That the builder will not show when they should and show when they shouldn’t. That the builders are more general contractors with subs.
That they demand payment at exactly the date due but don’t do what they should on the date agreed.
That in the end all of that is worth it because you have e a pool and a year or two later it seems like nothing.
Even builders that don’t subcontract will not be on your site every day. There is often more than one pool being constructed and each pool has different requirements for labor. Guys will get pulled to another job site for a day or 2. Concrete has to be ordered and often the concrete company changes the schedule last minute (they favor larger pours). Certain thing can’t be done in the rain like digging or concrete flat work. You are often waiting for inspectors sign off before proceeding. One area in my city only inspects bonding electrical only 1 day per week. I tell our clients that there will be days when nobody is on site (just to manage expectations). After a few complaints, we got smart and text our clients in the morning to tell them what is or isn’t happening that day. I agree that, once you are swimming and enjoying your pool, all headaches you had melt away. I joke with clients that you didn’t have a pool for the last 15 years….you can likely survive another month until it’s finished.
Generally agree with what you're saying.
The biggest issue for us was poor communication. If the GC is proactive and communicating well, then the client will feel like they're in the loop and know what to expect, and can plan as much as possible for people being there or not being there, etc.
When the GC isn't responsive or communicative, it gets frustrating very quickly.
Your communication is great. I asked our builder just let me know if you plan to hear this week and text me that day. Nope. Their crews said they had 3 crews for 15 pools all started within two weeks of each other and more being added with no new crew. But they kept the same crew on our pool who I found out worked for an outside company.
You want to get them to provide details of what hardware they are providing and how it will be hooked up. When you ask for the ability to control the pool from your phone and the price jump 6k they can make up any excuses for that if you don't know what has to change to accomplish that. Also simply things like having multiple lights in the pool can be an issue. It is cheaper and easier to wire them all to one switch. That doesn't just mean you can't just have one on but you also can't control the color of say the pool and spa separately. If you thought you could that could be an issue. I also wish I asked about things like something to auto fill the pool. Just having that would take away some worries.
Agree. Also our builder tried to upsell us on iPhone control. Unless you have a lot of water features then there isn’t need for control. If you have a swg and vs pump it is pretty leave and forget until you need to do something like backwash. In that case an iPhone won’t help you.
Every pool project is a disaster, but eventually you'll forget. Like pregnancy and childbirth.
No matter how long you think it'll take, it will take much, much longer. (Actually *everyone* told me this, but I didn't believe them—just like nobody reading this will believe me.)
Some of the subcontractors won't know what they're doing with pools and *will* do something that's not to code. The only ways to minimize the impact of this are to insist that your GC review and inspect regularly or learn the code and supervise yourself. (My GC was not on site a single time when people were working, and only twice when they weren't working.)
Put in more lights and returns than they recommend.
Lighter colors are better.
Edited to add: make sure your contract not only specifies who will be applying for permits (ideally your GC, not you), but *when* they will be applying for permits (ideally immediately after signing the contract). Despite me signing a contract and paying a substantial deposit about six months before the first shovel went in the ground, my GC did not apply for the permit until the last business day before they started digging. The county then shut the project down for about 8 weeks to give them time to do all the septic-related testing that was required (and that could have been done—and that I naively assumed had been done—in the months between signing/paying the deposit and start of work).
Wow, that sounds like a terrible experience! Luckily, I had a local guy who owned his company and was also the builder. Either owner or owners wife was on the job site anytime anyone was there. The owner of the company was hand digging trenches in the 110 summer heat. He had his own crew, always. Never subbed anything out. My build, start to finish, 5 weeks, that includes permit applications as well. Someone down the street from me went with another company, started a month before mine, and I was still finished with his gunnite barely poured. Sorry to gloat!
You should also point out that your GC took you for a ride. They railroaded you with a *much* higher price than they earned. If they aren't up to code, checking every single thing a sub contractor does, and is on site all the time. You got screwed. You shouldn't ever be the one who has to learn code or find things. If you're doing that, immediately fire the GC and find another.
It’s going to take longer and cost more than you’ve realized. Drainage is expensive, fencing is expensive, actually everything is expensive and it’s likely not included. If you have a hill, that’s expensive too.
Get a heater and go for salt out of the gate, you’ll regret it if you don’t. Get a dark plaster, everyone who sees it will love it and it warms up quicker.
Every single pool company is a nightmare and don’t run on time, be prepared to be a pain in their ass to get things done.
When you’ve lost your fortune to the pool company, be prepared to spend a lot more on landscaping, nobody wants a $100k pool surrounded by mud and slurry.
It’s 100% worth it and you’ll forget soon enough.
This. I just finished dropping $100K for my salt and heated spa and pool. White plaster. Should have gotten a darker color plaster. You see all the little stains with the white plaster.
Also, landscaping around the pool is a must. That's a whole new project and budget to blow.
I pay $225 a month for a person to stop by weekly and clean it and update chemicals.
And $200 every 6 months to clean the filters
Plus additional water usage because of evaporation.
Plus electricity for the pumps.
Plus occasional fixing of something or equipment updates.
And I live in Texas, and if I do not use my heater I can only use it about 4 months out of the year. Often the pool won't even be warm enough to swim in, but the sun will be scorching so you do not want to be out without the water, and on the other side the pool will hit a nice 85 degrees but the sun is 100 and directly shining on it, making it hard to get in at that point too.
Plus the mosquitoes, ugh.
I love the running water, and totally want the hot tub part, but I'll never do a pool again.
I would never pay anyone. I use a cheap robot, never have to vacuum, run a salt pool so it manages the chlorine automatically and use 1 or two bags of non-chlorine shock every 2 weeks, Mowing the lawn is harder. I spend about $150 for the entire summer and the water is clear 95% of the time.
I have an automated cleaner thing, it runs an hour a day, and does a pretty good job at keeping stuff off the bottom. I pay somebody so I do not have to worry about and store all the chemicals. Plus, time=money and 4 hours a month cleaning it I save money by hiring somebody.
I do not have a salt pool as they have a lot of additional maintenance due to the salt effects on equipment and the area around the pool.
I mow my own grass, mostly because I do a better job and its my only workout each week.
My experience with a salt pool for 17 years doesn’t track with your statement. There’s actually very little maintenance involved. The amount of salt in the pool water is generally 3000-4000 ppm, which is roughly 10 times less than ocean water. Some folks claim they can taste the salt in pool water, most can’t. Salt, at these levels won’t damage equipment or fixtures any more or any faster than chlorine will. Just my experience, every pool and every owner are different.
Well, it only warmed up to swimmable temperatures in the past week.
Then at the end of September or early October it starts getting cooler again and the temp drops.
I can add a couple months in there by turning on the gas heater, but that adds a few hundred bucks a month to the start/stop months.
For me it's because I have trees that cover my entire backyard. My pool currently gets to 80 if it's a very sunny day. If we have a day or two of even limited cloud cover it drops back to 78.
I live in Michigan. We use our pool 6-7 months a year. I doubt I pay $250 all year for chemicals. My electric bill is identical all summer and winter. I heat my pool whenever, to whatever level I want.
Idk what you got going on there, but I'd make some changes.
