Owner / Builder Build - Las Vegas..Pics and Prices Inside!

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We've been lucky, the rain hasn't caused any problems yet.

Plumbing finished, steel tomorrow. Still have to get the electrician to mount/install the rest of the equipment, but here are the initial pics.





8 jets, spaced equally (I hope)



Skimmer / Autofill

 
Steel finished this afternoon, man those guys work fast. Electrician coming Saturday morning, then time for the first city inspection :)



Structural engineer called for a little more reinforcement in the center areas



Light niches



Shadows make it look like a hot mess in the spa, haha



Outside spa - 20" elevation

 
Divin Dave said:
Looks like you've had some good crews so far. Hopefully that will continue.

So who painted the plumbing? Did you do that or write it into the plumber Scope of Work? Or did the plumber do that on his own?
Looks good.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Divin Dave!

The plumber painted the pipes, and on his own accord no less - I was pleasantly surprised. I had seen some people on this site who had painted them and was planning to do so myself when the job was finished. I'm at work when these contractors are here working (which always leaves me a little nervous), but so far they've all been great to deal with.

The steel crew waited for me to get home today to go over the work. When I got there, they suggested moving one of the light niches since it partially faced the back of the house. He said the Pentair Intellibrite would not be pleasant facing the house. I hadn't thought of this, but it made sense. They had already done the steel work (both pool light niches complete), but when I agreed with his placement assessment, he immediately began taking the old niche apart. I thought that was pretty cool since he didn't have go over anything with me, especially something that created more work for his crew. But they relocated the 2nd niche without trying to charge me anything extra. Of course, I gladly 'tipped' the crew for their kindness. :D
 
You definitely don't want the pool lights facing the house! Glad he moved them. You will be too. Just grab a seat facing those lights when the pool is done. You will be happy you moved them. :goodjob:
 

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I used Krylon spray in a darker brown than ya'lls almond (mine is more like the the darker brown of my Haywood sand filter) and am very happy with the results. The pipes fade out of attention in this earthy color yet also appear more "finished".
 
First hiccup in the road!

Inspection #1 - FAIL. The inspector was kind and explained to me that the bond wire around the shell of the pool needed to be connected in 4 places, everything else was good to go. These City of Las Vegas inspectors are notorious for being hard to please, but I don't necessarily mind that. I'd rather them be honest and fail me than to pass me improperly. The City allows for two failed inspections before you have to start paying for more. Strike one has been dealt, sadly enough.

I just now spoke to the electrician, who had connected the bond wire in 3 places instead of 4...bummer. He is coming today to rectify the issue. Inspection #1 (second attempt) scheduled for tomorrow. If all goes well (fingers crossed), shotcrete Friday.
 
Shotcrete crew showed up at 6am as promised. They work fast! Started setting up the tarp perimeter at 6, were done shooting the pool at 1130am. Finally looking like an actual pool.

Just getting started



All done





Wet deck and seating areas. Wanted to do a full seating area underneath the spillway for the people who didn't want to be in the spa yet still be able to talk with those inside



Two holes are for umbrella - we will see which works better for placement and fill the other.



Spa - hard to see but I had them lower the back half of the bench seat for the taller people. I'm 6'5 and wanted an area to 'sink' lower than the standard spa bench height. Spillway was changed from 36" on plans to 84", glad we made the switch.



Talking to more tile subs tomorrow
 
looks great! love the progress. this is the smart way to do it in my opinion. this way you know who the subs are and when they will be there and how they're paid. that gives you control of the project. in most of these threads where people complain about the pool builder you will notice its usually because things are out of their control. good job. posting prices on everything is also key to understanding the big picture. will be following this one.
couple of questions though, I see at least 5 pipes in your pool besides the skimmer auto fill and main drain. are these all returns? what size are they 1 1/2" or 2"? also it looks like the same size pipe ran to the spa. is this pipe going to be big enough to handle 8 jets? how many people do you think could fit comfortably in an 8' spa. we are looking at a 7' one due to space limitations.
thanks
 
dumbcluck said:
looks great! love the progress. this is the smart way to do it in my opinion. this way you know who the subs are and when they will be there and how they're paid. that gives you control of the project. in most of these threads where people complain about the pool builder you will notice its usually because things are out of their control. good job. posting prices on everything is also key to understanding the big picture. will be following this one.
couple of questions though, I see at least 5 pipes in your pool besides the skimmer auto fill and main drain. are these all returns? what size are they 1 1/2" or 2"? also it looks like the same size pipe ran to the spa. is this pipe going to be big enough to handle 8 jets? how many people do you think could fit comfortably in an 8' spa. we are looking at a 7' one due to space limitations.
thanks
Click to expand...

Correct, they are returns. They are all 2" except for the spa which is 2 1/2". The plumber gave me assurance (many times because I made sure to ask persistently, haha) that this setup would be sufficient.

As far as the spa size, I can definitely say that I made the right move going with the 8' spa. Last night I visited my good friend who purchased a house with a 6' x 6' rectangular spa. The difference was significant, and I didn't fully realize until sitting in his spa last night. We had plenty of space for the 5 people in his spa, but any more than that and it would have been getting a little tight. I will get some pics of the spa filled with people, even if it's not done, so you can get a good idea of what the capacity is. There are a couple things, knowing what I do now, I would probably change if I could go back in time, but the spa size is not one of those things.

And yes, I was very worried that subbing the job out would be a major headache, but it has honestly been very pleasant thus far (knock on wood). I know they are busy fulfilling the pool company jobs, but truthfully they have never missed a date, and are easy to schedule. They want the work and it is very evident.

I picked up the stone that will encompass the perimeter of the spa. I chose a stone that was a little lighter than I wanted because the stone sealer / enhancer I prefer will darken it up a few shades. Tonight I sealed the collection of stone so that they are ready to go when the tile installer comes later this week. Below is a before / after the sealant. The top part makes it look a little "green" but that would be my cheap camera's doing, haha.




Here is the stone sealer / enhancer that I really like. It's a little pricey (~$40 / quart) but is a quality product.

 

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