Hello all!!
Hope you love to read, because this is a long one. Well, lets get right to it. My wife and I bought our 2nd home 2 months ago. We already planed on having a pool installed when we closed. We spoke to a few PB's before and after the closing. We ended up picking our PB not based on price but how we felt working with them (Trust and understanding). Construction was delayed a few times but it's now started and I'll share my journey along the way, so lets get started.
*Hiccups along the way. -
1. We called 811 to have our gas,power,phone and cable lines all marked BEFORE we bought the house to make sure all was good to go. Everyone came out and marked the lines and everything looked good to go and out of the way. PB sent plans off to Katy, TX for permits (City of Katy is Permit crazy!). A few weeks went by and finally the city got back to us with the ok to build. By this time the grass has been cut a few times and the spray paint and flags were gone from the ground that were marking the lines, so I called 811 again and had everyone come back out to remark. A few days goes by and it all gets remarked. PB sends paperwork off to our HOA for approval and a $1500 deposit for them. In the request, we ask to have the PB come in threw the rear easement behind our house and through the fence in the back, that way we would only tear up the back yard and not the front or sides. They would be about to access the rear from just a few houses down from us. The HOA takes 3 weeks to get back to us and states they will approve it including going threw the rear of the yard easement but we will need to pay another $1500 deposit ontop of the $1500 we already sent. 2 days later, I hand deliver the other $1500 check and the lady says.. " Thanks, Ill resubmit it again, it will take a few weeks. " You said it would be good to go but needed extra $1500. She states it needs to be resubmitted so what am I to do. So we play the waiting game again and another 3 weeks goes by and guess what.. NO INFO. I end up calling the HOA and asking whats going on. The HOA lady tells me a board-member is no longer on the board and they needed to vote someone else in and that takes time and I'll need to wait but wont be long now. Again... so another week goes by and we get a letter in the mail and a phone call from the HOA lady. GUESS WHAT SHE SAYS... " Your pool has been approved to start BUT you CANT go threw the back fence area, you MUST use your front/side yard. I asked he why it changed because we were told if we gave you another $1500 we could use the back. She would only say.. ( Thats what they decided to do after a resubmitted it. they will mail you your other $1500 back. So we were delayed almost 2 months for no reason.
OH, and they have yet to mail us our check back.
So now we feel like were all good to start. We get with our PB and plan it all out. In the meantime we have our electrician come out and run some wiring for some flood lights in the back. While he was here he stated " I see you had your lines marked in your yard but did you have your service lines marked?" Yea, thats what all that is.. the underground lines. He says, " No, your service lines are the ones that come from the main lines and service boxes and it looks like they never marked. HERE WE GO AGAIN. He ends up pulling out some equipment and marking ALL of our service lines that run to our house. Come to find out, 811 is only responsible for marking the main lines, NOT your service lines to your house. Welp, you guess it. They all ran right threw the middle of our yard and pool area. So we put the PB on hold and scheduled for all NEW lines to be re-ran in the back yard. The only one we had to pay for was the main power service line but it still cost us $3000 to do it. OUCH! Well were not in the clear yet.. remember the City of katy? Yea, we had to summit for permits to run all that new and that took a while to get the go ahead. so weeks go by and $3000 more spent and we call the PB and get a start date.
START DATE-
The PB comes out to our house and sprays out the pool on the grass. I'm looking at it and I'm floored. ITS NOT OUR POOL PLAN. Its one of the 1st ones we came up with but not out finished plan. It was smaller and not even close to our shape. They tell me there sorry but thats what was submitted to Katy for permits and I will need to get with my sales person and get it worked out because he MUST have the right plans. Welp, NOPE! He can't find the saved file for our newest layout and the old one was the one that was approved by the city. So my wife and I now have to sit with him again and spend a half a day drawing out the pool again. The worse part is.. it ALL has to be sent BACK to Katy for permits.
Weeks go by and we have a start date again. but after reading on here a while I decide to change my 3.5' - 6' depth to 4' -6" BEFORE the digging started. YEP , had to go back to the City for permitting. Well we got the clear to start again and this time everything is good to go. They bring in the equipment, trash my front ad side yard (what I was trying not to have happen) and start digging a few days ago. They finished digging in 1 day. That night I went out to measure everything out and guess what? The shallow end was dug out for 3.5' and not the 4' we changed it to. PB came back out the next day and stated I was right and they would have them come back out and fix it that day BUT would push everything. All this happened while the in-floor cleaning system pluming people were there to get started on the install but now can't because the floor needed to be dug out more.
10/22/2019 - Pool hole was dug
10/23/2019 - Pool was re-dug and infloor cleaner pluming was installed.
10/24/2019 - Rebar was installed.
10/25/2019 - City came out to inspect job so far. (City of Katy checks each step of the job and has to sign off on it.)
I will add pictures to this as it gets completed.
Pool Info - Gunite free forming Saltwater with Spa.
*Gallons - 20,605 @ 3.5' shallow end (now is more do to shallow end changed to 4' deep.)
*Size - Almost 39'x20'
*Depth - 4'-6'
*Pebble Sheen - Cody White
*Intellibrite Color LED's. 2x in pool and 1x in spa.
*PV3 Infloor cleaner
*IntelliCenter I8PS
*1st pump - Pentair Intelliflo VSF
*2nd pump - Pentair WhisperFlo 2.5 HP
*Filter - Pertair Clean & Clear 420 Cartridge
*Auto fill with RPZ and Auto drain
*2x Paramount Skimmers
*Inlets - 4
* In-line Chior w/ Intellichlor Salt
*Heater - Pentair MasterTemp 400k - NG
*Travertine Coping
*Decking 508 sqft - Sundek-Classic
*301 sqft of Sundek - Classic to Existing decking
*3x 3' water falls on back wall.
*Spa raised 12"
*Spa air blower - Jandy 1.0HP
* Spa jets 6x.
* Spa has spill way.
If I forgot to list or get something, please let me know.
Hope you love to read, because this is a long one. Well, lets get right to it. My wife and I bought our 2nd home 2 months ago. We already planed on having a pool installed when we closed. We spoke to a few PB's before and after the closing. We ended up picking our PB not based on price but how we felt working with them (Trust and understanding). Construction was delayed a few times but it's now started and I'll share my journey along the way, so lets get started.
*Hiccups along the way. -
1. We called 811 to have our gas,power,phone and cable lines all marked BEFORE we bought the house to make sure all was good to go. Everyone came out and marked the lines and everything looked good to go and out of the way. PB sent plans off to Katy, TX for permits (City of Katy is Permit crazy!). A few weeks went by and finally the city got back to us with the ok to build. By this time the grass has been cut a few times and the spray paint and flags were gone from the ground that were marking the lines, so I called 811 again and had everyone come back out to remark. A few days goes by and it all gets remarked. PB sends paperwork off to our HOA for approval and a $1500 deposit for them. In the request, we ask to have the PB come in threw the rear easement behind our house and through the fence in the back, that way we would only tear up the back yard and not the front or sides. They would be about to access the rear from just a few houses down from us. The HOA takes 3 weeks to get back to us and states they will approve it including going threw the rear of the yard easement but we will need to pay another $1500 deposit ontop of the $1500 we already sent. 2 days later, I hand deliver the other $1500 check and the lady says.. " Thanks, Ill resubmit it again, it will take a few weeks. " You said it would be good to go but needed extra $1500. She states it needs to be resubmitted so what am I to do. So we play the waiting game again and another 3 weeks goes by and guess what.. NO INFO. I end up calling the HOA and asking whats going on. The HOA lady tells me a board-member is no longer on the board and they needed to vote someone else in and that takes time and I'll need to wait but wont be long now. Again... so another week goes by and we get a letter in the mail and a phone call from the HOA lady. GUESS WHAT SHE SAYS... " Your pool has been approved to start BUT you CANT go threw the back fence area, you MUST use your front/side yard. I asked he why it changed because we were told if we gave you another $1500 we could use the back. She would only say.. ( Thats what they decided to do after a resubmitted it. they will mail you your other $1500 back. So we were delayed almost 2 months for no reason.
