Days 43 & 44: Getting literally tons of building supplies

Because I qualified for a Home Depot construction loan, and because that loan expires in January, I need to purchase as many building supplies as I can under that loan.

That is, Home Depot said that I could re-apply next year, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll be re-approved. So rather than take the risk that I might not get re-approved, I decided to purchase all that I can and just store it for the winter.

I decided to get a rental truck since I didn’t want to be hauling several pallets of bags of cement and various-sized lumber on a flatbed trailer, not to mention the fact that a big box truck has more weight capacity than my Tahoe can pull.

Still though, Uhaul charges by the mile, and I needed to drive to Pueblo, then Alamosa to my storage container, and then back to La Veta, where I got the truck – totaling 225 each trip. And not only that, I’d need to do it several times, with each trip costing $225 in rental fees + $114 in gas.

Anyway, I got the truck, headed to Pueblo (a 90-minute drive each way), and eventually got loaded up:

And by the time I got back to my area, it was already 6pm, and since my storage place annoyingly closes at 7pm – and because I had rented the truck for 2 days to give myself some extra time to unload it all – I decided to just park the truck at my place for the night.

Once I got up the driveway though, it became quickly apparent that I couldn’t go very far once I was up the hill since there were tree limbs in the way (which normally aren’t an issue for normal-sized vehicles, but definitely are for a 26-foot beast of a box truck).

So I just parked the truck at the top of the drive, and the next morning, I set in on trimming the trees:

So once that was out of the way – which probably took a good 90 minutes or so and a considerable amount of energy – I headed toward the storage facility in Alamosa.

Along the way, I picked up a hitchhiker which as it turns out is a new neighbor of mine that recently bought property not far from me. And needless to say, he was quite appreciative for the ride, and I’ll be tucking that ‘future ride payback’ chip in my pocket for a rainy day.

The last time I stopped to help someone in the area who was broken down on the side of the road, it turned out to be someone else who lives in the general vicinity, and not only are they a plumber, but their brother is the county’s plumbing inspector. So I’m sure that’s gotta come in handy when it comes time for me to need a plumber.

And in general, it feels good to be establishing myself in the neighbor like that – sowing seeds of good deeds, so to speak.

Anyway, once I finally arrived at the storage facility, which is another 40 minutes in the opposite direction from Pueblo, I set in on the work. And boy did I ever underestimate how much work it would take to unload it all by hand! Turns out, it was about 9,300 pounds of supplies:

And man-oh-man did that take a lot out of me! I am SO SORE!

I’ve still got more to do tomorrow, including 82 sheets of drywall, 90 sheets of OSB, and various other smaller stuff.

Plus, I’ll need to make a third trip to hopefully get another 147 sheets of OSB, and possible some rolls of carpeting and padding, if I like the samples I’m getting.

That is, they only let you buy 90 sheets of OSB at a time since I guess it’s a special price, and they don’t want one person hogging it all. But rather than make a fourth trip up there, I’m gonna see if I can get 90 at the Pueblo store, and then another 57 sheets at the Colorado Springs store, which is another 37 minutes north of Pueblo.

This whole ordering process has been a major PITA though. First, they didn’t actually activate my card when they said they would, which resulted in multiple denied transactions. Then I eventually found out that even though they later activated the card, the multiple failed transactions caused some sort of fraud alert which blocked the use of my card. THEN once that was taken care of, the order was placed but then cancelled. And oh by the way, it takes 72 hours for a refund to show up on the account.

Turns out, one of the order fulfillment guys I was talking to in Pueblo was saying that because it’s nearing the end of the quarter they “can’t” zero-out their stock, which means that the stock quantities the online system tells you what they have – and will let you order – doesn’t actually match reality. This seems incredibly shady and very likely accounting fraud, and it has made the process even more cumbersome, and nearly impossible to tell what they actually have.

And to make matters worse, some orders can be put on backorder, and some can’t. So most often, they’ll cancel what they don’t have, and then I have to wait a whole extra 72 hours if it’s a large order that would otherwise max out my credit line if it was doubled up. So this has resulted in 11 different orders from 3 different stores instead of just ONE like it should’ve been, and I’m not even done yet.

If it weren’t for the fact that they’re giving me a huge project loan, I wouldn’t be back, but they sure aren’t making it easy for me to give them my business! Frankly, once I get everything I can with this loan, I hope to never have to go back to them again since they’ve made this whole thing so difficult and cumbersome.

Anyway, the time I have left in Colorado is quickly drawing to a close, and I’m not even sure if I’ll have enough time to go get a third load. But I’m just going to get done what I can, and if I’m not able to take full advantage of the loan, I’ll just have to see if I qualify for the rest next year.

Who knew there would be a flurry of activity at the end of the building season, eh?

Well, that’s all for now. Hopefully I’m still able to walk after unloading the next big haul of supplies.