possible O/B in DFW. any others?

[darin.brown]

We've met with several PBs and have a good idea of what we want the design to be and everything but can't help but think we're short-changing ourselves by not at least considering the O/B process. I'm not sure my wife would have the patience for it (we started the PB process back in Sep/Oct) but I'm tech-savvy enough to figure our PoolStudio and my father-in-law has an engineering/drafting background so that part doesn't scare me. Is the time frame of going O/B route about the same as going with a PB if we stay on top of things or are we going to incur a longer time frame but going down this path?

anyone (apart from JamieP) in the DFW area go down this route that we might be able to pick your brain on?

 

[DFWguy]

i did and i dont regret it - I am in Keller.

 

[darin.brown]

got a couple of $$ figures from another O/B in the DFW area. do these look pretty accurate:

excavation (w/o any rock charges) - $23/lf of perimeter
rebar - $19/lf + niches/skimmer/benches/ledges
gunite - $178/cubic yard.
plumbing - around 2k is a good guess for a flat fee
electrical - 3-3.5k for a good guess for a flat fee
plaster - not sure about colored plaster. some form of pebble-type finish at around $65/lf
tile - $11/lf for basic 6"x6" waterline
coping - $19/lf for precast concrete

 

[And5555]

I recently posted a thread with my budget breakdown in Austin. Pebble seems a little high. Around here, the pebble is more like $5 per internal square foot for pebblesheen or $40/linear for stonescapes.

I did the poolstudio thing and can help with any questions you have. It's not hard.

As to the timeframe, I found that it was faster doing it myself than with a builder. If I had wanted to, it could have been done in like 40 days, but with Christmas and stuff it will have been more like 60. It's funny because the sales guy at a builder was like "good luck getting the contractors to show up". Turns out they were more eager than me to get started. I think they know that with an owner they'll get paid quick compared to a builder.

 

[darin.brown]

I recently posted a thread with my budget breakdown in Austin. Pebble seems a little high. Around here, the pebble is more like $5 per internal square foot for pebblesheen or $40/linear for stonescapes.

I did the poolstudio thing and can help with any questions you have. It's not hard.

As to the timeframe, I found that it was faster doing it myself than with a builder. If I had wanted to, it could have been done in like 40 days, but with Christmas and stuff it will have been more like 60. It's funny because the sales guy at a builder was like "good luck getting the contractors to show up". Turns out they were more eager than me to get started. I think they know that with an owner they'll get paid quick compared to a builder.

yeah, I used some of your cost breakdown to verify some of the figures I was working with above. iirc, you were $5500 for the pebblesheen on your build?

 

[And5555]

The pebblesheen is coming this week so we will see. That being said, they sent me the price list (note: builder price list), and the price there is under $5 per internal area sq ft plus a few hundred in various costs. The old school plaster prices are about $20/linear, and the beadcrete is around $6/IA. Here's to hoping I'm not missing something...

Did you hear different prices somewhere?

 

[darin.brown]

The pebblesheen is coming this week so we will see. That being said, they sent me the price list (note: builder price list), and the price there is under $5 per internal area sq ft plus a few hundred in various costs. The old school plaster prices are about $20/linear, and the beadcrete is around $6/IA. Here's to hoping I'm not missing something...

Did you hear different prices somewhere?

I hadn't been able to track down estimates on plaster vs pebble but the above may be pretty close. one of the detailed bids for our 92lf (34x22 freeform, 583 sqft) was $1150 to upgrade from colored plaster to stonescapes. if the plaster is around $20/lf that's $1860 and 583 sqft @ $5 comes to $2915, or a difference of $1055 before you factor in the few hundred in various costs of the pebblesheen.