demo

Whelp…so far it’s not looking so good for hiring out much of this backyard work. I’ve gotten 2 quotes back and both are similar in that they’re way out of my price range:

~~Doug~~ – never got back to me, even after I followed up with him! So he’s out.
Daniel (Blue Land Construction) – got me a quote last night…basically: $10k for demo & hauling, $2k for landscaping (I believe this includes re-grading) and $11k for the new deck for a total of $22k – EXCLUDING trees / shrubs and the temporary fence
Matt (Terrrain Build) – supposed to hear from him towards the end of this week, but since he seemed like he’d be more expensive than the others, I’m not holding my breath
Victor – hasn’t gotten back to us yet.
Carol (Perennial Planning) – this is a new addition based on next door reviews. She’s done a lot of work in this area and really seems to know her business well. She came in at: $10k for demo & hauling, $1,700 for re-grading,$4k for plants, topsoil & sod, she also included irrigation & lighting for $4,200 + a $2k (10%) total project contingency for a total of $22k – EXCLUDING the deck and temporary fence!

So…I’ve moved on to calling just demolition contractors and junk haulers who do demolition.

David (Accurate & Affordable Demolition and Asbestos Abatement, Inc) – came out this week. He is a pro demolition contractor and sounds like he tries to sort / recycle as much of the materials as possible. He gave me a bid for $8,700 for all demo and hauling. Not great, but heading in the right direction at least. I asked for a breakdown and he said $1,400 for the deck, $2,100 for the asphalt and $4,800 for the garage (that only adds up to $8,300, but oh well)
Northwest Labor Industries – should be coming by in the next day or so to give me an estimate
Low Rate Hauling – I’ve used them before and they are affordable and fast. I have no idea how a demo project would go with them though. They don’t really seem to do actual quotes – just come in and offer to do it for less than some other guys bid. He seemed a little intimidated by the garage. Since I didn’t give him numbers, he offered to do the deck for $1,500-$2,00 but would do it the next day.

I was (somewhat unrealistically) hoping I get a bid for less than $4-5k for the demo & hauling. I think that might be my limit since it sounds like if we DIY-ed this, dump fees alone would be somewhere in the ballpark of $1k (including dumpster) + $500 for tool rental +/- $500 for other misc. and I can’t really stomach the idea of paying more than 2x the amount it would cost us to do it ourselves. So I guess it’s looking like we’re going to do this ourselves! Anyone want to come help demo next weekend?? 👍

I did get a couple of good tidbits of information from these visits:

Irrigation systems are based on “zones.” A typical lot in the Seattle area (or at least around where we live) will need 3-4 zones. Each zone costs ~$1,200.
Planting grass (I think sod but not sure) is ~$0.69/sq.ft.
Asbestos removal costs ~$4/sq.ft. Per layer – so if, for example there is asbestos in both the floor tile AND the glue used to adhere the floor tile, that counts as 2 layers so the price would really be $8/sq.ft. There is a place in Aurora Ave that will do the test for you if you bring in a sample. You can also DIY asbestos abatement, at least in floor tiles, as long as you follow the correct procedures and have the proper equipment.

The good news in all of this is that at least one of the contractors reassured me that there is plenty of space back there and that we would end up with a really lovely space. She also provided example pictures of a yard with smaller dimensions than what we have to help me visualize:

this was just a small lawn

during construction

after!

Hopefully we end up with something at least half this nice!

-h

Well, the big plan for this summer is to try to get the backyard in some sort of shape! As we’ve lived and used the backyard, we found that it’s actually quite pleasant out there. It’s just not…living up to its potential.

The deck is a monstrosity! It’s old and splintery, the lattice panels are falling out and the nailheads are popping up – meaning you catch your feet on them every time you walk out there. There’s also a hot tub in the middle of half of the deck, which according to the neighbors has not been used in 10+ years, so that whole half is not really that usable.

There is a garage, but it’s oriented the wrong way.

To park your car in it you have to get out of your car open the gate, then drive in, then get back out of the car to close the gate and open the garage door, then drive in to the garage.

That is just not very efficient or appealing to do all that in the pouring rain all while looking out to make sure you don’t run over a small black dog. Not only is it inconvenient, but the garage is 18 also inches below grade, so all the rainwater funnels in there. Over time the bottom portion of the wood in the garage has started rotting away.

The remaining yard that’s not covered by unusable deck or worn out garage, is concrete! Which means it’s super low maintenance, but not very visually appealing.

But all that sounds like I’m complaining and I don’t mean to. It’s lovely to have a little space in the back where you can BBQ, or just hang out and read a book.

I’ve been going back-and-forth a lot on what to do back here. The options have ranged from rebuilding the garage (with or without a second story on the garage for a mother-in-law apartment) to adding on to the main house and forgoing a garage entirely.

So…In the interest of getting something done and improving the livability of the space, we decided to go with the relatively minimal option of tearing down the deck and garage. re-grading the backyard and re-building a version of a deck.

So that’s the plan for the summer! All of this meanwhile, Alex is going to be starting a new job, and I’m going to need to re-rent my rental house for the first time in four years. It’s gonna be a busy couple of months! Hopefully we can tackle this with level heads and have a great place to hang out by the end of the summer.

So here all the things that were going to need to do to make this happen: