New Pool + Cabana + Putting Green - Lucas, TX

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It's been almost a month since my last update. I'm sorry to say the progress has been very slow since then.

Patio forms, rebar, and gravel are in place. We also got permits for the cabana and the piers dug. The stone crew was back yesterday and today finished the tanning ledge. Finally, we got iAqualink 2.0 installed.





 
Yeah I've been patient but that all ended on Monday. At that point it had been almost four weeks since they finished stonework and all they'd done since then was patio forms and rebar. I had a discussion with the project manager at that point and it looks like activity has picked up since then (the stone tanning ledge was done over the last two days... not sure why they didn't do it a month ago with the rest of the stonework).

The discouraging part is that we were way ahead of schedule last month. At the beginning of the project they warned us that the stone crew was the hardest to schedule so I got the impression after stone was complete it was all downhill. Obviously that hasn't been the case, and a project that was once ahead of schedule is now behind schedule by several weeks (tomorrow marks nine weeks since excavation).

The most frustrating part for me is getting the project manager to commit to any dates. I can't even get him to tell me when the patio is going to pour. He just says, "I'm doing everything I can to keep this job moving forward."

Debating whether I should escalate...
 
You are in peak pool building season with a strong economy. There is more work than workers. Here in Austin all the subs are having record years. My stone guy says he is praying for rain so he gets a day off. I'm not defending your builder, but it's likely that all pool builders are running well behind. It's unfortunate he gave you a schedule that's clearly wrong. One of the volume builders here typically quotes 6 weeks and back in Nov/Dec he was already telling people 3 months. Keep the pressure, but I think these are definitely not normal conditions.
 
Foosman said:
You are in peak pool building season with a strong economy. There is more work than workers. Here in Austin all the subs are having record years. My stone guy says he is praying for rain so he gets a day off. I'm not defending your builder, but it's likely that all pool builders are running well behind. It's unfortunate he gave you a schedule that's clearly wrong. One of the volume builders here typically quotes 6 weeks and back in Nov/Dec he was already telling people 3 months. Keep the pressure, but I think these are definitely not normal conditions.
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This is most likely the issue. People like your PB pray to have a good year to make some money and pay his people a good wage. But sometimes prayers are answered too good. You try to get all the work you can to help cover the slow times but then sometimes there is just too much and you cant keep everyone happy. I completely understand where you are coming from with spending a good chunk of change and only having a torn up yard and a hole in the ground to show for it but please try to have some patients. I would bet your not the only one blowing up your PB phone.
 
SuzfromTexas said:
Wow.... At what point does photobucket take your pictures hostage? Is it a certain number? That hasn't happened to me.
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This happened to me once before when I had a thread on another forum that was getting a lot of hits. They said my bandwidth had been exceeded. This is has NOTHING to do with the number of pics you have on the site. It's how often they are viewed (i.e. through 3rd party hosting on forums like this). When it last happened I had to sign up for a paid account but it was super cheap... something like $1.99/mo.

This time I think it's different. I've done some research and supposedly Photobucket recently changed their Terms of Use and completely disallowed third party hosting unless you upgrade to their most expensive account... a cool $399/year. So now every pic I've ever posted on the web is a broken link.

Hoping my account will reset on July 1st.
 
There have been a couple of reports of photobucket changing their policy so we might be in for it. Lots of folks here use it. Another member recently switched over to imgur and it seems to be working fine wth IMG codes.
 

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pooldv said:
There have been a couple of reports of photobucket changing their policy so we might be in for it. Lots of folks here use it. Another member recently switched over to imgur and it seems to be working fine wth IMG codes.
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Yes, I'm considering a switch. But who has time to go fix 10 years of broken links? That's what really frustrates me.
 
No comments on my new deck??? :cry:

We are getting very close to the end. Clean and grade is supposed to happen today or tomorrow. Then fence and sprinkler repair. Cabana will be built next week. I'm hoping for plaster late next week or early the following week.
 
