Hello everyone,
It's been a looooong while since I've been on. This site helped us so much with our last pool and getting our SWG and balancing chem etc... So thank you all very much for all that past help and any future help you can assist us with. Sooooo here's the deal......we sold our house because my mom is sick and we will be taking care of her and my dad. That house already had a pool when we bought so I added the heat pump and Pentair 40k SWG to it and new Penter 80 D.E. filter and Pentair Intelliflow pump with EasyTouch controller (little over kill on the controller lol) since it was all stolen when we bought the house 10 years ago. That pool was a free form pool with no spa and no water features and went from 4' - 6' roughly. It was 15,500 gallons and was great for our 3 girls.
So the new house we bought sits on 9,651 sq. ft lot inside a court. The house isn't being built until next month but I have attached the Plot plan that give some measurements. This will actually be the first pool we ever built but the 2nd we've owned. We kind of have a somewhat flexible budget from $40k-70k and really need help on what type of inground pool to build (is one Shape better than the other and why etc..) is free form really that much more than a simple rectangle etc..., where to build it (Currently looking at upper right hand corner on plot map) but we are totally open to suggestions. Also, what type of tile should we use on the sides that is more resistant to calcium line buildup? I'm fine with the pool being the same gallons as our last pool (15.5k gallons), but I wanted to make it a little more special for our kids and us to enjoy more. We started working with 1 pool company out of several and we are waiting to have a meeting with them sometime next week.
There are 2 features I'm considering and will ultimately pick 1 more than likely. The first is a 16' ft. wide sheer rain waterfall near the deep end kind of like the picture I posted but currently we are considering a rectangle pool to keep cost down. The Sheer rain would be mounted on a approx. 20x20 arbor that hangs over approx. 5 or 6' ft. into the pool where the water would fall. If that doesn't work out, we are looking to build a small grotto that maybe holds 4 adults inside of it with a nice waterfall going over it to add to privacy, kind of like the small corner pool I attached that I found from a user on this site : )
Over the next few months we are going to get several quotes and I know they will vary some maybe a little more or less and some a lot more for the same thing because maybe they market some type of "proprietary solution" that nobody else has etc.....should I fall for that bull or are there technologies or ways/better materials to build with that others may not use?
Another thing is, we want to put in another 40k SWG and large D.E. filter like I had at the last house because to be honest it made my pool sooooo much easier to care for and believe it or not my Pentair 40k SWG lasted me 10 years and was still going strong when I sold the house in September! Should I do this myself like I installed my last one or let the builder do it? I have a feeling they are going to charge me double the price but then I'm afraid they will say it voids the warranty. So then my options is to wait until warranty expires and then put it in OR put it in and not worry about warranty, OR suck it up and pay double the price? What to do ?
I think my biggest question in central California is where we are located, does anyone know the average rate for a pool like I described and any idea on approx. cost of features I mentioned is one feature much cheaper than the other etc.... or not worth it etc? And I did some posts that talk about going rates per sq. ft etc.. but is there a completed price or will the pool builder tell me how many sq. ft of materials when they quote us? Also, we were thinking of adding a spa, but are currently deciding not to, one of those reasons is because we had a neighbor at our last house who's pool had one and he said if here were to do it again, he would not add the spa and would put a external spa in if he wanted one and he said why but I don't remember now why.
Lastly, the first pool builder we are meeting with is an exclusive Jandy dealer. I was a big Pentair fan as I had no issues with their equipment, but is Jandy any good? What should I stay away from and how is there automation system compared to Pentair and should I install that myself or have pool builder do it for extra cost. I hooked up my last one so I'm not worried about it and I'm a techie
Sorry for the long post, but as you can see this is just the beginning and there will be A LOT to consider going forward. I've read a lot already on here about issues people had not have the slope shows in the agreements and they ended up being to steep etc....so I know to watch out for that. What else? Any insight on lessons learned from your inground pool build we would appreciate.
Oh ya and we'll post any updates we get from pool companies and then pics of course once house build and backyard is fenced to give a better picture.
