What's this got to do with concrete? Well, when we go to work with you, we try to create the opposite experience. We want you to appreciate the value added. We want you in a state of gratitude. We are truly more interested in your collaboration than your money. We still need your money at the end of the job (we pay our vendors and feed our families with it), but this is all a lot more fun from this other perspective.
Out of this spirit of abundance comes all sorts of cleverness. Last night, I went to check out a very special project overlooking Lake Travis for Hausman Homes. I was there to address the owners concerns about a stain, and the builders concerns about the texture of the slab (it was finished roughly in anticipation of grinding but lightly sanded after clarifying what the owner really wanted, which created an interesting "dimpling" of sorts).
I discovered another cool use of low-end materials:
The builder has done dozens of homes with these "2 by 6" floors. To be clear, the stairs are 2X12's, but upstairs is all tongue-in-groove pine. It is cool because there is no sub floor (these go right over the joists). The floor is strikingly rigid. It polishes up surprisingly well. But what really got me was the shear simplicity.
The point is, this might just seem half-assed to the habitually hungry. The way the marketers often work us is to subtly peel back our scars so we want to buy their salve. It's done subtly - if you knew they were doing that, you might respond violently. But purchasing happens most when pain and urgency intersect in a space with no other perceived options. There is so much of this bombarding us, we become numb to it, but we may find ourselves conditioned anyhow. Such conditioning makes us want 6 step solutions when 3-steps are better.
So I leave you with this. Get grateful. Think of how blessed you are to breathe right now. You have hands and feet and a brain that can read this. When they make you feel horny and railroad that to sell you a car, decline. Make stuff that lasts. If you have to buy stuff (floors are a hard purchase to escape), buy stuff that doesn't go out of style. Make today great.
