If you were to build a new inground pool today advice.

[SouthVirginiaPool]

Drainage - our yard had a swampy wet back yard because all of the down spouts dumped the water near the house. We had underground pipes drain the rainwater away from our house the the corners of the lot and the yard was awesome. SO when it came time to put in a pool - that was our main concern. They had to redo the underground pipes just like they had to redo the sprinkler system in the back yard. But no issues (we had a landscaping company do the drainage and pavers).
Overflow pipe - we have a pipe in the top of our skimmer box so that when the water rises too high, it will run out the drain pipe into the back yard instead of overflowing the pool and possible lifting the vinyl liner. Cheap to install and I don't have to run outside during a bad rainstorm to drain the pool.
Pumping to waste - I also had them put in an underground pipe that allows me to pump to waste into the back corner of my lot near a storm drain. So I never have to attach and unroll a 50 foot blue hose to the street during a rainstorm or when I want to drain my pool. Cheap to put in while in the planning phase.

 

[markayash]

Skip any foo-foo spa things cause they're uncomfortable to sit in (hard flat cement!) and don't offer all the features a good stand alone hot tub does. And you can use a stand alone year round where as an inground pool spa will get closed in the winter.

Don't skimp on depth!!! Don't be timid thinking the kids are small now..... they grow! And love to dive and cannon ball. If you can swing it a deep enough pool (min 7') even without a diving board is fun!

Maddie

I have to disagree kind of on the spa. It’s not a true spa BUT I love my water fall for looks and sound
I wish I had both stand alone and built on

 

[jimmythegreek]

Theres a difference with you being in Georgia amd the OP is in Kansas. Longer swim seasons are where built ins are good. Us snow birds cant use them much

 

[Tres Gatos]

Hand rail for the steps.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

If I would have done it all over again, I would have put in two standard halogen lights instead of the one expensive LED light I got (you can get LED retrofit bulbs, and replacing them isn't $700) but for the time the lights are actually on in our pool, the power draw in $$$ from the halogens would have been pretty minimal. So if you want to save 600+ dollars on one item... there you go.

I opted for a standalone fiberglass "portable" hot tub. The disadvantage is that it's not as good for entertaining as one built into the pool, in general less people will fit in. That wasn't a issue for us as we are hermits and don't have problems taking turns. Two sets of water chemistry too. Advantages are more comfortable, therapeutic, cheaper to run, especially in the winter. In a cold climate it's a much better choice as you can run it in the winter without massively heating it up first. And I will take it with me when I move unless it is at the end of life.

SWCG. Yeah. You can't actually explain how nice that is. In our case it was literally $100 more than having the least expensive pool service out for a year. And it does a better job.... IF it makes it two and I then have to completely replace it.. I am still ahead. It should last at least three-five and then only need a cell.

 

[BowserB]

Alternative: Take all the suggestions you've read here. Get bids from pool builders. Then take the highest bid and put that amount of money into a vacation fund. Each month add $50-80 ( for what you'll save on additional electricity, chemicals, additional liability insurance, addl. property taxes if applicable, etc.) into the fund. Take vacations with that money.

 

[markayash]

Alternative: Take all the suggestions you've read here. Get bids from pool builders. Then take the highest bid and put that amount of money into a vacation fund. Each month add $50-80 ( for what you'll save on additional electricity, chemicals, additional liability insurance, addl. property taxes if applicable, etc.) into the fund. Take vacations with that money.

Pools are one of those things you have to just love. They don't really help resell value , at least not in Ga.
That being said my parents always had pools and this is our 2nd house and 2nd pool.

 

[Newdude]

Alternative: Take vacations with that money.

This is hysterical to me that you mentioned this. It is a 100% valid point and well done. It’s funny to me because we did the exact opposite. We had $1000+ a month in daycare expenses coming off the books when the little one started Kindergarten and sat down as a family and voted 4-0 to spend that money on a pool instead of taking vacations with it. Years 2-7 of the loan the kids complained we didn’t take vacations of course, but you know........ Kids. Lol.

 

[SouthVirginiaPool]

We compared renting a beach house for a week every year in Nags Head/Duck NC (upwards of $6,000/year) - the last vacation the kids spent all the time in the pool and hot tub and not the beach. Now I can vacation all summer in my back yard. Much better decision in hindsight now that COVID19 appeared.

