Happy postday...

This is the 100th posting for LeeDavid News and Notes.

To celebrate, we may purchase this mini-truck. 45mpg. It will save approx $500.00 per month in run-around fuel costs.

Truck...

...was on Bleriot Ferry.

Where in the world is the truck?

Two projects in One day!

We broke a record today. We finished the project in Discovery in the morning and then started and completed another project in Mount Pleasant in the afternoon. yay for us! We had quite the caravan driving across town.

My truck was is the lead with a 15 foot Elm tree in the back, towing the dump trailer full of loam. Dad's truck was following me with all the small tools and weedmats etc in the box with the flatdeck trailer loaded with the power wheelbarrow, a pile of pallets, the mini excavator, the porta-john and various small bits of wood etc. Behind him was Hedi with the 1/2 ton that had the dumper loaded with Sod rolls, towing the van trailer. And behind her was Elton on his crotch rocket. We did pretty good, no one got left behind at lights or anything, which was fortunate as I was the only one who knew where we were going! hehe.

Ok, back to the project in New Discovery. or... Waterworld! lots and lots of water. I wonder what the long term implications are of this neighborhood, due to the fact that it is built on a swamp with water running out of the ground everywhere. On the bright side, it is BEAUTIFUL down there.

The project finished really nicely. Very neat and clean. We have to return in the spring to plant out the 100-130 perennials and shrubs, but other than that it looks great. The customer is happy, except for a tree that Elton planted in the wrong spot. Only about 2 feet wrong, but the customer will probably lose sleep all winter thinking about that... elton. In Eltons defence, the customer was out of town when he put it in the ground.

Before

After

Looks great.

BIG wall, natural pathway, brick stairs and walkways, grass.. very tasteful and functional. There is a phase 2 for this project, where we will be building a big deck and patio below the wall.

The front yard always has the potential to be less than stellar, as the customers usually put most of their resources into the backyard. Not here though. It looks great up front.

We really tried to tie in the design of the house. We think we did a good job of that.

Great job crew! Oh, and Allanblock is the sole supplier of pre-cast concrete products on this job, and it turned out fantastic!

More stairs...

Geez these look great! Stairs. what a feature. And what a great way to place them. The homeowner needed access to the yard for our machines, so he went to the neighbor and asked if we could take out what he had done, in return for a shared set of stairs. So instead of 2 - 4 foot walkways, you have 1- 8' walkway. Well done!

Holy Crap!!

Now, I am a worry-wort for all things structural. Ask the team. I am constantly worried about the bases of patios, about the backfill against walls, about proper drainage and anything related to sinking, falling, tipping or twisting. We go to great measures to use all the tools that we have to allow for the greatest possible structural integrity of all things compacted.

Well, not naming names, I visited a landscaper, who we have been watching remove truckload after truckload of material from a relatively small backyard. We wondered where the heck is all this material coming from?

Well, from here.

The decision, I am told, to excavate to china, was because of some flowing groundwater. well... huh... So if there is flowing ground water, digging deeper will fix that? huh. I am not sure how much deeper those teleposts holding the deck up are in the ground, but since the excavation is actually below the footing of the walkout basement, I hope for their sake that the wind doesn't blow very hard. We have seen in other peoples houses in the past where a post has failed (tipped under load) and it almost ripped the deck off the house.

I am not sure how they plan to ensure the fill now that it is all new, aside from packing, packing and layers of geo-tex, along with some positive drainage system. If they hadn't dug so far down they would have been able to get away with just some additional drainage. but now....hoo boy!

Discovery Ridge update...

Again with the rain... I was away last week, but I understand that it rained and rained! It is getting to the point where we should do 1 of 2 things. Estimate for 1/2 the work in the allotted time or charge double the price. heh. Our customers may not be too thrilled about either, but I am sure they would take the first one over the second.

Anyhoodiddlydoo...

We are making nice progress in Discovery despite the unseasonable weather. The hardscape portions are almost complete as we are finalizing the stairs tomorrow and probably getting a good start on the front yard walkway. The team has been exceptional during this the "dog days" of the project. They did an amazing job on the big wall too!

Look, Hedi is the only one working here!

Notice a design trend?

In the mean time though, we were able to finish a couple of lingering service issues that have been outstanding for a while now, so there is that...

Winter working...

LeeDavid Landscapes is having a very good 2008 building season despite the incredible amount of rain and bad weather we have had. This success is due in part to our very experienced and competent staff that have come back to us each of the last 2 springs. Time can only tell if we will be able to keep them long term, however we are doing our part and keeping them on full time over the winter months, giving them a career option with instead of a job option. This is both exciting and nerve wracking as we must now create enough work to carry all of us through to next spring again when we start our outdoor projects.

This has created a unique opportunity for us.

We have openings this winter for a variety of projects you may need completed. Examples include:

- Basement framing, finishing, and general contractor services
- Garage construction, framing, finishing, and general contractor services
- Skid-steer and excavator services
- Snow and Ice removal services
- Hot-shot delivery and emergency hauling services (short and long distance)
- Furniture re-finishing, construction and special woodworking projects.

Our combined skills in a variety of disciplines allows us to be the contractor of choice, carrying our great reputation from the summer into our new exciting projects during the long Calgary winter.

Please call me right away to get started on your project or to discuss your needs, as I am sure we will find ourselves very busy as soon as the snow flies!

Truck...

...was in Kamloops.

Where in the world is the truck?