Hi all,
I joined this forum a few months back and did LOTS of reading. I went from knowing nothing about pool design, construction, equipment options, etc. to knowing just about the same, but with a little more direction thanks to the handy Search Function in the toolbar up there, and of course, all of you awesome contributors! We moved into our house last January and planned on having a pool built in the future, but not necessarily this soon. But, you know the story, one thing led to another...yada yada. I know usually people start these threads at the literal beginning of their project, we are about 1 week out from finishing a 5 week yard build. YES, 5 weeks! (Now, this doesn't include the landscaping, that will be when MY job starts!)
Selecting a builder
Searching local builders on Yelp!, We met with 5 highly reviewed builders beginning in the summer to get some ideas on paper and get some pricing together, a few were pretty similar, within +- $5,000 with same general build but slightly different sizes. Another, one was much more pricey and one flaked off after I requested a revision as there were some design problems with the first rendering. I found the process to be really informative and learned quite a bit. In regards to meeting with the builders, I was focused on effectiveness in communicating, attention to detail, responsiveness to my questions, and responses to hypothetical problem situations that may very well occur in any build. In the end, we were advised by several locals to check out a company that's not even on Yelp but have been building pools in the area since the 60's(father, then son) and after our first meet, we knew they were the right builder for us.
The Build
20x34 Free Form pool with a 3.5ft-5.5ft depth, Shotcrete, Baja Shelf, poured in place colored coping.
7ft Dia Spa, Raised 18" with 6 Jets and seating wall
Stonescapes MiniPebble Color TBD
Concrete Pool Deck in Wash Finish, Natural color
Pentair V.S. Pump, Quad 100 DE Filter, Pentair Master Temp 400k Heater, Intelichlor IC40, EasyTouch 8 with ScreenLogic, 5g lights-2 pool, 1spa, 1 Glo-brite
Fire pit with Seating wall
Patio, spa deck, and fire pit deck in Cobble Paver
Yard drainage to street curb
Concrete side yards re-poured, wash finish concrete
I will update this thread with progress pictures and some description of each phase, my work started a couple months ago with moving my underground electrical which ran right across the path of where the pool was to go(DOH!)
Penny, project manager taking one last look at her playground before construction
"X" marks the spot. This is the new panel location and route of my new electrical feed to the house. It originally ran from the back corner of the yard diagonally across the yard and up into the wall in the patio.
And awaaaaaaay we go! I ended up renting an excavator (Never used one of these things before!) to dig this electrical trench after being pushed back on scheduling by an operator I had hired, twice. I think my job was smaller and maybe not as profitable perhaps. Pool fever on the mind...
More to come. Stay tuned...
I joined this forum a few months back and did LOTS of reading. I went from knowing nothing about pool design, construction, equipment options, etc. to knowing just about the same, but with a little more direction thanks to the handy Search Function in the toolbar up there, and of course, all of you awesome contributors! We moved into our house last January and planned on having a pool built in the future, but not necessarily this soon. But, you know the story, one thing led to another...yada yada. I know usually people start these threads at the literal beginning of their project, we are about 1 week out from finishing a 5 week yard build. YES, 5 weeks! (Now, this doesn't include the landscaping, that will be when MY job starts!)
Selecting a builder
Searching local builders on Yelp!, We met with 5 highly reviewed builders beginning in the summer to get some ideas on paper and get some pricing together, a few were pretty similar, within +- $5,000 with same general build but slightly different sizes. Another, one was much more pricey and one flaked off after I requested a revision as there were some design problems with the first rendering. I found the process to be really informative and learned quite a bit. In regards to meeting with the builders, I was focused on effectiveness in communicating, attention to detail, responsiveness to my questions, and responses to hypothetical problem situations that may very well occur in any build. In the end, we were advised by several locals to check out a company that's not even on Yelp but have been building pools in the area since the 60's(father, then son) and after our first meet, we knew they were the right builder for us.
The Build
20x34 Free Form pool with a 3.5ft-5.5ft depth, Shotcrete, Baja Shelf, poured in place colored coping.
7ft Dia Spa, Raised 18" with 6 Jets and seating wall
Stonescapes MiniPebble Color TBD
Concrete Pool Deck in Wash Finish, Natural color
Pentair V.S. Pump, Quad 100 DE Filter, Pentair Master Temp 400k Heater, Intelichlor IC40, EasyTouch 8 with ScreenLogic, 5g lights-2 pool, 1spa, 1 Glo-brite
Fire pit with Seating wall
Patio, spa deck, and fire pit deck in Cobble Paver
Yard drainage to street curb
Concrete side yards re-poured, wash finish concrete
I will update this thread with progress pictures and some description of each phase, my work started a couple months ago with moving my underground electrical which ran right across the path of where the pool was to go(DOH!)
Penny, project manager taking one last look at her playground before construction
"X" marks the spot. This is the new panel location and route of my new electrical feed to the house. It originally ran from the back corner of the yard diagonally across the yard and up into the wall in the patio.
And awaaaaaaay we go! I ended up renting an excavator (Never used one of these things before!) to dig this electrical trench after being pushed back on scheduling by an operator I had hired, twice. I think my job was smaller and maybe not as profitable perhaps. Pool fever on the mind...
More to come. Stay tuned...
that would have been my face the whole time watching them! THEN 
where they got done! SWEET!