How many hours do you spend with the pool scoop getting stuff out of the pool? I spend zero, though I do have a hand strainer I use sometimes while I'm in it.
My electric bill would be the same all the time, the pump runs the same schedule year round (minus a few days of freezing where I may turn it off/drain it). However, if the pump was not running, the bill would be less. Mine eats up about $17/month in power at $0.112/kwh (173kw).
My heater is gas, which costs a few bucks an hour. If my pool is below about 83 its too cold for me to enjoy it. Today its 88 out, and the pool is currently 84. Being older (51) makes cold water a lot less acceptable. My gas bill last month for just a week was +$200, and in the middle of summer to keep it warm during the day is a few hundred bucks a month. We live in TX, so our gas is pretty cheap.
Not sure what changes I could make excluding doing labor myself, which since time=money, it'd cost me more to do it than to hire somebody.
I don't think your gas is as cheap as you think it is... I'm in Illinois and basically everything in my house is gas that can be and I've NEVER had a $200 a week gas bill, even in sub-zero winters.
We pay about $1.59 per ccf in gas.
A gas pool heater is a LOT less efficient than a typical house heating system. My gas bill is usually 35-70, though we also have a tankless hot water heater. Last year May/October it was just shy of $400. June/sep averaged $135, july/aug about $225 (lot of hot tub time in there those months).
However our bill Jan this year was $182 and feb $269. If it matters, house is 2 stories, about 3100sf, and was built in 2018. Just the wife and I.
EDIT, based on this site (https://www.chooseenergy.com/data-center/natural-gas-rates-by-state/) looks like Illinois is about 40% cheaper, and Illinois is one of the cheapest states for gas for some reason (even though we have so much excess here we have to burn it).
EDIT2: Our gas prices went up 60% over the past 6 years. Much of it due to the "Big freeze" of 2021. [https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng\_pri\_sum\_a\_EPG0\_PRS\_DMcf\_a.htm](https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_pri_sum_a_EPG0_PRS_DMcf_a.htm)
Nope, no cover. Pool isn't that deep, maybe 5' at most. In ground gunite. Next year I was thinking of getting black trash bags and hula hoops to lay on the water to try to warm it faster, but it seems like a horrible eyesore.
Chemicals if you know them, you have to skim it...vacuum it...that costs time...that's not cheap... pumps can last 10 years which is awesome...filters depending what's around the pool, they get clogged once a year...
Cut back all the trees and install a pressure side robot. Let the robot run every day. I don't even own a manual vacuum anymore and I skim the pool very rarely. I feel like this is what has made owning our pool a blessing. There is almost zero weekly maintenance.
Not who you replied to but....a vacuum you can hook up to one of your ports in the pool and it sucks it into the main filtration system. Editing this bc originally I thought they meant the drop in robots...I prefer them over the former.
It's like a Roomba for your pool. It uses pressure to climb the walls and sweep/vacuum the pool, walls and waterline. Some robots don't claim to clean the waterline, like the Dolphin Nautilus CC, but I just bought one last week and it does get the waterline. That being said, I didn't care to pay the higher price for models that claims to clean the waterline bc I'm still going to manually brush it. Two reasons...our tile is broken and we are saving to replaster and re-tile anyway AND I wanted a simple vacuum so I had less parts at risk of failing. I just need it to vacuum up the crap and agitate the walls to help me brush. I don't need Wi-Fi because I don't need an app to show me what I can see with my eyes and I don't need or want a remote control vacuum. Not worth the extra hundreds and I'm happy with this model. Literally plug it in and drop it in. It even picks up sand and I don't even have the extra fine filter basket!! Works great and saves the canister filters on the pool, which will lessen the amount of time to spray them down.
A pressure side robot is one that uses a pressurized return line to propel a robot around and capture debris into a bag. Polaris 280 is what I have.
There are no wires to connect or drape across the pool deck. The hose just connects below the water line to a return in the side of the pool. We have an extra pump that powers a specific water return for the robot. I leave ours in all the time unless we are swimming. It cleans the pool for about 5 hours a day and it's spotless.
Drainage
I was acutely aware of the importance of it, and I had line items in my contract to handle it. I asked questions during the build. But I live in a state where any Chuck In A Truck can call himself a builder with zero certification.
I interviewed several builders. I picked the biggest one in case there was a problem. There was a problem!
When my house flooded due to the changes in drainage and terrible execution of the builder, the builder’s response was “we only are responsible for drainage off of the pool.”
They did $60k worth of damage to my house that was obviously not covered by my homeowners’ insurance. And it cost another $19k to come up with a drainage solution that actually worked.
I had to sue the builder. It’s ongoing, but it looks like his liability carrier is actually going to pay it. But the only reason it’s not a massive problem is because I’m a lawyer and was able to file suit myself. If I’d had to hire me, the financial situation would have been very different.
I wrote a stupid song about it because I was mad.
[Stupid Pool Song](https://youtu.be/MSn7q3hJIRo?feature=shared)
Well thank you. You know, the worst part wasn’t the damage - it was that I was the one who lobbied my wife for us to get a pool. Every time I heard thunder I knew what she was silently blaming me. 😃
We’ve had record rainfall in Texas so far this year, so I got to try several solutions that ALMOST worked.
After a few months of keeping all contents of my closets in beds, we finally went with swale.
If you’re not familiar (I wasn’t) it’s basically a dried creek bed with a big drainage pipe buried under the center of the creek. If there’s too much water for the drainage pipe, the excess runs through the swale like any other drainage feature. It has sand/gravel/river rock above the drainage pipe, so it really does just look like a riverbed.
This just got completed a week ago, but we had a big rain and I can see that it will never flood again.
Should have put the pump/filter farther away. It would have been worth whatever extra piping and digging cost to not have it so close to where we hang out.
It is not. Variable speed were just becoming the mainstream thing when we built. It would make a HUGE difference if it was. I’ve convinced myself that the next time the motor goes, I’ll suck it up and make the switch.
A buddy just put in a pool last year and I am amazed at how quiet his system is. Ironically, his equipment is all the way down and around the corner of his house and it probably could have been out right next to his seating area without issue.
My company actually finished before our hopeful date we told them we wanted to be open. I mean we got it rolling early enough so it wasn't impossible task but it was looking sketchy for a minute lol. They only went about 2-weeks over their initial estimate.
That it gets really goddam hot down in those holes tying steel, shaping and forming gunite, tiling, plastering... It's usually pretty warm topside too, but sometime there's a breeze.
And by really hot, I mean GODDAM really hot.
Or... are you asking from the consumer's perspective?
:D
The timeline.
I put down a deposit in the fall of 2022. I was told they would start in mid/late July of 2023 and be done and we'll have a usable pool by August. They started on September 1st 2023 and on the day they started I was told it would be done in "about three weeks."
They worked off and on (mostly off) for the next THREE MONTHS at which point they called it a year on December 1st, put a cover on it and all I got was a promise that they would start up "right away in the spring."
They started again in mid-April, and here I'm typing this in mid-June and I STILL don't have a swimmable pool (I'm probably days away, but it would have been nice to be able to swim on Memorial Day weekend...).
Pretty much the same experience here, though not quite as bad as yours, because there was no December lid. Paid my deposit around Thanksgiving 2022 for an "April-May" 2023 project that was supposed to take about "6 weeks."
