Prospective build in STL Area

[ilive4this]

Hello all! I'm down to just a few contractors in my decision to put a pool in our back yard in the greater STL area. We've landed on fiberglass due to having a dog/young kids and not wanting to stress about rips/tears in a vinyl liner. We're also not necessarily interested in paying the Gunite price and I do have some concerns with respect to that anyway in a location with occasional hard freezes (midwest).

That said, I wanted to inquire to see if anyone here has experience or advice between the following pool manufacturers: Latham, Imagine Pools, and River Pools. I'm personally leaning towards River Pools and it sounds like the franchisee in STL is great, has excellent reviews. But I'd like to see if anyone has any opinions to add.

Additionally, the prices are pretty high; but all quotes are similar. Does it make sense that we'd have to pay ~ $130,000 for the pool, decking, fencing, equipment, etc.? Basically, the full gamut of it all will cost us approximately that much regardless of who we go with. Is that reasonable? I know with a vinyl, based on quotes we've received, we could save like ~10-15k up front but again, that's ruled out for us. Additionally, has anyone ever or is it commonplace to negotiate at all on price? For example, if we take a quote from one builder that's throwing in a free gas heater to another and ask for them to do the same?

Thanks in advance for any feedback provided!

 

[Ljbwilk]

I'm in StL, having bought a house in Clayton in 2017 with a fancy pool (having been built, we think, in about 2005) and now in the CWE with a less fancy pool (having been built, we think, in the 1970s but updated with Pebbletec around 2000). We resurfaced the Clayton pool in 2018 and are currently resurfacing the CWE pool. We had numerous neighbors who installed pools in Clayton during and right after the pandemic. So I've learned a lot about this in the last 8 years, but my knowledge is limited to pools that were plaster/Pebbletec when I found them. I don't know if Fiberglass is a significant price difference.

My good friend living Arizona would say 130K is very high. She installed a nice new plaster/Pebbletec pool in her backyard in 2018 for about 70K. Based on my experience, I'd say 130K is practically a bargain. All three of our neighbors in Clayton paid well over 200K for their plaster/Pebbletec pools. Last week, Pooltron quoted us 85K just to resurface and retile our pool. There are some shenanigans with the plaster contractors for sure-- likely massive anti-trust violations. Maybe there are more contractors who do fiberglass and who are super honest? No idea. In the world of plaster/gunnite/Pebbletec pools, I can tell you that I actually cracked a smile when I read something about negotiating because those of us in the plaster world could never do that. There are too few contractors who have too much power. We're lucky if we can just get our guys to show up and do the job in any kind of timely fashion. I'm not kidding and I'm not exaggerating. It is a forking jungle out there. I realize that these are first world problems, but the plaster pool labor market really should have its own reality show. It's such an unbelievable shirtshow. Someone *really* needs to open another pool construction/plastering company in town. She'd make a fortune.

Here's some additional unsolicited advice:
(1) You'll really only use it from about May 15 to Sept 15 +/- 2 weeks. The rest of the year, it's going to be a huge eyesore in your yard so think long and hard about how to hide/decorate around it. If you're a parent, def consider budgeting for a very nice, reliable, easy-to-use automatic safety cover. They're very difficult to install after the fact so unfortunately you'd have to fork over that money now but man it is oh-so-worth it. Honestly even if you don't have kids, there are kids everywhere in StL and having an unprotected pool is such a liability. Every pediatrician on earth can tell you at least one horror story. The death trap covers are super cheap but death traps. The trampoline ones are about 6-8K I think. The auto safety ones are more like 15-20K but I really think that's money well spent AND you can open/close it whenever you want including the summer. Will keep your water cleaner, too.
(2) Talk to a hardscaper about your pool deck. Concrete will crack and it costs a fortune. You can do pavers or stone for a bit more but it will last way, way longer. Attach the word 'pool' to anything and it become ridiculously more expensive. Hardscapers are way easier to deal with, more reasonably priced, etc. Jerry at S&J is a gem. He is so hard-working, dependable, reasonably priced.
(3) Salt water is amaaaaaaazing we love it so much. It pays for itself quickly. It's so very worth it.

