We began work on the back deck today. Austin from Austin Hamilton Contracting came over for a day of work to help Ben and I get off on the right foot. Austin builds decks all summer long and is an expert in this area (austinhamilton@hotmail.com if you’re looking for someone good). Ben is a former contractor so is also very skilled. I basically do the grunt jobs where I can’t do too much damage.

We rented an auger from home depot to help with the post holes. This was a big help. Some of the holes had concrete over them (from the old driveway and garage floor) so it made for some extra fun.

In total we dug 15 post holes. 6 for the deck and 9 for the area that was missing a proper wood fence.

By the end of the day we were spent. We’d framed in half of the deck and done the dirty work for the fence.

Here’s a photo of the boys sitting on the deck frame (the third is my son Jack hanging with the lads).