Suggestions Appreciated - Bid In

Sollace

Gold Supporter
Aug 16, 2020
539
Bryan TX
We'll be accepting this bid and would appreciate any upgrades or suggestions! Finally at this point!


28’ x 12’ Pool: Depths – 3’6” – 4’6” Per. 81’: Area – 336 sq. ft.
A set of steps and a 26’ bench areas
28’ x 6” Raised Wall w/ (4) 18”x18” columns faced in split face travertine

Excavation – Per Plan
Steel – #3 rebar: 8” O.C. w/ additional steel in the stress areas of the pool.
Gunite – 12” x 16” in. beams, 8” floors, walls, and bottom.
Tile and coping – Flagstone or Travertine coping, waterline tiles, and trim tile on all steps and benches.
Plaster – Stonescapes White Pebbled Plaster including Main Drains and wall fittings.
Plumbing – Hard plumbed equipment lines, and drainage lines in schedule 40 PVC.
Electrical – Wiring of all equipment to power source for equipment, surge protection on all equipment.
Decking – 370 sq. ft. choice of spray decking concrete, control joints and area drains.

2 – A&A Venturi Skimmers w/ 2” slip ports
1 – A&A Anti-Vortex Channel Drain
4 – V-Fusion Return Jets (pool)
1 –Pool Pump: 2 HP Hayward Tristar Variable Speed w/ digital controls
1 – Cyclone Prefiltration System
1 – Hayward Cartridge Filtration
1 – Polaris 280 Automatic Pool Cleaner
1 – Emergency Overflow w/ PVC pipeline
All Accessories and beginning Chemicals

Wireless Switches
400K BTU Gas Heater plus 40’ gas run and connection
TC500 Tropicool Chiller plus 50-amp breaker and electrical connection

Forgot to add:

Pool Specs:
Gunite: Beam of pool is 12” x 16” thick around the entirety of the pool
All walls, and floor are 8” thick
No rebound used in the pool
6 sack mix; 4500 PSI gunite
Lifetime guarantee

Steel: #3 rebar on 10” centers w/ 4” x 8” in the stress areas of the pool
#4 rebar 5 bar box beam
Rebar doweled for decking every 24” with safety benders

Decking: 3” – 4” sand base formed under the concrete
#3 rebar on 12” centers

Electrical: All electrical is licensed and permitted
Includes up to 50’ of electrical run from the panel
Electrician will wire all equipment, controls, and lights
GFCI breakers are used on all equipment

Plumbing: All plumbing is schedule 40 PVC. We pressure test all our lines during the construction of the pool and keep the lines under pressure during the entire construction process to insure there are no leaks. Each skimmer is plumbed separately for better cleaning and automatic cleaner lines are run separately to a designated port in the pool wall for easier access.

Valves: Jandy Neverlube Valves
Chemical resistant check valve before chlorinators (if used) are used to prevent corrosion of heaters, or
pumps.

Skimmers: A&A Manufacturing Quik-Skim Skimmers are used with a venturi return system, and a suction line for manual vacuuming of the pool. These skimmers allow for the suction to only be used in the main drain on the bottom of the pool to prevent loss of prim of pumps, and cavitating

Return fittings: 1.5” V-Fusion returns with adjustable eyeballs

Main drains: A&A Manufacturing Unblockable Channel Drain that meets anti-entrapment codes and helps pick up leaves and other pool debris from the bottom of the pool.

Leaf trap: A&A Manufacturing Leaf Traps help collect large debris before it reaches the pump or filtration systems.
This allows for the bottom drains on the pool to pick up large amounts of fallen debris from the pool, and
easy access by the equipment to simply dump out debris instead of having to use a pole and net to fish it
out.
 
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I'd lose the Polaris and get a robot.....cheaper to buy, cheaper to run and far far better cleaning. As a bonus it will also brush your walls for you!

I would suggest making the pool's water depth 4' entirely or 4' to 5' for a small slope. 3'6" is just too shallow and you have stairs and a bench if someone wants.

How large is the cartridge filter? The bigger the better as that means fewer times you have to clean it out.

Maddie
 
As for my thoughts on the depth.... if you want to do any sort of water exercise having a slightly deeper end is good for standing there and moving the arms, and you can jog in place in the more shallow end. The pool is a bit short to be doing laps but you can certainly swim around the perimeter and not scrape your knuckles in 4 feet.

Good plan on the cooler as shallow pools in TX would feel swampy as summer arrives.

You can save money and ditch the leaf trap device and just use skimmer socks in the skimmer basket instead.

Maddie
 
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Thank you Maddie

I'm also going to back track and read up on other bids and such, make sure I know what I'm getting. What I need to upgrade.
Are the brands he's going with average or top quality? Obviously I need to research.
 
S,

Other than the pressure side cleaner, I don't see anything, equipment wise, that I would change...I like the channel drains... I think the fancy skimmers and pre-filter are more hype that help, but they will not hurt anything.

Good luck with your pool build.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
I have to be honest, we don't hear a lot about some of this stuff. Is the yard surrounded by trees that drop a lot of debris? A well placed skimmer or two, along with a robot is adequate usually.

If you're looking to trim the budget I'd kill those fancy devices first.

Maddie
 
The yard has no trees, no plants yet, just grass. There are big trees over the back fence. During high winds, which are frequent, those trees lose little branches into our yard. I attached some pictures )

The design is almost done. We added steps with 8" risers and the top step out of water with a non-slip surface. I couldn't see stepping 10" down from the coping into the pool, even with a hand rail. I had trouble 20 years ago doing that. I didn't want that in retirement!
 

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Oh that's a great looking yard for a pool! And I like the pool design too. :goodjob: I do *not* think you need to worry about fancy skimmers or leaf canisters in *that* yard!! Take note which direction the winds come from predominantly and plan to put a skimmer across from that direction at least.

Smart move on the risers....and I see you've planned for a handrail. ✅ . We get gobs of folks who later regret not having a handrail and need to add one later (when far more difficult).

Maddie
 
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Thanks Maddie! That's actually the second to the final design. I wanted places to sit and read while doing leg exercises. Multiple sitting spots to take advantage of the shade. Thanks for the wind tip. I do know that answer at least and will plan accordingly.

Question - Is the SWCG for both chlorine and salt water pools? I looked up a few old posts, know why they're used, what they are, who has them, but not the link to whether it's only a salt water item.
 
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What would be a decent skimmer replacement if the ones quoted by the PB are too fancy?
He may suggest something else and it'd still be fancy.

Thanks for your comments, Jim. I've been comparing our PB list to what everyone has on the bottom of their signature/post . . . And getting a headache at the small print. !!
 
S,

In most cases a standard skimmer works just fine.. The "fancy" skimmers that your pool builders wants to sell you send return water back through the skimmer to cause a venturi action that in theory make the skimmer work better.. In reality, it is only slightly better, and not at all better when running a VS pump at low RPM. The main thing it does is put more money into your pool builder pocket.

Google Pool Skimmer and then google Venturi pool skimmer... Keep in mind that marketing is designed to sell stuff, so don't take what they say as truth..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Some people add salt to their pool water to *soften* the water.... really makes it feel silky and nice. Then a great many add a Salt Water Chlorine Generator (SWG) to their equipment pad to turn that salt water in to Free Chlorine (yes! the stuff you need!) and it sanitizes your pool water. Then it reverts back to salt water and repeats over and over again. It is the easiest way to sanitize your pool. No pucks or jugs of chlorine to lug home.
These devices have been in use since the 80s in Australia, then came to the US. Wonderful inventions with a proven track record.

Maddie
 
Small thing but big on appearance. Get Pour-a-lid skimmer covers. They need to be ordered and available during construction. Your concrete and spray coating goes in the lid to make it all but invisible from any distance. You just see a round circle about 1/4” wide of plastic instead of a 10” circle of white plastic. And order it in the color closest to your spray coating. Probably the tan color I have. They can be used with any skimmer as the collar just sits inside of the lip of the skimmer.


 
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Heard back from my pool builder. Input welcome.

The pool overflow is already in our bid, but the fill line would add $900. This
is for the electronic Levelor auto fill line. The float type is not recommended
because they break all the time, but if you would like me to bid this type I
will with a disclaimer that we are not responsible if they break. I personally
just fill my pool with a hose so I don't have to work about the fill lines
breaking and causing an swelling in the clay soil around my pool and possibly
breaking my concrete.

I did not have an automatic pool cover bid for the pool and wasn't aware we were
thinking about doing one. I'm happy to get a bid. Our brand is the Coverstar
version.

Salt water system adds $1800 (SWG)

The filter size is a 525 sq. ft. cartridge filter.

Pour a lid skimmer covers are $150 for 2 of them. There will be 2 skimmers on
the pool.

I'm happy to remove the leaf trap device and the main drain to standard 8" main
drains. I will find out the credit difference.
 
awwwwright then! If you wanna ditch an autofil, ask the PB to put a water bib near the pool equipment and you can fill from there. Or closer to the pool...which I wish I had so we could easily water the plants in pots around the pool.

Just a thought.....

Maddie
 
Does the auto fill cause the problems he states? It seems overkill.
We do have a hose bib which will be close to the pool. Unfortunately the pad will be place near our breaker box so it'll be around the other side of the house.

In our previous freeform pool I could stroke twice and run out of room. I ended up doing kicks holding onto the side along with water aerobics.
 
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