Build or buy?

[baudilus]

So my current pool is my very first one - we built it with a pool builder. Given the cost, time, and initial "learning period", my wife and I often lament about whether or not we should have bought a house with a pool already built, and have vowed to never "build" a pool again, with maybe one or two exceptions (e.g. it's our dream house and we want a dream pool to go with it).

So, for those of us having gone down the initial build process - would you do it again? For me, my next house must already have a pool, unless it is exceptional and the lack of a pool is the ONLY downside.

Not that my building experience was particularly bad; it was quite good actually. I just wouldn't care to expose myself to the expense (an investment with no return), time (9 months to a year from conception to "first swim") and stress (dealing with contractors).

 

[polyvue]

So, for those of us having gone down the initial build process - would you do it again? For me, my next house must already have a pool, unless it is exceptional and the lack of a pool is the ONLY downside.

I totally agree. The prospect of building a second pool is not something I would even want to consider. But it will probably happen anyway. Like deciding to have another child, enroll in graduate school, re-enlist or start a business right after retirement, rational choice sometimes gives way to pressing concerns, reasons of the heart or the necessities of modern living.

I'd love to find my next dream house with a lovely pool (the one I had wished for and tried to build last time), a large terraced garden and winding pathways... just like the botanical gardens I've toured: serene and well-kept but without those pesky insect swarms, weeding, pruning, watering and so forth. I would have a man come once a week to take care of the property, including the pool. I think he should be a volunteer. He would not be seen by anyone. He would be knowledgable and meticulous in his work, and grateful for the occasional gratuity left for him in a brown envelope by the equipment pad. I'm afraid I haven't time to elaborate on the kitchen, the workshop, the library or the guest accommodations.

Please don't wake me...

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

This is TOO funny!

I think he should be a volunteer.

 

[Henry Porter]

So, for those of us having gone down the initial build process - would you do it again?

No way! too tired, too old, and too lazy. but like Polyvue said you'll never know what the future brings.

 

[beaumatt]

I would do it again in a heartbeat, but my experience is quite different than yours. My build was 6 weeks from start to first swim and only 5 months from start to finish (only because caulking the joints took my PB FOREVER...). I thought the transformation of a plain yard into an oasis was amazing to watch each day, and watching what happened and how easily it happened makes me 'almost' want to tackle the job myself next time.

 

[257WbyMag]

This is an interesting thread.

The main reason why we began house hunting three years ago was because we wanted a pool. We had a perfectly suitable yard for a new install at our old house but we just couldn't see spending so much when we could just change houses and end up with a pool that way. So, that's exactly what we did.

 

[Henry Porter]

Yeah this is an interesting thread!
Without deeper investigations it looks like US citizens are more likeley to change houses than the average European. You talk in terms of my next house and so on. For us is the house an investment for life and my plan is to stay where I'm at, if nothing out of ordinary happens.
Even if I would win big money or something like that I'm not hundred percent sure I would swift home. Have invested to much effort and feelings in this old shed for giving it up just like that!

Beamutt you're right that my situation is different. I can establish that one of the disadvantages living in a country with the tax levels that we have here is that you have to do much more yourself. Labour is very expensive here. Figures I have read on TFP for having a contractor building a gunite pool overe there have I almost reached just in material over here.

 

[Brentr]

Even more interesting :-D . I think if you find the right builder you will probably build again. Even though it is stressful we would do it again, however we already have our dream pool built. We were swimming in 21 days from start to finish and could have been 17days but the pool cage man was backed up. Our pool builder promised us 29 days and he came in way under that. So far we are pretty happy with everything and of course the price was right

 

[Henry Porter]

Hi Brent!
Do you have any "ballpark estimation" on how many man hours that was spent on your lovely project?

 

[Brentr]

To be honest I am not sure. I know that they were here almost everyday and most days they were here it was not a full 8hrs. I took many hundreds of pics documenting most everything. According to my calculations they were here 16 days and I would say that 4 of these days were half days. So my calculations come up to about 12 x 8 = 96 plus 4 x 4 = 16, so a total of 112 hrs. It is hard to calculate man hrs as there were many people here on some days. Example when there were 6-7 people here for the screen installation. Of course the install took only 2 days. There were only 2 people for installation of the pool tile and they worked on the weekend to get their part done. The pavers were done by just 2 people. The plaster was done by 4- 5 people. The plumbing was done by 2 people. Hope this helps