Hi renesme. Some history and observations. We're in "old Katy", just north of KPD and Katy City Park (no MUD.) New home in 2017. Pool dug in June 2018. Our pool quote was turnkey and included all the electrical. Was probably easy for them, though, since our pool equipment is on the same side of the house as the meter and our standby generator--which also reduced the cost of the heater part of the project, since we already had an upgraded gas meter for the generator. Our PB was weak on the IT and automation side--I actually had to call Pentair to help configure the equipment (and learn that the installers had left off the RS485 cable from the filter pump), but luckily the guy I got was very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. Sadly he has since left the company.
Other things. I just saw this thread for the first time, so I'll skip my opinion of "sun shelf", since it's a done deal. You were absolutely right to get the integrated spa. We use ours 12 months. In December, I can set the valves to just circulate to and from the spa and can get it up to 100 degrees in 30 minutes. Our kids are grown and gone, so it is mostly us, except when the granddaughters come over. A major difference in integrated spa vs the functionally better standalone, is when you sell you house. Just ask a real estate agent. And besides that, a standalone "hot tub" just screams 1970!
Soft water. If like ours, it is tied into the water after the irrigation system but before everything else. In our case, the autofill is tapped off one of the hose bibs, so it uses soft water (in our case it's potassium not sodium salt.) So you pay to take the calcium out of the water, then you pay again when you buy calcium to add to the pool water. Seems wrong, doesn't it? The water softener ended up costing us during pool construction, as at the dig, the irrigation system was whacked, so from then until the pool was done and we had Big Mike (I highly recommend him for sprinkler system work) reconnect and redesign the irrigation. So for three months we used potassium-softened water on our yard. A 40 lb bag every week to ten days, as it was a dry summer and we had a lot of new ornamental trees ( 20 of them on a corner lot) to keep alive. HEB sells potassium water softener pellets for $24--better than adding sodium to the water, though.
Landscaping. Our landscape architect specifically laid out our backyard for a future pool. Included in his landscaping were five Wax Myrtle trees, "because they're evergreen." CAUTION: Wax Myrtles are popular in this area, but they are a nightmare near a pool, as in their case "evergreen" means "forever dropping skinny leaves into your pool." Just say no to wax myrtles. If you already have them, get rid of them or be prepared to wish you had. We're stuck now, as ours are 15-18 feet tall and about that wide. Great for privacy, not so great for a clean pool.
Sun. We have a west facing back yard, too. Unless your porch extension goes all the way to your back fence, it's not going to be enough! Our best friend is the house (the house...not the people who live there) behind ours, as it provides some shade later in the afternoon. I wish we had put umbrella holders in the back wall of the pool, or extended the decking around the west side of the pool for umbrella holders. At least our spa is on the west side, so it gets shaded late in the afternoon. We finally put a 10' cantilevered umbrella off the west side the the spa. It shades the spa from noon until the trees and our back neighbor's house take over shade duties around 5pm or so. Better than nothing, though.
Time. My next door neighbor's pool was dug in early January. It is still not finished. It's a big gunite hole with dark water in the bottom. I haven't had the heart to ask what is wrong, but I'm guessing they're waiting for a particular finish to be available. I would have never imagined that a pool could be not finished six months after digging. Sign of the times. You may not have a pool for the summer, but a heated spa will work in winter.
