New build in Spring, TX.

[galowbraw]

Long-time stalker who finally made an account once "things got real" for our pool.

We dig Monday the 28th pending any weather delays. The family is PUMPED. 3-year old is mostly excited for the construction equipment and dirt/mud to play in...already making plans for his toys.

Already have the parts of the two irrigation zones that will be affected by the pool dug up and capped off, ready to redo myself once they are done.

Got a few trees on sale from the off season 70% off they have around here and a friend that has a landscaping company that's going to get me whatever else we need at a steal.

Not sure what else I can do to prepare and be ready but we are anxious to say the least. Today the PB has someone coming by to rip up and stack to the side probably a quarter of those pavers where the deck will meet the drain and reuse them in parts of the spray deck. I think we are going to try and hide this from the rest of the family until it's completely done. "Should" be done in 30 days, we will see!

Not going to post any of the renderings, just a drawing to keep you somewhat interested

Excited to start this thread and share the rest of the project with you all.

 

[Texas Splash]

Congrats on the new project! Should be fun.

 

[bmoreswim]

Not sure what else I can do to prepare and be ready but we are anxious to say the least.

Welcome and congratulations on the project! My first recommendation is to lower your expectations regarding time to complete (double it) and raise your expectation on yard destruction (triple it). Those are two areas that I see people get stressed about. And a simple adjustment up front can head off that stress.

However, don't lower your expectations regarding quality just yet. Yes, there may be some things that you expect perfection and it's not really possible (this is kind of art not just science), but hold out for what you feel is right (come here for support/honest feedback). I do recommend being on-site for key days (dig, gunite, plaster, tile/coping, etc.). There are so many things can come up on those days that can quickly be resolved by you being there. And for all other things, point out any issues or questions you have to the PB immediately. He may not fully appreciate it at the time, but you will save him time and money in the end by letting him know of potential issues quickly.

 

[kimkats]

I am SO in for this one!!! He started off with pics!!! That baby pool was the icing on the cake LOL

How deep will the pool be?

That spa----will it be raised at all? Momma bear time here-if it is raised at all it will block the view of quite a bit of the pool. What if little man slips out??? Or you want to sit in the shade and he wants to swim? You will not be able to see him.

Do you want to share a list of your equipment so we can go over it for you?

Kim

 

[galowbraw]

Kim - was wondering if you'd see this post

We sent that picture to one of the PB's we were waiting for a quote from basically telling him to hurry the heck up haha!

Pool is going to be 6.5. I wanted to go deeper but wife and PB convinced me 6.5 is plenty. I grew up a swimmer, so of course the pool rat in me wants it to be 20 feet deep for no reason at all.

The spa is going to be raised, we know it will block the view. Still considering moving it over a little so it doesn't block as much, but we wanted it to be closer to the patio/social area.

Still trying to figure out pool safety with 3.5 year old and 1.5 year old boys. Wife really wants a net and I'm avoiding a fence like the plague. But that's another conversation I guess...

I don't have a complete list of pool equipment yet, but I can tell you it's going to be Pentair equipment with Jandy automation.

WetEdge pebble finish (haven't chosen the color yet).

 

[Poolbella]

Wow that looks like it will be awesome, I bet watching those pavers get ripped up will hurt a little though! Have they been out to locate your utility lines yet?

 

[galowbraw]

Wow that looks like it will be awesome, I bet watching those pavers get ripped up will hurt a little though! Have they been out to locate your utility lines yet?

Yes, paver removal was painful for sure...

I guess today is officially Day 1 with the removal of these.

Marking up yard Friday, picking out stone and tile after and digging Monday.

 

[kimkats]

Switch the spa with the shelf or the bench. That will off set and still be close the patio!

Child safety-you cannot be TOO safe! A fence AND door alarm AND window alarms AND keyed dead bolt at the TOP of the door. They do make the child safe fences that are not permanent that work. Do you have a dog? Get a Great Pyrenees or a Shepard. They can make great kid dogs and will herd them away from the pool if taught right.

