Hello from Missouri!
This site has been the most inspirational and fun-loving place to be!
To start off:
I live in a rural part of Missouri. With a ton of trees around and drainage that runs towards my house, not an ideal situation. We have 8 acres, but where we want to have the pool there are (and I'm not kidding, we've counted) 54 trees of various sizes in the 1 acre area directly behind our house. We are looking at having all of the trees removed and the drainage addressed.
I have received 3 bids from various pool companies, 2 bids for excavation and 2 bids for small retaining walls. We were looking for a simple pool, free-form - 36' x 18'(ish) - 4' x 7' deep. After the initial sticker shock, we have decided to look into the owner/builder path. I am hoping we could have all of the work we need done to the back of the house completed for around the same amount as the pool builders want. Am I crazy?
My initial struggle starts with locating subcontractors. I understand (thanks to the wonderful people on this site) that once you find one subcontractor, they are extremely helpful in referring other subs. But I can't even locate one sub. I have talked to people at my work, my family, my friends, I've google(d), I've checked with the city for local permits (which only list the large companies, not the subs). I've done advanced searches on this site - trying to find people who've built in MO. I've pulled the names of plumbers who've applied for licenses at the City Hall, but they all seem to have actual companies that they own such as:
Danny Smith (license # ___) of Danny Smith Plumbing. Looks like he's the contractor then, am I right?
I don't know where else to look. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you in advance!
Does anyone have any ideas? Wolfgang
This site has been the most inspirational and fun-loving place to be!
To start off:
I live in a rural part of Missouri. With a ton of trees around and drainage that runs towards my house, not an ideal situation. We have 8 acres, but where we want to have the pool there are (and I'm not kidding, we've counted) 54 trees of various sizes in the 1 acre area directly behind our house. We are looking at having all of the trees removed and the drainage addressed.
I have received 3 bids from various pool companies, 2 bids for excavation and 2 bids for small retaining walls. We were looking for a simple pool, free-form - 36' x 18'(ish) - 4' x 7' deep. After the initial sticker shock, we have decided to look into the owner/builder path. I am hoping we could have all of the work we need done to the back of the house completed for around the same amount as the pool builders want. Am I crazy?
My initial struggle starts with locating subcontractors. I understand (thanks to the wonderful people on this site) that once you find one subcontractor, they are extremely helpful in referring other subs. But I can't even locate one sub. I have talked to people at my work, my family, my friends, I've google(d), I've checked with the city for local permits (which only list the large companies, not the subs). I've done advanced searches on this site - trying to find people who've built in MO. I've pulled the names of plumbers who've applied for licenses at the City Hall, but they all seem to have actual companies that they own such as:
Danny Smith (license # ___) of Danny Smith Plumbing. Looks like he's the contractor then, am I right?
I don't know where else to look. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you in advance!
Does anyone have any ideas? Wolfgang
While I don't have any recommendations for you personally, I thought I would give this thread a 
to try and get it moving again. Maybe someone in your area will see it and help. Nice to have you with us.
