Garage Foundation!

We're a pretty handy DIY couple when it comes to all the renovations around the houses. Jumping in head first to a crusty old house without any real construction experience was very much trial-by-fire for us! In fact, we've only outsourced about a handful of the countless improvements over the years to contractors. Preferring to tackle them ourselves because well, we really couldn't afford to pay a contractor to do everything for us. The total bill would have cost us more than the house itself!

One of things on our million mile to-do list we decided that was going to be up to the pros was the foundation for the garage. In no way, shape or form did either of us feel like spending turning the garage foundation into a DIY job. Sometimes calling on the pro is the right thing to do! I'm not messing around and deluding myself that my masonry skillZ are where they need to be to act as a foundation for a garage! Maybe I could do a dog house foundation.

So after putting out a request on Service Magic and asking around we got three contractors to call us back. They all ended up in the same range of each other, which was frustrating because it was still a few thousand over what we estimated. In the end, we went with the guy who was a personal recommendation from another landlord in our college rental complex. Figured that this guy, being the owner of a property management and real estate firm knew who the good contractors are.

Last week the work gets started as expected. There are some bumps along the way, but all stuff that my Dad said is pretty standard and nothing that is really derailing the process.

After the first day of the masons on the job, we drove over to check out the work and drop off the deposit check. I was shocked at how much could get done in a DAY! JEEZ. Man, I thought I was a hard-ish worker but there is nothing like having a crew that knows what they are doing.

I'm not going to lie, as much as I love the satisfaction of DIY work, there is something very decadent about hiring a Pro to really accomplish something. Like eating a delicious full fat ice cream sundae. With Fudge topping.

First evening -

They pulled up the cracked and crumbling old slab that was there. Which wasn't usable in the least because it was about an 1-2" thick and crumbling apart. All the ground got regraded, dug and leveled. The footings were put in the ground, waiting for inspection before the block could be laid!

And we passed!

Up next- laying of the block!