When should we start contacting PBs for quotes?

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S

srfdntchk

0
Aug 18, 2013
42
Austin, TX
Hi All,

We've decided that it's time to seriously plan for putting an inground pool in our small backyard. It was always our intention when we bought the house 11 years ago, and now we're finally ready to put things in motion. We know we want a saltwater pool, most likely a small-ish free-form with tanning shelf, a water feature or two, and maybe a spa, but that's about it. That said, we're still probably another year and a half from being ready to sign on the dotted line. Would now be too early to start having PBs come out to quote? Should we have a clearer idea of design in mind before contacting them? Or just let the PBs throw ideas at us and work from there?

I think having a quote in hand would be a nice motivator and will help us realistically plan out what needs to be done over the next year or so to make this dream happen.

What do y'all think?
 
How exciting!!!! My wife and I got a quote about 6 months before we were ready for install and it was both positive and negative experience.

The positive was the motivation factor you mentioned. Nothing like getting a 3d visual of what your backyard could look like to help you find the budget you need!

The negative is two fold. One, the PB we initially began working with wasn't willing to fine tune or make any real changes to the original design until we were ready to commit. Unfortunately, the initial design for us looked nothing like the original. Second, the quote you will get (even only 6 months out for us) changes and at most gives you a ballpark.

Design thoughts, sounds like you already know the generalizations you will need to get any PB up and running. My personal preference was to have an idea of what I wanted, but let the PB give me there design ideas. We got a total of 6 quotes and ultimately all the designs were somewhat similar. The real fun for us came when fine tuning.

Final thoughts, I think you are too far out to get any quotes yet. I'd wait till you get a little closer. Can't wait to see your build start when you guys are ready!
 
S,

I agree with the "Saint"... You need to keep the quotes and the contract signing within a three or four month window...

You can't have too small a yard, based upon the things that you want.. :p

What worked best for us was to tell them our must haves and then let them present us with a design.. So in your case a must have would be a salt water pool, but I would let them decide what shape best fits your yard... Obviously, if you don't like the design, you don't have to buy it.

We found out pretty quickly which builders made an effort to make the pool fit into our yard and make it pop, and which builders, just went through the motions of providing us with a generic quote. The main reason we went with the pool builder we did was that we fell in love with our designer's enthusiasm..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
It's not too early to start meeting your local PB's and figure out who you want to work with and who are the good ones who will stand behind their work. You will find the good ones book up quickly and the ones who have quick availability may not be the best. Tell the PB's what your time frame is and ask them how you should work together during that time.

Sounds like you want to build in 2020. You don't say where you are and what type of pool constructions season you have. You definitely want to get into serious talks with the PB of your choice by this time next year. So you have a year to figure out who you want to get serious with.
 
Thanks for the advice so far!

We're in Austin, TX, which I hear is a hot market, and I assume construction season can last all year given our weather, although maybe it slows a bit in the winter. One of the main things we'd like to find out as early on as possible is a ballpark on cost. That will be a big factor in planning our timeline. Perhaps a combination of the suggestions so far would be a good way to go. Maybe invite some PBs out now to take a look at the yard and provide a rough idea of cost, then work on a more detailed quote and design within a few months of when we're ready to sign?
 
Are you going to do it yourself? It could save you 20K plus depending on the size. It's not hard to do really.. Just ask and get the answers then start. Seriously man, it's not a hard job to do being your own contractor..
 
WantedSaint said:
The only thing I caution when considering to do it yourself is the potential for warranty hassles.
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I’m going to make an educated guess and saying that all the pool builders in your area use the same plaster guys same Gunite people and same plumbers. Yes they all probably have their own crews but they also contract most that work out themselves.

As far as warranties, when you contract in the Gunite they will give you a guarantee with their work the same with plumbers and plaster. To me the only difference is I’m going directly to the contractor versus having to deal with the pool company and the contractor. With equipment that you want to use for your pool just make sure that the plumbers that are going to work or Pentair certified that way if there’s any issues there’s no problems getting them out to do the repairs
 
I had a small problem with my mini pebble, called the plaster company that did the work they came out looked at it agreed it was their issue and fixed it. I also have a brand new pump leaking, this pump was only on for less than three hours when I found the leak I called Pentair and they sent a guy out three days later repair the pump and now all is good. So in my guesstimation, as long as you stay on top of who’s doing your work and the quality of that work you should have no issues.
 
