New Construction (fiberglass) - Chicago, city proper

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6/15/2020 update: POOL IS UP AND RUNNING!
Pool company put remainder of equipment installed on equipment pad, gas hooked up at front of house. Filled pool rest of way and started running equipment. Vacuumed. Pool company put 1 gallon of 12.5% bleach in (can we say super-chlorinate???, chlorine pucks (5)). :mad::mad::mad:Starting separate thread on chemistry. Needless to say the free chlorine this morning was 28.5! I removed the chlorine pucks and will be maintaining my pool with the knowledge I've gained from the forum. I have muriatic acid, liquid chlorine, CYA, and baking soda all on-hand so I think I can handle this. Will post link to my chemistry questions shortly.
Can't believe everything's up and running. Posting pics of how things look now. Also posting a pic of the vertical garden I planted yesterday along the north side. I think I did a pretty good job!
Looking at the bottom there's still some sediment even after they vacuumed. I tried to get the return nozzles to rotate so they are mixing more of the deeper water but they seem to be fixed. :cautious:
Just waiting on the auto cover and stone installation... hopefully next week!

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6/23/2020 and 6/24/2020 update:
Our general contractor put the garage back together. We ended up paying a little extra to use the same siding as the house.
Working diligently to get through our first SLAM process (I started a separate thread) which has been fairly frustrating...
Still waiting on automatic pool cover and stone... PB now says that will be after the 4th of July.
We bought our furniture. Decided to go with powder-coated aluminum instead of teak - for maintenance and cost reasons!
Our general contractor is going to create a fence around the equipment pad. Because we’re already lacking a bit of space, instead of having a 2‘ clearance in front of the pool pad, we’re going to create a structure that allows for removal of the fence panels in front of the pool pad instead in case of need for maintenance. I thought that was pretty clever.
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I can't believe you have been able to be so patient during all this. So far, it looks great, its such a unique space for this project, I'm sure you can't wait for the final touches. Looking forward to seeing it all wrapped up as well.
 
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We don’t really have a choice but to be patient! It has been frustrating to say the least. Our pool builder has not been the best communicator either so we really have no sense of timeline from him.

Apparently the mason is coming to us next.
 

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gingrbredman said:
Wow, that does look good! Any updates on the auto cover?
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No word. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s on backorder. Maybe I read somewhere on the forum that other people were having issues with Latham (I think they make the coverstar auto cover), but don’t quote me. It’s one piece of equipment I am definitely looking forward to! We have a big maple on our property line that drops stuff constantly. At least we’re able to swim right now.
 
I have read, and heard from my PB, there have been issues with Latham, and Pentair's supply chain and there are some things that are harder to get than others. I am curious for your build, as well as mine. I am also supposed to get a charcoal coverstar cover, as well as Pentair equipment in my upcoming build, so when I see others builds delayed, I get nervous as well.

At first I thought it might have been because of the smaller size of your pool, but you have a 16' pool, which is standard, and its just not as long, but the standard coverstar should be able to be trimmed fine, and wouldn't appear to be any kind of special order.

Quick questions regarding the fence. Are you going to stain the south side fence the same color, or have different plans for that? Also, is that some kind of "tiki" like fence on the other side of your fence? It appears to be your neighbors fence?
 
gingrbredman said:
I have read, and heard from my PB, there have been issues with Latham, and Pentair's supply chain and there are some things that are harder to get than others. I am curious for your build, as well as mine. I am also supposed to get a charcoal coverstar cover, as well as Pentair equipment in my upcoming build, so when I see others builds delayed, I get nervous as well.

At first I thought it might have been because of the smaller size of your pool, but you have a 16' pool, which is standard, and its just not as long, but the standard coverstar should be able to be trimmed fine, and wouldn't appear to be any kind of special order.

Quick questions regarding the fence. Are you going to stain the south side fence the same color, or have different plans for that? Also, is that some kind of "tiki" like fence on the other side of your fence? It appears to be your neighbors fence?
Click to expand...

We also ordered a charcoal cover. My PB ordered it several weeks ago. He says he’s waiting on several covers and is getting the run-around.

Yes we are going to stain all of the fence black, just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Need to replace the old part of the fence as well so it matches.

The “tiki” fence is our neighbor’s. :rolleyes: This is their cheap-o way of trying to keep their cats out of our yard. Gotta love city living.
 
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7/23-7/24/2020 updates:

Finished the patio work. They haven’t done an acid wash yet. Joints are pretty visible and have some grout haze which I hope will improve with an acid wash and time. If not I’m going to be very unhappy. Looks lighter as the grout has dried over the weekend.
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I am digging the new stone. I know you are having concerns with the joints, when are they doing the acid wash?

Also, maybe I missed it, what will be between the patio area and the pool area? Will that be grass?
 
gingrbredman said:
I am digging the new stone. I know you are having concerns with the joints, when are they doing the acid wash?

Also, maybe I missed it, what will be between the patio area and the pool area? Will that be grass?
Click to expand...

Thank you! I think we will love it once it’s not so fresh.
Who knows when the PB is coming. Goes back to the very poor communication with him. They do good work but don’t communicate.
We are going to do a lot of landscaping for all of the non-hardscaped area. No grass.
Slowly but surely!
 
I think there seems to be a common theme among a lot of the builds on here, yours included, there are PBs out there that can put together a great package, start the project, do some really good work along the way, and then go missing for a while, or become "irritated" that you would dare ask any questions or want updates. Looks like your PB has done some good work, but it gets frustrating during, and now especially towards the end, with the lack of communication.

I guess this is not limited to the PB world, but with as busy as they are all now, they are probably over commiting to things, and trying to juggle too much at once. I watch a lot of the under construction threads, just to learn how to navigate the build process, ask the right questions, know what to look out for, and be a better informed customer along the way. You may not even realize, your frustrations probably help out a lot of people looking to do the same thing. It probably doesn't make the frustrations go away you are dealing with now, but I've seen a lot of threads go like this towards the finish line and turn out do great in the end...... slowly but surely as you said!
 

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