OH, and they have yet to mail us our check back.So now we feel like were all good to start. We get with our PB and plan it all out. In the meantime we have our electrician come out and run some wiring for some flood lights in the back. While he was here he stated " I see you had your lines marked in your yard but did you have your service lines marked?" Yea, thats what all that is.. the underground lines. He says, " No, your service lines are the ones that come from the main lines and service boxes and it looks like they never marked. HERE WE GO AGAIN. He ends up pulling out some equipment and marking ALL of our service lines that run to our house. Come to find out, 811 is only responsible for marking the main lines, NOT your service lines to your house. Welp, you guess it. They all ran right threw the middle of our yard and pool area. So we put the PB on hold and scheduled for all NEW lines to be re-ran in the back yard. The only one we had to pay for was the main power service line but it still cost us $3000 to do it. OUCH! Well were not in the clear yet.. remember the City of katy? Yea, we had to summit for permits to run all that new and that took a while to get the go ahead. so weeks go by and $3000 more spent and we call the PB and get a start date.
START DATE-
The PB comes out to our house and sprays out the pool on the grass. I'm looking at it and I'm floored. ITS NOT OUR POOL PLAN. Its one of the 1st ones we came up with but not out finished plan. It was smaller and not even close to our shape. They tell me there sorry but thats what was submitted to Katy for permits and I will need to get with my sales person and get it worked out because he MUST have the right plans. Welp, NOPE! He can't find the saved file for our newest layout and the old one was the one that was approved by the city. So my wife and I now have to sit with him again and spend a half a day drawing out the pool again.
The worse part is.. it ALL has to be sent BACK to Katy for permits.Weeks go by and we have a start date again. but after reading on here a while I decide to change my 3.5' - 6' depth to 4' -6" BEFORE the digging started. YEP , had to go back to the City for permitting. Well we got the clear to start again and this time everything is good to go. They bring in the equipment, trash my front ad side yard (what I was trying not to have happen) and start digging a few days ago. They finished digging in 1 day. That night I went out to measure everything out and guess what? The shallow end was dug out for 3.5' and not the 4' we changed it to. PB came back out the next day and stated I was right and they would have them come back out and fix it that day BUT would push everything. All this happened while the in-floor cleaning system pluming people were there to get started on the install but now can't because the floor needed to be dug out more.
10/22/2019 - Pool hole was dug
10/23/2019 - Pool was re-dug and infloor cleaner pluming was installed.
10/24/2019 - Rebar was installed.
10/25/2019 - City came out to inspect job so far. (City of Katy checks each step of the job and has to sign off on it.)
I will add pictures to this as it gets completed.
Pool Info - Gunite free forming Saltwater with Spa.
*Gallons - 20,605 @ 3.5' shallow end (now is more do to shallow end changed to 4' deep.)
*Size - Almost 39'x20'
*Depth - 4'-6'
*Pebble Sheen - Cody White
*Intellibrite Color LED's. 2x in pool and 1x in spa.
*PV3 Infloor cleaner
*IntelliCenter I8PS
*1st pump - Pentair Intelliflo VSF
*2nd pump - Pentair WhisperFlo 2.5 HP
*Filter - Pertair Clean & Clear 420 Cartridge
*Auto fill with RPZ and Auto drain
*2x Paramount Skimmers
*Inlets - 4
* In-line Chior w/ Intellichlor Salt
*Heater - Pentair MasterTemp 400k - NG
*Travertine Coping
*Decking 508 sqft - Sundek-Classic
*301 sqft of Sundek - Classic to Existing decking
*3x 3' water falls on back wall.
*Spa raised 12"
*Spa air blower - Jandy 1.0HP
* Spa jets 6x.
* Spa has spill way.
If I forgot to list or get something, please let me know.
Last edited by a moderator:
