The Numbers Are In
First, we were quickly reminded that none of us had ever built an ice rink before. We needed to make sure we defined what we needed to do to make a sheet of ice from scratch, and figure out which costs we could eliminate, and which costs we were stuck with.
We defined this project as a proof of concept. Don’t get too bogged down in exact details, use best guess estimation to determine the cost of a particular feature, rounding up slightly when in doubt. As an example, do we need 175 feet of header pipe or 190 feet? Just estimate 200 and move on.
We worked on the must have items and came up with this definition of a Hobo Curling Club
- Practically speaking, there was no easy way to envision a 1 sheet club working, so we would put together separate budgets for a 2-sheet, 3-sheet and 4-sheet club.
- We would include a price contingency in case a 3-sheet club or 4 sheet club could not be 1 pad of ice, but rather needed to be split into 2 separate pads of ice. This would be needed if there were posts supporting the roof in the way as an example.
- We would not include physical sidewalks around the ice to walk on, rather we would just build a sidewall out of a single 2”x8” board and tall people to watch their step as they sweep along the edge.
- We would budget a chiller powerful enough to operate a 4-sheet club, so in case we ever moved we could take the chiller with us
- We needed some ice mats to run the chilled glycol to freeze the ice
- We needed header pipes to run between our chiller and the ice mats
- We would need a water purification system to make good curling ice
- We would need enough glycol and water to fill all the tubing
- We would budget essential ice making equipment only. From our arena curling, we had hacks, rocks, club brooms and a pebble can. We would need an Ice Scraper, along with a measuring device and a biter bar.
- We would need paint to paint the ice and rings