23 November 2009 | Posted inBlog News & Updates
On “Self-Performing”
Self-performing = just a fancy way of saying “do it yourself.” Or, alternately, a fancy way of saying “being too cheap to pay someone to do it and struggling through yourself.
That’s right, we’ve taken on the construction of a garage behind our 100+ year old home here in St Louis. We’re fairly handy people (remember the rain barrel installation?) and I mean, Tom’s an architect and I’m a landscape architect. And hence we went into this thing, well, to be honest, fairly blindly. Sure, we can draw it, but can we build it!? Check out the slide show to see that, indeed! We can build it! Okay, it’s not done yet, and, frankly, these photos are about a week old, so just imagine what we’ve accomplished since! The garage is now completely sheathed, the insulation is up, the roof is finished, the fascia boards are all framed out, we’ve painted the trim and cut out the window openings. Next steps: tyvek, siding, window installation, door installation, asphalt driveway, and wiring! (okay, we’re paying someone to do the wiring and the asphalt, we’re not THAT crazy…)
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.What cool things have you, fellow designers, built…AND drawn? Did the permit guys make fun of you for a full set including door schedule for a relatively small project? What raging differences have you found between the self-drawing and the self-performing? We’re noticing QUITE a few differences, including that you can’t get a nail in your foot just drawing the project, but certainly can get that 10d right up there while self-performing…
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holy. cow. i’m impressed!
WOW! You guys are amazing!! Did you get to drive the heavy machinery??
I’ve never taken on something of this scale, but have definitely become quite good at floor installation (tile & laminate only).
My husband & I recently installed 600 SF of laminate wood in our basement – the supplies were way cheaper than buying carpet & paying someone to install it (I think our total cost all in was in the $700-900 range).
Then we thought about the number of hours it took us to do it ourselves and the mental anguish it cost from having our house in utter disarray! Maybe not such a good deal? BUT, it’s really cool to look at it and think, “I did that, damn, I’m good!”
That is the garage of champions. If things don’t work out with my home renovations i know where i am going to crash. I’m way impressed, but not surprised!!
very impressive! I just changed a light fixture, switch and electrical outlet on sunday and was feeling all proud of myself but you’ve totally put me to shame!