Why are you waiting a year and a half? Especially if you are borrowing all or part of the investment. Once you sign it will be around 6 months before the pool ready to swim (1-2 months for permitting, 2-4 months for the pool). If you sign now your pool will be probably ready next season. In fact, you could tell your builder he can do it off-season and see if he will cut you a better deal. Most people that sign up now want to swim this year which is really pushing it at this point. We signed in April/May and were swimming in September.
 

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PoolGate said:
Why are you waiting a year and a half? Especially if you are borrowing all or part of the investment. Once you sign it will be around 6 months before the pool ready to swim (1-2 months for permitting, 2-4 months for the pool). If you sign now your pool will be probably ready next season. In fact, you could tell your builder he can do it off-season and see if he will cut you a better deal. Most people that sign up now want to swim this year which is really pushing it at this point. We signed in April/May and were swimming in September.
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I started in Feb and swimming in May. I was delayed by contractor scheduling.

If your serious then you have all of the knowledge here to do it.
 
Chopjaw said:
I’m going to make an educated guess and saying that all the pool builders in your area use the same plaster guys same Gunite people and same plumbers. Yes they all probably have their own crews but they also contract most that work out themselves.

As far as warranties, when you contract in the Gunite they will give you a guarantee with their work the same with plumbers and plaster. To me the only difference is I’m going directly to the contractor versus having to deal with the pool company and the contractor. With equipment that you want to use for your pool just make sure that the plumbers that are going to work or Pentair certified that way if there’s any issues there’s no problems getting them out to do the repairs
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In an owner GC build, they are under no obligation to repair the equipment.
 
I think you should investigate your local market before deciding to do an owner build. Ask people who have built pools recently, talk to some of the trades, pool service companies, etc. If you market is really hot, you are likely going to have a hard time lining up subs and scheduling. Preference is going to go to repeat customers, i.e. general contractors.

Where I am the market is beyond hot. Most of the pool builders I called up, left voicemails, they never called back. I can't imaging trying to do an owner build around here. You might get it done in about two years from breaking ground.

I understand the situation is different, even radically different, in other parts of the country. So you need to investigate your local markt.
 
PrehistoricPool said:
I think you should investigate your local market before deciding to do an owner build. Ask people who have built pools recently, talk to some of the trades, pool service companies, etc. If you market is really hot, you are likely going to have a hard time lining up subs and scheduling. Preference is going to go to repeat customers, i.e. general contractors.

Where I am the market is beyond hot. Most of the pool builders I called up, left voicemails, they never called back. I can't imaging trying to do an owner build around here. You might get it done in about two years from breaking ground.

I understand the situation is different, even radically different, in other parts of the country. So you need to investigate your local markt.
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If your a cash paying customer then they will schedule you. Don’t believe the hype. Are you a pool builder? That’s the only way you could make a statement like that. I’m in Vegas, and the pool building is going crazy. BUT you can still get one built. Scheduling is scheduling, get one phase done and go onto the next..
 
Chopjaw said:
Are you a pool builder? That’s the only way you could make a statement like that.
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Ha! Thanks, I will take that as a complement. No, just an owner. Just completing a major remodel, basically like a new build. The situation with contractors around here is always tight. The cost of living is high and lots of contractors have to commute a long way to get to jobs. This year, it is especially hard, which I believe is due to two factors: (i) the immigration situation. Really hard for the contractors to get labor right. This I imagine is affecting the whole country. Maybe worse around here because we probably have a higher than average level of "undocumented" workers; and (ii) the fires in the North Bay last fall. Huge amount of construction going on up there right now, more than normal, and everyone in the region in the building trades seems to be up there at the moment.

Like I said, I called lots of pool builders when I kicked this off. I would say at most one in three even bothered to call me back. This was back in February, not the high season around here. Anyone in the trades, if your business is slow, come on out. There is work out the wazoo here.
 
Chopjaw said:
I was an owner builder and had Pentair come to my home and repair one of my pumps. There was no issues with Pentair. Thy have the best warranty in the business. Not sure why you would say that?
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I will answer for OP sake, since you are not sure.

Sub installers were being referenced, not Pentair staff or a P contractor. The latter will not be the installer.

edit by Jim R.
 
Just for reference, we wanted to build in the spring so we contacted builders in early October. We are in MD but we started the build in Feb. The time in between was refining quotes, getting permits and on the schedule.
 

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