How often can you say that?

Our house is old, and one of its issues is the back steps, which were uneven, and it has no handrail going up the 4 steps to the door. It's bad enough for me, but it's been TERRIBLE for DH, who is unsteady on his feet when sober, never mind when he's been drinking.

We meant to get a carpenter here, but disagreements on how do get this done, plus just time going by kept us from doing it.

Our neighbor is a roofer but is also extremely skilled in building and carpentry, and last weekend he OFFERED, without our asking, to fix the steps. So he's out there right now, building away--he took away the old steps and created new ones, and is now working on the handrail. He bought the wood himself (of course we'll pay him for that), but insists on nothing else.

AND not only that, we have also had another one of our neighbors, a 17-year old, offer to make us the handrail, too! (But C__ beat him to the punch)

Talk about community. We sure lucked out.

What would you do as a thank-you?

We were thinking of a gift card, since I know he won't take cash--so either a restaurant, or a gift card to Dick's or Cabela. (He and his partner are both serious outdoorsy people--she's the one I spoke of in another thread who hunts with a cross-bow.)

What would be tactful, but enough to show our appreciation? I'm not used to being obligated to neighbors!