Greetings, lovely people. I've just logged on after a bit of a hiatus and realized that there were several messages that I hadn't responded to. I thought it might be helpful to add an update 2 years out for those that may be looking at this thread in the same way that I looked at other threads while I was working on our pool.
OB vs PB
While we were initially planning on a OB build, I think going with a BP was a good call for us. Finding someone that was willing to work closely with us on the design and to do it at a reasonable price (not always easy within the city of Houston) helped us make the decision. Though our PB could not sign off on the engineering evaluation that we needed for permitting (due to proximity to house and soil type), we were able to find someone who could.
Surfaces
At the last minute (quite literally) we chose PebbleSheen over PebbleFina. We did have to get the pool drained and acid washed under warranty b/c of some allover scaling issue with no obvious cause, we've been happy with it. A scratched toe here and there, but overall quite good. And I think the color/stones don't show occasional dirt/leaves like a light surface would have. While I really like a few of the glass tiles, I'm ok with the stone look 4x4s that we chose. They blend well with the travertine coping and the PS surface. Less maintenance, too. I have only had to sweep them two or three times a year when the pollen is high. We're happy with the travertine coping and patio. We haven't had any issues with it being too hot to walk on in the Texas sun, and it's holding up just fine with the SWG. There are some spots on the patio that get a bit of growth on them, and we'll probably need to touch up some grout/sand, but overall, a good choice for us.
Landscaping
Speaking of leaves... Being able to keep a large tree in our yard was pretty important to me during the build, but we ultimately had it taken down because of the proximity to the pool and concern about damage to the gunite and pipes. We really miss the shade on the patio, but it hasn't had a huge effect on the water temp. We have yet to use the cooling function on our heat pump.
Equipment
Overall, we're really happy with the equipment choices that we went with, even with the issues that have come up. With the mild winters in Houston, the heat pump has been a good call for us. We paid extra for the larger unit with the chiller function, but as I mentioned, we haven't needed it yet. (The wet suite, which my husband bought me as a Christmas present, helps too when I want to 'go for a pool run' in the winter with the heat pump.) We did have to use the warranty for our IC, which stopped working. It was really helpful to have registered our equipment on the Pentair site and to keep track of where we got what. There were several hoops to jump through - submitting purchase info, installation info from PB, water tests from pool store (they would not accept our test), and treating the pool for phosphates to rule that out as the cause - it was replaced. Way better than dealing with tablets. On the other hand, working with Doheney to get a part replaced for the vacuum was incredibly easy. Great product, too. At some point, we need to replace our spa light, which stopped changing color after two years. Luckily, by going with the PC LED bulbs should make that a less expensive fix. Though not cheap, adding the Fastlane to our pool has been one of the smarter things that we did. Since our pool is not large, having the FL current for aqua jogging, the kids, and swimming (in that order) was huge. We've been using the zinc anodes and (knock on wood - and I'm going to be really frustrated if I jinx myself with this post) we haven't had issues. My husband wound up getting me the app for Christmas, which allows you to have more control over speed and settings, but since I using jog with it at the low speed, the remote works just fine.
Now, I just need to figure out why our pH keeps going up and replace all of the vegetation that was decimated in the Great Polar Vortex of 2021 (pics taken last season). Hope you're all well. Thank you again for sharing your experiences.
Interesting he said they have seen a lot of that as of late...........hummmm wonder who is doing or not doing something???