We're doing this again! Orlando OB Take 2 -PLASTERED! 6/1

[OrlandoBull]

Well, it's been about 5 years since my wife and I completed our previous build. We started that build the year we got married and bought our first home together. I had a pool in the house I owned before meeting her and we knew what we wanted when we started our build.

Fast-forward to 3 kids later and we decided to move into a "new" home (actually about a decade older than our "old" house). We purchased the house in October, did a significant renovation, moved in December 4, and closed on the sale of our old house on 12/11. I believe the beautiful pool that we built contributed to us selling our house so easily.

As we looked at houses, some had pools (we didn't like any of them), we thought about a new build (didn't want postage stamp yard), and this one did not have a pool. This house is in a neighborhood with playgrounds for the kiddos, but we have a large yard (0.7 ac) and are not right on top of our neighbors. Checked all of our boxes and made us pool builders again. Last time we used a consultant to help with the owner-build route. This time we're going it alone. I have most of my people lined up which is nice, the gunite was the most difficult since everyone is so busy.

So, having done this before, we had some regrets on our previous build and have a better idea of how we plan to use everything. Some of the upgrades for us are;

More Lights - we had just 1 pool light that didn't cut it for our pool. We did it to save money, but won't do that on this one.
Larger Shade area - We had a screen enclosure with insulated aluminum roof, we realize now that the covered area is extremely valuable and will have more on this build.
Larger Tanning Ledge - With the kids, this is huge. Our 4 year old loves this area and spends most of her time playing there. She's getting more adventurous as she gains confidence in swimming, but the 15 mo/old twins will have that space to play.

Honestly, we loved our pool and would have been happy to pick it up and bring it with us. This is just an opportunity to turn great into amazing for our family.

Some details;
(if you look at Tegguy's thread, our pool will be very similar, we have some shape differences, but I don't have 3D photos, so that's the best representation)
14x28 pool
7x7 spa
7.5x8 tanning ledge (9" water depth)
3.5'-6' depth
Pentair equipment (some CMP lights/sheer descent)
Screen enclosure (roughly 60x 29, we have some yard shape that requires and angled side)

If all goes well, I will be submitting for my permit next week and breaking ground in early February. Currently waiting on HOA approval.

 

[Newdude]

Honestly, we loved our pool and would have been happy to pick it up and bring it with us. This is just an opportunity to turn great into amazing for our family.

Hey OB !!! I’m in a similar situation. We would have gladly snapped our fingers and made our perfect for us pool (but not nearly perfect) reappear at the new place. But now I can build it faster....... and stronger...... *cue 6 million dollar man noises*.

 

[Poolnerdgrandma]

Hey OB !!! I’m in a similar situation. We would have gladly snapped our fingers and made our perfect for us pool (but not nearly perfect) reappear at the new place. But now I can build it faster....... and stronger...... *cue 6 million dollar man noises*.

Wow! Your plan is VERY similar to ours. We bumped out our spa and sunshelf to 8x8, and are really glad we did. Enjoy!

 

[OrlandoBull]

Hey OB !!! I’m in a similar situation. We would have gladly snapped our fingers and made our perfect for us pool (but not nearly perfect) reappear at the new place. But now I can build it faster....... and stronger...... *cue 6 million dollar man noises*.

Yes, I feel much better going into it this time, however, I wish I could build it cheaper! Prices here are out of control. Pool construction is booming here as is new home construction. So, it's easy for pool builders to have subs tied up jumping from one project to the next.

 

[OrlandoBull]

OK, while I anxiously await my permit approval and then dig (said to be about 4 weeks after permit), we have been picking out materials.

Plaster: Stonescapes Tropics Blue mini pebble (same as previous pool)
Pavers: Light gray as shown below
Coping: we are torn between concrete pavers and travertine here. If travertine, we'd go with ivory, may go with a pewter paver if we go that route.
Tile: Here's a photo, we're torn between the two on the ends.

 

[Callalilly41]

I like the Miami blue I think it would go better with Your grey pavers but they are both lovely!

 

[Nikilyn]

I like lagoon on the left.

 

[SchubeyDew]

Curious about how big your tanning ledge was before? I was thinking of doing a 6x10’ tanning ledge with kids as well as relaxation in mind (I know, the two don’t go together). Also, I see you are planning on going 14x28 for the pool size. I am in the same ballpark planning for 16x28 and everyone keeps telling me that is big. Am I crazy? If 14x28 is good for your family with four kids, maybe I don’t need to go as big as I laid out. Also, for the gray pavers, my community’s model home has gray pavers by it’s pool and it looks great!

