“Hey Dave, where do you want the window to go?” Karl asked.
“I reckon it should go right in the middle about this high.” I replied as I held my hand up to my belly button showing where the bottom of the window would sit.
And, that’s how it all started; how the Man Cave came into being. Karl, the carpenter, and I just rolled up our sleeves and started building it.
Twelve days later the carpentry was done. Then came the painter. Three days later he was finished. And finally the electrician came around to wire up the outlets, down-lights, fan and install the air conditioner.
Done.
Last week I moved into the new Man Cave.
I really enjoyed the building process. I loved how we just got “stuck into it.” No fooling around. No sitting around the boardroom for hours, days, weeks and months talking about it. We didn’t draw up 64 draft memos and have to get them signed off by 14 different section chiefs.
No. Instead we did something radical – we just did it.
Now, granted, it was a fairly straight forward project. You see, the Man Cave was already half built when we started. It was created from the end corner of our veranda.
This end corner had been screaming out to me for years, “Hey, make me into a Man Cave!” And, why not, it already had half a brick wall on two sides and a whole brick wall on another. It already had a roof and a floor. Our job was to simply fill in the missing pieces.
Was it expensive? I don’t think so. Building costs here in Alice Springs generally run about $1,500 to $2,000 a square meter. The Man Cave is about 3.5 m x 4 m, so to add a 14 square meter room to a house would run anywhere from $21,000 to $28,000. And, I would suggest that this is a low estimate. Anyway, the total cost came to just over $11,000. Not bad for a very nice – generous sized – additional room onto the house.
So, why build the Man Cave now?
Well, the final push came when we invited our niece to come live with us. To make this arrangement work, I would move my office out of the small bedroom to make room for her. And, that’s when the Man Cave idea sprouted wings.
I’m not sure when my niece is coming – she’s not here yet – but I’m glad we built the Man Cave regardless. I should have done it a long time ago!
So, here’s the bottom line … How do you build a Man Cave … ?
Just do it!