Our Site Supervisor recently suggested that we shouldn't waste any time with hiring a bobcat operator to clear and scrape the backyard jungle of weeds and grass that had gone wild since we vacated the property in February this year. We told the Site Supervisor that we were happy to get our hands dirty and do the hard yakka ourselves. The Site Supervisor suggested a small bobcat machine would be able to enter the side of the backyard near the large 4,500 litre rainwater tank that adjoins the garage and complete the work in a fraction of the time that we could achieve ourselves and avoid the risk of a likely back injury in the process.
Pete started to request quotes from a number of local bobcat operators. Only one of them bothered to reply (typical). He wasted no time in arranging a visit to the site with Pete and I at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, 21 October 2014. The guy whinged that a small bobcat machine could enter and exit the backyard but he complained that small bobcats are hopeless and wouldn't achieve much. He said he'd use a bobcat machine if we agreed to disconnect and remove the big 4,500 litre rainwater tank (which I think is currently totally full, following some recent heavy, torrential rain and storms that struck our area about a week ago), so that he could get a big bobcat machine into the yard. Like, "No we won't!" By this stage, I'm so over it all.
In lieu of getting a small bobcat in there, the bobcat operator guy suggested he could get a team of 4 workers in to clear and cut-back the jungle by hand. He confirmed they could complete the work immediately for us... for AUD $2,500.00! I think we got ripped-off, but at least it's sort of done, for now. It must have been the quickest $2,500.00 earned for only 4 hours work (they'd finished by midday on Tuesday) ... and we still have to scrape-back the bloody yard before landscaping work can commence.
We'll spend some time this weekend poisoning the remaining wild weeds and grass ourselves before they really start growing back. We'll need to make sure they're well and truly dead before we start digging and levelling the backyard with a rotary hoe later on, in preparation for the laying of the new turf and the mass plantings of Australian Native shrubs and screening plants. There will be mass plantings of Australian Native shrubs along all the perimeter/boundary fenceline in the backyard. We're hoping to source advanced sized shrubs and trees so that they can reach their maximum mature sizes (of up to 4 to 5 metres) as soon as possible for privacy screening from nosy neighbouring yards and to hide those ugly fences and sheds etc. in neighbouring yards. (More on that in a later post).
I think it would be easier if Pete and I just hire a rotary hoe to start scraping and digging the back yard ourselves. I've seen some DIY videos on Youtube that show how to safely use a rotary hoe and it doesn't seem to be too hard. I'm sure we could do that ourselves.
We need to do that before the new concrete driveway and other concreting work can begin, partly because we need to have a new concrete slab laid in the backyard, upon which a new backyard garden shed will be installed after we move in. That garden shed will house the lawn mower and other garden tools etc.
During the week, we notified our real estate agent about our intention to vacate the rental property in about 4 weeks time and that we'll try to confirm the likely date as soon as possible. All being well, we have reason to think we should be able to start moving into our new home in about mid November 2014 (fingers crossed).
Here's some photos that show the status of the work that was done in clearing the backyard jungle on Tuesday morning 21 October. These photos were taken at midday on Tuesday.
(Click on photos to view enlarged images)
Before
After
We need to keep that mound of earth (soil and clay) that appears near mid centre in these photos. We need to use that earth to level the land where necessary before landscaping work can commence.
We still
have a sizeable backyard left following the knock-down and rebuild. The dimensions of the remaining backyard (from
the Alresco Cabana/rear of the house to the rear boundary fenceline, and excluding the garden areas at the
sides of the home) are approximately 20.5 metres deep (67 feet 3 inches) x 12
metres (39 feet 4 inches) wide. That’s an
area of 246m² (or some 2,651²feet).
That's a really old Hibiscus on the front right in the above photo. I pruned that right back severely to ground level in November 2013 (only 11 months ago). It's grown right back and is almost 2m tall!
Both sides
Dimensions for the ‘Douglas 10M’
with Chase façade
Overall Home
Dimensions
Dimensions quoted in metres (m).
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Home width:
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8.45m
|
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Home length:
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21.21m
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Width of block of land:
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12m
|
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Depth of block of land:
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49.5m
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Size of block of land in square metres:
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594m²
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Internal Ceiling Height (raised to):
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2.70m
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Height of doors (raised to):
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2.34m
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Room
Dimensions
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Open-plan Family & Dining rooms:
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4.4m x 6.6m
|
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Master Suite:
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4.1m x 3.6m
|
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Bedroom 2:
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2.9m x 2.9m
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Bedroom 3:
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2.9m x 2.9m
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Home Theatre room:
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4.1m x 3.5m
|
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Single Car Garage:
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3.0m x 5.5m
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Alfresco Cabana:
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3.0m x 3.9m
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