 

[nhamp07]

We just recently got the net, there are a couple of post on my build thread in my signature.

We love it. Super easy to put on and off.

 

[galowbraw]

Picked out flagstone coping. Anxiously waited for Walt to come by to mark up pool, and played in the dirt where the pool will be this weekend. Will have to upload rest of pictures of backyard next time I’m at a computer. They are “too big” to do it straight from phone. Dig, steel and gunite this week!

 

[kimkats]

"Are they here yet?" LOVE IT! So cute!!

How much will you be able to be there for major days? The marking day is a good one to be there for. This will allow you to make changes or fix any errors right then and there. We had one build where they flipped the design The PO figured it out when he got home. At least it was an easy fix but still........

Kim

 

[jdlangley1]

Which pool builder did you go with? PM me so I can share who not to use.

One area of advice I would give is monitor your payments to the PB, do not pay milestones until you are satisfied with that stage of work, and request proof of payment to subs so you avoid the disaster we are currently in. PB did not pay subs and now we have subs knocking on door daily looking for money and threatening to file liens.

 

[galowbraw]

Which pool builder did you go with? PM me so I can share who not to use.

One area of advice I would give is monitor your payments to the PB, do not pay milestones until you are satisfied with that stage of work, and request proof of payment to subs so you avoid the disaster we are currently in. PB did not pay subs and now we have subs knocking on door daily looking for money and threatening to file liens.

Had to read what you said twice. Thought you were saying you’re wanting to add my PB to a naughty list because of something .

Good point on all of the above. Thank you.

 

[galowbraw]

"Are they here yet?" LOVE IT! So cute!!

How much will you be able to be there for major days? The marking day is a good one to be there for. This will allow you to make changes or fix any errors right then and there. We had one build where they flipped the design The PO figured it out when he got home. At least it was an easy fix but still........

Kim:km:

We were originally supposed to dig last Monday but pushed it back a week so I could be here for the first wave of major days. Dig was completed today. Steel tomorrow. Gunnite Wednesday. I’ll be able to attend all of it!

Will upload pictures tonight or tomorrow morning. Needing to put our construction manager to bed after his bath time. Luckily, tomorrow our steel is an afternoon job, so he may get some time in the dirt before they put all of the rebar in there.

 

[Don_TLR]

Haha,, great picture, I think we've all felt his anticipation...

 

[kimkats]

You get to go play in the dirt in the morning. Run out there with the plans and a tape measure in your hands. Is it long, deep, wide, etc enough? Add about 8" for the steel, gunite and plaster. NOW is the time to tweak or fix.

Kim

 

[galowbraw]

Jan. 28th - Dig
Jan. 29th - Steel and plumbing "stub-out"

Late to post this, but if there is one thing I've noticed from most new build posts is that I'm not the only one that's doing this after the family is off to bed...*yawn*

Yesterday (Monday) was our dig day and it was a pretty sweet feeling. The guys were great all the way through. I appreciated their surveying before, during and after to ensure the job was perfect. The only thing wrong with dig day is that they weren't here before the sun came up. Why is that bad? Because our 3-year-old wakes up before the sun comes up, and he kept asking where the heck they were. As if the anxiety for the day wasn't bad enough son?!

Ran over to Chick-fil-A and got four meals. One for our PB and three for the diggers. We took a quick lunch break, joked about how I know a little Spanish, had to convince them I wasn't a cop because apparently to them I look like one, and back to work. Our 3-year-old son (Blaise) broke his shovel because he was working so hard today. He really believes he's out there digging the pool with them and they all think it's hilarious.

They had two dump trucks and made 13 trips total and could get rid of it for free about five miles down the road (good for them). Luckily our neighbors don't suck (Jason I hope you're somehow reading this) and acted interested and even moved one of their vehicles to help make room for the day's work. Our house is on a corner lot and they accessed the house on the side-yard. Less yard tore up needing to be fixed later on, nice.

