New Build in Buckeye AZ

[BuckeyeChris]

Hi TroubleFreers. We used this site a bit when thinking about a new pool, so here is a thread about our build.
We went with California Pools, which so far has not been all that it was cracked up to be. I can talk about that more later, but let's get some pics. The pool will be 10 feet on one short end, 12 on the other, with 28 foot length. not a rectangle, but since our back fence is not parallel to the house, we decided it look better to make the pool edge parallel with the back fence, instead of rectangle and skewed looking. Travertine pavers around and up onto the patio. Topaz Blue people shine, or whatever Cal calls it. Glass tile on the water sheer wall, and stone on the pillars.

This is the backyard we've been staring at since 2006. Since we have a one-story house, it goes back pretty far, so not much room to work with. the water line has to be 5 feet from the property line. We also had to have the HVAC compressor moved from the back of the house, around the corner to the side, rerunning the coolant and 220 lines, and adding a 120 outlet within 15 feet (I think it was 15) of the HVAC.



Dig out. Pool will have a 4' deep (front to back deep, not under water deep) Baja step, then 5 deep in the middle, back up to 4 feet at the end. water sheer at that end, and two water pots on pillars on the long side.


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and though this forum states "we love pictures" it appears I'm over a quota after two 800x600 pics. I'll have to read the forum rules.

 

[Turbothechihuahua]

Looks good. I am looking forward to see the finished product. We had the non parallel fence issue in a confined space just like you.

 

[bhargraves]

For pictures, you can use a site like Flickr or photobucket and link to them.

Looks great!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BuckeyeChris]

Pipes run. They messed up the location of the Baja step pop-up fountain on multiple occasions. "centered on the step east to west, centered with the water line north to south." over and over again through design and plan creation. the subs still messed it up. So that was a day wasted having them come back out. They had also arranged all the pipe in a staggered way back at the pump, so the whole pump+pipe came out from the house about 7 feet. We had them redo that too so that the pipe wall all lined up, only 5'9" from the house now.

and then rebar. Of course they have to ground all the frame and pipe with copper wire, but they also had copper come out of the ground and screw into the aluminum window frames on our house. That was an unexpected eyesore. we can paint over them, but it might have been nice to mention that detail at some point.

 

[BuckeyeChris]

shotcrete. These guys were foul-mouthed and very demeaning to my wife in that general "dumb broads" type of way. chatted me up fine when I got home. We had a talk with Cal about them. Very unprofessional; our 5 year old was home sick from school and got to hear that.

And, of course, they dug the Baja umbrella sleeve in the wrong spot. Centered in all directions on the Baja step. NOT HARD. I noticed before it dried and had the guy chisel it out in the right spot, though he was mad. But hey, either now, or you're coming back another day with a massive drill.

Now, I like it like this. Put some fake-o grass on the far end down there and the kids can play around and then jump right in. My wife however doesn't like looking at the wall, and wanted a more resort feeling, so there is that water sheer wall and two large pots going up.

 

[Casey]

This is going to be a very nice pool! I think these tight space builds are fascinating!

Keep the pics coming!

 

[Shane1]

Heeeeey nice to see another Buckeye, AZ pool build on here. Welcome to the site. Pool is looking good!

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I would ask what the copper wire hooked to the window frame is all about. There is bound to be a better place to fasten it to.

 

[BuckeyeChris]

Heeeeey nice to see another Buckeye, AZ pool build on here. Welcome to the site. Pool is looking good!

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I would ask what the copper wire hooked to the window frame is all about. There is bound to be a better place to fasten it to.

I guess, anything metal that might come in contact with the water and transfer any stray current. THey said it won't pass inspection otherwise. The water line is only 5 feet from the house. We had an outlet on the patio that got plated too, I think 10 feet is the minimum for those.

rereading your question, it's not the base bonding point, just another thing that gets bonded to the rest of it and send back to the service neutral at the panel, I imagine.

 

[Shane1]

Any updates on this one?

 

[BuckeyeChris]

Any updates on this one?

The coping is up, I have a pic of that. Then they delivered the wrong travertine, so we had to tell them "no more work unless we are home" because there have been about 6-8 things that they would have just done, and left, that was not correct. I'm beginning to feel that just hiring the individual subcontractors yourself is the way to go, if you can navigate the permitting of your town. If we have to be home to double check everything anyway, why am I paying someone to coordinate all the bad information?

Anyway, the decking people needed three consecutive week days to do their work, so we've had to wait until this week when my wife's work schedule would allow for that.

 

[BuckeyeChris]

after travertine is water line, and fountain wall and pillar stone. Then final inspection and pebble, uh, sheen, or pebble star, or whatever. Then stucco repairs and have the house painted and the furniture delivered and the umbrella set up and the pool filled all by 3/14 was the goal, but I don't think that's gonna happen.

 

[BuckeyeChris]

Sombretti travertine coping with bullnose edge. They tried to use regular pavers for the corner pieces, since you wouldn't see the edge anyway, but those had a different sheen to them. Always trying to cut corners. ha.