 

[mguzzy]

Pools are one of those things you have to just love. They don't really help resell value , at least not in Ga.
That being said my parents always had pools and this is our 2nd house and 2nd pool.

That is why when I was house hunting, I made sure to buy one with a pool... and let the previous owner pay that big up front cost!

 

[kazamali]

I 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on for the drainage...also put in extra hose bibs (equipment shed, and distant corners of the project site). Great for hosing things down and super cheap to put in while things are dug up. Add conduit for hv/lv electricity, misting lines, WHATEVER, because you can always feed stuff thru later. Doing any retrofit (see my other post) is super $$$ and a pain. If you remotely think you'll want a feature somewhere, put conduit to it.....

 

[Watershow]

Does it cost much to add extra conduit during the build?

I 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on for the drainage...also put in extra hose bibs (equipment shed, and distant corners of the project site). Great for hosing things down and super cheap to put in while things are dug up. Add conduit for hv/lv electricity, misting lines, WHATEVER, because you can always feed stuff thru later. Doing any retrofit (see my other post) is super $$$ and a pain. If you remotely think you'll want a feature somewhere, put conduit to it.....

 

[Newdude]

1 inch PVC is under $3.74 per 10 ft at home depot. Larger sizes can be $10 for $10. For what its worth down the road if you need to dig up the pool area to add something.......go crazy with it.

 

[kazamali]

Does it cost much to add extra conduit during the build?

Yeah it's cheap and I actually ran some myself to accommodate a high pressure misting system since I had in mind exactly where I wanted everything. When the guys laid down the aggregate for the decking, I just ran misting tube/electrical conduit right before they put down the rebar. For the hose bibs, they were already running water for my cabana and an auto-filler so it was a trivial ask for them to branch off the runs. My PB was cool and since our project cost was already in the stratosphere, they didn't bother charging me for all that stuff.

 

[mguzzy]

I 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on for the drainage...also put in extra hose bibs (equipment shed, and distant corners of the project site). Great for hosing things down and super cheap to put in while things are dug up. Add conduit for hv/lv electricity, misting lines, WHATEVER, because you can always feed stuff thru later. Doing any retrofit (see my other post) is super $$$ and a pain. If you remotely think you'll want a feature somewhere, put conduit to it.....

Oh yeah! When my mom put in her pool I ran all kinds of lines in the trenches the PB put in, a stub for future solar, electrical conduits for garden lighting etc. If you DIY it make sure you follow your local code for how deep and in what order those lines are put in.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

1 inch PVC is under $3.74 per 10 ft at home depot. Larger sizes can be $10 for $10. For what its worth down the road if you need to dig up the pool area to add something.......go crazy with it.

If you are going to do that, put in the largest diameter you can (easier pull, more circuits), and put two runs in. One for AC circuits and one for low voltage, they can't go in one conduit by code. In my case the PB wanted real money to trench for conduit, so I opted out. At least here in AZ I can spend the extra money for the rigid metallic stuff and only bury it 18" deep because it won't frost heave here.... it will be a bad day, but I can do 50' of 18" deep with the electric jackhammer in a day....

 

[Rossterman]

1. Auto water fill and overflow drain. Cheap and saves a ton of effort year round
2. Salt water generator
3. Make sure you have enough lights in the pool
4. Use a simple windsock (String on a stick) to figure prevailing wind direction in your yard for placement of skimmer

 

[stega]

I'm a fan of long rectangular pools as they're great for just about every type of swimmer. Added advantage is rails for a motorized cover can easily attach to the underside of the coping.

 

[dmlk]

This is our second pool and exactly why we did a long rectangular pool because of the cover on an inside track!

 

[lazygirl1978]

Think hard about lights and be there when they place them. I really wanted my lights all on the house-side of the pool (so they don't shine into the house), but my PB recommended one in the middle of the opposite side and said I'd need to for the light to be where it needs to be. Then the installers put that light all the way on the deep end side. And I hate it. I should have made them move it, but they told me it should be there so people could see the swimout on the other side in the deep end...NO.

I'll keep thinking on this!