This is the seventeenth article of our treehouse project. The plan this year (2020) is to complete the project. I’ve created what I set out to do and now its just the finishing touches. Click here to start from the beginning of this exciting project.
The idea and plan from the start was to build a hexagon shaped treehouse. Now it’s time to tally up the total cost. This article discusses the parts and expenses.
History
I created a Google Sheets document when I started this project to keep track of the cost and parts for this project. Over the years I added what I spent money on to bring this idea to reality.
Surprises: Yes, there were a few. The first one was having to rent two different post hold diggers to drill the holes for the post. I was not expecting to have to rent and use two different augers. Note to self, the one-man unit from Ed’s Rental was much easer to use than the two person auger from Home Depot.
I was also hoping to use the chain saw I inherited from my father, but this was was unfortunately not large enough to square off the top of the tree, so I rented a larger chain saw from Home Depot. I was not expecting or budgeting for that expense.
Final Cost & Parts
Bottom line I spent around $1,379.73 for this project. The following spreadsheet will give you an idea of where the money was spent.
Doing a simple search revels anything similar would have cost thousands more so I think It was money and time well spent. The kid enjoys it and so do I and there is no price on happiness.
The spreadsheet should show up as an embedded document. But if for some reason you are not able to view it, I’m including a link to it.
Click to access Treehouse-plans-Spent-.pdf
What I learned
Lesson learned, I need to keep better track of my receipts. If you take a look at the spreadsheet, for some reason I omitted the articulating iPad arm I purchased from Amazon. I don’t remember when I purchased it, and I don’t remember the exact price, the $45 was a guess. As I write this article, it seems to have decreased in price.
I know there were some other expense, which did not make it to the spreadsheet. However, I believe the amount shown here to be a very close estimate of what the total project cost.
Dad and Betsy also purchased numerous bolts and drill bits the day of the build which did not make it into the spreadsheet.
I also did not factor in my time. I spend countless hours planning, transporting materials, visiting the hardware store etc. That counts for something right?
Thank you
Special thanks to all those who participated in this exciting project. Mom, Dad, Betsy, Joe, Jenny, Jim F. and lastly Lando. I hope you enjoy your treehouse. Daddy loves you.
What can you do?
- Part Sixteen
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Thank you,
Dave