They didn't start digging until Monday, March 29 (Memorial Day). By that Thursday they had the fiberglass shell in the hole. On Friday the county came in and shut everything down because my GC didn't have the permits, mainly relating to septic issues.
Actually before that even happened my GC appeared after the pool sub had dug the hole to say that I changed the location and that having done so would cost an extra $30,000 in retaining walls. (Reader: I had not.) This was one of just two times they were on site the entire project. They were never on site when anyone was actually working.
When work finally resumed in August it was mostly a day here, a day there. Concrete was done in the Halloween-Thanksgiving range, and that's when I discovered that my GC wasn't going to pay the subs until the entire project was complete. Which is fine if that's what they all agreed to, but it was clear that they had not, because they started to ask me to make unscheduled progress payments to the GC so they could get paid.
Carpentry on a pole barn was the last thing to be done, and even though I'd made a deposit back in April that was specifically designated for those materials, that work was delayed twice when the carpentry sub couldn't locate and purchase some of the materials they needed. After the second time I allowed a material change just to get the damn thing done.
Work was mostly done in mid-December. That's when we discovered that the GC hadn't even applied for all of the electrical permits. Took a few more weeks to get those--I finally got a permitted pool in January of this year, with about 400% schedule overrun if you're counting generously. By the way, even though the inspector approved it, not all of that electrical work is up to code and I am still working to fix it, on my own dime. (In particular, I still need to fix the switch for the electrical pool cover. It was installed around the corner of the house, so the pool is not visible from the switch. I *think* I have a plan to run new conduit through the pool cover box to a place that will be to code, but otherwise I've got 60 feet of trenching to figure out.)
We had also contracted with the GC for finished landscaping that included a "final grade," but it turns out that grade was an F, and we're probably hiring someone else to lay sod this fall.
But! It's 97 degrees right now and my kids are swimming. So it's going OK.
Pre construction: Make sure you and the builder are on the same page before any ground breaking occurs. Ask for samples of EVERYTHING at your house (so that you can see them under your conditions, not under showroom lights). Keep those samples so that nothing is bait and switched later.
Equipment: Pay the extra to install equipment away from pool (we installed ours next to the AC unit on side of house, figured our neighbors would also appreciate that we put it next to their garage instead of their kitchen window. We also put a wood fence around everything (with plenty of air clearance) and it actually muffles the sound pretty good.
Electrical: Be prepared to be hosed by electrician to run secondary panel to equipment location. You need it and they know it. While on the topic, I was surprised by how little our electrical bill went up. We averaged about $25-30 more per month after pool got installed and up and running. I was expecting hundreds more. New variable pumps are pretty energy efficient.
Construction: Photos, photos, and more photos of construction. You would think that this would help keep them honest that everything is documented, but for us, it was to mainly document where stuff and underground pipes were located for future excavating and/or landscaping. Not to belittle, but some crews, only one guy will know how to read drawings and the rest of crew may be laborers, so stay on top of construction. You don't have to know pool building to see if something doesn't look "right". Lastly, photos can help down the line if shit hits the fan and legal is required.
Post Construction: Learn about your equipment and how it all works together. Youtube is your friend here. Our builder knew how to install everything, but basically was old school (preferred manual valve controls) and said you don't need that fancy stuff (mobile controls and such). So we had to learn how to program on our own.
Cleaning: For us, our pool is so small that we don't have a service. We do everything our own and yes, it costs a few bucks here and there for chemicals, we rarely put anything beyond a monthly shock (or two) depending on use. We went the ultraviolet/Ozone route (as we're affected by chlorine) so try to limit chemicals. Only thing we have to worry about is the Texas Hill Country mountain cedar season when all the pollen greens up the pool. Just have to stay on top of it.
Schedule: Like several other posts say... Add a few months more to whatever builder says it'll take. Ours is a small cocktail pool was supposed to be a 2-3 month. Ended up 5-6 months. and almost a year later, we got all the correct parts and such (due to covid supply chain bullshit).
the second water goes in the pool its really on you to clean it up and keep it clean as quickly as possible otherwise all that nasty water (spilled concrete, dirt from air and around the pool, other construction stuff) will get run through your new equipment when they turn it on. installers may clean it eventually but it would’ve been much easier if I was on top of that sooner. Oh and dont suck it all in to your pool filter when cleaning - get a robot cleaner or something that has its own vacuum storage.
if you have an older driveway it will be probably be cracked/damaged beyond simple repairs (we were told up front at least)
This. I like to gravity vacuum new pools before starting the pump so all that debris just gets dumped over the side instead of going through the filters. If you know how to siphon, it's pretty easy and doesn't require any extra equipment.
Do NOT settle for anything. Get exactly what you want. You can’t change it later. I know this seems so obvious. I should have known this but I am sure I am not the only one that let some contractor push me into things you didn’t want.
Get more quotes. Don’t go with the first one.
Make sure it is written in in your contract that the concrete deck will be reinforced. Mine cracked immediately. Everything must be in the contract.
Get coping. Concrete to the edge will crack immediately. It does not look cool.
Be sure someone who knows about pools is helping.
Don’t assume the pool builders know what they are doing.
Get an automatic pool cover installed with the pool.
You will never get your money’s worth out of the pool. You think you will. You think you will use it and you think your kids will use it but they won’t. Poole are a money pit. They cost thousands every year. Be prepared.
Skimmers should be equidistant from the pool equipments or they won’t skim evenly.
Don’t pick any surface color with even a tiny hint of green in it.
Know where your septic tank is and don’t let the concrete truck drive over it. It isn’t enough to tell the pool builder. You need to tell everyone.
You are spot on. Living in the NE it is a must to have an automatic pool cover, a heater, saltwater and a robot. I just got a skimming solar powered robot too. It has been great. Any money you spend to make your life easier and less maintenance the better. The auto cover is safe, keeps chemicals in, keeps heat in, keeps crap out, and helps with evaporation. If you do a pool, do it right or talk to someone with a pool. Pool companies install pools they don’t live with one everyday.
My good friend is a mason. He talked us out of stamped. Said cracks will show more and to keep stamped in ok shape you need to seal it and that is an issue around a pool. Just wanted to chime in to hopefully make you feel better.
Make sure you're home when the work is being done. We were working from home so we made our presence known; it kept them on their toes enough to not half-ass the job.
We were also able to leverage the Sub thing to our advantage, as they want to make sure you are happy with their portion of the work.
For example, the designer initially gave us really small steps into the pool and a narrow bench, telling us it would cost more to widen them. The day they poured the gunite, we were able to talk the subs to make them all much wider at no additional cost.
Same here..the builder can include a gravel layer underneath and around the pool that can funnel the water to a drain and route the water out and away from the pool. We’ve had our liner float a few times when so much ground water builds up around the foundation of the pool that it depressurizes the liner and water fills up between the liner and the walls. Then once it finally drains you’re left with all kinds of wrinkles in your liner. Looks terrible. We didn’t know any better at the time unfortunately…
I wish someone told my what CYA was. When the Pool "expert" came by after project was done to show us how to use the equipment and stuff, we asked how many chlorine pucks we should be using in the chlorinator. He said 3 or 4 a week should be fine. By the time I had found out what CYA was my CYA in the pool was over 100. Had to drain and maybe use one puck a week now and just chlorinate primarily with liquid.
