Interested in having us design and install your backyard rink? If you’re located in New Hampshire or Northeastern Massachusetts, we can do it! Once you contact us to let us know, here’s what you can expect.
Please note that all prices below are labor only. Parts are extra.
Step One – Site Consultation
Want us to build a rink for you? The first thing we’ll do is pay a visit to your house at a time that’s convenient to you. During this consultation, we’ll discuss a number of things. What will you be using the rink for? How many people do you expect to have skating at once? What were you thinking for rink dimensions? Or lighting? We’ll also take a look at some logistical items, like septic system location, shrubbery, and slope, all of which will play important roles in deciding how large your rink is and where in your yard we put it. Once I have all the information I need, I’ll take it back with me to work up a quote. If it works for you, we’ll then take a deposit to move on to step two.
Thinking about building your own rink but want to make sure you’re on the right track? That works too! The same premise applies in this case – we’ll come out, stake out your yard, give you your slope numbers, and answer any questions you might have. The number one mistake new rinkbuilders make it underestimating their slope – we can come by with our rotary laser and ensure that doesn’t happen to you!
Labor Cost: Between $100 and $200 based on your location.
Step Two – Frame Installation
For the most part, all of our frame installations will take place around early- to mid-November. We’ll arrive with all of your boards and brackets and install them according to the layout we’ll have previously discussed. You don’t even need to be there! When we leave, you’ll have a professionally installed rink frame, ready to withstand a winter’s worth of crossovers, slapshots, or lazy skates under the stars!
Labor Cost: $500 and up depending on the size of the rink, the materials you want to use, and your location.
Step Three – Liner Placement & Fill
This one’s a little harder to plan for, but typically takes place in early- to mid-December. Ideally what we’re looking for is a forecast that calls for at least five straight days of 20-degree (or lower) nighttime temps, coupled with daytime temps around freezing. I’ll be in constant contact with you as the temperatures dip to determine exactly when this will take place.
As for filling your liner, if you have municipal water, a fill might take a day or two. If you have a private well, I *highly* suggest you utilize a local pool water company to have your water delivered (and we can provide you with contact info for them as well). It’s how we fill our home rink, and it takes only a matter of minutes to fill up to 8,000 gallons. Plus you get to watch as your neighbors crane their necks to figure out why a tanker with “pool water” emblazoned on the side of it is parked in front of your house in December.
Labor Cost: Free to reach out to us regarding timing, but liner install rates vary by the installer used.
From here, it’s your rink. It should freeze in a matter of days if we timed it right. The weather might be bitterly cold all winter, giving you 2-3 months of backyard bliss. There might be warm spells, which are now the bane of your existence. There will most certainly be snow, which will provide you with ample opportunity to work out those back muscles. Ultimately, the few months between Liner Placement day and the spring thaw is unpredictable, challenging, and beautiful all in one. It’s not easy, and there will be some cold feet and fingers, but our hope is that you’ll find it’s worth it and then some.
Step Four – Teardown
You won’t want us there, and we won’t want to be there, but inevitably, the skating will come to an end. We’ll work with you to drain the water safely, roll up and dispose of your liner, and tear down your boards and brackets. We’ll then stack everything where you tell us to so it’s ready for next year.
Labor Cost: Between $300 and up depending on the size of the rink, the materials you used, your location, and whether or not you want us to drain it.
Step Five – Storage
New for 2013, we are offering storage exclusively to customers who use the Nicerink bracket and board system. After we do your teardown, we’ll take your parts with us where they’ll be securely stored indoors. Then, next season, we’ll bring them back when we do the install.
Cost: $500, which includes storage until December 1 of the following season.
Please note: these are an example of the services we might provide to someone who doesn’t even want to think about installing or tearing down their own rink. Think you can get your kids to help you tear the rink down in spring? Works for us. We’re flexible! We can discuss your specific situation when we do your site consultation.
Ready to build your own Elite Backyard Rink? Contact us here.
