Done!

Well, that’s it.

This week I finished my last customer project and have officially hung up the tool belt. I am retired – again.

Nine years ago I answered an ad from a local landscaper looking for help. Twenty-ish hours a week, only when he needs an extra hand. Sounded great. Fast forward a couple years and the twenty hours has evolved into pretty much full time and was starting to leak into the weekends and evening.

I really appreciated the guy I worked for though. The term landscaper was really inaccurate. We did everything. From lawn care to irrigation to hardscaping in the landscape space to roofing, carpentry, plumbing repairs, painting and more in the property maintenance space to tree felling and chipping in the forestry space. I learnt an amazing amount of things.

Heck, I learned to weld in the job.

A few years ago while working on a pond I wrecked my back moving large rocks. I was completely immobile for a few days and off work for a few months. When I came back I was not longer doing the labourer tasks and instead was exclusively on the carpentry jobs. This shall be known as the “miles and miles of fence” phase. We couldn’t build a fence without two or three people stopping by and asking us to build theirs. I had to finally start turning down jobs worth tens of thousands of dollars because we couldn’t keep up. This was also the period when I began to work under my own brand and not for the landscaper. His need for a carpenter was limited but I kept getting more and more referral work. I would be booked up six and eight months out.

Even though there are a lot of upsides to working (money, new friends, working outside) I found myself less and less motivated. House and home was a bit too neglected for my comfort and my hobbies I so looked forward to after the first retirement were for the most part still waiting. It was time to call it a day.

So yesterday I finished the last project. A small shelter for a clients golf cart. Invoice sent, payment received. All I have left to do is put away the tools, clean the truck, close out the books and deliver an entry bench to someone (bench is complete, client not ready to receive it yet).

I will still be doing a little bit of work for another person but that is not really as a hired contractor. It is for the lady whose workshop I use, a trade, labour for access, that I’ve had in pace for a few years. Look forward to hearing about the spiral staircase remediation in the coming months.

It’s autumn and the rains will start soon. Sketch book and watercolours first up I think.