Driveway Rehab

I called around last week asking for bids on cutting up a 30x12 foot concrete part of my driveway. We have plans to turn this area into gardens, and concrete just won't do. I called around for prices, and the cheapest I could get anyone to quote me was $600.

That's a lot of money for me, so after consulting with some friends, I decided to do this job myself. Some of the concrete came up easily. I would just stick a pry bar underneath, apply pressure to force it up, and then whack with a sledgehammer to break into smaller pieces. Eventually we plan to use these pieces for raised beds and footpaths. But I bet we will have plenty, so if you need some concrete, I would be happy to drop some off on your doorstep.

It is quite satisfying work, really, and afterward my muscles ached in a way that reminded me of a good days work. It is a feeling that doesn't come often from my "day job" as a software engineer. I thought the whole job would take me a day, but after about 8 hours of work I have gotten only a third up.

So, while I am grateful for the time I spent prying, heaving, and bending in the dirt, I am a bit vexed that I wasn't wasn't able to cut a deal with someone who might be better at it than I.

Six hundred dollars is a substantial sum of money, more than I was willing to pay. Why? Because I have a fixed supply of money coming in each month, and that supply just barely meets the demands of our household. There is no room in the budget for an unplanned $600 expense.

And yet, it took me 8 hours to get a third of the job done. Assuming that I improve some, I could get the rest of the job done in 12 hours. That's 20 hours total, meaning that for every hour I work, I save myself $30.

Looking at it another way, I earn $30 per hour for my labor moving concrete.

The guys I spoke with on the phone said they would get the job done with a crew of two guys in 6 hours. That's 12 hours total, or about $50 per hour.

Hmmm....