Considering DIY IG in Northern Cincinnati, Ohio (Kings Island) area. I have quite a bit of experience in construction, and even pool maintenance (above ground though), but none with pool building. Saw the kits online and am considering and was looking for any feed back and recommendations. I built (GC'ed) and wired my own house. Will have pull permits and have everything inspected. Thinking I could DIY the plumbing and electric but would sub everything else out/could provide muscle/basic assembly for pool walls. The kits I have looked at so far are from PoolWarehouse.com Any thoughts/opinions/tips? Thanks!
Considering DIY IG in Northern Cincinnati, Ohio (Kings Island) area
- Thread starter wilsjay
- Start date
I don't have any advice on DIY construction - just wanted to say welcome from another Northern Cincinnatian! There are some great DIY threads here, so be sure to check those out. There are also a lot of experts here that can help with plumbing, electrical, equipment, etc. questions, so don't hesitate to ask. Good luck with your build - be sure to post pictures!!
Thanks Mike! Been reading the DIY threads about non-stop. Really having a tough time trying to find someone that digs pools, finishes the vermiculite on the bottom and can help level/square the walls. Was hoping to get some good leads on here. Once I get those I will be asking a 1000 questions about which equipment to go with. 
I did my pool and would not wish the experience on my worst enemy! However, I am in a very rural area and did not have any opportunity to sub many things out and the few things that I did sub out were not done buy anyone remotely familiar with pool building. Being a perfectionist did not help either. I will say that I believe I have a better pool than if I hired it out. I originally decided to build my own pool because I thought I could save money and I think actually it cost me more. I refuse to add up all the bills so as to spare me the agony of knowing. All this being said there are many people on this forum that have built their own pool and had very few issues.
That is not what I was hoping to hear! I live less than 5 min. from the express way, but still out in the country a bit. Hoping that works in my favor.
Jay, I am in the middle of my DIY now. So far all has gone very good and I'm very happy I took this route. All in I will be at $16,000-$17,000 for a 20'x40' pool with upgrades. The only things I subbed out is excavation ($1,000) and installing the pool krete ($1,350). I have a tread going, (http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/78164-DIY-20-x-40-in-Watson-Louisiana) so feel free to PM me any questions you have and I will give you what I have. Go by the local pool companies and ask for names of people that do what you are needing. I got my excavation guy from a pool installer and he gave the pool krete intallers name. Good luck!
That is more along the lines of what I was hoping to hear! The few pool companies I have called flat will not give me names of their subs. Maybe I am asking in the wrong way. Any tips on what/how to ask them? I will definitely check out your thread tonight! Wish you lived closer so I could check it out and use same people! Is pool krete and vermiculite same thing? Also where did you get your kit from?
I went with AquaTech to build my pool. They are on Reading/42 just south of Mason. I'm pretty sure that most of the guys that they used to do the heavy work - digging, vermiculite, etc. were contractors. It might be worth calling them and asking if they can refer someone for these services. It seems like some of the guys were from EastGate Pools, but I'm not sure. The only contractor that I dealt with directly was the electrician, who is awesome. I'd be happy to send his info if you're interested.Thanks Mike! Been reading the DIY threads about non-stop. Really having a tough time trying to find someone that digs pools, finishes the vermiculite on the bottom and can help level/square the walls. Was hoping to get some good leads on here. Once I get those I will be asking a 1000 questions about which equipment to go with.
Thanks Mike I will give them a shout. I think I can handle the electrical work as I wired my own house when we built it, have questions though. Just curious how much did yours charge you and did you do a heater/heat pump?
I'm pretty sure it was in the 3K range. I do have a heat pump, but I'm not sure how much that affected the price. He had to run 220 from one side of the house to the other, through my basement. I think this is what cost the most. He's an inspector for Butler County - it was really nice to be comfortable knowing that he knew exactly what he was doing and that it would all be within code.
Bravo to you for even considering taking on the project. I work for a pool company in NY as a Maintenance/Service Tech, but I spent my first year on the construction crew doing vinyl liner inground pools. I will tell you that its not rocket science, but it involves a good amount of back breaking labor. There are some things that are much easier if you know the tricks, but overall, you should be able to figure it out. The only part that in my opinion requires any really specialized skill would be trowling the vermiculite base. I've watched quite a few guys try it and only a handful were able to get a nice flat result.
If I were looking for guys to do parts of the build, I might keep my eyes out for pools being built in your area. Stop in and talk to the guys on the crew. I know most of the guys I work with live for side work.
A word of caution with regard to the electric, make sure you check the codes. There are some pool specific things you need to get right. The grounding and bonding can be kind of funny if you don't work on pools.
If I were looking for guys to do parts of the build, I might keep my eyes out for pools being built in your area. Stop in and talk to the guys on the crew. I know most of the guys I work with live for side work.
A word of caution with regard to the electric, make sure you check the codes. There are some pool specific things you need to get right. The grounding and bonding can be kind of funny if you don't work on pools.
I used Royal swimming pools for the kit. Pool krete is a brand name like everyone calls a weed trimmer a "weedeater" it is a combination of vermiculite, Portland cement, and sand.
Thanks guys keep the info coming!!! I really appreciate it!
@Mike - I will definitely do everything to code. For the electrical work, I will actually go up to the building dept. office and talk with them, tell them what I am doing and ask them for exactly what I need to do. When I built my house I found them very helpful if you went and asked them before you did anything and then failed the inspections.
@TreeFiter- That is kind of what I figured, but don't see any pools being built. Would love to spot one and hit them up. I did that a lot when I built the house and worked out great.
@Bckcx2 - Thanks! Any reason why you chose Royal over someone else?
@Mike - I will definitely do everything to code. For the electrical work, I will actually go up to the building dept. office and talk with them, tell them what I am doing and ask them for exactly what I need to do. When I built my house I found them very helpful if you went and asked them before you did anything and then failed the inspections.
@TreeFiter- That is kind of what I figured, but don't see any pools being built. Would love to spot one and hit them up. I did that a lot when I built the house and worked out great.
@Bckcx2 - Thanks! Any reason why you chose Royal over someone else?
Forgot to ask any threads/tips on how to level/square the pool walls? Do I need a transom for that?
I rented a laser transit for the dig but just used a 6 foot framing level to get the walls right.
Jay royal has the options to upgrade or remove every part of the pool such as pump filter lights and so forth. I found every site is close on their prices.
I did not know that about Royal. How was their service/would you recommend them over anyone else? Did you use a string or anything to make sure they were square and that one side was level with the other side of the pool? Those are my big concerns. Also wondered how much concrete to order/how to pour footers. Video shows them using a concrete pumper truck, but was wondering if that was the norm.
Yea royal has been good. I had one question so far and was able to speak to someone right away to get a answer. For my size pool I used 8 yrds and I used a Georgia buggy to haul and pour the concrete collar.
Never used one of those. How long did it take to pour 8yds start to finish with the buggy? Did you concrete around main drains?
We DIYed ours and are very happy with it, we were able to upgrade many of the finishes over what we got quotes from a PB. We spent about 15k for the pool install not including he deck since we went with travertine. I planned to do most the install after the excavation was completed but he gave me the name of a PB that was willing to do other pieces of the project like pool bottom and electrical.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk