Day 45: Masonry Work - Day 4 (Saturday) (Retaining Wall)
Didn't expect to see these guys on Saturday morning, but I am happy I did! They're back on a Saturday and it is beautiful out! A perfect day to be outside working on a pool. The nice thing about them working on a Saturday is I can constantly put them on the spot with pictures. Bob, Mike, and Joe are back and this time they drafted a new guy named Mike. Apparently Mike is not a fan of Country music, so that was a nice break. I'm joking kids, Country music isn't all bad......just most of it.
In one of the lasts posts I mentioned how they painted a Mulasticoat on the entire retaining wall to help with water run off. The first day they were placing the stones directly on the Mulasticoat, but for some reason today they placed a thin layer of what I think is plaster (?) over the Mulasticoat before they started laying additional stones.
I also met with a new landscaper today. Sal's Landscaping out of Reading, PA. I met with a couple of other landscapers and right now I think I am going with Sal. He knew his stuff and I could tell he had more then enough work to keep him busy. After dealing with so many contractors I have come to realize that some contractors aren't busy enough to keep them afloat so they add on a lot of unnecessary stuff. I didn't get that impression from Sal at all, in fact by the end of the meeting he changed a few of my ideas to save money! Good guy! Something else Sal suggested was to place low voltage lights on the retaining wall and having them shine down the wall. Since the masons already had half of the wall up I didn't want to ask them to remove any of the stone. After going back and fourth in my head for a couple of hours I finally broke down and asked Bob (the head mason) if he could pop off a couple of the stones so we can place the lights. Bob's reply was "No problem at all", as I said these guys are great. So I called Sal back and asked him to pick up the lights. I am VERY happy I said something, the lights shining down the wall will look fantastic!
Which means he was not looking at every little thing to nickle and dime me on this project. There have been a few contractors I have met with that really went out of their way to spend money. Other contractors have enough work so they are only looking to do what needs to be done.
I also met with a new landscaper today. Sal's Landscaping out of Reading, PA. I met with a couple of other landscapers and right now I think I am going with Sal. He knew his stuff and I could tell he had more then enough work to keep him busy. After dealing with so many contractors I have come to realize that some contractors aren't busy enough to keep them afloat so they add on a lot of unnecessary stuff. I didn't get that impression from Sal at all, in fact by the end of the meeting he changed a few of my ideas to save money! Good guy! Something else Sal suggested was to place low voltage lights on the retaining wall and having them shine down the wall. Since the masons already had half of the wall up I didn't want to ask them to remove any of the stone. After going back and fourth in my head for a couple of hours I finally broke down and asked Bob (the head mason) if he could pop off a couple of the stones so we can place the lights. Bob's reply was "No problem at all", as I said these guys are great. So I called Sal back and asked him to pick up the lights. I am VERY happy I said something, the lights shining down the wall will look fantastic!
Which means he was not looking at every little thing to nickle and dime me on this project. There have been a few contractors I have met with that really went out of their way to spend money. Other contractors have enough work so they are only looking to do what needs to be done.
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| You can get a better look at the artists who are creating this masterpiece. You can see Bob in the yellow shirt working on the capping on top of the wall. Mike is standing on the wall above Bob and Joe is doing what Joe does best, finding the perfect stone to place next. All the way on the left is Mike (the country hater). Much like Tommy, Mark and Steve these guys get along great. You have to have real thick skin to work with all of these guys! |
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| You can see where they had to work around where the fire waterfalls are going to go. |
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