Building my own pool in North Jersey

[ksungela]

Well, here it goes, after 2 years of requests by you know who for an inground pool, I'm finally giving in. Although I was open to having it built by a "pool builder" if the price was right, I was pretty sure I would wind up G.C. the job myself since it worked out well 5 years ago when we added on and fully renovated our house. However, to get things started, we hired ($500) a pool company over the summer to design and estimate the cost of the pool based on our requirements/desires. I also contacted contractors for each phase of the construction to develop my own estimate. The pool company's design and estimate are below.
The additional items not included in the estimate would total about $22K (utilities $4000, fencing 7500, landscaping 5000, tree work 2500, site plans 700, permit fees 1500, structural plans 750).
Our budget was $150K, so the pool builder option wasn't going to work.

For all my hardwork ahead, my wife agreed to our purchasing a new corvette convertible for us (me ) which I'll take delivery of next week. Pictures to follow.

 

[bigdav160]

Welcome to the club from an owner/builder and fellow Corvette convertible owner ('67 and '72)!

 

[dmanb2b]

Welcome to TFP...please post pics of both the pool progress and the car

 

[masong]

WOW...is tht ever expensive... My Custom 24 X 42 with built in steps and underwater bench, diving board and slide, plus a 325,000BTU propane heater, all plumbing included and Mosiacs was @ 23,500...This also covered the retaining wall as my pool was ground level out my back door, then had to be formed 6 feet at the other end as my yard was horriably sloped...retaining wall is 6 feet high... Also a custom planter box around a Cherry tree the wife refused to let me take a chainsaw too.. Plus a massive decking around...

Yes..I have had some problems with mine , and total cost to fix so far is 6 grand, as the fill settled and some decking sank 1 1/2" ...now I am tearing out the brick coping for stone, and replacing the tiles...Price to be disclosed upon an estimate...I bet its not gonna be cheap... I did however learn the hard way where my builder made mistakes...fortuniatly my shell is in great shape as it was contracted out....

Best to you on your project... I don't do vets, my son n law does that..i do the Harley thing as my toys..

 

[ksungela]

Stay tuned bigdav... you're going to like what you see.
Tree guys were here on Thursday, 4 days ahead of schedule. Rained out on Friday. They'll be back Monday to finish up.
I should get permits in about a week to begin digging.

 

[dmanb2b]

WOW...is tht ever expensive... My Custom 24 X 42 with built in steps and underwater bench, diving board and slide, plus a 325,000BTU propane heater, all plumbing included and Mosiacs was @ 23,500...This also covered the retaining wall as my pool was ground level out my back door, then had to be formed 6 feet at the other end as my yard was horriably sloped...retaining wall is 6 feet high... Also a custom planter box around a Cherry tree the wife refused to let me take a chainsaw too.. Plus a massive decking around...

Yes..I have had some problems with mine , and total cost to fix so far is 6 grand, as the fill settled and some decking sank 1 1/2" ...now I am tearing out the brick coping for stone, and replacing the tiles...Price to be disclosed upon an estimate...I bet its not gonna be cheap... I did however learn the hard way where my builder made mistakes...fortuniatly my shell is in great shape as it was contracted out....

Best to you on your project... I don't do vets, my son n law does that..i do the Harley thing as my toys..

Cost varies tremendously depending on location. $23,500 in the suburbs of NYC would barely buy you a entry level vinyl lined IGP and that's assuming you are a DIY'er...more likely around $25-$30K.

 

[masong]

WOW...is tht ever expensive... My Custom 24 X 42 with built in steps and underwater bench, diving board and slide, plus a 325,000BTU propane heater, all plumbing included and Mosiacs was @ 23,500...This also covered the retaining wall as my pool was ground level out my back door, then had to be formed 6 feet at the other end as my yard was horriably sloped...retaining wall is 6 feet high... Also a custom planter box around a Cherry tree the wife refused to let me take a chainsaw too.. Plus a massive decking around...

Yes..I have had some problems with mine , and total cost to fix so far is 6 grand, as the fill settled and some decking sank 1 1/2" ...now I am tearing out the brick coping for stone, and replacing the tiles...Price to be disclosed upon an estimate...I bet its not gonna be cheap... I did however learn the hard way where my builder made mistakes...fortuniatly my shell is in great shape as it was contracted out....

Best to you on your project... I don't do vets, my son n law does that..i do the Harley thing as my toys..

Cost varies tremendously depending on location. $23,500 in the suburbs of NYC would barely buy you a entry level vinyl lined IGP and that's assuming you are a DIY'er...more likely around $25-$30K.

Oh yes I do realise that... I am well aquainted of the cost's up north, having lived in Manhatten in my younger years.... I guess the old addage holds true...We're all broke as the next, just on different levels...

 

[ksungela]

The tree work is done. I planned on that being a $1500 expense, but the tree guy convinced me to take down 5 more trees than I originally planned so it came to $3200 total...pay me now, or pay me 2x next year. It was a good decision, more sun on the pool and less junk from the trees in it.
I'm still waiting for permits, so I started playing around with the layout..the more I think about it, the more the layout changes...for the better I think. The picture below shows the fence line (green hose) and patio edge (gray pavers) and the pool corners (green stakes...hard to see). I think it might be a little to cramped, but my landscaper is coming over this afternoon to discuss.

I need to run #4 wire from my main circuit panel in my garage to the equipment pad for a 100 amp sub panel. My electrician suggested a Jandy 6614AP-L or 6614-LD. The first integrates the salt generator, the second does not. I have pool only and plan on using the Jandy PDA thing for remote control. Does anybody have any opinions about the Jandy salt generator? I guess it makes sense to get the integrated power panel if I go with the Jandy salt system. So many salt generator brands to choose from.

