There are lots of things I am proud of in my life, it is hard to just pick one or put one in front of another but I will say one of my proudest achievements is the stuff I have built in my back yard.
The house was already built when I got it more than 25 years ago but it was just house and grass yards both front and back. I think the original owners just ran out of money. I did not have much more but I had a few skills which meant I could do lots of things my self. In this photo above I had already closed in the pergola and laid a lot of pavers for pathways. A contractor built the pool but I did all the landscaping.
My son and his mates just loved bikes, scooters and skate boards, so not living close to a skate park and working long hours. I built a ramp at home out of pretty much what ever I could get my hands on of free.
My first attempt at the outside pergola was ok but it was dark, Claustrophobic and hot, the more light I let in the hotter it seemed to get. It did the job for years but when new building products came out, we jumped at the chance of something better.
At the time around 2014 I got quotes for a insulated A framed structure at over $20K Aud installed. In the end I found one of my sons mates dad worked at a steel fabrication place and I could get one custom made and delivered at mates rates for just over 10k but I would have to find my own builder.
They reconned this was to big a job for a home handy man with an electrical trade, like me, but that did not stop me having a go. Mostly by myself with a bit of help from my young son and his mates. I built all different types of timber scaffold to get things into place.
The insulated roofing panel were not that heavy but being 6 meters long and 1200 mm wide made then hard to get into position.
The neighborhood children were happy to lend a hand, when needed, as we were using all the old timbers for some upgrades to the skate ramp which they all got to use. It took a long time, working a full time job with commuting but I got there in the end.
The pergola is still going strong but the skate ramp eventually started to rot away even with a steel sheet deck and ended up at the dump. The grass has only just grown back. Finding these photos definitely brings back some good memories of bonding times with my son.
