How much is gunite or fiberglass worth over vinyl?

[wogster]

Nobody has gunite pools here. Almost all the pools in Ontario (and probably Canada) are vinyl, with some fiberglass pools getting common too (but nowhere near as common as vinyl). It is quite rare that someone would have gunite. I have no idea what gunite would cost, but a lot I'd imagine.

That may be an Ottawa thing, here in Toronto there are lots of gunite pools, we have one, I have not seen one in a long time, that isn't gunite, except a guy on here, near Newmarket. I would expect the costs to be fairly similar, you still need to dig a hole, run plumbing, run gas and electric. put in some kind of support structure. It may be a question of a contractor preferring to use a certain method, and costing another at a "go away" price.

 

[nobueno]

Wow. Just wow. This is totally out of the norm of reasonable pricing for a basic pool. I feel bad for you that you are in an area where there are so little supply for an obviously high demand. That $200k bid sounds like $150k of pure profit. I mean capitalism and all aside for me that would put a nail in the coffin of a pool. I was serious with my previous reply though; have you considered moving to a house that already has a pool? Pools do not add much to a house, but $200k sure does. You could be moving to a castle with a pool already installed for the same money.

What about contracting this yourself? Costs are costs there isn't a lot of big-time managing the project is relatively small. Dig hole, rebar hole, shoot gunite or place pool (fg), plumbing, electric, deck, pool equipment.

Yea, if I could find trustworthy subs, I'd consider going this route. I did it on our last house but I felt more confident with that.

It's not for a lack of supply. I reached out to 8 contractors yesterday alone and 22 total now. I'm learning many of their website contact forms don't work so it's better to just call. I've had one reasonable bid for each type of pool. As low as 95k for a 16x40 diving gunite pool and as low as 50k for a 16x40 diving vinyl pool and 70k for a 16x40 diving fiberglass. Those include the permits, heater, pump, SWG to get it running but no extra decking or anything.

 

[Neto]

Yea, if I could find trustworthy subs, I'd consider going this route. I did it on our last house but I felt more confident with that.

It's not for a lack of supply. I reached out to 8 contractors yesterday alone and 22 total now. I'm learning many of their website contact forms don't work so it's better to just call. I've had one reasonable bid for each type of pool. As low as 95k for a 16x40 diving gunite pool and as low as 50k for a 16x40 diving vinyl pool and 70k for a 16x40 diving fiberglass. Those include the permits, heater, pump, SWG to get it running but no extra decking or anything.

I would suggest you manage the project yourself... Your biggest expense is the gunite phase... Try to find a gunite contractor in your area and maybe try to get some rough estimates for a 16x40 pool.

 

[nobueno]

I would suggest you manage the project yourself... Your biggest expense is the gunite phase... Try to find a gunite contractor in your area and maybe try to get some rough estimates for a 16x40 pool.

I guess I'm a little nervous. With our house, I knew enough about what needed to be done in order to manage with no issues. Does anyone have a checklist of exactly what needs to be done and in what order when an owner manages? Dig, rough in plumbing, rebar, gunite, plaster, then plumber and electrician to hook it all up? I'm wondering how hard it'd be to find subs in our area who have done a pool build as well.

 

[PoolGate]

Check out this article...

Build Your Own Pool

How Do I Build an Inground Swimming Pool? Is a question with a long answer but this how-to guide should give you the basic explanations needed for construction.

www.inyopools.com

 

[Neto]

I guess I'm a little nervous. With our house, I knew enough about what needed to be done in order to manage with no issues. Does anyone have a checklist of exactly what needs to be done and in what order when an owner manages? Dig, rough in plumbing, rebar, gunite, plaster, then plumber and electrician to hook it all up? I'm wondering how hard it'd be to find subs in our area who have done a pool build as well.

The first thing you need to do is your construction plan that will detail the pool shell specs, number of returns, skimmers, drains and their locations... There are websites online you can do that and you can even pay a slight premium to have someone school you in the process. After that here is the basic:

1. excavation, haul away dirt, set forms, set stone on bottom (#57 crushed stone)
2. steel rebar, I believe #3 for most of the pool and #4 for the bond beam
3. plumbing ( you should have bought your skimmers, drains & equipment (pump, heater, filter, salt cell, etc)
4. gunite phase
5. electrical
6. tile & coping
7. decking (concrete, pavers, stone, etc)
8. plaster
9. landscaping

 

[Saturn94]

Wow! At those prices we wouldn’t be able to have a pool.

Our vinyl liner pool was installed in 2004. No regrets going vinyl (pretty typical for pools here). All in it came to about $26k. Length is 40’, deep end (non-diving) is 18.5’ wide, shallow end is 22’ wide.

 

[Tenamarie123]

So here's the thing...in your climate, how many months of the year can you use your pool? Here in Michigan where we can only use our pool 6 months of the year, vinyl is very prevalent. I would never spend 200K on a pool that I can only use for six months of the year. You better like the cover it comes with cuz that's what you'll be mostly looking at, lol.