What Equipment to Choose - New IG Build in Austin, TX

[tyoung5ND]

Hi everyone,

We are getting ready to sign the contract for our new in ground pool in Austin, TX. Pool is a bit on the smaller size (15' x 20', ~8000G) to keep enough yard space for the kiddos. The PB is strongly recommending the UV + Ozone but lots of reading on TFP has me leaning towards SWG instead. I'm thinking about making some other changes that I've summarized in the table below:

Qty	PB Recommended	My Changes
1	Pentair 420SQF CLEAN & CLEAR PLUS CARTRIDGE FILTER	Ask about upgrade price to 520.
1	PENTAIR Superflo Vs (variable speed) 1.5HP Pump	Upgrade to IntelliFlo 011028 with surge protector.
1	Paramount Ultraviolet Water Sanitizer (2 Lamp)	Remove
1	CMP/DEL, DEL Ozone, UV-C 50	Remove
1	POWERCLEAN ULTRA VS INLINE Chlorine Tablet FEEDER	Remove
1	Poolmiser Automatic Water Leveler	Same
1	CMP PRODUCTS Pool Defender WATER BOND SKIMMER	Should we add a 2nd skimmer for redundancy?
1	5GAL MIRAPRIME AQUA-BLOK XL WATER BARRIER (CFP-65-1226) penetrating colloidal silicate liquid primer that integrally waterproofs concrete	Couldn't find much about this. Is it typical to seal / prime the gunite?
1	INTELLICENTER i5PS POOL/SPA CONTROL W/O SCG	Don't know why they listed the i5PS instead of the i5P. Will ask to change to the 5PIC60.

I would like to get your opinion on my changes and if you have any other recommendations. Everything else in the contract looked good to me (2.5" suction, 2" return, #4 rebar, etc). However, I would appreciate an extra set of eyes on the specifications and will attach a copy of that. Project total (pool, patio, and ipe deck) is coming in at $109,229. Is negotiating with PB typical? They seem so busy that I figured negotiating would be difficult to do.

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

HOWDY! welcome to TFP

That is a small pool, more a "Spool". No more yard available to enlarge it? I fear you'll wish it were bigger, especially with kids.

One skimmer should be enough- just make sure they "home run" the main drain and skimmer on separate lines back to the pump and you'll have redundancy.

Good plan on enlarging the filter- you may only have to clean it once a year at that size.

Dump that UV/ozone thing. Total waste in your pool- I doubt you'll be lacking UV being in hot sunny Texas.

I'm not up on pumps like @Jimrahbe is.....let him weigh in on your pump plans.

Please keep us in the loop on the build.... lots of pics, please?

Maddie

 

[Jimrahbe]

5nd,

How many bids have you gotten??? Pricing where you are may be higher then where I am, but it sounds to me like you are getting $50/60K pool for $109K...

The fact that your pool builder is recommending a SuperFlo VS, thinking it could be controlled by an IntelliCenter, tells you all you need to know about how unqualified he is to pick equipment!!

I would agree with all your changes to the equipment specs.

If this is the only bid you have gotten, then I'd take a step back.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

5nd,

There is just zero need for a five gallon bucket of magic gunite "sealer".. That is what the plaster is for..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[HermanTX]

Howdy fellow Texan.
Nice design and well thought out on all the features and equipment.
I always like 2 skimmers - even though you a small pool i.e. less than 10,000gals. 2 skimmers give you the capability to always have 1) a back up if something should occur with one of them and 2) wind has as much to do with surface debris motion as does water circulation so having 1 on each side will will always allow you to have sufficient skimming.
Furthermore, if you elect to go with 2 skimmers, have each independently plumb back to the equipment pad and have a valve on each line to provide better control.
Going with a IntelliCenter without a SWCG seems like an overkill. Just have them include the SWCG and drop the UV and In-Line Chlorinator
I would push for the IntelliFlow pump as well and having a larger cartridge filter will only help in long-term so that is good.

Based on what I seen on other threads for Austin, the $100k+ quote seems very high for your size pool. Do you have an issue with placement on a slope or something that is driving the price up? Have you had a second bid? Always good to verify the market with minimum 2-3 bids. Also, watch the payment schedule. Ensure you hold 5-10% of it to the very end after all is done.

Keep us informed.

 

[Newdude]

Hey Tyoung and Welcome !!! While its true that bigger is always better for filters, you are already well beyond oversized at 420 sq ft for 8k gallons. Will the 520 take longer between cleanings ? Yes. Will you even notice the difference between 21 months and 23 months ? No. Save the money there.

 

[tyoung5ND]

Wow - Thank you everyone for the quick replies and excellent feedback! You’ve got an awesome community that I’ve already learned so much from.

Regarding the size… Yes, I know the pool is on the smaller size. The original plan was to purchase a swim spa, but we decided to upgrade and go for the “spool” instead. We could definitely go bigger, but my wife really doesn’t want to take up anymore yard than we already are. I wish we could save more money with the smaller pool, but I’m guessing the project is already smaller than the minimums that some of the sub-contractors have.

