Overestimated Materials

One of the things that was part of the overall landscaping project was to finish off the inside of the patio cover. It was partially done during the major construction, the sections that are part of the house, but the rest was left raw with the posts and beams exposed. Our plan was to finish it off with the same knotty pine 8″ tounge and groove planks. In the picture below, you can see the ceiling of the patio cover half finished, the after (left) and the before (right). (Click the images to see bigger versions.)<br />n<br />n<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaworskihouse/6220785091/” title=”lanscaping_2011-01 by jaworskihouse, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6222/6220785091_8d2c27b8f3_m.jpg” width=”240″ height=”180″ alt=”lanscaping_2011-01″></a><br />n<br />nIn the picture below, you can see how the patio cover looks in relation to the rest of the house.<br />n<br />n<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaworskihouse/6160666943/” title=”landscape_2011 09 16_0018 by jaworskihouse, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6074/6160666943_758ec93873_m.jpg” width=”240″ height=”180″ alt=”landscape_2011 09 16_0018″></a><br />n<br />nThe deal with the landscape contractor was that his big was for labor only, and I’d have to fork out for the materials ourselves. No problem, that’s how we did the major home remodel and we’re used to that. So I met his guys at <a href=”http://southernlumber.com/” title=”southern lumber store website”>Southern Lumber</a>, they picked out what we needed and how much of the different pieces, and I paid for it.<br />n<br />nNow that it’s done (looks good, btw), we had a lot of leftovers. They seriously overestimated the need. That’s not a bad thing in general, better to have too much than to run out and have to stop work. And, Southern Lumber accepts returns (I checked before buying it!). Only thing is, I had to transport all the lumber back to the store across town.<br />n<br />nIt took me three trips over three days to get it back there. In my Tacoma pickup, I could only fit so many 16 foot boards. But as of this morning, all of it’s now back safely at the store, and I got my money back. Doing some quick calculations, I estimate that in terms of cost, about 23% of the material was returned.<br />n<br />nI’m getting a bit good at packing the truck with lumber and safely transporting across bumpy city streets!