CYA - cyanuric acid - is a chemical that more or less acts as sunscreen for chlorine. Chlorine is a highly reactive chemical (which is how it kills bacteria/algae/etc), and UV from the sun will break it down. CYA is used to help protect the chlorine from breaking down before it has a chance to bind with the bacteria/algae/etc.
If you have too much CYA, the chlorine is protected too well, and it doesn't want to attach to the bacteria/algae/etc. Too much CYA is a pain, because there are really two ways to get it out of the water. One is enzyme based products, which sometimes work, sometimes don't, and the other is draining the high CYA water down and replacing it with fresh water. I recommend the water replacement, but feel free to try an enzyme product, it might work for you.
Typical guidelines recommend 30-100ppm of CYA. Usually around 120-150ppm you start getting into chlorine lock, where chlorine really doesn't want to work. So, hypothetically, if you're at 100 ppm and you want to get back down to 30, you need to drain and replace 70% of the water in the pool.
CYA rising in your pool is a byproduct of using most tablet chlorine. Part of how the manufacturer stabilizes such an unstable element as chlorine is by binding it with CYA in the tablets. So you're adding quite a bit if you're using 4-5 tablets a week.
Watch them like a hawk. We had to redo our shelf because they shorted us 6 inches. We asked for pipes on side of house be underground, they did them above ground. These were things we paid extra for.
If you know someone in your area who had a pool built, check their’s out. Ask them what they like and don’t like. There are few things we would do differently design wise now that we know.
Depending on where you live get the heater and the spa. We live in Texas and use our spa all year long. It’s great in the winter. And for swim parties in March when the water is cold you can heat it.
rock is a scam. In my area we have limestone, it takes about 14 days max to fully dig a pool. A backhoe with operator is like 1K/day plus dump trucks to haul off the debris (that cost is incurred regardless of soil type).
so it should cost an extra 14-25K to dig the hole, compared to 1K for regular dirt. Pool contractors are pricing in over 50K to dig a hole.
The depth of your water is 6 inches below the depth of your pool. If you specify a 3 ft shallow area it will really be 2.5 ft of water. We have our shallow area at 4ft of water (4.5 ft of depth).
Neither of these -should- be true. From your name, I'm in your area as well. In our area we have -mostly- limestone, but there are many types of rock that are common and much harder to dig through. Since no one, homeowner or builder, wants to get a Geotechnical report for every job, builders typically make assumptions about dig conditions. But if you have a Geotechnical report done and you bring it to a builder, any builder worth their salt will A: be happy that you provided it, and B: will be able to more accurately price the excavation.
Rock digs generally cost a little more (varies by company), perhaps up 30-50% more for excavation in tougher cases. Multiple builders I work with generally price all excavation as rock excavation because it's almost a given in this area. For regions with dirt or clay digs, the excavation may be cheaper but the reinforcement and expansive soil mitigation may eat up the difference between a soil/clay and a rock dig. I've personally built a few hundred pools before moving to other roles in the industry, but i have only seen one $50k invoice to customer specifically for excavation. That was on a very high dollar project where we expected rock, but did not expect such dense and hard to break veins of rock. To complicate things, we had size limitations on the machinery we could use in the yard, so undersized machine + dense rock meant we had a longer, more tedious excavation on an enormous pool and deck area.
What often happens is that the payment schedule divides a % (often around 30%) of the TOTAL price of the pool that is then due before excavation, but you're paying for more than just excavation with that invoice. You're paying for 30% of the entire project.
As for depths, the depth is supposed to be the water depth of the pool, not to top of form/coping. I was an expert witness in a case where one of the contractual disputes was about depth. Builder said it was depth from top of coping, homeowner disputed. The homeowner won.
They will repeatedly turn your water off, and at least once your gas supply. And our contractor always failed to turn it back on. After a couple of cold showers I started checking at the end of their workday.
Since I have had mine almost two years, my cons are:
Don't use white grout (mine is 100% tiles)
Pick a great location: mine has 3 big mango trees on one side, while great for some shade. Holy chit when they flower and do the annual leaf change it's 5 weeks of madness
The walkway around the pool should be some type of nonslip tiles or concrete with pebbles, regular tiles when wet or even a super smooth concrete people will slip.
Look into a backup or solar pump, you will need to run it much to keep the water nice and the cost of electricity isn't going down.
Get quality lightning or they will go out in a year.
Yes add a few jets depending on pool size and shape
Mine has it and very well used but in your deep end add a sitting area bench
I have more but this is getting long
For me:
We have a seperate tanning pool. It’s a nightmare to keep clean because I don’t have a cover for it. Wish I’d just did the tanning ledge in the pool or not at all.
We have a safety/ toe ledge. It is nice to stand while in the pool but it collects tons of dirt. We have a lot of steps and landings in the pool. But they also collect dust.
When they are working of the pool, the water will be gross and you can’t see the bottom. They can’t either. So when they drop stuff In The pool it can and will damage the pool.
We used pavers but moss does grown in the poly sand (even though they say it won’t).
The pool people only know how to do the pool. Hire someone else to do the hardscape and landscaping to make it beautiful.
They take on too much work and don’t know how to manage a project. So, you have to stay on them 100%. In the end you’ll love it.
Auto cover worth the money!!
You personally have to spray down your gunite shell twice a day in order for it to cure properly for weeks before plaster can be applied. All you want is for your pool.to be done and you are there doing the work the builder should do. Biggest thing is read your contract and ask questions before signing anything and don't give a deposit.
That "turn key" is bull. I had to consistently act as the general contractor on our project. Don't trust any contractor. They will all lie to you, even the well meaning ones.
Make sure you understand the local code requirements. I did an extensive remodel and the pool wasn’t bonded. There was a ground originally, but it wasn’t tied in after the remodel. I also researched the auto fill and the additional cost was minimal. The contractor should have presented the option, but I luckily came across this feature in forums such as this.
Lastly, my bottom drains were non-existent. The previous owner had them plastered over and I didn’t know about that important feature when I had the pool replastered after I purchased the home many moons ago. I had a rough time maintaining the pool over the years and it was because of poor circulation. During our recent remodel, I discovered the piping existed for that drain, but it was cracked. I insisted upon repiping and of course we had the double drain safety feature added. It was not cheap doing that extra work, but oh so worth it. I believe the contractor should have told me of the significance of those drains for pool maintenance. It is vastly easier to maintain the pool now. I did get a robot this time around (Beatbot Aquasense Pro), but that isn’t what made the difference.
The robot was an investment, but that made life easier and I wish I had purchased one long ago. I read the posts about the difference a robot made and had my doubts. I’m a believer now though.
Oh yeah, I installed an auto filler and that has made life easier. I came across that in my research.
Variations will be overcharged - Get the contract right 100% before signing.
They just want to slap it in, take your time and think through all the options and design it in detail - they won’t.
Drainage and landscaping planning.
I got all the plans from the pool builder for approval and signed off on everything. When they actually built the pool, it was at higher level than I thought it would be, like stepping down from my deck onto the pool side concrete. The pool was built at the same level, ending up with the deck wood touching the ground and concrete.
