In the past few weeks I have been working intensively on planning the foundation for our new building on our own piece of land. A drawing for the foundation and various variants calculated and also ordered a corresponding price list. Furthermore, I priced the material and small items in arrangement with Dita and the relevant local dealers. This gives us a rough overview of the costs for the entire project. I have to add that I've never done anything like this before and it's not professional.
(plan for foundation)
The foundation in the previous picture is essentially a point foundation, whereby the usable areas are also to be concreted. It is much easier to clean and is generally more hygienic than pure soil.
The following versions (with different concrete thickness/depth) are the calculations purely for the concrete that we have to order and need get delivered. To do this, we first have to make our piece of land "passable" and have the area leveled for the foundation. We have already asked about the costs for this and they amount to $7500 (approx. €1300).
The landscaping and the concrete to be delivered are initially the most expensive positions on our bill (both together €3600) as far as the foundation is concerned.
As far as the choice of version is concerned, I'm currently going with the "Money Version" because our available finances are limited.
We will need at least 50 pieces of 12mm thick and 12m long steel rods and about 20-25 probation mats for the probation. In addition, approx. 180m wooden planks are used for the formwork. That would be the second largest positions on our bill. I haven't made an exact calculation for the other material and tools yet, we will decide that on site for the most part depending on the price situation, which is currently unstable and unpredictable. With the previous calculations and measurements, I came up with a required total of round about €6,000 for the foundation. And this requires 80% of our own labor and a lot of manual work that we will only do ourselves, since workers would almost double the price and it is uncertain how exactly the work is done. Hiring someone in Brazil often means either bungling or enormous costs. We cannot afford both!
Fearing we won't be able to afford the cost of this design, I have already made a version of the foundation that is 1m narrower than the drawing shown above. It saves a little money, material and time. Nevertheless, we hope that we may be able to realize the plan with support from people and that we can soon offer our dogs a safe place. Accommodations that do not come to mind, as is currently the case on our farm. Accommodations that are not on a "provided" piece of land that can be taken away from us again, as it will happen in 2 years.
As soon as the new building is up, we will try to build 1-2 small accommodations for visitors, so that we can maybe give something back to the donors and supporters. Or they can just take a look for a few weeks at how our project works, how it feels.
It would be our greatest dream if we could be a kind of contact point for difficult young people in the future. Being able to work with animals and young people and being able to convey a completely different perspective in life.
written February 3rd | 2022
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