Wife and I are building new house with pool, scheduled to start in Jan. Got our first pool bid back yesterday and it seems pretty high to me. The pool is nothing fancy, just something to cool off in from the Louisiana heat. We live in South Louisiana and this is our first experience with a pool, so let me know what you guys think.

16'x32' 565 sq ft
3' shallow 6' deep
tanning shelf
bench in deep end
gunite shell
quartz plaster
2 skimmers
2 main drains (But thinking I could get buy with 1.)
Sand filter
1 2HP pentair pump
1 LED in deep end

$40,100.

Here in the Tulsa area, that would be pretty close to what the PB's are charging. I'm wondering, though, if there are any "extras" your PB expects you to pay separately. Here in our area, most PBs will tell you that you pay the electrician separately....and, if your sewer line must be rerouted (as ours did) that you pay the plumber separately.

You didn't say what kind of decking/coping would be included....nor how many square feet of decking. Most PBs here quote 4' of decking around the pool....anything over that costs extra.

We interviewed 5 PB's before starting on our pool, and saw there was a difference of almost $10,000 between the highest and lowest bids.

Tile: 105 ft
Deck: 105 ft.

Will have bricks to match house around pool, with regular cement.

Actually, the more I look at your bid, I would encourage you to get others. I didn't see a SWG chlorination system included in the list, and most folk around here are getting them with their pool. It's certainly not a requirement, but sure cuts down on the jugs of bleach you'll need to carry to the pool. (And, having said this, we interviewed a couple of PBs who didn't include them unless specifically asked to).

If you look for a thread I started a couple of days ago (New Tulsa build, I think it's called), you'll see the pool we're having built. Our price was $37,500, but we have to pay the electrician to hook up the service panel, and the plumber to reroute the sewer line on our own.

If that includes a SWG I think it is probably right on the money. We are in the process of building a similar pool and got numberous quotes ranging from 38-43k.

the bid has a automatic chlorinator salt system checked off on it. Is that the SWG???

Pleasue excuse my questions, I'm new to pools, but I have been reading a lot of great info on the website.

Thanks for all of the info guys!!!!!!

Welcome to the forum!

This is a huge undertaking--having a house and a pool built at the same time. Wow.

Please read as much as you can on this forum about what people are talking about with their builds, so that you can have a big checklist to know what is being included in your bids. As others have said, there are other contractors to consider, the pool equipment, size of pool pad for future additions, cover, robotic cleaner, start-up service, and on. Then once you do have the big long list, you can know what it means to compare the $$$ bids.

As you narrow down your candidate pool builders, be sure to see in person some examples of their work. You might even be able to talk to the pool owners.

The 2 main drains are code/required. Google VGB Safety Act.

Good luck!

Lana

Yes it is a huge undertaking, but we have already picked our house builder, and the good stuff that comes with that. Now we are working on the pool. But I will keep you guys updated. I'm still waiting on 2 other bids to come in, and I'm setup to meet with another builder Friday.

Please keep us posted on your progress and bids. You'll probably find out, as we did, that it can be difficult to compare apples to apples sometimes because of the way different pool builders use different equipment and construction techniques. In our case, we got bids initially from 4 builders, and the fourth one showed us a design we really liked that was different than what we'd asked for. So....we went back to the builders we'd already received bids from and had them requote to the design we liked best. Even so, it was difficult comparing.

Common story people talk price at the start of the bid and then performance at the end of construction...Do you research on the builder go and see a job or two get a referral. You pay for what you get.

Here is an entire history of my build. Watch out with your PB. I would read through my history if I were building another one to firm up a LOT more with the PB before i signed on the dotted line. There are a lot of gotchas:

http://www.golfmd.com/BaurPhotoAlbum/PoolConstruction

Update:

Well guys, after me and the wife sat and talked we decided to go with a smaller size pool. We are looking at 16' x 24' pool now. We talked about what the pool would be used for, and mainly just to cool off in and really didn't need a 16' x 32'. So we called back the 2 pool builders that gave us bids and looked over the drawings and cut back on the area of decking. Both bids are now in our price ranges. 1 bid is $29,845, & the other is $32, 740.

But their is a chance we will still get the 16' x 32'. I spent the weekend hanging out with my new neighbors and met a guy that just finished contracting his own gunite pool and he said he would contract out our pool if we wanted. He is working on getting bids from the guys he used and would let me know sometime this week. His pool is bigger than the one we want, but he said he still saved a bunch of money contracting it himself.

As far as the house, everything is set and ready to go. Dirt work will begin next week and will start the build Jan 9th, 2012. Will keep you guys updated with everything.

Update:

We are about a month away from finishing up with the house build. We are finished picking everything out for the house. Now we will start on the pool. We decided we would finish picking out stuff for the house before we started on the pool. Pool builder will try to start digging next week. We are going with a 16'x24' gunite pool. Russell pools in Baton Rouge will install it. Guys says he can be in and out in 3-4 weeks, which would put us right about the time we will be ready to close on the house.

Can't wait to have my 1st miller lite in my new home and new pool. So excited!!!!!