When a friend of mine mentioned to her parents that I was a woodworker, they asked if they could hire me for a small job. When they told me it was building ramps for their barn, I thought it sounded way over my head (not to mention more of a construction job than a woodworking job), but, not knowing how to politely decline, I agreed to come take a look. It turned out they were only about 60” long with an 8” rise, so I felt like I could handle it (the last picture shows one of the plywood ramps I was replacing). I drew up a nice plan in CAD, figured out exactly how much it would cost me for materials, threw out a number for labor, and they agreed.
It is all built with pressure treated pine: decking and 2×10’s. One thing I never take into account is just how heavy that wet PT wood can be, and it was very tiring moving it around by myself. I attached the ramps to the footer of the barn with a cleat and ripped the 2×10’s at an angle to give my slope, then screwed the decking down. I spent a little extra time in the details, spacing the screws evenly and cleaning up all my cuts. I wanted to make it more of a nice woodworking project than something a contractor would build at a construction site.
It turned out to be a nice way to make a little extra money, although it took more time than I anticipated (as always). The customers were very pleased. I actually enjoyed doing it and would do it again sometime, just not any time soon. I know that if I was to start doing projects for pay very often I will quickly kill my favorite hobby.
The best part of all: I was finally able to go to the hardwood store and buy some project wood with the money I made, and I got some awesome deals there. You just can’t beat that! And now I have a shop project to work on – a lumber rack to hold the new scores!