Vegasmom's Pool Build

[Vegasmom]

TresW, thank you for the sound advice and compliment. And yes, I finally reached the point last week when I realized being nice wasn't cutting it. I am an extremely easy going person until I'm pushed too far. They definately saw another side of me, that's for sure.

I've worked out the issue with the landscaper regarding the lights. If he can't return them, he'll use them on another job. He knew his guy jumped the gun and ordered them too soon. It was his idea to paint the BBQ to match the house. He figured it would be a good starting point and we can repaint it. Doesn't make any sense to me and seems a waste of time and money on his end, but whatever. He's someone I hired independently to build my BBQ and landscape.

Tomorrow the masonry guy is coming to build my planter and firepit and I personally went over it with him and will be here during the construction. Tile guy should be finishing soon and my super says the precast people made another sample and it's definately closer to the original. So, things will hopefully fall back in place and maybe....maybe we'll have this thing done by mid-March.

Thanks again.

 

[Guest]

TresW, thank you for the sound advice and compliment. And yes, I finally reached the point last week when I realized being nice wasn't cutting it. I am an extremely easy going person until I'm pushed too far. They definately saw another side of me, that's for sure.

I've worked out the issue with the landscaper regarding the lights. If he can't return them, he'll use them on another job. He knew his guy jumped the gun and ordered them too soon. It was his idea to paint the BBQ to match the house. He figured it would be a good starting point and we can repaint it. Doesn't make any sense to me and seems a waste of time and money on his end, but whatever. He's someone I hired independently to build my BBQ and landscape.

Tomorrow the masonry guy is coming to build my planter and firepit and I personally went over it with him and will be here during the construction. Tile guy should be finishing soon and my super says the precast people made another sample and it's definately closer to the original. So, things will hopefully fall back in place and maybe....maybe we'll have this thing done by mid-March.

Thanks again.

GOOD. your getting stuff worked out. just curious? why dont you want lights?? lights would look so awsome in your pool.

 

[EskimoPie]

I'm guessing it was the price... $300 a pop if I remember correctly.

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

They were lights for the landscaping, and the guy jumped the gun and ordered the wrong kind. VM was not going to settle for the wrong lights installed, so the landscaper is gonna eat it on that one.

 

[Vegasmom]

Yep, MQ is right. Update precast...it looks good now I just have to decide on a 2 or 3" wall cap. I told them I'd like to start the coping install no later than next Monday. They make it here locally so now that they've got the sample right we can get moving.

Unfortunately no tile installers today. One's in the hospital with pneumonia, and the other might be right behind him. They really only have maybe 2 days worth of work left. They're good guys..I hope they feel better soon. Not just cuz I want them to finish my pool, haha....

Waiting for masonry guy. He's on his way....

I'll get some pics later

 

[Vegasmom]

As promised here's a few pics...

Planter behind bench seat

Start of round firepit

Glass tile in niches (this wasn't the envisioned look here but I'm adjusting to it) Note to anyone making a decision on tile based on color: Dye lots change, as much as 2-3 shades. Be prepared to either be flexible, or choose something that doesn't depend upon color.

This is the precast concrete. They are still a tad off on color, but they nailed the texture. It's been acid washed so slip resistance will be good.

Lagos Azul Limestone for the BBQ countertop and top of firepit

That's it for today. Electricians have been here all day, they're putting in the panel and hooking up lights. Slowly but surely now....

 

[Vegasmom]

Apparantly, I'm still not trouble free. Here's an example of brilliant planning at it's finest. Went outside after the electricians left (they worked for several hours more after it got dark) They left me a nice present.

According to my super, that's the box for the fiber optic lights. If it wasn't 3" from the back of the seating wall, I could put a plant there. Maybe I should just build a wall to hide it. (ignore my sarcasm, if you will) Here's another case of me not paying close enough attention. Gosh, I thought I was doing so well. Shouldn't I have had to sign some kind of waiver of acceptance or something for that? No one told me it was going there. Nevermind the fact to me the obvious place to put something like that would have been behind the 4' wall, and not the 18" wall. Not rocket science.....

