We've had a spot saved for a small concrete basketball court in our backyard pretty much since we moved in to our house back in 2007. We kind of had it in the back of our minds but didn't really have a timetable for when we wanted to get it done since it would be so expensive.
A few months ago we went over to a friend in our ward's house for dinner. They had recently gotten a basketball court poured. We asked them about it and they told us about how they had gotten a great deal so we ended up getting the guy's (Edward) phone number and giving him a call several weeks later. He came out and gave us an estimate of $3/square ft. Since everyone else charges $4+/sq ft right now we decided that we would go ahead and get it done. We figured that it would not only be nice to have the basketball hoop back there but it would also be nice to have an area in the backyard where the kids could ride their bikes/scooters, have more space to draw with their sidewalk chalk, and to just play on.
Our pad ended up being 25X18 ft and we also had them put in a brick border at the back of our lawns (we're cutting off a big section of grass to save water and create more space for other things), and a small concrete step on our patio underneath our new security door. They also set the base of our basketball pole for free. Here's a few pictures from the process. We'll have to get a picture of the court with the basketball hoop up soon.
They cleared the spot and set the forms yesterday...
Then today they started pouring early this morning at about 7am. They had to wheel barrow all the concrete to the backyard, which was quite the task since our side yard is so long and the spot was kind of in the back of our yard as well. Here they are starting to level out the first part. Edward's little son was even there helping out.
Here they are after the initial leveling of the concrete (before smoothing it out more and making it look nice) and starting to dig the hole for the pole.
The finished product...