Toronto Rebukes Retiree after He Built Stairs for City Park on His Own

I'm not sure what they had planned, but I doubt you couldn't get anything meaningful built by a professional contractor for less than 20-30K.

I had a very modest set of cement steps built on my property a few years ago for about 6-7K.

Nowhere near as steep or as many steps. Also nothing I would consider as aesthetically pleasing for a public space that's going to last generations.

20-30k sounds about right. Usually when people bid 65,000-150,000 it means they're going to go with the high number. Either way, the issue here isn't the stairs. It's the fact that if you extrapolate that type of bullshit to parks and government buildings, you're talking about excessive amounts of money.
 
Why would it cost $65k?
Lets see. Maybe not 65k but you are at least looking at 30k. Inspection fee, contract to structural engineer and soils engineer to inspect the ground condition, contractor fee, concrete work cost a lot of money not to mention paying the fee for forming it, adding in foundation and adding in handrails. The picture only shows portion of the step but I ready see 7 steps so it could be spanning much more
 
I'm not sure what they had planned, but I doubt you couldn't get anything meaningful built by a professional contractor for less than 20-30K.

I had a very modest set of cement steps built on my property a few years ago for about 6-7K.

Nowhere near as steep or as many steps. Also nothing I would consider as aesthetically pleasing for a public space that's going to last generations.

1) can't get a contractor to do anything for less than 20-30k is laughable

2) you got ripped off, also laughable
 
20-30k sounds about right. Usually when people bid 65,000-150,000 it means they're going to go with the high number. Either way, the issue here isn't the stairs. It's the fact that if you extrapolate that type of bullshit to parks and government buildings, you're talking about excessive amounts of money.
<DisgustingHHH>
 
Lets see. Maybe not 65k but you are at least looking at 30k. Inspection fee, contract to structural engineer and soils engineer to inspect the ground condition, contractor fee, concrete work cost a lot of money not to mention paying the fee for forming it, adding in foundation and adding in handrails. The picture only shows portion of the step but I ready see 7 steps so it could be spanning much more
Sounds like a lot of money wasted on bureaucratic bullshit. A soil engineer? It's a fucking staircase, not a sky scraper.
 
This is a prime example of why socialized programs and big government are not the answer.
 
Sounds like a lot of money wasted on bureaucratic bullshit. A soil engineer? It's a fucking staircase, not a sky scraper.

No shit. This wouldn't take more than maybe 3 days max. 65k for a staircase lmfao. People build extravagant pools for less than that.
 
You have no idea of what you're talking about.

But I do. Our HOA was able to build an entire community park with playgrounds, water features, benches, you name it, for $75k - it was laid out completely in our annual financial reports. And you're telling me a set of 10 concrete steps can't be done for $30K? You must believe every public park is a multi-million dollar venture.

I'll take a picture of my own 1600 sq ft colored concrete, saw cut basketball court that includes an in ground 60" glass backboard hoop for less than the price that @Rational Poster quoted for a few fucking concrete steps. Would you like to wager that he paid more than $20/sq ft for that job? I'll make that bet.

And to corroborate with the poster above me - I was able to build a 32x18 in ground pool with 8' diameter spa from absolute scratch - including plans, structural engineering, city permits, excavation, plumbing, steel reinforcing, electrical, shotcrete, tile setting, concrete decking, plastering and then masonry work to fix the wall that needed to be taken down during the duration of work for less than $30k. In that exact fucking order.

GTFO with your $65k steps.
 
I thought even $550 seemed really high , but then I remembered that this was Canadian dollars so it's really only like $29 USD
 
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But I do. Our HOA was able to build an entire community park with playgrounds, water features, benches, you name it, for $75k - it was laid out completely in our annual financial reports. And you're telling me a set of 10 concrete steps can't be done for $30K? You must believe every public park is a multi-million dollar venture.

I'll take a picture of my own 1600 sq ft colored concrete, saw cut basketball court that includes an in ground 60" glass backboard hoop for less than the price that @Rational Poster quoted for a few fucking concrete steps. Would you like to wager that he paid more than $20/sq ft for that job? I'll make that bet.

And to corroborate with the poster above me - I was able to build a 32x18 in ground pool with 8' diameter spa from absolute scratch - including plans, structural engineering, city permits, excavation, plumbing, steel reinforcing, electrical, shotcrete, tile setting, concrete decking, plastering and then masonry work to fix the wall that needed to be taken down during the duration of work for less than $30k. In that exact fucking order.

GTFO with your $65k steps.
That's cute, but again, you have no idea of what you're talking about.
 
Sounds like a lot of money wasted on bureaucratic bullshit. A soil engineer? It's a fucking staircase, not a sky scraper.
You are looking at a 2 to 1 slope area and after a heavy rain, the ground level would erode causing the whole stair case to collapse. I believe only Curmudgeon knows what hes talking about but most everyone in this thread is clueless
 
Lets see. Maybe not 65k but you are at least looking at 30k. Inspection fee, contract to structural engineer and soils engineer to inspect the ground condition, contractor fee, concrete work cost a lot of money not to mention paying the fee for forming it, adding in foundation and adding in handrails. The picture only shows portion of the step but I ready see 7 steps so it could be spanning much more
Here is the finished stuff
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/toront...0-irking-city-after-65-000-estimate-1.3510237
8 fucking steps. Do you even need a structural engineer for that?
If so, it's a really bad case of bureaucracy. Small projects like that should be able to be signed by any kind of civil engineer without much analysis because it poses no risk, you will fall down 1-2 feet if a earthquake destroys it.

Of course I don't condone what the old guy did, nor do I disagree that it would cost that much, but it's still wrong that it costs that much. They should just get their shit together and review these regulations.

The mayor agrees with me:
Mayor John Tory acknowledged that the city estimate sounds “completely out of whack with reality” on Wednesday. However, he says that still doesn’t justify allowing private citizens to bypass city bylaws to build public structures themselves.

Maybe something will come out of it and they will be more pragmatic in the future.
 
Here is the finished stuff
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/toront...0-irking-city-after-65-000-estimate-1.3510237
8 fucking steps. Do you even need a structural engineer for that?
If so, it's a really bad case of bureaucracy. Small projects like that should be able to be signed by any kind of civil engineer without much analysis because it poses no risk, you will fall down 1-2 feet if a earthquake destroys it.

Of course I don't condone what the old guy did, nor do I disagree that it would cost that much, but it's still wrong that it costs that much. They should just get their shit together and review these regulations.

The mayor agrees with me:


Maybe something will come out of it and they will be more pragmatic in the future.
The old guys steps also look to exceed 7" each from the pictures and thats against regulation. and also look at the bottom pad that is raised up 1' from the ground. If it was done within standards, you are looking at 10 steps with at least a 5' concrete landing at the top and at the bottom. Looks like a half ass job by the old man
 
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