General Contractor and Cost Plus Pool

[RickSanchez]

Hello Everyone,
I am in the process of adding a room and bathroom to our property and wanted to price out a pool as well. So far we have gotten 3 quotes for a heated 15ft x 30ft pool with a 7ft x 7ft Spa, all Jandy equipment and chlorination and 400sqft of travertine pavers. All the quotes have been from 33k to 40k depending on the contractor.

My question is my GC who is doing the addition offered to do the pool and cost plus 4k. In total he thinks the pool will come in under 22k and I would be paying the sub contractors all directly. Has anyone done this before or have any advice? The price difference is huge so I am skeptical unless pool contractors have a pretty high profit margin. Also he does have experience building pools and showed me pictures and took me to one he is currently building.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[gwegan]

He's not an equipment distributor so that's a negative. Not that important in my mind. Jandy will only warranty through distributors so if you are hooked on Jandy equipment that's a negative. What equipment is he proposing to use? Who will set up automation?

He's saving a lot by not paying for liability insurance on it that a PB would pay.

In one sense it's owner builder with a consulting fee. Who are his subs? Will he warranty the pool?

 

[RickSanchez]

He's not an equipment distributor so that's a negative. Not that important in my mind. Jandy will only warranty through distributors so if you are hooked on Jandy equipment that's a negative. What equipment is he proposing to use? Who will set up automation?
I only mention Jandy because the other builders were using Jandy but he recommended Pentair and is allotting 3k for filtration, pump, lights etc out of the 20k build.

He's saving a lot by not paying for liability insurance on it that a PB would pay.
He is a licensed and insured general contractor. Do PB have even more expensive liability insurance?

In one sense it's owner builder with a consulting fee. Who are his subs? Will he warranty the pool?
He will be pulling the permits and running the job but I do see your point. I believe he is doing this so cheap to make sure i give him the addition contract. I just dont know if 20k is enough to even buy the materials needed.

 

[gwegan]

3K is in the ballpark for Pentair.

By having you pay the subs his total cash receipts or contracted work is drastically less. His insurance premium is based in large part on total cash receipts so he saves a large chunk on insurance by not paying the subs.

You would be surprised how cheap you can get the materials for. Its the subs who are buying. Its just rebar and gunite. If the pool is small the gunite crew will knock it out in an afternoon after they did their first pool.

Before you start you need written sub bids so you will know the cost. Not oral. Written. Your contractor will say I just get oral agreements. You are not him. Written. And expect to have to make payment when the sub finishes. Try to pay after the work passes inspection by the contractor and the City (if they inspect)

 

[atttech-2]

If you do choose to go this route you may want to consider adding an umbrella liability policy on your homeowners insurance if you don't already have one, you can add a million for very little per year. I don't recall the exact amount I paid but I want to say it was less that $50 per year. Building a pool is not especially dangerous but when you have a lot of different workers in and out of your property there is nothing wrong with a little extra coverage.