Utah man tells family they'll never be getting a pool....

sl7vk

Silver Supporter
Jan 6, 2021
78
Salt Lake City, Ut
Because pools are costly, require a ton of upkeep, don't ROI, and are just generally a bad idea.

That was before a wind storm in September knocked down our two trees of substance and destroyed the backyard that my wife had spent 13 years cultivating.
My wife was shattered and I told her... in a moment of weakness.... maybe we should just build a pool in the backyard instead?
Indeed.....

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So I began to look into the process. How much could a pool possibly cost? 30k? 40k?
The most reputable builder of pools is about 1/3 of a mile from my house. So I called them and the next big 2. The other big 2 didn't call me back... after repeated attempts.
The most reputable told me that they were scheduling dig dates for.... February. 2022. It was September.
So I kept digging. I found a pool builder that had very favorable reviews but was small.
Another local pool builder responded to my inquiries as well.
PB 1 came to my house with a work truck, dirty boots, and told me he would have no problem building me a salt pool, and putting the equipment wherever I wanted. He was super accommodating and you could tell that he worked.
PB 2 was a nice guy and happened to be a graduate of the same school as me. Had a truck that had never had a tool in it and shoes that were sparkling clean. He had more opinions when it came to equipment location and systems.

PB 2 was 15k more than PB 1.

Both of the bids made my eyes water.... but what the heck.
Went with PB 1.

Pool Builder told me that I was on the schedule for late April and that I'd be swimming by summer.
Sounds good!

Mild winter in Salt Lake. Bad for water and snow, good for pool builders.
I get a call from my PB on March 15th. "We are going to come by tomorrow for some pre digging." Wow! Sounds great!
The next evening at 8pm a Kubota pulls into my driveway. We are digging tomorrow. You good with the plans I sent? If not, just tell me where you want the pool and spa. :oops:
PB had sent me a rending that looked good. I decided to move the spa closer to the pool but having staked everything a few weeks earlier, I liked the placement.
And boom.... we are digging.

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PB is extremely hard working but requires me to make decisions really fast.
After a few snow and rain storms, multiple cave ins... he made everything right. Shotcrete was done on Monday and I've been watering it everyday since.
Hopeful to be swimming in June, but have realistic expections.

Next steps, need to bury the power line, get the coping/tile installed, backfill the plumbing and start on the the pavers!

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Haha, way to hold your ground!! Anyone can build a pool, some can do it well. We’ll find out if you got one! Needing to make quick decisions is a trade-off I’d take given that you’ll get it one year faster and $15K cheaper.

Autocover is very exciting! That will come in handy for your very dry air.
 
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Looks great and you got them to do a rendering, nice work! Going to love when your pool finishes before mine 😂
Nah. You'll be done way before me.
My builder is having hella trouble getting equipment and that could be my bottle neck.
Covid has jacked up so many supply chains it's crazy.

Yes, PB did some rendering for me during a snowy day back in February.

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I love this story! We have been debating for years on getting a pool- years. To designing, meeting with PBs, etc. Spending the money always held us back. We are doing it this time for real! We have moved in to a place of accepting that it isn’t a financial investment, money pit, etc- it is an investment for our family, for memories, quality time together. That’s something worth investing in! Best of luck during the build!
 
We naturally wanted to save for the pool and not blow even more hard earned money to interest on a loan, but the kids were only going to be little once. If we started saving when they were 4 and 8, they wouldn’t have been swimming until 8 and 12 and the patio and yard work was another year or two before we were having swim parties.

So we but the bullet on a loan and the interest was money well spent. The years of memories made are priceless and the interest spent was maybe one good vacations worth.
 
And actually, although none of us has a crystal ball, over the last 5 years pool/patio prices and equipment have far outpaced whatever interest they would have cost. If someone saved for 4 years and built now loan free, they would be worse off financially and had lost that precious time. (Providing they could afford the loan payments of course).

We just moved and to replace the exact pool is 50% more 9 years later. I imagine the patio will be similar but I’m shoving my fingers in my ears and screaming lalalalalalalalalalala for now to not think about it until I get there. That will help, right ??? :ROFLMAO:
 
And actually, although none of us has a crystal ball, over the last 5 years pool/patio prices and equipment have far outpaced whatever interest they would have cost. If someone saved for 4 years and built now loan free, they would be worse off financially and had lost that precious time. (Providing they could afford the loan payments of course).

We just moved and to replace the exact pool is 50% more 9 years later. I imagine the patio will be similar but I’m shoving my fingers in my ears and screaming lalalalalalalalalalala for now to not think about it until I get there. That will help, right ??? :ROFLMAO:
Can’t figure out a way to jockey that pool over to the new house with a hand
truck?
 
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We naturally wanted to save for the pool and not blow even more hard earned money to interest on a loan, but the kids were only going to be little once. If we started saving when they were 4 and 8, they wouldn’t have been swimming until 8 and 12 and the patio and yard work was another year or two before we were having swim parties.

So we but the bullet on a loan and the interest was money well spent. The years of memories made are priceless and the interest spent was maybe one good vacations worth.
This right here. We set aside money a couple years ago for our pool and once we started interviewing PBs realized that it was going to cost double that money. We couldn't pull the trigger then on financing 50% of the build, told ourselves we will save more and see what happens. Well here we are, a couple years later and prices have only gone up and our son is 2 years older. We don't want to miss out on anymore time and memories we can have with him while we have him here. We have to finance some, but getting a great rate. The time is now. And we can't wait!
 
If it helps you sleep any better while that loan hangs over your head, We easily paid for the pool, maybe twice over with all the vacations we skipped once the backyard was the destination. We’d much rather have friends over for a week than go away by ourselves. Or 7 get togethers over a months time.
 
Oh no, OP. The damage to your trees and yard! You totally had to get a pool.

It is going to be gorgeous!
 
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