Newbie here - considering new pool build in North Texas

[DFWguy]

Hello all -

Lot's of great info here. I have been lurking for a while and figured I might as well join.

We bought our home here in Keller TX July 2014 as a foreclosure. Got a great deal on the house and was able to customize to our liking and still came in with 70-100K instant equity. House is 420-450K as is. Many neighbors have pools. Wife and kids want a pool desperately and I, being the financial brains of the household, have reservations. I would be perfectly content with a large stamped concrete patio/pergola/firepit. We already have a nice balcony and outdoor kitchen.

- We have a .25 acre lot and a rather large home, so the backyard with a pool would leave us with a relatively small yard left over to utilize for play.
- Knowing that we will not get our investment back, it is difficult for me to rationalize spending 50-60K. If we go this direction, I would rather stay with a simplistic design and try to keep expenses down (35-40k??)
- I do not imagine us being in this home for more than 10 years, however, it is possible.

On the flip side:

- Kids are 3 and 11 so I would likely get a lot of use out of it.
- Given the fact we scored big on the purchase - we would not be underwater on the house if we did decide to sell earlier than later
- Happy wife, happy life!


Please give me your feedback and thoughts.

 

[kriv]

We are in Plano and love our pool. My kids are in between yours, 9 and 5. We spend most of our weekends out there May - Aug, sometimes into September. I feel you with the new pool $$, it is a large purchase that won't directly add to the value of the home. We purchased our house with a pool so didn't have that decision, but we did not look at any houses without a pool when we were moving to Texas. I am currently remodeling our pool and went with what I liked, rather than what was necessary, because of the time and enjoyment we get from the pool.


For us, it would be worth the investment into the lifestyle and how much we enjoy it. If it is worth it to you, will depend on your family. We think of it as always being at a resort.

 

[pooldv]

We love our pool more than we even thought we would. You can build a nice pool for $40-45k if you skip the hot tub and automation. We bought a hut tub later and put it on a covered patio and love that too!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I think a house in the 450K range *should* have a pool. People expect a bit of luxury and spoiling at that price, especially in Texas where home prices are lower than so many other places.
I'd vote for a simple rectangle, perhaps a vinyl pool (often less than gunnite and fiberglass) and just run it on a simple timer with a SWG. No fancy automation required, and if you cared you could add it later.
You'll be amazed at how much you'll enjoy the pool. I kick Skippy often regretting our waiting till the kids were gone before putting our pool in.

Yippee

 

[Isaac-1]

The culture of pools varies by region, for the DFW area I would tend to say a cheap looking pool is more of a liability in a house like this when it comes time to sell a house than no pool at all. In Texas, particularly the DFW area this mean pool must be gunite, and stone coping is a real plus, and turn key basic looking rectangular pools are generally a negative.

Now that I have that out of the way, there is no reason why you can't put in a relatively inexpensive pool, you just need to make sure it does not look "cheap". Skip the bells and whistles, no spa, no fancy automation system, probably no or fewer color changing pool lights, just go with plain white pool light, go with concrete coping perhaps with some stone accents, just don't let it look cheap, leave room to add an outdoor entertainment / cooking area, etc..

As you go through the process of selecting features for your pool, ask yourself a couple of questions, is this a feature I can live without (deck wash jets, in floor cleaning, automation system, water effects (fountain, waterfall, etc.), and ask yourself if this feature is something that a potential home buyer would likely remember and care about when it comes time to sell. For example people spend lots of money on pool lighting with multi-color LED' that cycle through color palettes, sync with music, and in general look nice at night, almost all home visits by potential home buyers occur in the daytime, so this feature will never be seen by the potential buyer, and unless they were already pool people they would not know to ask about such things, and even if they were chances are they are being overwhelmed trying to remember details from the other 4 houses they saw that day. On the other hand the thing they will notice is that "ugly pool" in the yard if you go cheap the wrong way, this goes for pool people and non pool people alike, and as a pool person if I were shopping for a house (something my wife and I have done a bit of off and on over the last few years), I would often consider the house without a pool vs the one that had a cheap, and more importantly unimprovable pool

Ike.

 

[BoDarville]

Welcome to TFP!

I'm in the "go with basic quality and cut out the frills" camp. I would go with gunite and some stone coping. Would stick with a pool that is not too deep such as a 4-5-4 where the "deep" end is around 5 feet in the middle. Here are a few items that I would think about:

1. I would spring for a 2-speed pump which wouldn't cost that much more than a single-speed these days. It will save you big on the electric bill, though.
2. Pool light: Would price out a basic LED vs. traditional halogen. If the price difference is small, I would go with the LED - otherwise go with the halogen. I have 500W halogen and usually only have the light on when we are entertaining, so it can't have that much impact on the electric bill.
3. Pool Cleaner: The two main type are pressure-side (e.g., Polaris) or robot (e.g., Dolphin).
4. Pool Surface: Spend some time on this one. Evaluate the plaster alternatives and consider life expectancy vs. initial cost. Refinishing the pool surface requires draining & refilling. During certain stages of water restrictions, you need a permit to drain & refill a pool. Depending on how bad the current water situation is, you may not get approved. With water restrictions being more common than not, anything you can do to avoid drain & refills is a big plus.
5. SWG or manual chlorination. If you travel a lot, I would consider a SWG. Otherwise go with manual chlorination. I would teach the older child basic pool water maintenance so they can share in maintaining the pool and can fill in when you are out of town.

Definitely avoid the automation systems, in-floor cleaners, and fancy multi-colored lights.

 

[DFWguy]

Thanks so much for the input guys. I really appreciate it. I initiated a conversation with Accent Pools in Arlington today. Had a great talk with Tom Monahan. Got my survey to him and we are beginning to plan. I will update you with how this plays out.

 

[pooldv]

I predict it will play out with ya'll doing a little swimming!