I'm going to try and keep a running index of major updates to make this story/conversation easier to track.
1. Oct 2021: Thread origin, see story below (we went w/ Builder B and contracted in Oct)
2. Mar 2021: Still haven't dug, considered switching builders
3. Mar 2021: We fired our builder and signed with a new one (signing w/ Builder C below)
4. April 21 2021: Dig Started!
5. May 28 2021: after a month of constant rain, rebar!
6. July 13 2021: Gunite!
7. Aug 24 2021: Tile & Coping!
8. Sept 13 2021: Decking!
9. Oct 21 2021: Plaster, more info on startup
10. Oct 22 2021: The SAGA continues
11. Nov 1-2 2021: Plaster
12. Nov 3 2021: I have concerns with startup process
13. Nov 9 2021: ...and now we have a leak
14. Nov 18 2021: Getting shocked when touching the pool water
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Great community, glad I found you all before I ended up with a UV+OZONE pool that is too shallow with lights shining in my face!![Grinning face with sweat :sweat_smile: 😅](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f605.png)
I'm far enough along in this process now that I'd love some advice and feedback (also, good time of any to start journaling the build!). We're down to 3 builders. All seem to be very reputable builders in the area with their own pros and cons. To start, I would really like any advice from the community on how to pick one of these builders to go with, but I plan on keeping this post updated as we go along the process!
Our build includes:
Builder A ($82k w/o covered structure)
Design
Attaching some photos on where we're at from a design perspective. Includes mockups I made in a trial version of Pool Studio, and mockups from the builders. I'll spend more time getting this right after we select a builder, but would love feedback from you all as well! I plan on using my fence guy to install fence after pool is built, who is averaging 1/2 the cost of the pool builders.
Questions for this excellent community:
1. Oct 2021: Thread origin, see story below (we went w/ Builder B and contracted in Oct)
2. Mar 2021: Still haven't dug, considered switching builders
3. Mar 2021: We fired our builder and signed with a new one (signing w/ Builder C below)
4. April 21 2021: Dig Started!
5. May 28 2021: after a month of constant rain, rebar!
6. July 13 2021: Gunite!
7. Aug 24 2021: Tile & Coping!
8. Sept 13 2021: Decking!
9. Oct 21 2021: Plaster, more info on startup
10. Oct 22 2021: The SAGA continues
11. Nov 1-2 2021: Plaster
12. Nov 3 2021: I have concerns with startup process
13. Nov 9 2021: ...and now we have a leak
14. Nov 18 2021: Getting shocked when touching the pool water
-----------------
Great community, glad I found you all before I ended up with a UV+OZONE pool that is too shallow with lights shining in my face!
![Grinning face with sweat :sweat_smile: 😅](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f605.png)
I'm far enough along in this process now that I'd love some advice and feedback (also, good time of any to start journaling the build!). We're down to 3 builders. All seem to be very reputable builders in the area with their own pros and cons. To start, I would really like any advice from the community on how to pick one of these builders to go with, but I plan on keeping this post updated as we go along the process!
Our build includes:
- Just under 600 sf, 15k gallon "play" pool. Straight-line design with large tanning ledge
- Most likely T or L shaped pool with 18x30' main section and 9x12' tanning ledge. No spa (this is Texas y'all!)
- 800-900sf of new concrete decking, most likely with turf borders and large "paver" look
- ~300sf covered structure with storage large enough for riding mower, lawn equipment, and pool "toys"
- Fence and landscaping to come later
- A smooth (probably polished) plaster. For some reason my feet cannot stand pebble, even PebbleTec Sheen. We want a light plaster anyways, so a polished marble seems like a good option for us.
Builder A ($82k w/o covered structure)
- ~20 years in business, hard to find a negative review
- Built 1 other pool in our neighborhood, their build seemed to take a long time (6+ months) but I know owners made changes during the build process
- Located furthest away - 45+ minutes. Very busy, takes days to get updates and 2 weeks later we still don't have a finalized bid. He's responsive, just slow to get updates.
- Pool Bid:
- ~$68k for 30'x21.5' T shaped pool, 7'x12' tanning ledge, 3.5' shallow, 5' in center, 4' other side, 103' perimeter, 582 sf
- 6 hours included excavation, $375/hr rock charge if rock is hit
- Not recommending soil injections based off of experience in area, but engineer will be onsite to determine
- Shell: 4 bar box 1/2", 3/8" on 10" centers
- Plumbing: 2 bubblers, 2 skimmers, 5 returns, overflow line and hose bib fill
- Plaster: Finest Finish Arctic Coast Polished Pebble, Glass and Abalone (any color)
- Lights: 5x Jandy LED (not sure on model, just shows Jandy LV LED)
- Equipment: Jandy "E-pump" VS, Jandy high-flow commercial "water polishing" cartridge filter, Jandy iAqua Link
- Sanitation: Nature 2 (will switch to salt system)
- Cleaner: Polaris Quattro, 3/4hp booster (will likely have him remove and I'll buy a robotic afterwards)
- Porcelain waterline tile, Travertine coping
- Misc: includes custom volleyball net and upgrading existing gates to pool code (don't actually need the latter)
- Decking:
- ~$16k for 825 sf salt texture and a turf border around all edges
- Covered Structure:
- Still waiting for price details
- Warranties:
- 3 year Jandy Equipment
- Lifetime Structure
- 10 year Plaster Material
- 1 year everything else
- ~50 years in business. Only negative reviews I can find indicate they can be slow in customer service / after-build issues
- Built several pools in our neighborhood (4 or so this year alone), all the builds were completed pretty quickly (6-8 weeks max). Visited one of the sites and it was very clean 3/4 of the way through. Owner very happy.
- Located just down the street. Their sales rep is really good, while he's also very busy has spent the most time with us and seems to be working hardest to earn our business. He stays engaged during build process (even showed me text threads with each of the people he's building with)
- Local Pentair distributor
- Pool Bid:
- ~$63k for 30'x22' T shaped pool, 7'x12' tanning ledge, 4' depth on sides 5' in center, 104' perimeter, 587 sf
- Recommending (but not requiring) soil injections unless we hit rock
- No excavation overages unless rock is hit, $375/hr rock charge. Based on other pools built on our street, and soil report I gave him, doesn't expect to hit Rock.
- Shell: 4 bar box 1/2", 3/8" on 10" centers
- Plumbing: 1 bubbler, 2 skimmers, 4 returns, overflow line and autofill
- Plaster: Durazzo Polished Marble/Quartz/Glass (all of the owners have this, showed me many pictures, they like it a lot)
- Lights: 4x Globrite Color LED Lights
- Equipment: Pentair Intelliflo VS SVRS, Pentair Clean & Clear Cartridge, Pentair Screenlogic PL4 (Yes, I'll ask to switch to non-SVRS and Intellicenter)
- Sanitation: Intellichlor Salt
- Cleaner: Pentair 920 Robotic Cleaner (haven't got final price on this, current bid includes $1500 budget, might switch to comparable Dolphin model if too expensive)
- Some glass waterline tile options included (or porcelain), Travertine Coping
- Decking:
- ~$14k for 860sf salt texture, 60' of steps, 160 sf of turf
- Covered Structure:
- ~$16k for 252sf structure with tongue/groove cedar ceiling and walls, 3 doors to storage unit, and electrical (outlet, switch, light)
(I'll most likely have him increase size of structure to match others)
- ~$16k for 252sf structure with tongue/groove cedar ceiling and walls, 3 doors to storage unit, and electrical (outlet, switch, light)
- Warranties:
- 2-3 years on Pentair equipment
- 10 year structure
- 1 year plaster workmanship, 5 year plaster material (doesn't require any water testing)
- 1 year everything else
- ~20+ years in business. Top builder in DFW, in top lists nationally
- Haven't gone through full design process yet, just sent over spec to get a soft bid started. Only took 3 days to get initial bid back.
- Pool Bid:
- ~$69k for same specs as builder B - 30'x22' T shaped pool, 7'x12' tanning ledge, 4' depth on sides 5' in center, 104' perimeter, 587 sf
- Recommending soil injections based on soil maps
- 8 hours of excavation included, no rock overages unless we go over 8 hours
- Shell: 6 bar box 1/2", 3/8" on 10"
- Plumbing: 0 bubbler, 2 skimmers, 5 returns, 1 overflow, hose bib fill and overflow
- Plaster: Wet Edge Primera Polished, any color
- Equipment: Hayward OMNI VS, Hayward 425 SF Cartridge, Hayward Omni control
- Sanitation: AQ100 Salt
- Cleaner: Polaris 280 + Booster pump
- Decking:
- ~$16k for 860 salt texture, 30' of steps, 130 sf of turf
- Covered Structure:
- ~$17k for 320sf structure + gutters + electrical package
- Does not include walls or doors
- Warranties:
- 3-4 years on Hayward equipment
- Lifetime structure
- Lifetime plaster material, requires monthly water testing
- 1 year everything else
Design
Attaching some photos on where we're at from a design perspective. Includes mockups I made in a trial version of Pool Studio, and mockups from the builders. I'll spend more time getting this right after we select a builder, but would love feedback from you all as well! I plan on using my fence guy to install fence after pool is built, who is averaging 1/2 the cost of the pool builders.
Questions for this excellent community:
- How much would you value the warranty differences?
- Should we pick the best pool builder and worry about the covered structure later?
- Is there any practical difference between a 6 bar box and 4 bar box? The wiki on this site calls out using more or larger rebar could lead to weaker gunite / air pockets, etc.
- We are leaning on Builder B currently due to location, relationship, and price. Any red flags with the information above?
- Any other advice, questions to ask, or differences among these options I should call out?
- Suggestions on the two design directions considered: L shaped vs T shaped pool. I think we prefer the T shaped, but still uncertain. One non-aesthetic difference is the T shaped pool will involve us putting the volleyball sleeve in the pool within the tanning ledge, wheres the L shaped allows us to put it in the coping. PB says no big deal though.
- Any other DFW people want to chime in on the need for soil injections? I'm including a photo of our soil report that the builder of our home did. It doesn't provide pool recommendations, but we only have 4 feet of the nasty black texas gumbo. I'll talk to our builder more about this, just since we're getting different opinions on this so far (and I've given them all the report), wanted to at least ask you all.
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