We are SO bad!! We all focused on being mad a photo bucket! Sorry about that :hug:

It was neat to see how they do it. Stamp, stamp, stamp..........keep on moving. It looks like they were careful to keep it very random! The coloring really came out great as well! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Kim:kim:
 
IXFE said:
No comments on my new deck??? :cry:

We are getting very close to the end. Clean and grade is supposed to happen today or tomorrow. Then fence and sprinkler repair. Cabana will be built next week. I'm hoping for plaster late next week or early the following week.
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I'm sorry..... I saw the photobucket news and forgot to go back and look at the videos!!! (I get distracted easily!)

Those guys look so hot out there working. At least there was a good breeze. Sooooo glad the one worker was catching up on his texts....... (sarcasm).

The second video with the finished deck isn't clear enough on my cell screen to tell much. Is that stamped and stained concrete? Or some type of overlay. In the first video, it looked like a sand base.

I have a suggestion since photo bucket is being so rude. Go ahead with pictures but start these new ones on imgur. Take care of the broken links on photobucket sometime when life slows down. If photobucket is being ugly now, they probably will be again even if they reset July 1st. just a thought....

Suz
 
you guys need to start using FLICKR. you get like 2TB for free and no restrictions.

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movies look awesome! ya those guys were just so going through the motions. . . feel bad for you guys down south with the heat. it's humid here, but no hotter than 85 ish. and it cools off nice later in the day.
 
SuzfromTexas said:
I'm sorry..... I saw the photobucket news and forgot to go back and look at the videos!!! (I get distracted easily!)

Those guys look so hot out there working. At least there was a good breeze. Sooooo glad the one worker was catching up on his texts....... (sarcasm).

The second video with the finished deck isn't clear enough on my cell screen to tell much. Is that stamped and stained concrete? Or some type of overlay. In the first video, it looked like a sand base.

I have a suggestion since photo bucket is being so rude. Go ahead with pictures but start these new ones on imgur. Take care of the broken links on photobucket sometime when life slows down. If photobucket is being ugly now, they probably will be again even if they reset July 1st. just a thought....

Suz
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I also got a good laugh out of the guy checking his cell phone in that video. Too funny.

The PB calls this decking "textured concrete." I swore at the beginning of this build I would not be doing any kind of stamped or textured concrete, but if you recall we really struggled with this decision and in the end my wife made the call. It is colored "tan" in order to match the concrete our home builder used under the patio. To keep it looking a little more natural (and keep it from being slippery) we said "no" to any kind of sealant. So it should have a "matte" finish.

I'm hoping the flagstone coping and runners pop a little more when everything is cleaned off.

Also, they came and cleaned the gunite shell today. So good to see activity!
 
So here's a question. I've actually been meaning to ask this for some time...

Of course I follow directions from TFP and I ordered my pool with a SWG system (the PB made me sign a waiver, but whatever). When I was reviewing my equipment I looked up what model of SWG I was gettting. It's a Jandy PLC1400, which is the biggest system they offer; the specs say it's good for up to 40,000 gallons, but according to my contract my pool is 36,900 gallons (not including the spa).

I keep reading that y'all recommend having 2x the capacity you think you need. But how is that possible if I already have the biggest SWG model that Jandy offers?

Probably too late to do anything at this point, but I was curious anyway.
 
Yes, that is going to be a potential issue. In summer you'll have to run your pump/swg quite a bit to keep up with FC demand. I assume you got a variable speed pump so you'll be able to run it at a low rpm cheap for as long as you need to generate enough chlorine. I run my VS pump at 1100 rpm for skimming, filtering, solar standby and making chlorine with the SWG. It uses 150 watts at 1100 rpm. At 10.25c/kWh it costs less than 12 bucks a month to run my pump 24x7. I believe that only Pentair and Circupool make SWGs rated at 60k.
 

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