He's not much into building wooden horses — I trust you've read Virgil's Aeneid — but everything else you give to him, Troy's Handyman Service is pretty good at, including the building of the new L-shaped verandah at "Riverbend".
I did all the measuring of the timbers needed while Troy was busy demolishing the old — and in parts termite-eaten — verandah. I had all the required timber measured and priced when, in a panic attack of second thoughts, I went out again with a torch at 3 o'clock in the morning to measure it again. As they say, "Measure twice, order once!"
I've since been to the timber yard and the hardware stores to place my orders, and I'm absolutely staggered by the price of masonry screws and decking screws — ONE masonry screw $5.50; 2,000 decking screws $376.
As for the timber, I'll be looking at around $6,000, what with the 550 linear metres of Merbau decking at $6.40 a linear metre, and the hardwood for the frame even dearer. No wonder that the builder who quoted me $11,475 (before GST) - click here - was happy to get out of the job, as there wouldn't have been much left to cover his own labour.
I have two weeks to recover from the shock, which is how long it will take for the hardwood to be delivered, after which Troy's Handyman Service starts building — and it won't be a wooden horse, I'm sure!
Keeping tabs on the expenses:
First order of Hardwood $762.38
Screws and Bolts $528.70
