It has been awhile since we did the back part of our fence. Since then, we had talked to our neighbors about me and the boys doing the fence between our houses. I was even offering them the same amount my neighbor on the other side had asked from me, $250. I ended up giving him $300, but he even gave me all the unused slats which pretty much made up the $50 difference after they were completely done with their fence.
Well, I guess the ladies next door got tired of waiting for us to get moving on the project. There was also the incident last week where our roommates dog found a hole in the fence and made it to their yard. That was a pain in the ass because they texted me at 6:00am about it and I felt compelled to go out there and fix the fence, on the spot. I did it with a flashlight on my forehead and my trusty drill. I ended up touching up about 10 slats, if I remember correctly. Two days ago, one of them texted me that they had found an outside source to get the fence done. They were going to do it with much higher quality wood and were even going to replant some of the metal posts in the ground to make the fence perfectly level. She explained that this was going to cost a lot more than what we talked about, so she did not feel we were on the hook for paying more. She said to pay what I felt was fair, and after all that I didn't want to seem cheap, but, I know I could have done the fence and it would work just as well for the price I had said.
I offered her $300 but said I didn't want to insult her, if they wanted more, to let me know. I didn't really like this idea, at the moment I just assumed some dudes were selling her a story of "better wood". She came back and said if it wasn't a problem, $350 would be good. I just shrugged and said fine, I really don't like to squabble over a couple of bucks. They have been good neighbors, other than the annoying dogs that bark too much. I saw the wood today, actually, the side is already up (at 6:20pm), and the wood does look better quality. I don't know if it was stained or if comes from a darker cedar tree, but it has a beautiful brown color to it, not as light as what we installed from Lowe's, I know, my other neighbor said the stuff at Lowe's is shit, but I am not going to be hunting for perfect wood.
To make matters even more great, I talked to the guy in charge, and asked him if he had a place to take the old fencing to and he said he took it to a place where they would turn it to mulch. I then asked if he would take my other fencing, the old fence from the back part that we replaced and I would pay him. He said sure but to give him a number after I asked how much he would charge me. I then offered $50 knowing it was a bit cheap for what it was, but he came back with "that's what they'll charge me to take it." He then said $100 was fine. I was hesitant to give him the money on the spot, but he told me to just bring the fence pieces out and lay them in a stack by their trailer, he would get to it in one of the three days he planed to be out there. Shoot, I came back from taking Baby A to practice and not only was the fence up and done, but they took all my junk fencing away. I will gladly pay the man tomorrow, they were all gone.
Now we should have a solid fence for a good 15-20 years before we have to worry about it again. I just hope I am up to the task as my first neighbor, he and a friend both handled his fence with both of them being in their 70's, gotta love the guy's energy.
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