New Pool Build - Naples, Florida
- Thread starter hhuang2620
- Start date
I'm not sure, but I'm curious when comparing the cartridge size I'm getting. If I did the Pool Math correctly to calculate your pool volume in gallons, I come up with about 24,000. With mine, I come up with about 26,000. I'm getting the next size up cartridge (I think considering Pentair vs Jandy) from your 420. So does my extra 2,000 gallons make it reasonable for me to go up a cartridge size, but overkill for you to do the same? I don't know. It seems to me that our 2,000 gallon difference puts us in the same range. This is what I'm curious about..... Thanks! Suz.
I will let the experts answer this as I have no clue. I am not even sure I am calculating the gallons of my yet to be built pool correctly. I am coming out to be 17,000. Probably give or take a 1,000 gallons.
I rather be safe than sorry so likely going for 420. The funny thing is most people are saying go bigger as you won't have to clean as often. Not sure in my case it will make that big of difference as I will have a screen enclosure and I will also be hiring a pool service to treat and clean pool on weekly basis.
I rather be safe than sorry so likely going for 420. The funny thing is most people are saying go bigger as you won't have to clean as often. Not sure in my case it will make that big of difference as I will have a screen enclosure and I will also be hiring a pool service to treat and clean pool on weekly basis.
I look at it like this. Do you want $420 or $520? The only downside of having $520 is your wallet is fatter. Is that really a problem? 
The only downside of getting a bigger filter is that you have to clean it less. And it costs a little more and it is a little bigger.
The only downside of getting a bigger filter is that you have to clean it less. And it costs a little more and it is a little bigger.
Around here, they brush only with most service plans so it all goes into your filter anyway. That said, they probably won't really clean your filter. They'll hose it off in the filter housing with the plug out occasionally and then replace it (on your dime) annually whether it needs it or not, so you are correct it would likely be a waste to get a bigger filter. The real negative to most service companies is they will use shock if your numbers are ever off instead of adjusting your SWG, CYA or ph. There is near zero root cause analysis in the pool cleaning business. At least that is my experience.
I highly suggest you getting to know your pool and avoid this monthly bill and better control your own chemistry. After learning my pool, I can get away with testing water weekly, brushing or vacuuming once a month and not touch another thing for several months at a time. I have an intelliph that helps put muriatic acid into the pool regularly to keep my ph in check. That's my most maintenance intensive part of pool ownership. I have to fill the muriatic acid every couple months because ph control is crucial here in the sunshine state. If you do get a service, try to understand what it includes. With a well balanced salt water pool, it really just turns into a guy sweeping your pool for 10 minutes max once a week. It wasn't worth it to me. I spent the money on better equipment to make maintenance easier. That's the joy of a Salt pool, it doesn't need a weekly infusion of chemicals once you get it balanced. It's not for everyone but I like spending time working on my pool.
While I am still ironing out the details of the PB contract, I've hit an issue and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. Sorry for the long email but need to provide context of the situation.
I originally worked with 1 PB and got to a new final agreement and rendering. The price was high so I decided to approach another PB and ask them for a bid. The second PB came in at about 16% cheaper so I decided to start working with him and put the first PB on the back burner as the first PB wouldn't make any more changes to the contract unless I signed as is and paid a deposit as he probably suspected me shopping around my pool plans. As I engaged with the second PB more I realized, there were details of his bid that were not the same as the first PB. For example, the second PB's bid had Pentair 200 and regular deck jets compared to Pentair 320 and laminar deck jets of the first PB. After luckily stumbling on to TFP, I started to better educate myself on the details around the equipment and lights etc so I started making changes to the second PB's contract. He has been absolutely helpful and has accommodated all my changes although the price has creeped up a bit. I am very focused on attention to detail and want the contract to reflect exactly what I would be getting to prevent any issues or misunderstandings during the construction process. The second PB accommodated all of this as I made it clear to him I was sitting in Hong Kong and will not be on the ground when the pool is being built thus wanted to make sure we were on the same page. Most recently I started researching more glass tile and asked the PB to get me quotes on price per sf so I can decide whether to stay with my original selection or go with another. As price was going up, I asked him if you could reevaluate the proposal as a whole and give me his best price to see if I can get the price down a bit.
This is when I didn't hear from the PB in over a few days and just received an email saying "due to unforseen personal obligations" he will have to withdraw his bid. Now you have to understand. The house I am constructing doesn't close until end of June and I was upfront with him from day one that I am flexible when the pool is built as long as its done by xmas, which he originally said...no problem at all. So if something personal did come up could it really be that it makes him unavailable to build my pool in a 6 month window?
Now that he has pulled his bid, I am left high and dry and no idea where to start. I am not sure if he decided my attention to detail would be too troublesome or perhaps I offended him trying to negotiate a lower price. I really don't know. The frustrating part was that the contract and details were 99.9% done and I intended on signing and wiring my deposit any day now and only asked for his best price based on my usual negotiating methods to see if there is any room to squeeze. I am actually quite keen to work with this PB as he was referred by a friend who has built a pool with this PB and the fact that the owner of the PB company is directly involved in all aspects and will be heading the construction himself.
Any ideas and suggestions on how I should move forward?