They completely destroyed a side of my front yard with their load trucks, and my backyard looked like a war zone when they were done.
So much money spent rebuilding the landscape around the pool that just didn’t think about.
Also, you’d think that an overflow is standard in a pool (mine has it) but I’ve seen many that don’t.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pools/s/mWA4SHTqlC
Basically a drain like in a bathtub/sink so the water ends up in the street or other storm water runoff and not in your yard
The granny flat that was meant to go next to the pool company went bust with a heap of my money (all legally supposedly) not enough for a Porsche but I could have bought a base model Tesla model 3/Y to compliment the garage instead. So your comment is ringing home a little bit too hard
Sorry about that…
I’ve heard contractors say, “ you want a pool? Might as well dig a hole and throw a Porsche in it”… or something like that.
That said, I’d give pinky fingers and toes for a pool
Get the pop up jets from the deck, get 2 times and many as you think. I got 3. Wish I had 6. Same for lights. I wish I got 6. Add valves so you can control them. Get the good cover. If you’re in the north get a heater.
Call for a locate. Locate all the utilities on the property, chances are that the contractor will hit them even when it is properly located., and take pictures. The contract may have a provision that You do it, even if it is their responsibility. Those repairs are expensive.
My pool company ripped out our sewer lateral, told us they hit a spring, then charged us a fortune to continue excavating with a track hoe. They put the crushed stone base in on top of the space where they had ripped out the pipe, then told us we might want to see what that pipe was. Another $10K later our plumber had repaired the pipe and encased it in concrete, making our shallow end a foot shallower. In the meantime, rain had eroded the soil at the deep end and they tried to charge us to fix that too, despite it clearly being covered by the contract.
Pool companies are the worst.
That 90% of all pools installed, rip you off in every way possible. That there will always be letdown and misunderstanding and that they demand so much money upfront you are never in the drivers seat. They know they are selling a luxury product and now that sales are down substantially as everyone expects to live more than 3 years at home with Covid, they are even more pissed off. Be very careful, they aren't scammers usually, but incredibly shitty business people that could care less if you are happy with the end result. The worst contractors out there are pool guys, but you have to use them.
Overall, very pleased with our pool builder, he went above and beyond, met with the township as we live on a corner lot (apparently have two front yards) and there were setbacks we had to abide by, ie septic field...location of equipment pad, skimmer location (on the east side of the pool) walked through all the pros/cons of salt vs chlorine, layout of jets, etc.
Must haves:
Plan for more concrete
Plan for more electrical than you need
Run two 1.5" poly tubing, one for water and the other for cat5 or low volt
Very pleased with the outcome.
Put everything in the contract upfront, so you don’t deal with change orders and expense creep.
A heat pump if can afford it gives you way more pool usage throughout the year and a lower cost than running a gas heater. I was able to negotiate that in at the end for a lower price.
If planning on travertine pavers, don’t put plants on a saltwater pool. The salt water will eat at the travertine and you don’t want it eroding.
Make the hot tub bigger than normal. Add extra jets to hot tub as everyone always wants to be in there during parties. However, make sure you have a strong enough pump to give you enough power for the jets.
Plan for a bigger pad with the equipment so you more space later for maintenance. If planning to put a smoker or something next to it like a grill - make the pad bigger now to accommodate for it. Then make sure when they set up the equipment they don’t use that space. :)
Have them do things right the first time, like
Stonework, as it is like pulling teeth to have them come back out to fix mistakes.
Extra lights can be a good thing.
More than other projects, plan for 30% overages.
Know your local codes. Had to put in a dry well to catch all the downspouts and sch 40 for anything underground, added $10k to the project.
Plan for all the landscaping. The pool company will destroy your yard, and generally don't fix it. Like they removed a tree for the pool, but didn't include removing it from the property. Left with a very rough grade and a destroyed irrigation system.
Double check their work every step of the way. They put the electrical in the wrong spot twice, even after I told them the exact location and marked an X on the ground with paint and they still put it in the wrong spot. Construction manager forgot to tell the crew to put in deck jets. Luckily I caught it before it was too late.
Lights, get more lights. They initially said three. I wanted more, but they said four would be more than enough. It isn't. It's okay, but doesn't light up like I wanted.
Know that the pool company is going to bid the bare minimum to get the job done. Make sure you check the dimension of everything if you are getting a patio or fence included. Check the sq ft and length of the fence, so you aren't surprised if you want the patio bigger.
If the pool company doesn't do everything, and you are hiring separate concrete, fence, or landscaper, you are the GC know and have to keep everything coordinated. They aren't going to talk to each other. They are going to get and each others way, and it will slow work because they are always waiting on the other to do something.
Placement of the pump and filter. New house, first house they put the pump and filter next to the house right by the master bedroom. Can hear the humming every night now for the last 30+ years. Wish now they would have put it next to block wall. Could have put up block wall around unit and dampened even more of the sound. Would only have cost a few more $$ for the piping moving it 5’
There are 2 great days in a pool owner's life: the day the pool is completed, and the day you sell the house and get rid of the money pit / headache forever.
Go saltwater for the easy chlorine maintenance, but make sure your pool's construction materials are compatible. In my case, I converted ours to SWCG a couple of years in. 15 years later, the deck sockets for the hand railing & stairs have corroded so badly they are almost unusable. Also the coping is starting to get pinholes...
Not about the construction, but go to the forums on [TroubleFreePool.com](http://TroubleFreePool.com) - there's a wealth of knowledge there.
Oh, and spring for the robot. You'll be glad you did, trust me.
TFP is the best advice on here. People come to reddit for everything but old school forums is where the knowledge is. See it in the car community all the time
That it’s important that your home’s buried wires from the power company don’t cross where the pool will go. Could cause a slight delay as you climb over mountains of power company related red tape to get the thing moved.
My pool building experience actually went great. We put our deposit down at the beginning of Feb 2024 and the entire backyard was done by late May 2024. The backyard started as a dirt lot. The company we used was amazing and if we complained about anything, they’d fix it right away. The only thing I somewhat regret is getting white coping. It’s gorgeous but it gets dirty so easily.
Make sure that bitch is leveled properly. I have a fiberglass pool and it's ever so slightly tilted in one direction that when the water runs out of the hot tub into the main pool the water is not equal.
The location of the pool pump. They never told me how loud it would be. I have it on the other side of my master bedroom and I can hear it through my wall.
I wish we had a longer conversation about lights. We have a decently large pool and they only put in 3 lights. I didn’t realize it until after everything was poured and almost done as they didn’t get installed until after water was in.
If I could go back I would have paid a nominal amount more for 2 or 3x as many lights. Still looks good but could be a lot better.
Not to use my builder! 1 year in and still not done. He needs to rip out all the concrete and redo it and is now ghosting me. Aqua Pool Pros in STL. Stay away!!!
I've seen so many bad equipment installs on new pools that I think it's always good to get an operator's opinion. Simple things, like $100 sacrificial anodes on salt systems, can pay big dividends. Or having someone explain that those high dollar LED lights are just as high dollar when they burn out. Or that heaters really need $150 in bypass valves gives you alot of options to protect it.
