Getting started! Owner Build in SoCal

[WalkerTribe7]

Hi! We are doing an owner builder in Orange County (Southern California). Just moved beyond the permitting process and moving forward with bids. Hoping to start digging in the next 1-2 weeks. Unfortunately, excavation is A LOT more than we expected, so we’ve been pushed back collecting bids.

We used a designer to help us through the layout,and then we hired a great guy that helps do owner builds. He will come out during large portions of the job (like excavation) and works very closely with the plumber, etc. He is guiding us through the process, which is incredibly helpful.

Tile was HORRIBLE for me because I don’t like the typical pool tile. I wanted something a little different and found a few handmade companies locally. About to order the tile for the pool that is a beautiful rustic handmade white with a ton of variance in color. Also pricing out copper scuppers for water falls that won’t stick out far for the kids jumping.

I will post the detials of equipment once we receive it. Our guy helping us is working with the plumber and going through what is needed. A big issue we’ve hit is the depth. We have a elevated space our kids will jump from and a curved section for the kids to also jump. But with the size and shape of our pool it’s become difficult to slope it down to appropriate depth. I’m hoping to get 8ft by the curved area for diving, and 6 ft at the middle elevated section. We may also bring that top area down one step to help from a tall jump.

It definitely seems like there are way more “little things” to get through than expected. Permitting took FOREVER. But, I’m getting excited to seeing the digging begin.

updates to come soon.

 

[WalkerTribe7]

This is an example of the tile that we love (the white). I’m thinking of using more of a 3x3 instead of the fish scale look. Even though, I LOVE the fish scale. This particular color ceramic is pool grade, there are colors on their line that need additional glaze to make it pool grade, but thankfully we avoided that cost. It’s handmade in Los Angeles, so there is a wait time after I order it for them to make it. But it seems worth the wait. Hoping to also use some smoothed concrete on the raised bond beam instead of all tile for a nice clean modern look.

Would love the scuppers to be copper and aged/oxidized to bring in some pretty green. We will then add some green tile to a few areas like a planter and a warm dark grey for coping and pavers (herringbone pattern). All my tile is from the same company making them, so it will be interesting trying to book my sub contractors while still waiting on receiving my tile and coping and pavers.

Can you tell that im into the design and my husband is dealing with the technically issues, like having to use #5 rebar on the raised bond beam (which significantly raises our prices)?

Details on equipment to be posted soon.

 

[mknauss]

Looks like you have things moving along.

If you are interested in the forum giving you feedback on your equipment selections, post them up.

I suggest you read Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Trouble Free Pool School book.

 

[jimim]

Cool design.

The 1 thing that really stuck out in my head was copper and pool.

I hope someone else else chimes in but as the copper ages will copper keep being added to the pool? I think of my copper flashing on my home that isn’t lead covered and as it ages it drips. That will go in the pool. I would assume raise metal levels which can only be lowered by replacing water and would maybe stain the plaster?

hopefully someone else will jump in. Maybe it’s me over thinking.

 

[mknauss]

As long as your pH is kept in the 7's, the copper will not be an issue.

If you let your pH drop below 7, it will be a big issue, as it is with heat exchangers.

 

[jimim]

As long as your pH is kept in the 7's, the copper will not be an issue.

If you let your pH drop below 7, it will be a big issue, as it is with heat exchangers.

what about stains with how copper ages? mine 1 fireplace cap really has dripped over the years. that's why we did the new cap in lead covered copper to have the same protection and durability as copper but without the stains.

i dont' know it was just the first thing to pop into my head.

 

[mknauss]

A fireplace cap would see some very acidic environment with ash and moisture.

 

[WalkerTribe7]

Looking for different companies for the scupper but hoping to get Bobe scuppers (won’t sell to consumers- so trying to figure that out). But stainless steel and copper seem like the most approved options for water features.


Equipment list was just sent to us from the plumber, he put in a will call order at his wholesale store and we will go pay it and pick it up. This is what he recommended (not including waterfalls):

PEN460736
HEATER PENTAIR MASTERTEMP 400k
BTU LOW NOX NATURAL 460736
1
1952.3017 EA
1,952.30
____________________________________________________________________________________________
PEN188594 1 900.6813 EA 900.68 _F_I_L_T_E_R__P_E_N_T_A_I_R_Q__U_A_D__1_00_s_q__D_.E_.________________________________________________________________
PEN263064 1 76.8571 EA 76.86 BACKWASH VALVE PUSH / PULL 2in
____________________________________________________________________________________________
7.5in CENTER ALMOND PVC BODY
PEN522104 1 378.8427 EA 378.84
____________________________________________________________________________________________
SCREENLOGIC BUNDLE
WIRELESS CONNECTION INTERFACE
_P_E_N_5_2_0_5_4_5___________________________________________________1______1_8_2_7_.0_2_2_5___E_A_________1_,_82_7_._0_2 EASYTOUCH SYSTEM POOL/SPA
8SC-IC40 / WITH SALT SYSTEM
____________________________________________________________________________________________
PEN011056 2 994.3734 EA 1,988.75
PUMP PENTAIR INTELLIFLO 2 VSF
VARIABLE SPEED 011056
____________________________________________________________________________________________
PEN011515 1 665.5543 EA 665.55 PUMP PENTAIR WHISPERFLO 2hp
____________________________________________________________________________________________
ENERGY EFF WFE-8 011515
PEN360473
CLEANER PENTAIR REBEL 360275
HAYW400BLGP
VAC LOCK LIGHT GRAY

