I recon building a pool is a pain full stop. The idea is great but the experience is an endurance test of patience and accepting your hard earned is just another job to the builder, not your wonderful pool. Most builders regardless of structure are poor on communication, gouge on pricing, and have taken to much work on. Most of them need a kick up the bum really. The quoting process is as feel good as it gets until the day you eventually get to swim in it. However when you see the pool actually built, and if you could know the contractors the process is dead easy. Know one contractor and they all know the others. Reckon finding an excavator who digs pools would be the easiest to start with. He will know the steel guys who know the gunite guys, who will know the plumber and the electrician. The gunite guys know the pebble guys. Pools are generally all this group of contractors do so its just a matter of engaging them, they know the process and requirements. You can build the pool's specs on pumps, filters, heating and so on right here and project manage the whole thing without much effort I feel.
I went gunite in the end as we could design the pool that suited us. Yes glass was a quicker install pending you like rectangle and nothing went wrong like the weather, or the shell clipped a tree in transporting, the colours, etc, but prices were similar. If I did it again I would take my own advice and save the rather large margin the builder has put on top of everything. Engineer - pool certifier for the legals will work for anyone as to the contractors who have been a great bunch of blokes.