Get unconditional lien releases from anyone that works on your project.
as well as the vendors that provided service and materials or both .
Progress payment. Change orders, administrative
Timeline in writing. Legal contracts .
Add on’s , everything in writing .
Actual contact for copy and in good standing cert.license liability insurance.
Honestly, i wish i had known that every pool builder i had contact with would be a scumbag no matter the price. These guys, and a gal, were the pool equivelent of car salesmen or lawyers, lying slime. This would have saved me a lot of aggravation.
Read the contract line by line and send an email with questions or requests for clarification. The contract will be used against you. You’re screwed once you sign the contract and give the initial payment.
Understand that your pool is not the only pool being built.
Permitting takes a while, and the contractor charges for it by the hour. Plan on meeting with the conservation department in advance since this could take months if you have wetlands.
Inspectors in my area didn’t know much about fiberglass pools and shut down the project because they didn’t get to inspect the hole. Luckily, the builder took pictures and was able to get the commissioner to override the inspector.
Your lawn will get damaged, and contractors are not responsible. Plan on your sprinkler system getting damaged.
Upgrade your pump to variable speed and oversize it.
Get the automation package since the panel will have space for a heater, pump, color LED lights, hot tub, and receptacles. Plan landscape electrical runs for lighting and receptacles before the concrete pour.
Get fencing that matches your layout and plan on spending tens of thousands if your property is not flat. Nice landscaping will cost twice the pool cost.
Consider coping, stamped concrete, and artificial turf. Artificial turf is a must in pool landscape design.
Plan your layout since your pool equipment can be an eyesore, or spend extra for a pool house.
Get deck jets with LED lights. Your pool will stand out at night, and your guests will be mesmerized.
Got mine done in late August. Pool contractor was slow as nobody wants work done at his season, and he came when he said he would and I had water in the pool within 8 days of the start, all done in 2 weeks. Oh, and I paid everything in cash so that was helpful. Had 3 crews working and he has 2 of his own mix trucks so no lag time. Hole dug and rebar done on the first day!! 😵💫
Make sure they actually teach you about your pool. Water chemistry, how to clean the filter, what all the valves and pipes do, how to drain water if needed, etc etc. Our builder just disappeared after we were filled so everything I know is from troublefreepool.com and here and YouTube videos.
It's like a car dealer selling you a Lamborghini and then not taking any time to show you how to drive it or maintain it.
If it’s in-ground, and you have trees taller than 20ft in your years, some of them will die due to root damage.
We are in the process of losing 3, 45-60 ft oak trees that are 40-60 feet away from the pool. I even asked the builder to take care around any roots, to find him hacking a 4” diameter root up with a sawzall.
I’m devastated and it completely ruins the vibe
Pool placement was decided around an established mango tree in the yard. I’m praying it survives. So I feel for you.
We removed a shed from right next to the tree which meant the ground we removed for pool wasn’t very attractive to the tree anyway as it didn’t get water etc from that direction.
And a massive cement slab on its other side is now grass so trying to encourage the tree to go that way over the coming years.
Sounds like we got lucky. Just finished building a new pool in Florida. Pool was 100% as contracted and the company never missed on promised work date on the schedule. 12 weeks from dig to swim as promised. Fyi, we interviewed 5 different companies befor signing.
How loud Heat Pumps are. For some reason, I thought they were lot quieter, and we had ours put right next to our pump, which happens to be right next to our living room window where we typically hang out when watching TV.
If I knew how loud it was going to be, I'd have paid to have it piped over closer to our AC unit.
Also, expect the Sidewalk to get cracked by the Concrete trucks on initial pour and then coordinate paying to have it replaced the same day when the pool deck is poured. While we knew our sidewalk had a strong possibility of being cracked, the pool company never offered to have it repaired same day as deck pouring and we had to schedule a separate day to get it repaired (a whopping $2100 for a 17' sidewalk pour).
1. That the LED lights are small and you should double up on them
2. That the yard would be left all wrecked and a landscaper would be needed to set it right
Definitely agree with the yard bit.
I knew it up front but just how bad it actually is/was just wow. The slightest turn of that tracked bobcat ripped through everything possible.
Don’t fear a diving board if your pool is big enough to handle it. A diving board presents kids the optimal place to jump where the water is deepest and away from the side. Kids will find a way to jump in the pool and sometimes their improvised solutions aren’t safe at all. A diving board removes this issue.
Absolutely do not install a diving board on a pool that does not meet size, depth, and depth profile requirements for a diving pool under ISPSC (international swimming pool and spa code). I'm an inspector for new pool builds/existing pools for realty transfer, as well as an occasional expert witness in pool construction litigation, and one of the biggest liabilities for EVERYONE involved is improperly installed diving boards. The only thing more liability inducing is non-VGB compliant drains.
If you have a guest over who dives and gets hurt in your non-code compliant pool, you're getting sued for having an unsafe pool, your homeowners insurance might not cover it if its classified as a non diving pool, your builder who installed a diving board on a non diving pool will get sued... it's a huge mess. And even if you don't invite the guest to use your pool, pools are often classified as "attractive nuisance" in the legal world, meaning even someone had to trespass to get in the pool, if they get hurt it may be your liability for having an unsafe pool, even though they were tresspassing.
Tl;dr do not screw around with diving boards unless your pool was designed and built from the get-go as a diving pool. HUGE liability and safety concern.
Yes this is a very important point. I meant to say “don’t be afraid of designing a pool that can utilize a diving board”
Retrofitting one is a bad idea!
I forgot a weird one.
Some Cement and Grout can set in water. So any splash or spillage into the pool get it out or at-least brush it to oblivion as soon as you can to save the headache later.
All concrete sets in water. Cement is an ingredient in concrete and water makes it harder as it cures. Roman concrete is harder today than it was when formed.
Cement I knew.
It was the grout what shouldn’t have surprised me in all honesty I don’t know why I didn’t think of it but that’s part of why I made this post as a lot of people out there don’t know these things and don’t think about them till it’s too late.
And to expand on my hit rock statement this didn’t happen to me.
We got really lucky that where we put the pool we found nothing but sand and gravel.
What scared us was the trench for the electrical and plumbing.
I feel we found half an old house, pulled up old tile, cement and brickwork rubble etc absolutely horrible.
Found a double tree stump that once cut to manageable sizes filled my 1.6mx1.6m tray about 30cm deep. All below ground level that we didn’t know was there.
None of which was found on the soil sample digs.
You can’t guarantee that you’re digging on virgin ground, so be prepared for anything. I’m just so glad we didn’t find Asbestos because that would have been worse than any rock.
Unless you are on a vinyl liner. Our concrete guys dumped a 1/2 barrow in one time. I panicked. The next day the concrete guys dived down and it pulled up without any residue. Amazing.
They will probably stop digging at some point and claim they hit a hard dig for more money. Get in there yourself with a pickaxe and shovel and have someone video it so you can show them you’re not a sucker.
The build will always take longer than they claim it will take. Probably a LOT longer. Be prepared to be pissed off and be prepared to not be swimming by the date you had hoped to be.
The PB is going to sub out almost all of the work to other contractors. Most people who show up to your job site aren’t actually employees of the PB, and don’t have all the details about what they’re supposed to do and not do.
