Last weekend our family went to BG to do a walk-thru of our house w/ our tenant of the past year. Fortunately, the interior of the house was in great shape. The busy single mom of two boys, though, had done little-to-nothing outdoors for upkeep with the landscaping, so that left some manual labor for us:
*Shrubs to be shaped in the front yard
*Trim backyard tree limbs (they were touching the ground!)
*Bushes needing hacked in the side yard
*Mulch to be spread around all plants
*Paint touch up around the front door frame
*Serious pressure-washing on the back of the house/patio
Even though I couldn't pitch in to help, we knew we wanted to save money from paying services to do these projects, largely for two reasons: One, we're just frugal, and it makes more sense to do work ourselves if capable; And two, we're not comfortable paying someone when we're not in town to supervise or be assured we'd get what we'd be paying for...and with a baby due in mere weeks, we don't have time to drive there and back constantly to supervise--we just needed to get it done and get it done right the first time so it's ready for a new owner/renter!
Those are all normal house projects I helped Chris with when we purchased the home and together we kept it up as homeowners while we lived there, but this time around I can't do that kind of 'manual labor' without going into 'baby labor'! So would Chris have to do this by himself???
Early on Saturday morning, not 1 or 2, but 4 of our friends showed up at our driveway to carpool to BG and help Chris get some work done around the property! Yay! I definitely don't take any of these sacrifices of time for granted!
What a blessing to have such incredible friends!
(L to R: Howard, Chad W, Josh, Chad L)
(Before they could go anywhere, the guys were first entertained by Kyleigh's ballet dancing and Josiah dragging a broom around the house trying to prove his strength in effort to convince the guys to take him along to BG...
here's Kyleigh dancing for our friends!)
What a blessing to have such incredible friends!
(L to R: Howard, Chad W, Josh, Chad L)
(Before they could go anywhere, the guys were first entertained by Kyleigh's ballet dancing and Josiah dragging a broom around the house trying to prove his strength in effort to convince the guys to take him along to BG...here's Kyleigh dancing for our friends!)
*We learned on Friday that a local realtor showed our property...which was before any landscaping was done, but hopefully the interior spoke for itself and let the showing go well. We're hoping for feedback from that showing in the next few days.
*On Saturday while the guys were doing manual labor, a local realtor came by to check out the house; later, a neighborhood resident saw the yard sign and stopped to view and inquire about the house, so Chris showed it to a potential renter!
Here are some pics of some of our buddies hard at work:
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Here are "before" & "after" pics of the guys' work:
5 comments:
The landscape looked great! This line made me laugh: "I can't do that kind of 'manual labor' without going into 'baby labor'" :O). Hope you guys are able to get a renter/buyer soon!
The guys did a really good job. We don't even know 3 guys that could help without having to pay up. Let alone buying the tools to do so. I don't even think we own a ladder, sadly! It helps to save money where you can! I'm a pretty frugal person, but we had to hire someone to do ours...
Summer,
Thanks! I'm so thankful these 5 guys knocked out 12 mo of growth in about 6 hours---they rock!
Jessica, I saw both posts. Thanks for making sure, though! I do agree that it's way cheaper. I guess I'd have to be taught how to do it. Like shaving my dog, I watched a groomer do it, and now, usually I do it myself. I would have to watch or have someone show me how to properly trim bushes and trees. I'm definitely a visual person when it comes to that stuff. May come naturally to others. I've also cut grass, trimmed the yard and I always pulled weeds at my grandma's house.
Not so much luck with planting flowers and keeping them alive, though! I've tried small things with pots but they always die. Hopefully with practice, I will get it :)
What a blessing to have such wonderful friends! They did a really great job!! I had to chuckle at the image of Josiah draging the broom around in front of the guys! What is it with little boys? B does the same sort of things...lifting "heavy" objects, and grunting as he drags them around the house to show off for friends! :)
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