Has anyone bought a pool plan from Build Your Own Pool | DIY Pool Plans ? Are they legit? I am looking to a build a gunite 20x40 pool and going through my own build vs PB. I dont have plans and I thought of getting plans from this website? Has anyone bought plans from diypoolplans.com? If so, whats your feedback? Or any other good online pool plan sellers for owner-builders?
DIY Pool Plans
- Thread starter pooler_all
- Start date
- May 3, 2007
- 17,022
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
I would be very careful because some cities will accept engineering drawings only from those engineering firms that have been approved by the city. Found that out when I built my pool. So you might be better off going to the city building department and finding out which firms they will accept drawings from and purchase it from one of them. My drawings were only about $500 but that was 15 years ago.
The other thing I found out is that some of the subcontractors used for pool builds are reluctant to work directly with home owners so they will tend to jack up the price and in many areas, there isn't a lot of choice so you are stuck. So hiring an independent contractor/consultant for the pool build may be money well spent.
If you decide to go it alone, get all of your subs under contract before starting so you know what you are dealing with. You may not save much money and could cost more than going through a PB. Especially for gunite/plaster pools. Vinyl and fiberglass are probably a bit easier for a DIY build.
The other thing I found out is that some of the subcontractors used for pool builds are reluctant to work directly with home owners so they will tend to jack up the price and in many areas, there isn't a lot of choice so you are stuck. So hiring an independent contractor/consultant for the pool build may be money well spent.
If you decide to go it alone, get all of your subs under contract before starting so you know what you are dealing with. You may not save much money and could cost more than going through a PB. Especially for gunite/plaster pools. Vinyl and fiberglass are probably a bit easier for a DIY build.
I did my own site plan that the city wanted, and that was very easy. Just a simple sketch of my house, the pool, equipment and the proposed gas/electrical lines. I used some software, but a friend of mine hand drew his. For the engineering I used a local company and was very happy with it. That was only $400.
I'm going down the owner builder path right now - scheduling contractors is going to be the toughest part but it will save me tens of thousands.
That site doesn't look too unreasonable for the cost, but you may be able to do most of what they provide yourself as well.
I'm going down the owner builder path right now - scheduling contractors is going to be the toughest part but it will save me tens of thousands.
That site doesn't look too unreasonable for the cost, but you may be able to do most of what they provide yourself as well.