 

[OrlandoBull]

Curious about how big your tanning ledge was before? I was thinking of doing a 6x10’ tanning ledge with kids as well as relaxation in mind (I know, the two don’t go together). Also, I see you are planning on going 14x28 for the pool size. I am in the same ballpark planning for 16x28 and everyone keeps telling me that is big. Am I crazy? If 14x28 is good for your family with four kids, maybe I don’t need to go as big as I laid out. Also, for the gray pavers, my community’s model home has gray pavers by it’s pool and it looks great!

Whoa whoa whoa... Do not be placing any jinxes on me... we're perfectly content with only 3 kids!

Previous tanning ledge was 4.5x8. It worked for us, but was never big enough for loungers, so we wanted to go bigger.

Previous pool was 13x29, we had many parties with probably a dozen kids in the pool at any given time and had no space issues. Below is the 3D rendering of my old pool. When we decided to sell the house and build a new one, the wife and I spent several nights in the hot tub discussing every detail of what we wanted to keep and what we wanted to change. Ultimately we landed on our current design. The house layout is a bit different, so some of the locations of things were for that reason. For the most part, we loved it, the big things were larger shelf, more lights, more shade, and better finishes (we hope).


As a general update on where we are in our process, I am very anxiously awaiting my approval from the City. Permitting is backed up, but they have also approved pools submitted after ours, so I am getting a bit annoyed by that. Layout Dig Steel contractor is approximately 3 weeks out after permit, so my early February start date is turning into March most likely. Of course my 4 year old puts the pressure on when I picked her up from grandma's today by saying "we're going to your house" I corrected her and said "OUR house", she promptly responded with "yeah, but not yet, you have to build a pool"... God help me when her twin sisters (15 mo) are talking!

 

[Nikilyn]

Curious about how big your tanning ledge was before? I was thinking of doing a 6x10’ tanning ledge with kids as well as relaxation in mind (I know, the two don’t go together). Also, I see you are planning on going 14x28 for the pool size. I am in the same ballpark planning for 16x28 and everyone keeps telling me that is big. Am I crazy? If 14x28 is good for your family with four kids, maybe I don’t need to go as big as I laid out. Also, for the gray pavers, my community’s model home has gray pavers by it’s pool and it looks great!

16x28 isn't that big. Ours is about 16x31. It's a decent size but not huge. When you add all the kids plus friend and family you want as much space as you can get.

 

[SchubeyDew]

I like the pool design OrlandoBull. It looks similar to what I’m trying to do, but if you move the sun shelf and spa around to accommodate for the different aspects of our homes. Appreciate the input on pool size from both of you. My neighbor’s pool will be free form and should be 17x29 (a foot larger in either direction than mine), but the square footage will be 366 as opposed to 448 for mine. Crazy how much more square footage you get out of the geometric designs. What kind of lighting do you want this time around, OrlandoBull?

 

[OrlandoBull]

It looks like I may actually be getting a permit! Final reviewer signed off this morning, just waiting on administrative writeup of the permit and hopefully I can pick up later today and get the dig scheduled. Here we go...

 

[OrlandoBull]

Got the permit, sod is scraped, hoping for a dig in about 2 weeks.

Lighting experts, please weigh in... I have LED bubblers for my tanning ledge. I am using 4 microbrites for the pool and one in the spa... where would you place them? I'm thinking about switching it up to have them outside of the ledge, but all on the side of the pool. Any disadvantage to this? They would be about 7' apart from one another which seems to be a good setup...

 

[TexasRain]

Which side is your house on? I'm guessing on the top side with the lights. This would be the side to do it on, 3 would probably be enough but you could do 4

 

[OrlandoBull]

OK, I haven't had any updates for a while, but wanted to add some info to keep things moving. Building in this crazy pool market right now is going to be Fun with a capital F. For starters, I am very laser focused... this is my nice way of putting what my wife calls obsessive.

We currently have 12 different tile samples sitting on our kitchen counter. I think we're down to about 2-3. Ultimately will be more basic 1x2 blue/luminous glass I think. But there are 900 shades of blue.

My layout-dig-steel contractor is awesome and said to be the best in town. They are great at communicating and I am really happy with them... but... before I had my permit, I was communicating and they thought they would be 2 weeks out from my permit to get my dig done. Unfortunately, as an OB, I don't have the buying power that some others have, so they haven't been able to get to me yet. Still, they communicate well and it is what it is at this point. I got "the call" today that they will be laying my pool out tomorrow! They also said that they do not know when they will be able to dig it, sometime within the next 2 weeks... ugh. I totally understand that they have to take care of their bigger clients first, I do that in my work as well. It's part of life, and I really believe they are trying to get to me, just can't prioritize me. Best I can tell from talking to them, they have a gross revenue somewhere around $6M+/year, so my one pool is a drop in their bucket. I am honestly grateful that they took on my project and they communicate so well with me.

My plumber/tile guy tells me like a month ago that he's going on vacation in early March. Back then I figured that he would be able to pre-plumb my spa well before then. Should have known that it would hit right when I am going to have a dig most likely. He has a crew, they will get it done, not a major concern, just funny that my initial reaction was that I would be done well before his vacation.

