Evaluating North Dallas Area PB's

[pktman]

I'm a Noob at the pool business. We're looking at PB's in Dallas area. I've had 2 bids so far. The itemized bid below came out to a grand total of $45,600. Please examine the items below and tell me how I could improve my product components and/or make cuts without sacrificing the overall product . Ignore the numbers as I scanned an image of the bid because I'm smart and too lazy to type it out. My goal is be right at about $40,000. Thanks in advance guys!


Base price includes:
Standard access with complete dirt haul) variable speed pump with safety vacuum release system, 520 sq. ft. filter, pool & spa lights, 1.0 H.P. spa blower, two skimmers, four returns, dual safety drains (all individually plumbed), sun touch control system with freeze protection (controls pool pump, pool cleaner, and lights), complete electrical hook u with up to 100’ of conduit, marble white o smoke gray plaster)choice of standard waterline frost proo tit&ffãfne or precast coping, start up with pole, brush, net, test kit,
thermometer, and lifetime transferable warranty.
Option Quantity Description Unit Price Ext Price

1 BASE POOL & SPA 450 SQ FT
BASE POOLS TOTAL ___________
3 1 PALLET OF SOD 425.00 1275.00
1 SPRINKLER REROUTE 1350.00 1350.00
1 SPRINKLER REPAIR FRONT & SIDES 500.00 500.00
YARD PREP TOTAL __________
I REMOVE & REPLACE WOOD FENCE
FENCE TOTAL ___________
SRETURN 2 SPA RETURN OVER 4 40.00 80.00
MRSPILL I MOSS ROCK SPILLWAY 450.00 450.00
RAISEI2 1 RAISEDSPAI2 1500.00 1500.00
SPA TOTAL 2030.
BWASH BACKWASH 275.00 275.00
I.5PIPE 1.5 “P,P2. J/w4i’- £ 2.75 385.00
FILLINE FILL LINE UP TO 20 OF 0.5
PLUMBING TOTAL ___________
DEEPBEN DEEP END BENCH 37.00 222.00
TANNING TANNING LEDGE UP TO 50 SQ FT 500.00 500.00
TABLETO TABLE TOP W/COPING & TILE 500.00 500.00
GUNITE TOTAL ___________
BASEGAS 01 1ST GAS LINE MINIMUM 65 1100.00 1100.00
PTRAP 01 P-TRAP 325.00 325.00
1425.001
MOSSROC 01
COPCRED 01
I BOOSTER PUMP HOOK UP
ELECTRICAL TOTAL ___________
558 W/AGG Deck
DRAINS 10 DECK DRAINS
VBSLEEV 2 VOLLEYOALL-SLEEVE
DECKING TOTAL __________
1 MASTIC UPTO 100
MASTIC TOTAL __________
1 520 CARTRIDGE FILTER 0.00 0.00
1 BOOSTER PUMP 1 .5HP 475.00 475.00
I Sun touch Control
1 400,000 BTU HEATER 2400.00 2400.00
1 IN-LINE CHLORINATOR 150.00 150.00
1 OZONE SYSTEM 700.00 700.00

 

[BoDarville]

Hi pktman:

Welcome to TFP

Looks like a nice overall design! Noticed it includes a variable speed main pump. If this is your first pool, you may not realize how much energy this will save you compared to a traditional single-speed pump.

I have some familiarity with what you are going through now as we considered putting in a pool at our former house. We instead chose a new house on a much quieter street that had a pool. Not knowing a lot about pools at the time, we lucked out in several ways regarding the design & equipment with this pool. The other thing learned from that move is to avoid over-customizing anything (not just pools) from the perspective of resale.

If it were up to me, I would ditch the following:

• 1. Table Top W/Coping & Tile $500 (assuming this is the table with umbrella in the end of the pool near the spa). As much as I like cold adult beverages in the pool, I do a lot of lap swimming and that table would be a real turn off to me. Even for casual swimmers, it just seems like something to bump into (especially if you have kids). If you really want that, there are portable immersible tables/stools made out of molded plastic that can be removed when not in use or in the event you decide to sell the house one day.

• 2. Booster pump and related hookup / plumbing ($475 + pump hookup & related electrical). Yes, this will limit your choice of robot vacuums to those that operate without a booster pump, but that's the setup we have and I'm real happy with it.

• 3. Ozone System $700. This is not needed in a private residential pool IMHO. Ozone is an oxidizer, not a sanitizer. In an outdoor residential pool, things that need oxidizing (mostly CC), are fairly rare in a well maintained pool. If we were talking about a public pool, then it has more value since there are much more CC's to oxidize. I maintain a crystal clear pool using nothing but liquid chlorine and an occasional dose of muriatic acid or baking soda.

• 4. I would favor a sand filter over a cartridge filter for ease of maintenance. Straight out of the box, a cartridge filter will filter out finer particles than a sand filter. However, DE or cellulose fiber can be added to a sand filter to elevate the filtering capability of a sand filter to be on par with a cartridge filter but with less maintenance. See http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/add_de_to_a_sand_filter for more info on that.

• 5. I'm on the fence about the Moss Rock Spillway (assuming that's the large waterfall near the plantings). Water features like that can add significantly to the cost. If you eliminated that, check & see if you would need extra returns in its place and if so, see what the cost of those would be and net it against the cost of the waterfall.

One thing I (fortunately) do not see on your list is pop-up in-floor pool cleaner heads. Surprised they didn't push that. Decline if they offer it. All three bids we got on putting in a pool at our old house really pushed those. The people I know that have those wish they didn't. Last thing you need is unnecessary plumbing underneath your pool. A robotic pool vac cleans just as well and is much easier to deal with.

Also didn't see a vacuum port - may be included with your cleaner/vac package but make sure.

Wouldn't go overboard on plantings either, especially trees and leafy shrubs. You would be surprised how much of that stuff will get in the pool. Keep it really simple.

My recommendations appear to have knocked off at least $1,700 (based on the numbers you said to ignore) Maybe more (still not sure about all the costs related to the booster pump). Not quite to where you want to be $ wise, but it's a start.