The ulitmate resource page! 2004-03-22 - By Kris Krieger
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At 08:05 AM 30-03-2004, Dave Angelini wrote:
>[ ... ]
><http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculators.html>http://www.martindalecenter
.com/Calculators.<http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculators.html>html
> [ ... ]
You read my mind! I want to find out the azimuth of the rising sun on the
Solstices <??Solstici??> and Equinox <?pl = ??>. Got a house, new
construction, yard is literally just mud, thinking of building (yes, myself
- how's THAT for nuts...) a sort of "mini-henge" in one section of it in
lieu of the common sundial etc. type of thing.
A few of the calculators did help by letting me find the Azimuth of the sun
(at sunrise - also calculated) for my area, so I can place my
stones/plinths/whatever using a compass, without having to rely
onobservations (esp. since I missed making them due to clouds, etc.).
I'm trying to design the whole mess in trueSpace BTW. Got the model of the
House itself almost done, just have to subtract out the back windows and
patio door, then insert the window and door frames and glass and whatnot
(and yes, for those wondering whether I have, in my typical obsessive
manner, modeled the siding,I did - but I got lazy and used a bump map on
the shutters and will do same for roof shingles, which are just that
asphalt stuff anyway).
Doing the yard itself is hard, tho'. It's on a slope, and the builder did
a really wierd (IMO) job of bulldozing it, so we're developing "canyons"
(due to runoff/erosion) every time it rains, or snows then melts. So what
I also want to do in 3D is plan the entire thing - low terraces, drainage
control, stonework, plantings, etc. and so and and so forth (yes, I am
"obsessive" in most things).
Trying to work that up in tS also.
It's not a huge yard, lot is 9612 sq ft overall, minus about 1309 for
house, small deck in rear, deck-type thing for front stairs and entry
platform (house is elevated because of granite underneath), and an
ridiculously, absurdly great-honking-huge (and IMO cheesy-looking) asphalt
driveway. So that's 8303 of mud to be dealt with.
If you're wondering why I "don't just hire someone".... well, I was looking
for estimates - some guy said $15,000 <!!!!!!!> to "get the yard 'started'"
((*started*?!?!)) with hardscaping and "some" plantings. Oh yeah, and get
a load of this one: this guy was also yakking about putting in a water
feature - and he was telling me that "you can just lay the electrical cord
on the ground" - now, I know goldurned good and well that it's supposed to
be put into sealed/watertight PVC piping and then buried so that you can't
trip over it, or run over it accidentally with the lawnmower, or have the
cord wear through due to weathering and end up electrocuting yourself if
you touch the damp ground, or that the neighbor's dogs or kids or whatever
won't be able to get at it if they wander into your yard, etc. and so on -
like, duuuuuh!, can we say "lawsuit just begging to happen"? Not to
mention the fact that, for $15 grand, he can yak about "getting in the
backhoe" and so on, but it's too dang much effort to schlep a couple
lengths of PVC into the dirt to deal properly with something as potentially
dangerous as electrical wiring?
The thing is, none of the landscapers will even *try* to give you *any*
sort of ballpark breakdown estimate until they first get $500 out of you to
do up a plan (and they of course make a really big deal about using 'the
latest in CAD programs'.
CAD. Well whoop-dee-doo, shiver me timbers, and curl me toes.
I suppose that, for most people, that sounds like some mysterious alien
language, but since I *am* a mysterious alien <G!>, it ain't, and I ain't
impressed enough to plunk down $500 for nothing more than a "preliminary
design plan". I can do most of it (prob. all) in trueSpace myself. If I
get "desperate", however, i.e., need to use conventional symbols to meet
some sort of City ordinance (as tho' I've never heard the word "permit",
either...), and need give something standardized to a 'licensed
professional rock-putter-on-top-of-er" or some such thing, I'm perfectly
capable of buying (AND using!) "Landscape Pro" or whatever it's called -
and *re-use* it if we move and there is a new yard to plan.
So I cannot comprehend how it is that these people can tell me they've been
doing this stuff for 10, 20, or even 30 years, yet be *utterly incapable*
of looking at a project (((especially when I've already made, and given
them, all the dang measurements!!!!))) and coming up with a +/- 20%
estimate for, say, concrete steps versus brick versus stone? I mean, if a
granite cobblestone is 4"X4"X6", and a bluestone slab shaped to be a
stair-tread is 1'X2"X4', why is it so dang difficult to estimate that, for
X rise over Y run it'd take apx. Z many cobblestones, apx. W many treads,
and apx. Q many platform pieces (since it'd have to turn), and apx. this
much base material and, give or take, that many hours of labor to install?
And even more mysterious to me is this: if some self-proclaimed
"professional" is too *inept* to be able to do that, why on earth would
they have the idea that I'd be willing to pay them $500 to "do a
preliminary plan", and then pay them even more to do yet another
"cunsultation", and THEN pay *even more* for them to do a "final plan",
merely to do what I can do myself, like, tomorrow <!> (when more of the
snow melts) using a tape measure, a look at the price list I got from the
stoneyard, and a good book or two - i.e., come up with some sort of
ballpark cost estimate?
Well, so anyway, we shall see what some designing in trueSpace, a couple
books, and this ol' back can accomplish....
- Kris (a.k.a. "The Pigheadedly Mule-Stubbon El mucho-grande-Cheapo trueSpacer")
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