Gunite says they need 5-days advance notice.

I received my permit around 2/3 I think, I scraped the sod the following weekend and now I am in the waiting place. Dr Seuss would not approve!

On the bright side, I have had a chance to remove a tree that would be in the way, put up my silt fence, hopefully work out my irrigation so that the LDS contractor doesn't "find" any irrigation lines (probably wishful thinking). I have also had the chance to dig through some nearby pool permits and see how inspections are going, reading comments for failed inspections. I am hoping that will help me to avoid failing some myself. I am also working from home, so hopefully when that time comes, I'll be able to step out and talk to the inspectors and build up a rapport where they will try to help me through minor issues. Silt fence is a recurring issue as is proper bonding of everything.

So, that is it, small progress, but I feel decent about the schedule on everything once I get a hole in the ground. Hopefully the rest of my subs are able to keep to their timelines.

 

[ckinchen]

Hi! I am in Lake Mary area and the builders are super slow. I was in the grass piulled stage for a month because it was during Christmas and New Years, the holidays. Fingers crossed they do concrete tomorrow, moved our cars tonight for good mojo. I noticed you are figuring out your light placement. I am not sure if my pool builder was being truthful but I wanted to change to microbrites and add another light and they said i could but it would cost me because they would need to change the permit. I had no clue that the position of lights are on a permit, so may want to do ASAP if planning to make a change to the spacing.

 

[OrlandoBull]

Hi! I am in Lake Mary area and the builders are super slow. I was in the grass piulled stage for a month because it was during Christmas and New Years, the holidays. Fingers crossed they do concrete tomorrow, moved our cars tonight for good mojo. I noticed you are figuring out your light placement. I am not sure if my pool builder was being truthful but I wanted to change to microbrites and add another light and they said i could but it would cost me because they would need to change the permit. I had no clue that the position of lights are on a permit, so may want to do ASAP if planning to make a change to the spacing.

Thanks for the info. I figured that I would discuss with the inspector when they come out for the steel inspection to see if they need a permit mod, it won't be part of my first inspection since the lights are nicheless. I think it really depends on your municipality. In any event, I have to do a permit mod for swapping brands on my heat pump, so I'll include it then. I am still considering solar heat as well, so holding on for a little bit to see if I decide to do that as a permit revision or do it later with a new permit.

Layout was completed yesterday. I am hoping for a dig by the end of next week. If I am lucky, they will get an opening sooner. Good luck on your build, hope things move along a little quicker.

 

[ckinchen]

@OrlandoBull I had no clue you needed a permit to switch out lights or even a heater brand. County is making some money! I am doing without screen, if we need one down the road will add then. So no heather now but will likely get solar but really have not investigated either much. Not even sure what solar costs in central Florida. Do you know ball park? I have a feeling it is 5-6K.

 

[OrlandoBull]

@OrlandoBull I had no clue you needed a permit to switch out lights or even a heater brand. County is making some money! I am doing without screen, if we need one down the road will add then. So no heather now but will likely get solar but really have not investigated either much. Not even sure what solar costs in central Florida. Do you know ball park? I have a feeling it is 5-6K.

That seems reasonable, I am a DIY'er, looks like to buy the system I would want, prices range from $2800-$4000, then I would do the install... so, I wouldn't be shocked if it got north of $6k for a contractor. 5 years ago we got a quote on our old pool and it was just over $4k. We didn't have good roof faces though and I was skeptical that it would add the heat that we would want out of it.

Every municipality is different, I really don't think my City would care about the lights. I was poking around other permits and saw them fail an inspection for a heater change though. Makes some sense because the heater is included in the flow calcs for the pool, so it could have some minor impact on pipe sizing if there was a drastic difference. Light location really has no bearing on the function of the pool and they shouldn't care... you could always call the City/County you're in and ask the question to make sure your contractor is being straight with you too.

 

[OrlandoBull]

Minor updates...

Got my layout on 2/24. Yesterday, the superintendent came out to review it, he and I had a nice chat about the industry, my build, etc. I measured my layout on Wednesday, and there were a couple of things that confused me. Basically, the overall dimensions/placement were correct, but there were some "spa" markings on the forms that didn't make sense. So, I asked this guy when he was here and we measured together and he left also confused. Made me feel better that I wasn't too dumb to figure out normal layout markings. He's going to confirm with his guy that did the layout and I'll obviously measure the dig and steel as well, so it's not a concern at this point. I did confirm with him that I want my depths to be water depths, so another 3" or so to the finished floor of the pool. Again, I'll measure this. He said that they always shoot for water depth. Of course, they are long gone by the time there is any water.

Lastly, he said he's 99% sure that my dig will NOT be next week. So, hopefully the following week.