Cheap Living: Time to Hit the Deck?
Last week I talked about three items that are definitely on my radar that I will inevitably be forced to spend money on in the near future: blinds for the middle floor windows, a lawnmower, and adding a deck onto the back of the house. Obviously, the biggest item on the list is having the deck built. Thanks to the good ol’ IRS graciously giving me back some of the money it had taken from me last year, we have enough to get the deck right now if we put some other things on hold.
It is in our best interest to have the deck built ASAP, as my next-door-neighbor and his next-door-neighbor have both contracted the same builder to construct their decks. This benefits the builder in several ways: he will only need to pull permits once, make a single delivery, and he can even construct the decks simultaneously if he wants to, saving him time... and time is money. The builder, in turn, is passing the savings on to his customers in the hopes that he can earn more business. If I inject myself into the operation and have our deck built at the same time, that makes it even easier for the builder and I can get in on the savings too. And you know a bargain-hunting, money-hoarding cheapskate like me would never miss a chance to save money.
Normally I wouldn’t allow myself to be pushed into purchasing something so expensive before I wanted to, but the stars have really aligned for this one. The tax return, coupled with the possibility of a large group discount, has transformed my outlook from “I’m not ready” to “When can you start?” If we didn’t have the money in one big chunk, we would have to wait until next year’s tax return. Also, if we have the deck built now, we can enjoy it right away.
Now let’s get to the meat and potatoes of this whole situation… what’s the damage? My next-door-neighbor Jay is cut from the same frugal cloth as yours truly. Needless to say, we get along just fine. He and I have discussed the possibility of adding decks to our houses before. He had a few contractors come and provide estimates. The quoted prices caused us to laugh out loud, and we set our sights on something a little more easily attainable, like a 12 pack and a few steaks to grill. The estimates were waaaaaay out of our range. One guy wanted $12,000! And that was just for wood; no Trex or any bells and whistles.
Then another guy in the neighborhood recommended the contractor who built his deck. We strolled back there and took a look and concurred that the man does good work. He came and provided an estimate for Jay… this time the number didn’t make us spit and ask him to leave. The quoted price for an all-wood, second level deck measuring 22 feet wide (the width of the house) by 14 feet deep with no stairs was a mere $3,700. And, as previously noted, if we all had the deck built at the same time, he’d knock it down to $3,500 apiece.
At that time, I still wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do, but Jay and the neighbor on the other side of him went ahead and hired the contractor. Meanwhile, my wife and I went on vacation to visit my parents in Florida (I spent $100 the entire week… score!). We talked about it over the break and she convinced me we decided that we wanted to take the plunge…
So now here we sit. I called the contractor today and he is coming by the house Friday, April 14 to provide me with an estimate for the deck. If the estimate is what we are expecting, we will sign on the dotted line for our brand new deck, and then I’ll go crawl into a hole and try not to spend any money ever again.