W400BLGP
____________________________________________________________________________________________
PEN620040 4 23.9531 EA 95.81 GUNITE NICHE FOR GLOBRITE
____________________________________________________________________________________________
PEN602056 3 296.9885 EA 890.97
GLOBRITE LED LIGHT
COLOR 150ft CORD 12v 602056
PEN602055 1 261.1348 EA 261.13
_G__L_O_B_R_I_T_E_L_E_D__L_IG__H_T__________________________________________________________________________ COLOR 100ft CORD 12v 602055
____________________________________________________________________________________________
PEN619962 1 121.1000 EA 121.10
____________________________________________________________________________________________
TRANSFORMER POOL RATED 12-14v 100w 619962 PENTAIR
PEN619963 1 114.2090 EA 114.21 TRANSFORMER POOL RATED
12-14v 300w 619963 PENTAIR

- - - Updated - - -

Hope you can understand the list. I’m sure there will be more equipment, like the waterfalls. I need to finalize those scuppers before he orders the parts for them. But any feedback? The pool is about 44x17 (including spa) and we are in Southern California

 

[mknauss]

Consider getting a robot and dropping the suction cleaner.

Do you know what volume the pool is? If greater than 20K gallons, go up to a IC60.

Why the Intelliflo VSF? No real need for that - the VS (011018) is cheaper and the gold standard for VS pumps.

Take care.

 

[WalkerTribe7]

Thank you for this! I sent your recommendations to our plumber. And thank you for noticing the suction cleaner, we’ve been looking at robot cleaners. Any model in particular you would recommend us look at?

thanks again.

 

[mknauss]

Dolphin (Maytronics) robots are the most discussed on the forum.

See Pool Cleaners

I suggest getting the robot yourself and not through the pool builder. Many of us purchase them via Marina Pool in Denver. They do phone orders. Or if you have a local store that is good too. Online purchases typically do not have the same warranty or the same level of service after the purchase.

 

[WalkerTribe7]

Researching robots now.

Hoping to have our scupper order placed by early next week with Bobé Water and Fire. We will be getting 3-24” slot scuppers in copper and looking at doing one large radius one for our curve. I did call and confirm that copper is approved for salt water pools. They did say that stainless is not. But if you continuously scrub it for rust it will eventually do better (stainless).

Tile is purchased. We want a clean mid century modern look while still being “traditional” enough for our generic suburb home. We fell in love with many manufacturers, but my dream was to have Heath Ceramic Tile. But $30/sq ft was a lot to spend when I need over 230 sq ft for the pool. I researched and found out they have an overstock shed of tile in their San Fran location so I took a long 8 hour drive and filled up a van with over 1,000 lbs of tile! Some of the tile was as cheap as almost $5/sq ft. At the end, I saved over $8,700 on tile for the yard.

I also saved money from a post from a thread on here regarding the Ledge Loungers. Saved a ton of money by calling and asking about their factory seconds. No clue what was wrong with their chairs, because I don’t see any issue. But I practically got 2 chairs and a table for the original price of one chair.

Construction- we seemed to have found a guy to do the excavation. He was BY far the cheapest (which is a little scary)- but he seemed to know what he was talking about and others have worked with him. Before we dig the hole for the pool we need to first donthr retaining wall between our yard and our neighbors behind us that is coming close to falling down. Our budget for all wallls was around $20-25k and our first bid was almost $50k not including stucco or any finished product. It is truly an emotional rollercoaster with a one step forward, two steps back sorts dance. We’ve been calling around to plenty of other people to get quotes but construction in our area seems to be going very strong and very busy, so while our project is large- it’s a single project and not the expectation of possible further jobs.

As the time goes by, I seem to be focused on the “fluff” of the project, and my husband is focused on the details. Thankfully. If all goes well, next week we will be breaking ground on the retaining wall.

Oh, did I mention I got an amazing deal on Blaze outdoor kitchen appliances/grill? Ha! I have a feeling I will have a yard or my purchases and no hole come spring. Fingers crossed I’m wrong.

 

[Protlost]

I’m curious to see how your retaining wall build works out as I have some of the same work to be done in my backyard in SoCal.

 

[bdavis466]

I would see if you can substitute the MasterTemp for the Raypak 406A and cancel the backwash valve for the filter.

The quad 100 is a great filter. There is no need for a backwash and those valves are very restrictive.

What is the whisperflo for?

 

[kimkats]

I would love to see a pic of the yard this wonderful pool will be going AND a pic of that tile you scored! Talk about an adventure!

Kim

 

[WalkerTribe7]

It’s been taking MUCH longer than we anticipated. We’ve been getting quotes for the retaining wall, which have been shocking. So, last night we finally deciding on our contractors for the wall and excavation. The retaining wall should begin the week after Christmas.

Im going to try and attach some photos, would love feedback. Debating between a light pool coping/paver and a dark (ignore the difference in textures, these are just samples and they were showing us some of the different finishes). The copper-ish planter is for our scuppers we are adding, the white square on the paver/coping is the color of our fire pit, the first row of blue tile is our pool, and the multi color tiles below it are our focal wall behind a seating area on a raised deck above the pool.

Additionally, what do you guys pay for your coping and pavers? These shown are about $20 a piece for coping (16x24) and pavers are about $7 a sq ft (price for actual pieces not installation)

Fingers crossed that 2019 brings us an awesome pool.

 

[kimkats]

No pics

 

[WalkerTribe7]

I’m trying to figure out how to add them. My attachments are full and I can’t figure out how to delete some. He forum rules suggest photobucket, but that is no longer a free site. Any suggestions?

 

[NorCalX]

I’m trying to figure out how to add them. My attachments are full and I can’t figure out how to delete some. He forum rules suggest photobucket, but that is no longer a free site. Any suggestions?

if you become a TFP supporter you can upload much more

i consider it a consulting fee for all the free great advice you can find here

 

[tampatommy]

Im looking at about 13,000 for 1100sq ft of Ivory travertine in a french pattern in Florida. The material alone was just shy of $7500, installation is almost $6000.