Something You Wish You had Done was...

[Saturn94]

You're braver than I. I can't be in dark water and absolutely need the light on since I am a scaredy cat. I think watching Jaws as a child ruined me for life when it comes to swimming in dark water lol (and yes, my logical brain knows my pool isn't the ocean).

Lol! I don’t particularly like swimming in the dark either. Needless to say, I don’t do much night swimming. My other half though will just jump in with the spiders!

 

[S-Merry]

3. Larger equipment pad to give more space to work on/around equipment.

Yes, that, along with putting it somewhere else, and going bigger for the actual pool. Our neighbors had a bigger pool and complained about it, saying they wish they'd gone smaller. They have three kids to our one, so we listened and went with smaller. We use ours so much more than they use theirs, and our daughter has friends in it almost daily. Oops. We may still do something about the equipment pad though. The heater has to stay put because of the gas line, but with a small retaining wall, we could expand the pad and shift the pump and filter. Maybe next year?

I *really* wish we'd waited for our pool company's preferred installer, rather than taking their second best to get it done earlier. I still have concerns about our install and wonder how much sooner some things might fail because of that choice.

This doesn't apply to your build, but after hanging out here so much, I also wish we'd gone with an in-ground, or sunk our AGP a couple feet. That was a soil/clay/drainage/location/neighborhood issue though and not just personal choice, so we really didn't have a good/safe/smart option for doing either. Once the kid moves out and we relocate, I am ALL IN for an in-ground I can swim laps in.

 

[Brianf60]

I would have added a second skimmer and a variable speed pump.

 

[Tres Gatos]

Hand rail for the steps.

 

[ventinc]

We are on the west coast so our priorities/suggestions might be different just due to climate.

Make your pool as low maintenance as possible. You'll enjoy it that much more.
1. 2 skimmers- a tiny cost now for a huge convenience of extra skimming later.
2. Equipment pad location- make it ideal for your backyard, not convenient for the builder. Put thought into this.
3. Spa? Lots of jets are awesome- takes a smart plumber
4. Gunite?- make sure rebound is removed. The "bones" of your pool is the most important part.
5. Plumbing trenches? Make sure they are excavated properly and plumbing lines are not put it sloppy and are well supported with a/b gravel and sand. Add one or two extra plumbing lines that will be capped and could be used in the future. Plaster? Fiberglass? The type of build comes with different quality control supervision.
5. We added a gunite slide for the kids. Wish we would have made it longer.
6. Stamped concrete is nice but ours gets slippery. We should have done a more textured stamp.
7. Your landscaping around your pool is just as important as your pool. Plan your landscaping now. What trees, plants, and shrubs? How big will they get? 5-10 years from now will any landscaping potentially cause any damage or maintenance issues for your pool?

-Go with the company who has the best reputation for quality. Unless you implicitly trust the builder let them know you will be involved during the construction and that you expect questions to be answered as they come up. If they seem annoyed by that, move on to someone else. A quality build now will save you money later.

-Don't be excited about building a pool as hard as that is to do right now. Instead, try to imagine you have had this pool for 8-10 years and why has it been a huge success or a giant pain in the rear? Make the decisions about building your pool with that perspective and it will be a huge success.

-I have a bit of a complicated pool but I enjoy the maintenance and taking care of it. I have 7 different pumps and when one goes bad, I enjoy removing the motor, rebuilding it, etc. Keep your pool simple and low maintenance if you think you'll hate taking care of it and/or the expense that will come with it. Go crazy if the maintenance/cost of a more complicated pool doesn't phase you.

 

[Nectarologist]

We are nearing the point of selecting our pool builder. So, I wanted to through a simple question to everyone:

What is something you wish you had done during the pool build that you didn’t?

(i. e. More swim space, more decking, vs, tanning ledge, more space between fence and decking, electrical outlets, anything).

It can also be something you added that you don’t use or regret installing.

We have been researching for two months and have gained so much information. I want to see if there is anything I can’t think of regarding our pool build.

I hope to be posting a proposal from our hopeful PB soon.

Thanks

I would say a SWCG. I installed it two summers after my build due to money issues. I saved 1K doing it myself but if money was not object I would have done it with the build. I went with LED lights but I should have just done the white halogen for half the price. My lights failed after 4 seasons and I think the old school lights are more reliable. The colors entertained the kids but now no lights are worse than only a white light. If you can, put electrical on the far side of your pool. You won't regret having power options on both sides of the pool. It seems like people have power on the house side but not always on the far side. Even if you don't have a defined code on outlet location put it between 10 and 20 feet from the water (safety issue).