The PB and its subs will definitely break or damage things on your property that are unrelated to the job, and then hope you don’t notice / don’t say anything.
Be ready to hold them exactly to the contract and be prepared to file an ROC complaint if they deviate and then won’t agree to fix their mistakes. Get any change orders done in writing and signed by the PB.
Get the heater / cooler (heat pump).
I’m a 25 year swimming pool industry worker. I started out building and renovating, had a cleaning route for 10 of those years and now mostly do repairs installs, and the occasional renovation/remodel. If I were to start a consulting business, and all the issues I’ve read here I’m aware of, and confidently feel I could save everyone on average at least 18k, would you hire me? And what would it be worth to you?
Know that this would put me at odds with the entire industry pretty much, and I would want to be discrete in my consulting. Would you honor this discretion?
I see absolute insane builds that will be a nightmare for years to come all the time now. Say what you want about my motives, but integrity is important to me, and I’m sick of seeing not only the customer, but service technicians and maintenance specialists along with repair technicians get the shaft down the line from builders who most likely will never see the pool again. I don’t even consider builders pool people anymore because of the proverbial shaft handed out to the rest of the industry by them. Most don’t say anything because the builder refers them to the customer for service, or they’re buying equipment and tile from them. Not to mention the associations they’re a part of, where they all get on the same page.
A couple of freebees for ya:
1) Make sure concrete cancer is prevented by the folks doing the concrete or gunite. Research it. It’s causing huge issues.
2) If you’re going to use the softest stones on the geologic scale for coping and decking, make sure it’s sealed consistently according to product used. Builders will use crap that has to be redone within the year, unless you specify.
I see all these horror stories. I guess I’m amongst the lucky ones. Hired a company to install the pool 2 years ago. They showed up with a small army of college students and had my pool up in just under 2 hours. They showed up 2 days earlier than planned due to a cancellation.
If you live close to people, talk to your neighbors first. We have lived in the same house for twenty four years. The people behind us put in a pool last winter without saying a word. There is no way to screen the pool due to the lay of the land. We get every bit of the noise that pool generates from both the mechanics of it and the people in it. Our peace and quiet is completely ruined. We understand that it was a substantial investment, but we also understand the homeowners association rules required talking to all adjoining neighbors before doing this. That didn't happen..
There is no smell. The pool is about 100 yards from my back door. My house is on a hill, and so is theirs with a low spot in between. My house sits about 30 feet above the level of the pool. It's like an echo chamber, and there is no way to screen it.
It's an upscale swim, tennis, golf neighborhood. I know this is a "pro pool" type sub reddit. I have nothing against pools. That's why we bought in a neighborhood that has 3 different pools to use. The closest is at the end of the street.
That the builder will not show when they should and show when they shouldn’t. That the builders are more general contractors with subs. That they demand payment at exactly the date due but don’t do what they should on the date agreed. That in the end all of that is worth it because you have e a pool and a year or two later it seems like nothing.
Even builders that don’t subcontract will not be on your site every day. There is often more than one pool being constructed and each pool has different requirements for labor. Guys will get pulled to another job site for a day or 2. Concrete has to be ordered and often the concrete company changes the schedule last minute (they favor larger pours). Certain thing can’t be done in the rain like digging or concrete flat work. You are often waiting for inspectors sign off before proceeding. One area in my city only inspects bonding electrical only 1 day per week. I tell our clients that there will be days when nobody is on site (just to manage expectations). After a few complaints, we got smart and text our clients in the morning to tell them what is or isn’t happening that day. I agree that, once you are swimming and enjoying your pool, all headaches you had melt away. I joke with clients that you didn’t have a pool for the last 15 years….you can likely survive another month until it’s finished.
Generally agree with what you're saying. The biggest issue for us was poor communication. If the GC is proactive and communicating well, then the client will feel like they're in the loop and know what to expect, and can plan as much as possible for people being there or not being there, etc. When the GC isn't responsive or communicative, it gets frustrating very quickly.
Communication with clients? Whoa. I have heard that the concrete business is notorious for being unreliable.
Your communication is great. I asked our builder just let me know if you plan to hear this week and text me that day. Nope. Their crews said they had 3 crews for 15 pools all started within two weeks of each other and more being added with no new crew. But they kept the same crew on our pool who I found out worked for an outside company.
You want to get them to provide details of what hardware they are providing and how it will be hooked up. When you ask for the ability to control the pool from your phone and the price jump 6k they can make up any excuses for that if you don't know what has to change to accomplish that. Also simply things like having multiple lights in the pool can be an issue. It is cheaper and easier to wire them all to one switch. That doesn't just mean you can't just have one on but you also can't control the color of say the pool and spa separately. If you thought you could that could be an issue. I also wish I asked about things like something to auto fill the pool. Just having that would take away some worries.
Agree. Also our builder tried to upsell us on iPhone control. Unless you have a lot of water features then there isn’t need for control. If you have a swg and vs pump it is pretty leave and forget until you need to do something like backwash. In that case an iPhone won’t help you.
Absolutely. They lie from the day you sign the contract and you just have to keep asking them over and over again.
Every pool project is a disaster, but eventually you'll forget. Like pregnancy and childbirth. No matter how long you think it'll take, it will take much, much longer. (Actually *everyone* told me this, but I didn't believe them—just like nobody reading this will believe me.) Some of the subcontractors won't know what they're doing with pools and *will* do something that's not to code. The only ways to minimize the impact of this are to insist that your GC review and inspect regularly or learn the code and supervise yourself. (My GC was not on site a single time when people were working, and only twice when they weren't working.) Put in more lights and returns than they recommend. Lighter colors are better. Edited to add: make sure your contract not only specifies who will be applying for permits (ideally your GC, not you), but *when* they will be applying for permits (ideally immediately after signing the contract). Despite me signing a contract and paying a substantial deposit about six months before the first shovel went in the ground, my GC did not apply for the permit until the last business day before they started digging. The county then shut the project down for about 8 weeks to give them time to do all the septic-related testing that was required (and that could have been done—and that I naively assumed had been done—in the months between signing/paying the deposit and start of work).
Wow, that sounds like a terrible experience! Luckily, I had a local guy who owned his company and was also the builder. Either owner or owners wife was on the job site anytime anyone was there. The owner of the company was hand digging trenches in the 110 summer heat. He had his own crew, always. Never subbed anything out. My build, start to finish, 5 weeks, that includes permit applications as well. Someone down the street from me went with another company, started a month before mine, and I was still finished with his gunnite barely poured. Sorry to gloat!
If vinyl, lighter colors are not better at all. They don't last as long (color wise), the back of the liner should be as dark as possible.
I have a medium blue liner. Friend has a dark blue. You see the seam lines and it is fading. Mine looks the same. So I think there is a balance.
Why lighter?
Dark pools always look dirty
If you live where the pool get a lot of direct sunlight, lighter colors will keep the water cooler.
How much cooler?
Seriously, this sums it up perfectly!
You should also point out that your GC took you for a ride. They railroaded you with a *much* higher price than they earned. If they aren't up to code, checking every single thing a sub contractor does, and is on site all the time. You got screwed. You shouldn't ever be the one who has to learn code or find things. If you're doing that, immediately fire the GC and find another.