Looks like Frankenstorm might impact my shedule next week should I get permits by then. Can control the weather, just adapt to it.....

 

[ksungela]

My "new" corvette was delivered to me on Friday. Well, its "new" to me. Needs a little work. I plan on doing a resto-mod on it and will certainly take longer to finish than the pool. I'll have fun doing both projects.

 

[dmanb2b]

Now that's sweet! Keep her safe from Sandy!

 

[ksungela]

Grrr....still waiting on permits. The town engineer still doesn't have power so can't work in his office to process my soil movement permit. So, I'm stuck. 3" of snow on the ground tonight isn't helping.

 

[ksungela]

Received permits last Wed. Started digging today...finally. Should be done tomorrow. :-D

 

[ksungela]

I was hauling the dirt 1/2 mile away, until they said "no more dirt".
Too good to last, so after calling around for an hour trying to find a new site to haul the dirt to, we just decided to store it on site so we can get the hole dug. It's against the soil movement permit to store on site, but oh well.
Safety fencing up. Plumber may come Friday or Saturday to stub things out. Steel hopefully Sat. or Monday. Making progress.
Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[PAGirl]

My "new" corvette was delivered to me on Friday. Well, its "new" to me. Needs a little work. I plan on doing a resto-mod on it and will certainly take longer to finish than the pool. I'll have fun doing both projects.

Funny thing..., I just said the other day to my husband that you rarely ever see a rusted out Corvette sitting out any where. Guess there is such a thing, lol. Good luck with both projects! Hopefully you can find someone who is looking for fill dirt soon.

 

[bigdav160]

Hey, no, Corvettes don't rust on the outside because the body is made of fiberglass.
Don't worry, I'm sure the OP's will look like mine after the pool is finished.



[attachment=0:37ifpn7a]1967Corvette.jpg[/attachment:37ifpn7a]

 

[ksungela]

Hey Bigdav,
I see you have a Pentair control system with Jandy Watercolor light's. I hear the Jandy light aren't completely compatible with the Pentair control system. Any reason why you chose to mix brands?
I was set to use the Jandy control, but think the Pentair lights are better (better lenses I read).
Still stripping paint off the vette...

 

[bigdav160]

Ken , no other reason than I am cheap. I would have settled for a two speed pump - filter - heater- and timer box but I kept finding deals.
Most of the equipment was purchased at half price.

I've heard the same thing about the Easytouch not controlling the Jandy lights. I'm not sure why because in manual operation they are both controlled by flipping power on and off.

My lights are low voltage and my transformer has a quirk that if it loses power (like via the easytouch) it needs to be manually turned back on. I'm going to look into bypassing it's own on/off switch.

Sorry for the pic hijack. Are you going restore or restro-mod? The bird cage is OK?

 

[ksungela]

Doing a resto-mod Bigdave.
Steel was installed on Saturday. Crew showed up just after 7 and pulled out close to 4 pm. They made and installed a wooden box for the automatic cover, a few shelves in the corner of the deep end, what looks like a love seat in the deep end is actually for a Fastlane by Endless pools. I want the feature, but didn't want it sticking into the pool, so they suggested a niche. 6 x 8 sunshelf. Need to install a pipe for the umbrella hole.
The rebar is doubled up on the far side to provide added strength for bolder waterfalls. 12" pool wall. Maybe overkill, but better safe then sorry. $400 extra cost.
Nice neat job overall, passed inspection today, although the inspector never even went close to the fence to look at it. :?
Plumber was supposed to come on Saturday also, but didn't show. He's one of the best in the area, so pretty busy. I'm probably at the bottom of his list being an owner/builder.
Installed the bonding on Sunday, but my plumber has my light niches, so have to wait for him before I can get a bonding inspection.

I need to wire up the mounting bracket for the Fastlane before gunite, so need to figure out vertical level so it sits just under water, but have enough clearance for my auto cover to go over the top.
The cover company told me the track would go on top of bond beam, but the gunite guy told me he would cut back into the beam for the track. That would drop my elevation 1" from what I expected, but I guess not a big deal to still match up with my existing patio. Cover company told me cutting back would be a better job....why didn't he tell me that in the first place....

I was dead set on getting a heat pump because of cheaper operating costs vs. a gas heater, so I thougth, but I'm getting concerned the heat pump may not work well in the cooler spring and fall months in order to extend the pool season. I've been playing around with this http://noanderson.com/services/swimming ... alculator/ to get make a better decision. As it turns out, the gas heater will be cheaper. I also discounted using gas initially because of the difficulty tapping into my exiting gas piping which runs through my finished basement. But I thought of a different location to tap in which would extend the pipe run outside my house to about 170 ft., but I have to do a lot less demo in my basement. The cost calculator estimated $195/yr. for gas for May-Oct. using a pool cover and 80 water temp. A heat pump would cost $247. Seams really cheap to me. I was anticipating it costing $4-500/month. I ran the calculator again without a pool cover and came up with $1600! Looks like the pool cover is a really good investment.

Thanks for the feedback on lights.

I thought I'd be ready for gunite at the end of the week, but in a holding pattern for now. That's construction, hurry up and wait....

 

[ksungela]

few more pics.

 

[ksungela]

Oh yeah, $3780, for rebar and box install on a 20x40 pool. Some may say I got ripped off, but this is the northeast....and these are the best guys who will also do my gunite.