It's been a looooong while since I've been on. This site helped us so much with our last pool and getting our SWG and balancing chem etc... So thank you all very much for all that past help and any future help you can assist us with. Sooooo here's the deal......we sold our house because my mom is sick and we will be taking care of her and my dad. That house already had a pool when we bought so I added the heat pump and Pentair 40k SWG to it and new Penter 80 D.E. filter and Pentair Intelliflow pump with EasyTouch controller (little over kill on the controller lol) since it was all stolen when we bought the house 10 years ago. That pool was a free form pool with no spa and no water features and went from 4' - 6' roughly. It was 15,500 gallons and was great for our 3 girls.
So the new house we bought sits on 9,651 sq. ft lot inside a court. The house isn't being built until next month but I have attached the Plot plan that give some measurements. This will actually be the first pool we ever built but the 2nd we've owned. We kind of have a somewhat flexible budget from $40k-70k and really need help on what type of inground pool to build (is one Shape better than the other and why etc..) is free form really that much more than a simple rectangle etc..., where to build it (Currently looking at upper right hand corner on plot map) but we are totally open to suggestions. Also, what type of tile should we use on the sides that is more resistant to calcium line buildup? I'm fine with the pool being the same gallons as our last pool (15.5k gallons), but I wanted to make it a little more special for our kids and us to enjoy more. We started working with 1 pool company out of several and we are waiting to have a meeting with them sometime next week.
There are 2 features I'm considering and will ultimately pick 1 more than likely. The first is a 16' ft. wide sheer rain waterfall near the deep end kind of like the picture I posted but currently we are considering a rectangle pool to keep cost down. The Sheer rain would be mounted on a approx. 20x20 arbor that hangs over approx. 5 or 6' ft. into the pool where the water would fall. If that doesn't work out, we are looking to build a small grotto that maybe holds 4 adults inside of it with a nice waterfall going over it to add to privacy, kind of like the small corner pool I attached that I found from a user on this site : )
Over the next few months we are going to get several quotes and I know they will vary some maybe a little more or less and some a lot more for the same thing because maybe they market some type of "proprietary solution" that nobody else has etc.....should I fall for that bull or are there technologies or ways/better materials to build with that others may not use?
Another thing is, we want to put in another 40k SWG and large D.E. filter like I had at the last house because to be honest it made my pool sooooo much easier to care for and believe it or not my Pentair 40k SWG lasted me 10 years and was still going strong when I sold the house in September! Should I do this myself like I installed my last one or let the builder do it? I have a feeling they are going to charge me double the price but then I'm afraid they will say it voids the warranty. So then my options is to wait until warranty expires and then put it in OR put it in and not worry about warranty, OR suck it up and pay double the price? What to do ?
I think my biggest question in central California is where we are located, does anyone know the average rate for a pool like I described and any idea on approx. cost of features I mentioned is one feature much cheaper than the other etc.... or not worth it etc? And I did some posts that talk about going rates per sq. ft etc.. but is there a completed price or will the pool builder tell me how many sq. ft of materials when they quote us? Also, we were thinking of adding a spa, but are currently deciding not to, one of those reasons is because we had a neighbor at our last house who's pool had one and he said if here were to do it again, he would not add the spa and would put a external spa in if he wanted one and he said why but I don't remember now why.
Lastly, the first pool builder we are meeting with is an exclusive Jandy dealer. I was a big Pentair fan as I had no issues with their equipment, but is Jandy any good? What should I stay away from and how is there automation system compared to Pentair and should I install that myself or have pool builder do it for extra cost. I hooked up my last one so I'm not worried about it and I'm a techie
Sorry for the long post, but as you can see this is just the beginning and there will be A LOT to consider going forward. I've read a lot already on here about issues people had not have the slope shows in the agreements and they ended up being to steep etc....so I know to watch out for that. What else? Any insight on lessons learned from your inground pool build we would appreciate.
Oh ya and we'll post any updates we get from pool companies and then pics of course once house build and backyard is fenced to give a better picture.
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