hopefully he gives you a discount..
Partly paying in cash ;) The biggest savings are his hours, since he would have got another guy to help with the framing at least. He is a decent chap this one - we recommend him out to others all the time too.
When I had my central wood boiler installed I did all the trenching, saved a few thousand dollars. So its always nice being able to do part of the work yourself.
If you can do it yourself (and have the time), it is definitely worth the saving to do what you can. Sure, some people are willing and able to pay anyway, but there is also some satisfaction to at least do part of the job. And you seem more capable than most :)
Nice, yeah that makes sense.
Indeed, you can appreciate the projects more when you have a part in building them.
Hah yeah, having a skidsteer and trenching attachment really helped.