Update: they're still digging. They'll finish tomorrow. There were a few issues with the backhoe like flat tire, broken hose for jackhammer that delayed the dig. The steel/form/plumbing guy is waiting to get started.
They did did hit a bunch of rock and seemed to be jackhammering for a solid day without taking a dump truck load. Here are some pics of the wrong and a video of the jackhammering. Random fact: Austin has the Balcones fault that separates sort of east and west Austin. The ground from one side of the city to the other has lots of rock and the other side not (which can also imply more foundation issues on the east). I live on the west side, so the dig was a little more pricey at $4500 (including haul off), but luckily no rock clause. There's a common misconception that building a pool in Austin is so expensive because of the rock, but as you can see, it's not that big of a swing. I think at the end of the day, it's just that pools in general are more expensive than people think.
This is a folder of pics and a video:
Dig
Coping/tile : I got an estimate on the labor for the tile and coping ($800 and $1150, respectively). I also found a great tile on my materials (Golden White Quartzite by msi) at tilesbay.com (6x6 tile for $4/sq ft and coping for $11/sq ft plus $250 shipping). With those prices, it's looking like I'll actually come in under budget and tile and coping by $1000. Wow! It's nice to see something come in under budget, and with my favorite material: quartzite. The builder would have charged me an arm and a leg for that.
Electrician: I'm getting quotes from a couple electricians now. I have to hurry a bit on that since it's almost time for them. In lieu of paying the electrician a high price to dig the 80' 18" deep trench, I'm paying my friend to do it who needs some money. Cheaper and help out a friend.
Equipment: I've bought pretty much all of my pool equipment now. I did go with the 30" sand (thanks, Kim). It didn't feel good spending over $7k, but the equipment should be pretty nice, and I have to remind myself that a PB would have charged me >2x for all the upgraded equipment I got.
Contractor form: I did some research and found that some states (including Texas) have a required form to use for a lien release for the contractors. If you do not use the form, it doesn't really count. There are 4 variations, and the form is available on the web.
Texas Construction Association | TCA