I originally worked with 1 PB and got to a new final agreement and rendering. The price was high so I decided to approach another PB and ask them for a bid. The second PB came in at about 16% cheaper so I decided to start working with him and put the first PB on the back burner as the first PB wouldn't make any more changes to the contract unless I signed as is and paid a deposit as he probably suspected me shopping around my pool plans. As I engaged with the second PB more I realized, there were details of his bid that were not the same as the first PB. For example, the second PB's bid had Pentair 200 and regular deck jets compared to Pentair 320 and laminar deck jets of the first PB. After luckily stumbling on to TFP, I started to better educate myself on the details around the equipment and lights etc so I started making changes to the second PB's contract. He has been absolutely helpful and has accommodated all my changes although the price has creeped up a bit. I am very focused on attention to detail and want the contract to reflect exactly what I would be getting to prevent any issues or misunderstandings during the construction process. The second PB accommodated all of this as I made it clear to him I was sitting in Hong Kong and will not be on the ground when the pool is being built thus wanted to make sure we were on the same page. Most recently I started researching more glass tile and asked the PB to get me quotes on price per sf so I can decide whether to stay with my original selection or go with another. As price was going up, I asked him if you could reevaluate the proposal as a whole and give me his best price to see if I can get the price down a bit.
This is when I didn't hear from the PB in over a few days and just received an email saying "due to unforseen personal obligations" he will have to withdraw his bid. Now you have to understand. The house I am constructing doesn't close until end of June and I was upfront with him from day one that I am flexible when the pool is built as long as its done by xmas, which he originally said...no problem at all. So if something personal did come up could it really be that it makes him unavailable to build my pool in a 6 month window?
Now that he has pulled his bid, I am left high and dry and no idea where to start. I am not sure if he decided my attention to detail would be too troublesome or perhaps I offended him trying to negotiate a lower price. I really don't know. The frustrating part was that the contract and details were 99.9% done and I intended on signing and wiring my deposit any day now and only asked for his best price based on my usual negotiating methods to see if there is any room to squeeze. I am actually quite keen to work with this PB as he was referred by a friend who has built a pool with this PB and the fact that the owner of the PB company is directly involved in all aspects and will be heading the construction himself.
Any ideas and suggestions on how I should move forward?
I think he started looking over your bid and found that he was going to lose money or not have as big profit margin as he would like so he pulled his bid. These are just my thoughts with no basis just a gut feeling.
I would try to contact 2 or 3 other builders OR try to talk (as in using the phone instead of e-mail which I know will be hard with you being out of the country) to PB#2 and see if he will reconsider.
I LOVE you house. The pool design is nice also.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
Kim
I would try to contact 2 or 3 other builders OR try to talk (as in using the phone instead of e-mail which I know will be hard with you being out of the country) to PB#2 and see if he will reconsider.
I LOVE you house. The pool design is nice also.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
Kim
I agree, that is the likely scenario.
The contractor is sizing you up as much as you are sizing him up. A similar thing happened to myself. Some contractors (if they can afford it) won't deal with what they perceive as hyper price sensitive customers.
- Jul 16, 2012
- 7,211
- Pool Size
- 27000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Consider this to be fortuitous instead of bad luck. If he does indeed have an issue with how you work, you want to know that now. If it was unrelated, then it is what it is.
Time to find another PB and put all you've learned to work for a quicker bid process than the first time around.
Sorry to hear about the turn of events.
Time to find another PB and put all you've learned to work for a quicker bid process than the first time around.
Sorry to hear about the turn of events.
Thanks guys for your views. Really appreciate it. I am contacting a couple more PBs now. Quick question, would you rather go with a smaller PB where the owner is involved every step of the way but perhaps they are smaller but cheaper or would you rather pay a premium (let say 10% higher) to work with a larger more established reputable PB?
I think the most important part is to find a builder you trust and can work with. My neighbor of 9 years is a one man PB who has been building pools over 30 years. I didn't even get other bids. We talked about it several times, we liked his ideas and we did it on a handshake. I know him, I like him and I trust him. And I love my pool!
Ask for their last 5 pools and if you can contact the people from their past pools for whoever you talk to.
You will have a harder time than most because you will not be there. You are going to HAVE to find someone you trust to look and oversee for you. Someone to be your eyes, ears, voice.
Kim
You will have a harder time than most because you will not be there. You are going to HAVE to find someone you trust to look and oversee for you. Someone to be your eyes, ears, voice.
Kim
I would much prefer to work with a small builder who is on site for each stage of construction. In my experience the big builders donor adequately supervise the construction process. All of the mistakes only build ( and there were an inordinate amount) was due to lack of the most basic supervision. And had I not been so well educated by this site, many significant things would have been wrong.
Design opinions please...
I've been revisiting my pool design. Wondering if you guys think I should just move the spa to the swim out area which would then give me an entire pool to swim?
I've been revisiting my pool design. Wondering if you guys think I should just move the spa to the swim out area which would then give me an entire pool to swim?
karynkjd
0
I have some new drawings to illustrate the idea of moving the spa to the right side. Pic 1&2 are slight variations on this layout with only difference being the location of steps. Pic 3 is original layout with spa on left side.
To me the pros of having there spa on the right is it opens up the pool for more swimming and also moved the sun deck closer to the house but the cons is I lose the 18" deep swim out as it would be replaced with the spa.
The pros of pic 3 the original layout is I can have the 18" deep swim out and the spa on the left corner kind of makes it a visual focal point.
Looking for opinions from everyone on TFP.
To me the pros of having there spa on the right is it opens up the pool for more swimming and also moved the sun deck closer to the house but the cons is I lose the 18" deep swim out as it would be replaced with the spa.
The pros of pic 3 the original layout is I can have the 18" deep swim out and the spa on the left corner kind of makes it a visual focal point.
Looking for opinions from everyone on TFP.
oh yeah, some people have deeper shelves, like 9 or 12. Ours is 6ish. I think a little deeper would be nice.