My wife and I had marked the sprinkler heads last week and made some good guesses on where the irrigation lines went, and man we are good. No wires or valves have to be moved or replaced, just a few places capped off, and then some re-adjusting the heads to avoid the pool. Point here is that we aren't paying hundreds or thousands just to have the irrigation re-done.

They did a great job, no surprises, PB was in and out all day which was nice. He has three pools going on within a three mile radius so life is a little easier for him right now. We love the shape and couldn't be more excited.

Went to bed tired as heck and an 80% chance of rain in the forecast for the night. And it 100% happened.



Today (Tuesday) we were scheduled for a steel-job at noon. I was waking up around 0600 or so to post all of the above and my wife looks at the camera and says "there's someone in our backyard...".
He was walking with a pump and a hose. We had no idea how much it had rained yet, and why anyone was here. Didn't panic once I saw the equipment he had. I told her "maybe he's here to pump any water out, I wonder how much water we got last night and how much drained to the pool...".

Then another guy walks up carrying 20 ft. long rebar...

"Ashley, I think we got the morning job instead of the afternoon job...".

It was cold as heck...37 degrees? (anything below 45 for me is miserable, that's why we live in Texas!). There wasn't much water in the pool at all, but just enough to justify the pump.

Made them coffee, wife went and got us some Chick-fil-A breakfast burritos and turned on the music. Like yesterday's Crew, we sat down together to eat this and they let me know they appreciated the music and food and water. At my previous employer, I could count the number of meals I had provided to me on one hand over the course of five years. Doesn't seem like a big deal, but a meal can really boost the moral of a group of people that are working a 12-hour shift together. At my new employer, I had more meals provided to me in my first two weeks on the job than I did at the past five years at job A! My new job has reminded me how to take care of people, and a little meal can go a long way.

I think the way those guys bend that steel by hand has got to be one of the more impressive things I've seen in a while. They would get specific bends and angles with so much ease. The spa ended up being HUGE and slightly bigger than we had anticipated. It takes up a little more pool space, but the pool is big anyways so we said screw it. We figured it would be perfect to use when we don't want to heat the entire pool up? Someone tell me "good reasoning Brandon" so we can get over it .

We are done for the day and I have a 15.74 lb. brisket in the smoker for the gunite guys tomorrow. If there is anyone's belly I should really make sure I fill, I feel like it should be these guys and our WetEdge guys...

I'll do a better job of getting more pictures of the pool and project and brisket than of the kids playing, I promise...

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Ran over to Chick-fil-A and got four meals. One for our PB and three for the diggers. We took a quick lunch break, joked about how I know a little Spanish, had to convince them I wasn't a cop because apparently to them I look like one, and back to work.

LOL, you were just asking if they wanted more ice with their sodas, we know.

 

[Poolbella]

It looks awesome! We thought our spa was maybe bigger than we anticipated, but now that we’re realizing that the pool won’t get much use at this time of year, I’m not mad about it.

 

[kimkats]

PLEASE tell me they let him ride in the bobcat!!! I hope you bought him a new shovel to work with. So sweet of the "big kids" to let him work with them.

When you see Little Man playing in the "little pool" when you heat just it for him you will KNOW you love the bigger size! Then once he is wore out and in bed you and your wife will be able to hop in and enjoy it as well. I have not heard of anyone saying "I wish the spa/pool are smaller" so it is all good!

The food is a wonderful touch. I like that you are sitting down with them to break bread. They will go the extra mile due to the respect you are showing them. Make sure to take care of your tile people as well!

I don't think I would want to try to out handshake a bar bender! I can only image how their hands/arms/shoulders feel at the end of the day!

We can never have enough pics of cute kids (small and big) or pets so don't stop taking and sharing please

Kim