Author Topic: RVA-Team Badassity with Multiple Beneficiaries  (Read 3124 times)

TrulyStashin

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RVA-Team Badassity with Multiple Beneficiaries
« on: September 23, 2013, 07:24:10 AM »
As some of you may have read here in the forums, I’m DIY-renovating my basement so I can rent it out.  This weekend, the goal was to excavate at the foundation and build a window well so that the basement bedroom can have an egress window as required by code, and legally serve as a bedroom.  My partner-in-grime is my Dear Boyfriend who is probably now wondering why he is dating me…..

On Thursday, I enjoyed lunch with two of my Mustachian friends (one of whom is Hybrid).  I lamented the fact that I don’t own a truck and therefore would have to pay a $100 delivery fee for the gravel I needed.  Hybrid said, “I have a truck.”  FriendKevin said, “I have a truck too.”   Hybrid had some old batteries and paint that needed to go to the landfill.  I promised to make his landfill run in return for using his truck.  FriendKevin needed some fill dirt and he brought his truck over to get some dirt and in exchange, he helped dig and fine tune our measurements, and get the retaining wall started (we’re rookies; he’s a veteran).

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear.  When the backhoe arrived, we got to work and dumped the dirt directly into FriendKevin’s truck.  He soon left with the first load and we kept digging.  FriendKevin returned for another load and stayed to help.  By end of Saturday, the hole was dug and a six-inch gravel base poured in, with three courses of block laid.   

It rained overnight and my DBF arrived in the morning (while I was at church with Son) to find a mudslide in our hole.  He dug it out and started building the wall.  I got home and joined him.  By 4 PM, we had the wall finished and most of the backfill finished too.

Before the light faded, we decided that so long as we still had the excavator, we’d use it to clear out some weedy trees and brush that had taken root and were spoiling some beds.  DBF had a good time with the Grown Up Tonka, ripping out vegetation.  Once it gets cold, we’ll have a bonfire with Hybrid, FriendKevin and others.  Celebrate!

Total cost:  $957

Block, $600
Gravel, $32
Backhoe, $325

The window goes in Oct. 19.  I found a double-glazed 36 x 42 casement on Craigslist for $25.  Total cost for the whole project should come in right at $1000.  My home will go from 3 bedrooms to 4 bedrooms, and half my mortgage will be covered by the basement tenant.   

olivia

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Re: RVA-Team Badassity with Multiple Beneficiaries
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2013, 07:58:42 AM »
Awesome teamwork!  So cool (and handy!) to have local Mustachian friends! 

hybrid

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Re: RVA-Team Badassity with Multiple Beneficiaries
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2013, 09:24:05 AM »
Indeed, not only did I not have to haul all those things you can't put in your trash can to the dump, I totally avoided the excavation project!  ;-)  See my recent post about free golf.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/don't-think-of-it-as-losing-a-country-club-but-gaining-a-side-hustle/

I was toiling on the links Saturday morning while TrulyStashin was doing some legitimate toiling.

hybrid

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Re: RVA-Team Badassity with Multiple Beneficiaries
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2013, 09:30:20 AM »
On a more serious note, kudos to TrulyStashin and FriendKevin.  Slowly but surely we are building our own little Mustachian community in Richmond.  This was a very cool use of shared resources. I hope we can find other ways to optimize over time.

BTW, I expect the truck to be waxed and detailed when I get it back this evening.  ;-)

(Wax and detailing would not help that old truck....)

TrulyStashin

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Re: RVA-Team Badassity with Multiple Beneficiaries
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2013, 09:40:47 AM »
Never in a million years would I have had the ovaries to try this project by myself or without the feedback from this forum telling me that I can do it. 

Mustache power!

Rust

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Re: RVA-Team Badassity with Multiple Beneficiaries
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2013, 10:22:05 AM »
Let me know if you ever need help/tools around RVA.  I live in Midlo. and have a vast assortment of tools that don't get used 95% of the time.

Recon

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Re: RVA-Team Badassity with Multiple Beneficiaries
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2013, 03:05:29 PM »
I'd be willing to help too...just moved to the area.  Glad to see there are some of us around Richmond.  I live northeast of the city now, but I'm moving to Midlothian next week.

TrulyStashin

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Re: RVA-Team Badassity with Multiple Beneficiaries
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2013, 05:43:16 AM »
Rust & Recon, so great to meet you two!  If you work downtown, you're welcome to join us for lunch.  We meet up once a month, or more frequently depending on schedules, to talk about our Mustaches and reinforce principles.  That seems to also be morphing into periodic cook outs and my upcoming  bonfire (November).

I'll PM you both.