Feel free to let me know if you have other Qs. If I were starting fresh (which I've never done before), I'd go with Baker. In the jungle, they seem to be the most honest and reasonable.

 

[ChrisLPC]

Are you getting an auto cover? What kind of equipment? Any automation? A standard equipment package heater, pump, filter, salt cell plus 3 ft brushed concrete apron depending on the size of the pool could run you 90-100k not including fence, automation or an auto cover so sounds about right.

 

[ilive4this]

Are you getting an auto cover? What kind of equipment? Any automation? A standard equipment package heater, pump, filter, salt cell plus 3 ft brushed concrete apron depending on the size of the pool could run you 90-100k not including fence, automation or an auto cover so sounds about right.

Includes 400K BTU Nat Gas heater, Polaris 8642 Robotic cleaner, 3 LED color changing lights, Pool RS automation system (Jandy), no auto-cover but does include a mesh cover.


The other two bids I believe were Pentair equipment. I don't have a lot of knowledge about these manufacturers but general reviews seem fine

 

[ilive4this]

Hello all - me again! I was hoping someone more knowledgeable than me could take a look at the pool equipment planned to accompany our pool design and let me know what would need to change here, or if this all looks as expected. We are going to have an approximately 38 x 16' fiberglass pool (3'6 to 7' depth) installed with a separate tanning ledge also incorporated into the design. My initial reaction for sure is that our Nat Gas heater should be a 400k BTU, and I think this one is quoted at only 250k...

 

[troe]

Hello all! I'm down to just a few contractors in my decision to put a pool in our back yard in the greater STL area. We've landed on fiberglass due to having a dog/young kids and not wanting to stress about rips/tears in a vinyl liner. We're also not necessarily interested in paying the Gunite price and I do have some concerns with respect to that anyway in a location with occasional hard freezes (midwest).

That said, I wanted to inquire to see if anyone here has experience or advice between the following pool manufacturers: Latham, Imagine Pools, and River Pools. I'm personally leaning towards River Pools and it sounds like the franchisee in STL is great, has excellent reviews. But I'd like to see if anyone has any opinions to add.

Additionally, the prices are pretty high; but all quotes are similar. Does it make sense that we'd have to pay ~ $130,000 for the pool, decking, fencing, equipment, etc.? Basically, the full gamut of it all will cost us approximately that much regardless of who we go with. Is that reasonable? I know with a vinyl, based on quotes we've received, we could save like ~10-15k up front but again, that's ruled out for us. Additionally, has anyone ever or is it commonplace to negotiate at all on price? For example, if we take a quote from one builder that's throwing in a free gas heater to another and ask for them to do the same?

Thanks in advance for any feedback provided!

We just had a Latham Key West fiberglass pool installed. 27’ x 12’ 9000 gallons. Included delivery, dirt work, install, 1 skimmer, 3 returns, 2 LED lights, 500 sq. ft. stained and stamped concrete, Jandy variable speed pump with WiFi, Jandy cartridge filter, Maytronics Active 30 robot, pole, brush, leaf filter, and start up kit. Out the door price $52,000.

 

[ilive4this]

We just had a Latham Key West fiberglass pool installed. 27’ x 12’ 9000 gallons. Included delivery, dirt work, install, 1 skimmer, 3 returns, 2 LED lights, 500 sq. ft. stained and stamped concrete, Jandy variable speed pump with WiFi, Jandy cartridge filter, Maytronics Active 30 robot, pole, brush, leaf filter, and start up kit. Out the door price $52,000.

Crazy. Can't find anything even remotely close to that in St. Louis. Not even close. I've yet to see a bid under $115k.