Acquire all materials, wood, steel, screws, bolts, and tools. Resolve design or decide to just go with a good idea and a solid design build process. Pull lines, define ends/corners on the ground and lay out project full scale. Mock ups if necessary are always worth the time. Call utilities-before you dig!!
Clean out holes and straighten, getting depth, angle, and size right.
Prepare all parts. In this case wood and steel.
Have a good space to work! Make jigs for tools and materials to make preping safe and ergonomic.
Murphey's law-Plan to spend an extra hour extricating a large, unplanned for rock, right in the bottom of your hole.
Perform as many operations as you can on the sawhorses.
Begin putting parts in place.
Add pieces, one by one, bracing thoroughly as you proceed.
An added step, if you didn't have a utility check, you'll experience delay and a visit by the repair folks.
Sometimes it's easier to keep options open and perform a few tasks in place, even if on a ladder. This allows for increased flexibility and can help reduce unnecessary mistakes.
Make a few cuts, notches or adjustments along the way to improve quality.
Here I'm using plywood, left over from another project, to help brace the heavy posts and hold them at the right level, using my original story boards as braces to keep me true to lay out. Now, the project is ready for the concrete pour.
Always, step back from the project at the end of the day and check it out.
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