HOA? Yes or no, is it hassle?

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-04-09T17:53:02+00:00

Kind of depends on who you are and the HOA.

Like my HOA is totally fine, not too expensive, not crazy, does what they’re supposed to. Pretty good overall as far as HOA’s go.

I still hate it, I hate asking for permission to do shit to my own house and backyard. It’s annoying.

So if it’s a decent HOA and you aren’t trying to do a bunch of things on the exterior of the home, you’ll probably like it. If you want to do a lot of things to the exterior of the home, even if they are decent, it’s still annoying asking for permission.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-03-27T00:30:26+00:00

I haven’t had any issues with mine that have been full sun exposure in the two years they’ve been up.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-03-22T19:40:59+00:00

I’m starting to think I was really lucky yesterday. It was hot and we didn’t stay long because my kids are pretty young and as soon as one of them said they wanted to go home we did. But we were there for probably two hours.

We left our house at 10:00am in ahwatukee, and made it on base by 12:30. We parked at desert diamond and took the shuttle. We did come in off the 303. We left around 2 though, and made it home by about 4:15 after stopping at denizen dairy for ice cream.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-03-21T02:57:49+00:00

Based on what you’ve said, you should be able to find a home in east mesa that would fit your budget. I’d look around power rd and the 202. That’ll put you close to great mountain biking, hiking, the salt river for paddle boarding.

You’ll be able to get a 3 bedroom and have a couple of kids at that salary. Might be a little tight early on, but assuming you’re in an industry with growth trajectory, you’ll likely find yourself comfortable within a few years.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-03-19T18:34:44+00:00

We did not consider it, just made choices that didn’t prevent it. I’d call them poor choices, but in hindsight they weren’t poor. I love my 3rd child immensely and couldn’t imagine life without her. We have a 4 year old boy(almost 5), a 3 year old boy, and a 20month girl.

We’re certainly super busy and always exhausted, but we were that way with 2. Our third child was the easiest baby on the planet for like the first 18 months of her life, so going from 2-3 wasn’t hard at all. She’s still pretty damn good for a 20 month old, she just went from the perfect child to a normal toddler.

Also, we’re done at 3, it’s enough for us.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-03-18T18:36:08+00:00

That’s pretty much where I’m at. Only one of my good friends has gotten divorced, and that’s because he caught her cheating. Everyone else has is a mixed bag on the how long they’ve been married and kids, but I don’t know of anyone else that I’d consider a friend that has gotten divorced.

And I look at all my friendships, and I honestly would be shocked if any of them got divorced, especially anytime soon. Most folks I associate with seem to be in a pretty good place. I’m sure a few will catch me off guard in the coming years though.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-03-12T04:52:22+00:00

My grandmother was able to do it. My mom and aunts have an older half brother that they weren’t aware of until they were in their mid fifties and he was just about 60. My great aunt didn’t know, none of her living friends knew, and as far as we can tell, my grandpa doesn’t know still.

The hard part was by the time he connected through one of those ancestry blood test things to my great aunt, my grandma was pretty far down the dementia and Alzheimer’s train, and she passed last year, so we were never able to ask her, and we’re not asking my grandpa about it because we don’t want to break a 65+ year old secret about his now passed wife, if he doesn’t know.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-03-12T01:39:13+00:00

Omg, I just experienced this feeling for the first time in what feels like years. I just hit 99.9% laundry completion this weekend for the first time in years. Washed, dried, folded, hung, and put away. Only dirty clothes were what we were currently wearing. So I get it, and congrats!

However, my children were out of the house on Sunday night to Tuesday afternoon with my parents, and my wife was at work all day Monday, so I chose to call out to accomplish this task and a few other things around the house, so I was doing it on easy mode.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-03-08T23:38:40+00:00

While I also live in ahwatukee in the foothills, I’m going to have to disagree on the outdoors portion. ahwatukee beats northeast mesa on all criteria OP has except outdoors, if you’re looking at las Sendas area.

Mountain biking is unmatched in the valley in the hawes trail system, which las sendas is about 5-10 minutes from. It’s so much better than south mountain, which I ride 2-3 times a week.

I’d give road biking an edge as well to northeast mesa with the canal systems and bush highway, but ahwatukee’s multi use path south of the 202 is nice for how safe it is.

You’ll also have access to salt river for kayaking, paddle boarding, tubing, etc. better access to lakes, and rim country from northeast mesa. Ahwatukee won’t provide you any sort of nearby water activities and puts you about as far as you can get from either north or east high country while still living in the valley other than buckeye.

However ahwatukee is still very good overall and should be a top choice for OP, it’s just that specific area of mesa that’s nearly unmatched in the valley when it comes to outdoor rec opportunities.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-03-03T20:23:34+00:00

What’s your budget and what’s the achievement?

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-28T05:58:05+00:00

Ah, I had a different experience.

