Tony, Paul and myself) chose to dig out the area where the palm had been ready for concreting! I had been quoted $300 just to dig it out. To save some money Paul suggested the three of us get together and do the work ourselves. I had been quoted $650 to have it dug out and have a concrete slab poured. So by using our own labor to dig it out I thought to then have the concrete colored and have a pattern in it would possibly work out to be between $500 and $600 as a top price. To finish the day off we were going to have Paul, Tony and wives around for a BBQ tea!

This is what we started with. We had three guys, two barrows and Tony's one ton truck to move the dirt. We were under way at about 7:30 am (instead of our usual bike ride). It was a coolish day so we set to work. Paul has a crook back and wore a corset, Tony had just been told he needed yet another knee replacement and my back is touchy at the best of times.

We did the work slowly with plenty of rests and drinks of water. Paul (see above) has done quite a bit of this sort of work so he was the 'foreman!

After 4 hours and two trips to the tip with the soil we had dug out the work was completed. The digging rate had slowed remarkably as the morning wore on, the rests became longer and the drinks of water become more frequent. There were still plenty of roots from the palm which had been removed and these slowed us down a lot. But eventually we got there.

We were very happy with our job so we rang the concrete guy to come and see if we had done everything OK. He was working locally so just as we were finishing he popped in a gave it the seal of approval. He went on to say he would probably do the job during that afternoon. It wasn't too long till he had the formwork ready to go. Trish had discussed the color with him as well as a feature stencil to add a point of interest to the area. He assured us he would keep his charges down to a minimum for us (he was the guy who had quoted $650), he would use the less expensive coloring and he had a stencil left over from a previous job. It all sounded good!

While the three of us sat back to have a well earned beer, we watched as things began to take shape. The concrete was delivered, barrowed around to the back and laid. It was smoothed, angled so water would flow in one direction to a drain and then out came the dust to color the concrete. The concrete was a little on the wet side and as the afternoon wore on the area being worked on moved into the shade.

Well we finished up with red coloring dust everywhere, all over the patio, in the pool on the fence, just everywhere! As the guys worked, they stood in the dust and then there were even more red footprints. They began to wash the dust away thus creating more mess from their red footsteps. The day crept on and after quite a few beers Paul and Tony left for home to tidy up and come back for the BBQ. The concreters were still here courtesy of the wet concrete at 6 pm. They were unable to seal it that night.

They were back again this morning to seal it but still it was too wet! It was then I was told the price. You could have knocked me over with a feather! It was dearer than the $650 he had originally quoted me! As I said, this must be close to the dearest slab of concrete in Caloundra!

It will certainly give us more room to enjoy around the pool. We will now be able to easily accommodate up to 6 of us without nearly falling in to the pool. We have spent quite a bit of money to have the backyard set up beautifully, so in the scheme of things some added costs will not detract from the lovely are we will have.

Next week we are looking at temps getting into the 30's so the thoughts on how much the new area cost will fade as we enjoy it!

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