And here is today, with the decking finished. Mexican Moka travertine.

 

[Readyforapool]

Very pretty!

 

[BuckeyeChris]

Pool is filled and pump is running. Pebble Color is Topaz and it's just the tone and brightness I wanted.

features running

REMAINING ISSUES:

We had purchased 3 total electronic actuators for using the controller to turn things on and off. One of these is used to alternate between the wall het returns and the floor pop-up returns, so that's staying. For some reason, they designed it so that actuator 2 would route turn on water to the water features, but actuator 3 would allow you to choose between having *just* the water sheer, OR, have the two pots+bubbler on. WTH? Again, another thing they don't tell you. We wanted to control each item by remote. But noooo, that would mean
a) replumbing to add valves
b) buying additional electronic actuators
c) upgrading the remote

don't ever believe and single "ya" or "we can do that" that the salesman tells you. Have him or her put in the contract "the pump will all individual water features to be controlled by remote". Lesson learned, many times over.

now, I understand that due the water pressure differential would be an issue; if you have the system balanced for having all 4 on at once, and then you shut down all valves but the bubbler, it'll blow water 10 feet high. I get it. But the control system can save different pump speeds for different aux controls. there's no reason this can't get done. So we just removed the third actuator and I guess we'll manually turn valves at the pump and reprogram the pump speed when we want just the bubbler. Frustrating.

Lastly, the pebble guy didn't attach the light correctly, it already popped out and floated to the top. The pebble is too thick and the light won't rotate all the way to the locked position, it just rotates slightly to barely catch the thread (you can see it in the first pic). And thus the light is also not aimed straight.

What are the odds California will have a guy come with a weight belt and jump in the pool in March to fix it?

 

[jro33176]

I'm sorry to hear about the problems you're dealing with. The pool looks great! Good luck getting everything resolved.

 

[BuckeyeChris]

turns out that if you download and read the hayward manuals you can know more than the designer in about 3 hours. we can't get individual control of every water feature, too many combinations and water pressure differences, and not enough buttons. But, I came up with a design with 3 actuators that allows for everything, or everything without the baja bubbler, or the baja and the woks (no sheer), without having to replumb. Just have to buy one more GVA. They're on amazon for $100.

Also, I think the ProLogic is not on the latest software revision because there apparently SHOULD be an option in the menu for reassigning the remote buttons. I don't need the "heater" button, I want it to turn on valve 4 instead. I have to check the version when I get home, but I guess the builder doesn't update you to the latest revision when installing it. Even though it, ya know, gives you more features.

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also, props to Hayward. You call their number and you get a real person, living in America, who can listen to your configuration theories and tell you you're on the right track or no no no, that won't work. Hard to find these days.

 

[bacevedo]

I would call the owners (Mike or Jeremy) of Cal Pools and explain your disappointment with the valves and water features. I did that for my build (see sig) and they came out and put another GVA on my pool for free.

Cal Pools will build you a quality pool, but you have to make sure they are building the pool you want! I work from home full time, so I was able to be "QA" for every step of the process to make sure everything was done according to the plans. The subs don't necessarily know what parts of the pool are important to you and may not realize they are putting something 6"-12" away from where you want it. Whenever the subs showed up, I went outside to talk with them to make sure they were doing things the way I wanted. I am sure they "loved" me!

 

[BuckeyeChris]

The wireless control can not have the buttons reassigned, I talked to Hayward about that, so the revision doesn't matter. Some on the internet say you can't field-update the software anyway, it's just written to the chip in manufacturing.

My wife was home for some of the build days to start. the problem is that most of the workers give that glazed over "i'm just doing what I'm told/I don't really speak English look" and you have to find the one guy there who is the "contact" person, who then has to call in to whatever other boss of theirs saying that the homeowner is telling them to do it different from the plan. We finally had to only have work done when we were home.

Even then, stuff: the travertine installers decided to padlcok their wet saw and buckets to the freon line of our HVAC unit over the weekend. Didn't bother asking us; we had to patch and repair stucco in that location that weekend, and had to slide their stuff out of the way, etc etc. And say "hey, why aren't the floor heads and drain lined up down the center of the pool? Surely you don't need someone to tell you that.

If I have to be there every step to tell them what I want, why did I hire a company of sub out all this work? I've got things about the designer I could send them, emails where we asked for something, and then months into the build told "oh we dont do that", but what's the point. They are agreeing to at least price match Amazon on the GVA cost.

 

[Casey]

Sorry about the troubles but man... that pool makes your back yard look great!

 

[RangerBob]

Buckeye - I feel I am reliving your pool build....and it does seem pretty common on this forum. A friend just asked me if you had a choice to build a pool or buy a home with a pool (other than for economic reasons) - what would you do. Buy a home, buy a home, buy a home. I am hoping that when the pool is done, I will forget all about the journey (except when I come back and re-read my thread) and enjoy the beautiful outcome. Which by the way, your pool is beautiful. I'm glad you were able to keep it on track - tell your wife - it absolutely has a resort feel. (Bob's wife - Karen)