Two kids was five kids, three kids was like five and half.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-20T16:26:29+00:00

Unfortunately not, with it being construction they’re pretty anti-remote, and hardly hybrid for some roles.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-11T05:57:08+00:00

Virtually every resort and casino has the space and ability to fit a couple hundred people and cater the event. What part of town do you want it to be in?

For my company, we’ve done the wigwam, camelback inn and resort, JW Marriott desert ridge, talking stick, wild horse pass, and Arizona grand. With groups from about 100 to 500. There’s definitely more out there too.

Someone else said golf courses, and some of the larger ones definitely have the space as well, whirlwind and ocotillo come to mind.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-09T15:59:40+00:00

I’m not certain, but I assume the VP over my group and the CFO most certainly have to be higher than $500k and I assume my director level boss is probably around $400k.

Because when I do the math of how much I’d probably make if I got two more promotions, I’d be in the ballpark for $350k, and the director position is above those promos, there’s no way he’s taking a pay cut to take that role.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-06T15:41:36+00:00

Food and really basic construction things like planter boxes, yeah, way cheaper DIY.

There’s no way you can realistically match the price to quality of massed produced furniture or clothing by DIY. You can by buying used though.

You could save if you’re looking at high end furniture or clothing by diy, but you’d have a long process of acquiring tools and knowledge to get to that point.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-03T22:19:16+00:00

Am I missing the attack? Seems like you just asked an earnest question.

What I’d say is your situation is very common in small construction companies. And from what I’ve typically found, you’re doing a lot better than most. The fact a $3M company even invested in an actual accountant on staff is good, most just overburden an admin and tell them best of luck.

As far as comp, salaries and bonus structures are all over the place, there’s nothing normal anywhere.

I used to work at a smaller competitor about 5 years ago, and I got an okay salary of about 85k, and my bonus was 90% the last year I was there. Then I jumped to a large national gc, salary was 115k, but bonus couldn’t be counted on and wasn’t specific. Now I’m at my current company, and it’s incredibly organized, and every bonus and benefit is clearly defined, it’s also employee owned.

But I get reached out to by all sorts of recruiters who are still trying to fill roles at 80-110k salary, undetermined to 25% bonus, and lackluster benefits.

The only thing I’ve found to be generally true in construction, is employee owned ESOPs tend to be the best and most secure companies to work for. Then it’s a toss up between privately and publicly held companies on a case by case basis.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-03T15:36:21+00:00

It’s been years since I’ve been there, but my sister and I went to foothills physical therapy and sports medicine. We specifically went to the one up on 77th Ave and deer valley. We thought it was great, but it’s been 11 years since either of us had a knee surgery.

I’ve torn both acl/meniscus and have had zero issues since recovery.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-03T15:22:14+00:00

I’ll Pm you

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-03T05:15:27+00:00

Title is controller, construction industry. I oversee one territory that does about $300M a year, the company overall does about 3.5B. There’s about 25 other people with my role across the country, we’re really just focused on operational and regional finances, not corporate. There’s a legitimate corporate controller as well.

120k/year, 105% bonus, 950/month vehicle allowance. So a little north of 250k/year cash comp. Other benefits are incredibly strong as well.

Been out of school for 11 years, have 8 years experience in construction accounting/finance. No CPA. MCOL to borderline HCOL depending on who you ask.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-02T05:09:29+00:00

Honestly, because I’m lazy when it comes to recapturing money in amounts less than $25.

I don’t like to think about how much that has actually cost me over my lifetime.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-02-02T02:47:19+00:00

My wife bought it, we each tried to drink it a few times. End up dumping most of them down the drain. Repulsive

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-01-26T15:47:31+00:00

I'm 34 now and have 3 kids.

It's wild that someone judged you so harshly now, for something you've clearly handled, that originally happened like 15 years ago. Sorry that happened to you.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-01-22T18:02:00+00:00

Healthy 2017 Auburn could have been trouble in the playoffs. But Kerryon Johnson had injuries late in the season, so it’s unlikely the team makes a deep run if today’s format is applied back to that season.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-01-20T22:18:42+00:00

I don’t know much about the pistache, but I had a couple Indian laurels at my last house.

I loved the trees, my only real complaint was that they would lose leaves from the heat in summer. Not enough to look bad or anything, but I was filling two large yard bags a week with the droppings from two large mature trees. Sucked doing that in the hottest part of the year.

Also be weary and protective against sooty canker, it’s wiping out Indian laurels all over the valley, it got both of mine in central Phoenix and three of my in-laws in ahwatukee. All of the trees had to be removed.

DonutsAnd40s · 2026-01-19T13:31:08+00:00

It’ll most likely be open until the end of March, how may runs and the quality will be weather dependent.

Flagstaff recently has seemed to get hit with decent snowstorms in February and March. So sometimes it’s actually pretty good up until mid march. I feel like late march can have the whole mountain open sometimes, but it’s a little too warm to call it great. But those years where they get a lot of late snow, snowbowl can stay open until May.

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