 

[SeanB]

Unfortunately with most contractors, if someone doesn't specify what they are supposed to do, they are going to take whatever is the easiest route.

 

[Vegasmom]

Yeah, it is unfortunate. I haven't heard word on what they're going to do about it, but it's absolutely unacceptable to me. I don't think I'm being unreasonable. The ironic thing is when I told them I wanted those boxes uplit, he said fiber optic and an alarm went off in my head. I said I didn't know much about how those kind of lights looked, but I was envisioning like a reg. recessed light, low voltage or something. Again, I admit to not knowing the technical side of things, but had they said at that point I was going to have a huge box right in the middle of my seating area that I won't be able to disguise, we could have fixed the situation right there. Now it's another headache and another delay. I just don't understand this and why it was done this way.

 

[EskimoPie]

VM, I'm curious how you'll handle rain-water collecting in the fire-pit area... it looks below ground level in the pictures, won't it collect lots of water during monsoon's and such?

 

[Vegasmom]

That's a good question, EP. I guess I'll use a wetvac. And I'm paying for this. We should get a fee for being the ones to make all the mistakes that this company will learn from.

 

[Vegasmom]

It's been quiet around here, nothing new to post really. No one did a thing all last week. I've calmed down a bit, spoken with the owner. These issues will be resolved, I'm just rather impatient at this point and am still finding this whole business a pain in the you know what.

The fiber optic box was put there because code says it needs to be 5' from water. Don't think they can move it so they'll switch out for low voltage most likely.

I'm told there are holes drilled in the shotcrete for water drainage into the dirt at the bottom of the firepit. They must be microscopic because I can't see them. Whatever, it'll only be an issue twice a year anyway. I'll suck up water and hubby can follow me with a paintbrush.

Now waiting to hear what BBQ guy is going to do about the overly narrow bartop he built. I noticed it seemed on the small side and he said "Oh, I cut it down because I was worried about the space over here" Pointed to an area where 5" wouldn't make a difference in the landscape, but it sure does on my bartop. Not to mention our knees hitting the outside wall because it's not wide enough.

Meantime, I'm having to keep all my trees and shrubs alive because I have no irrigation hooked up. I've been doing this for 9 mos. I must be losing it because I'm convinced the garden hose has it out for me. It catches on every possible pipe and edge it could. The neighbors must think I have Tourette's.

Waiting on coping (which at this point doesn't seem like it'll be in before 2 wks) after that's installed my concrete guy can come in, hopefully they'll be done fooling with the tile, and they can plaster, landscape and voila! Pool is done. Sounds simple, right? ale:

I am optimistic I will have new progress photos by end of Tues. next week. Fingers crossed!

 

[TresW]

Vegasmom, you have the patience of a saint!! Our pool is at 6 weeks and I'm aggravated already, if this went on for the 9 months that you've been through they'd have to strap me to a gurney and feed me through a straw :-D Our delays are because of weather though, we've been getting rain at least once a week.

It looks like the fiber optic box is sitting on dirt, I'm sure they could dig that area out and recess it (as long as they don't create a "bathtub" condition). It probably needs to be accessible as that is likely the light source and will have a lamp inside that will need to be replaced now and then. But it doesn't have to go in plain sight!

 

[Vegasmom]

Hubby said Houston had tornado warnings the other day. He left me here and went to Belize. 8) Don't worry, honey! I've got it covered, LOL. Seriously, it's all good, really. At this point, I don't think there's anything they can throw at me that I can't handle. 6 weeks, huh? It's still early for you. *evil laugh* Just joking, but I've got a surplus of straws, just let me know.

I've deduced they must have built this house on sacred burial ground and the spirits are none too happy. It would explain the fact that we've had anything and everything go wrong since we moved into this house. It's not just the pool. I'm going to start leaving peace offerings outside. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm wide open. I'm all for tests of fortitude and what not, but 3 yrs. is a long time. Maybe I should stop deleting and start forwarding all those chain emails.....