I tried finding all of the best PBs in Austin and spoke with 4 different companies. Quotes ranged from $70k - $90k for just a basic pool. We are in Austin proper, and one PB said that the permitting and restrictions Austin has for heritage trees adds $15k - $20k to the project. Our yard also slopes down about 1 ft every 10 ft or so.

I will remove the UV and ozone, add an IC40, and make the other equipment changes and see where the price is.

 

[jalapenopopper]

I’m in Austin and met with about 13 pool builders. The starting price is in line with the market, but feels high to me or is higher than I had hoped. It is a sellers market for pool builders in Austin. I got one or two bids around $65K but one wasn’t reasonable as their requirement for access didn’t fit the actual access width. Another I am unsure of their qualifications or if they were taking j to account that I pulled all the permits and set up tree protection for them. One builder said starting price would be about $85-90K but likely more so we didn’t pursue further.

Almost all of the PBS ghosted me. I have narrow access and protected trees which scared most of them away. My poo will be a free form a roughly 19x30 pork chop shape and 20,000 gallons.

 

[march2012]

Hi everyone,

We are getting ready to sign the contract for our new in ground pool in Austin, TX. Pool is a bit on the smaller size (15' x 20', ~8000G) to keep enough yard space for the kiddos. The PB is strongly recommending the UV + Ozone but lots of reading on TFP has me leaning towards SWG instead. I'm thinking about making some other changes that I've summarized in the table below:

Qty	PB Recommended	My Changes
1	Pentair 420SQF CLEAN & CLEAR PLUS CARTRIDGE FILTER	Ask about upgrade price to 520.
1	PENTAIR Superflo Vs (variable speed) 1.5HP Pump	Upgrade to IntelliFlo 011028 with surge protector.
1	Paramount Ultraviolet Water Sanitizer (2 Lamp)	Remove
1	CMP/DEL, DEL Ozone, UV-C 50	Remove
1	POWERCLEAN ULTRA VS INLINE Chlorine Tablet FEEDER	Remove
1	Poolmiser Automatic Water Leveler	Same
1	CMP PRODUCTS Pool Defender WATER BOND SKIMMER	Should we add a 2nd skimmer for redundancy?
1	5GAL MIRAPRIME AQUA-BLOK XL WATER BARRIER (CFP-65-1226) penetrating colloidal silicate liquid primer that integrally waterproofs concrete	Couldn't find much about this. Is it typical to seal / prime the gunite?
1	INTELLICENTER i5PS POOL/SPA CONTROL W/O SCG	Don't know why they listed the i5PS instead of the i5P. Will ask to change to the 5PIC60.

I would like to get your opinion on my changes and if you have any other recommendations. Everything else in the contract looked good to me (2.5" suction, 2" return, #4 rebar, etc). However, I would appreciate an extra set of eyes on the specifications and will attach a copy of that. Project total (pool, patio, and ipe deck) is coming in at $109,229. Is negotiating with PB typical? They seem so busy that I figured negotiating would be difficult to do.

Thanks for all the advice!

I think that is extremely high even for austin. My pool builder is not taking any new builds. He said the most pools they typically do is 80 in a year, last year they did 100 and they are maxed out. There was a point at which they thought they couldnt get equipment for pools that were in progress.

Our pool is 75K for 14x33, plus spa (not taking any interior space in pool). I had other builders back of the envelope 150K, blaming it on the limestone. In 2012 I built a 17x35 pool (spa was in boundary of pool) and it was 65K plus a really nice covered concrete patio and a ton of 4x4 pavers because we ran out of impervious cover.

The base pool price was about 46K which is reasonable to me. 10K for spa. Plus upgrades for quartz, decking etc.

Our last pool took up the entire backyard and was totally fine. The kids mainly played in the front yard and cul de sac. We much prefer that as when our kids were out other kids would see them and come out. I think people imagine their kids play in the back, but the reality is there is not much you can do. I would go for as big a pool as possible.

My kids rarely played in back pre-pool

 

[Bauer600]

I think that is extremely high even for austin. My pool builder is not taking any new builds. He said the most pools they typically do is 80 in a year, last year they did 100 and they are maxed out. There was a point at which they thought they couldnt get equipment for pools that were in progress.

Our pool is 75K for 14x33, plus spa (not taking any interior space in pool). I had other builders back of the envelope 150K, blaming it on the limestone. In 2012 I built a 17x35 pool (spa was in boundary of pool) and it was 65K plus a really nice covered concrete patio and a ton of 4x4 pavers because we ran out of impervious cover.

The base pool price was about 46K which is reasonable to me. 10K for spa. Plus upgrades for quartz, decking etc.

Our last pool took up the entire backyard and was totally fine. The kids mainly played in the front yard and cul de sac. We much prefer that as when our kids were out other kids would see them and come out. I think people imagine their kids play in the back, but the reality is there is not much you can do. I would go for as big a pool as possible.

My kids rarely played in back pre-pool

Granted we're not in Austin we're at 100k in DFW with a pool/spa/firepit with 800 sq ft of spray deck on our current build. Cheapest bid we had was in the lower 90's but our access it tight as well which will cause the excavation process more money.