 

[TresW]

Oh I know! Have you seen "Paranormal State" on A&E? Call them and they can come exorcise your house, plus film it so the rest of us can watch, haha! Before -> After -> :angel: I've never seen them do a pool, but there's a first time for everything :-D

 

[Vegasmom]

Haha, no...I haven't seen that show. But I think someone needs to do a reality show on construction/remodels. No fluff, no omissions. Tell it like it is. Building a pool in Vegas, titled "A Year in the Life" Next week don't miss "Your Dream House, the Money Pit"

Kidding aside, I got a nice surprise this morning. My tile guys woke me up with the beautiful sound of grinding concrete. I didn't think they were going to show, today being a holiday. So, we're off to a good start so far.

 

[Vegasmom]

I'm not surprised, but something else came up that's an issue. I won't go into it because it may be something the PB didn't figure right. I know I'm right, because I checked my numbers. At any rate, I've requested a meeting with the owner, and at this point, I'm going to formally request another completion date. I don't know what will come of this meeting, but I'm nearly to the point of hiring a lawyer and subbing out the rest of the pool myself. They've still got a chance to redeem themselves...I'm not losing hope just yet. But I'm getting close.

Landscaper is on my very good side right now :-D They extended the bartop rather nicely, and *gasp* ! They did it in a day. Imagine that....

 

[Vegasmom]

Spoke with the owner today on the phone and we're meeting tomorrow here at the house. We're going over things, but I feel like I'm at a disadvantage because I don't have all the pertinent paperwork. It's not from lack of organization, this issue is a matter of materials and who owns what. He has invoices I don't have access to. I'd like to think it will be fair and he'll share with me but at this point, it's all about the almighty dollar and I am not expecting complete honesty from them. One advantage to me, the materials in question are in my possession, locked up tight. I'm going to do my best and hopefully we can resolve it without going to the next step.

 

[Vegasmom]

The meeting went well, for the most part. It was somewhat of a misunderstanding..the owner was not kept 'in the loop' regarding certain things, which they perceive as me making changes, when in fact, I was simply having to modify areas that were not built to accomodate properly. The person that was in charge of knowing what went where, wasn't clear and organized. I have learned that no matter how small the detail, it needs to be in writing so that everyone clearly understands the plan. I assume that when someone says yes and is taking notes, the message is getting across. Not so, in many instances regarding this pool.

Many of the delays I continue to blame on SP. I am now having to wait for coping to be completed until March 7, when I asked nearly 4 months ago that it get ordered. I knew this was coming, back then. Again, too much of this project was handled verbally, and the messages I thought were getting across were not. My mistake, yes...but this is a professional builder who IMO, should know better. This whole build was handled poorly. My end result is going to be beautiful, yes, and SP is doing everything in their power *now* to finish it properly. I have had to make other arrangements regarding my deck because they have taken on so many other jobs they don't have a crew for me. I asked about this, too...4 months ago. I've got someone that said they'd do whatever it takes to finish for me, so it's not an issue of that. I just can't help the bad taste in my mouth from this whole experience. It will be hard for me to have faith in a construction company again and I'm going to do sooooo many things differently next time.

To update the issue of the fiber optic box, owner agreed...needs to be moved. They're moving it. Owner agreed with me on the equip. wall...they're fixing that, too. The middle waterfall wall has been fixed. Now my major hurdle is with API making the material for me in a timely manner. Again, this stuff was all supposed to have been ordered months ago. They were going to do the coping first, then wall caps, then my pavers. I need to find out if they're doing it in stages because they don't have the facilities to make it all at once or what. If I have to wait 2 weeks for each phase, I'm looking at end of April, early May for completion of everything. Doesn't make me real happy. Here's a few pics.

Tile is done in spa

I guess these are air release valves. I wasn't expecting to have something like this here, so visible. (it's one of those things I wouldn't know how to translate on a plan, I feel should be mentioned, but whatever.) I didn't argue this one. Too tired to even bring it up.

That's it for a few weeks probably.

 

[TresW]

VegasMom, the pics look great! I can tell you're getting discouraged, but hang in there, you're on the home stretch now!! Hold them to the details you want because you're the one that's going to have to live with this after they're done. Talk to them about those air valves and find out what they have in mind for finishing them out. Hopefully they've considered it and have something in mind, but if not now's the time to bring it up. Maybe you should rent a margarita machine to help you through these last few weeks