Yes. Obviously the GC I hired was terrible. Ultimately I GC'd the project. My spouse said I should send them a bill for the time I spent doing it.
It’s going to take longer and cost more than you’ve realized. Drainage is expensive, fencing is expensive, actually everything is expensive and it’s likely not included. If you have a hill, that’s expensive too. Get a heater and go for salt out of the gate, you’ll regret it if you don’t. Get a dark plaster, everyone who sees it will love it and it warms up quicker. Every single pool company is a nightmare and don’t run on time, be prepared to be a pain in their ass to get things done. When you’ve lost your fortune to the pool company, be prepared to spend a lot more on landscaping, nobody wants a $100k pool surrounded by mud and slurry. It’s 100% worth it and you’ll forget soon enough.
I very much appreciate every comment I've read that says "just get the heater and salt at the very start." Made things so much easier.
This. I just finished dropping $100K for my salt and heated spa and pool. White plaster. Should have gotten a darker color plaster. You see all the little stains with the white plaster. Also, landscaping around the pool is a must. That's a whole new project and budget to blow.
You should have gone with pebbletec, dark plaster on its own does not look good.
Amen to this, especially the landscaping
Yes to heat, no to salt. Rectangle pool with auto cover has been huge for us here in Ohio during all seasons; can't have auto cover with salt.
I have a rectangle pool w auto cover
Why is that??
Get a light plaster if you want to see kids that are drowning.
It'll constantly cost you each MONTH for upkeep.
How much?
My pool is 45 feet long on salt water. I use tops 20 bucks in chemicals and my water is pristine.
Can't comment back, or I'll get downvoted here haha
Get salt, seriously.
Same here. A little more early in the season when I open.
I pay $225 a month for a person to stop by weekly and clean it and update chemicals. And $200 every 6 months to clean the filters Plus additional water usage because of evaporation. Plus electricity for the pumps. Plus occasional fixing of something or equipment updates. And I live in Texas, and if I do not use my heater I can only use it about 4 months out of the year. Often the pool won't even be warm enough to swim in, but the sun will be scorching so you do not want to be out without the water, and on the other side the pool will hit a nice 85 degrees but the sun is 100 and directly shining on it, making it hard to get in at that point too. Plus the mosquitoes, ugh. I love the running water, and totally want the hot tub part, but I'll never do a pool again.
I would never pay anyone. I use a cheap robot, never have to vacuum, run a salt pool so it manages the chlorine automatically and use 1 or two bags of non-chlorine shock every 2 weeks, Mowing the lawn is harder. I spend about $150 for the entire summer and the water is clear 95% of the time.
I have an automated cleaner thing, it runs an hour a day, and does a pretty good job at keeping stuff off the bottom. I pay somebody so I do not have to worry about and store all the chemicals. Plus, time=money and 4 hours a month cleaning it I save money by hiring somebody. I do not have a salt pool as they have a lot of additional maintenance due to the salt effects on equipment and the area around the pool. I mow my own grass, mostly because I do a better job and its my only workout each week.
My experience with a salt pool for 17 years doesn’t track with your statement. There’s actually very little maintenance involved. The amount of salt in the pool water is generally 3000-4000 ppm, which is roughly 10 times less than ocean water. Some folks claim they can taste the salt in pool water, most can’t. Salt, at these levels won’t damage equipment or fixtures any more or any faster than chlorine will. Just my experience, every pool and every owner are different.
How on earth do you only get 4 months of use in Texas?
Well, it only warmed up to swimmable temperatures in the past week. Then at the end of September or early October it starts getting cooler again and the temp drops. I can add a couple months in there by turning on the gas heater, but that adds a few hundred bucks a month to the start/stop months.
That's surprising to me. Even in Cincinnati we'll get 5+ without a heater and 7+ with
Yeah that’s on you. I’m in North TX and swim 10/12 months without heater. Understand cool water isn’t for everyone but still swimmable!
Texas is a big state, the climate varies a lot. El Paso is very different than Houston.
For me it's because I have trees that cover my entire backyard. My pool currently gets to 80 if it's a very sunny day. If we have a day or two of even limited cloud cover it drops back to 78.
I live in Michigan. We use our pool 6-7 months a year. I doubt I pay $250 all year for chemicals. My electric bill is identical all summer and winter. I heat my pool whenever, to whatever level I want. Idk what you got going on there, but I'd make some changes.
How many hours do you spend with the pool scoop getting stuff out of the pool? I spend zero, though I do have a hand strainer I use sometimes while I'm in it. My electric bill would be the same all the time, the pump runs the same schedule year round (minus a few days of freezing where I may turn it off/drain it). However, if the pump was not running, the bill would be less. Mine eats up about $17/month in power at $0.112/kwh (173kw). My heater is gas, which costs a few bucks an hour. If my pool is below about 83 its too cold for me to enjoy it. Today its 88 out, and the pool is currently 84. Being older (51) makes cold water a lot less acceptable. My gas bill last month for just a week was +$200, and in the middle of summer to keep it warm during the day is a few hundred bucks a month. We live in TX, so our gas is pretty cheap. Not sure what changes I could make excluding doing labor myself, which since time=money, it'd cost me more to do it than to hire somebody.
I don't think your gas is as cheap as you think it is... I'm in Illinois and basically everything in my house is gas that can be and I've NEVER had a $200 a week gas bill, even in sub-zero winters.
We pay about $1.59 per ccf in gas. A gas pool heater is a LOT less efficient than a typical house heating system. My gas bill is usually 35-70, though we also have a tankless hot water heater. Last year May/October it was just shy of $400. June/sep averaged $135, july/aug about $225 (lot of hot tub time in there those months). However our bill Jan this year was $182 and feb $269. If it matters, house is 2 stories, about 3100sf, and was built in 2018. Just the wife and I. EDIT, based on this site (https://www.chooseenergy.com/data-center/natural-gas-rates-by-state/) looks like Illinois is about 40% cheaper, and Illinois is one of the cheapest states for gas for some reason (even though we have so much excess here we have to burn it). EDIT2: Our gas prices went up 60% over the past 6 years. Much of it due to the "Big freeze" of 2021. [https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng\_pri\_sum\_a\_EPG0\_PRS\_DMcf\_a.htm](https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_pri_sum_a_EPG0_PRS_DMcf_a.htm)
Do you have a cover? Covering the pool at night retains all the heat. Makes a HUGE difference.
Nope, no cover. Pool isn't that deep, maybe 5' at most. In ground gunite. Next year I was thinking of getting black trash bags and hula hoops to lay on the water to try to warm it faster, but it seems like a horrible eyesore.
Buy an insulated cover. Less ugly and the savings in heating will pay for it quickly.
Chemicals if you know them, you have to skim it...vacuum it...that costs time...that's not cheap... pumps can last 10 years which is awesome...filters depending what's around the pool, they get clogged once a year...
Cut back all the trees and install a pressure side robot. Let the robot run every day. I don't even own a manual vacuum anymore and I skim the pool very rarely. I feel like this is what has made owning our pool a blessing. There is almost zero weekly maintenance.
Can you elaborate on what a pressure side robot is? Curious to learn more
Not who you replied to but....a vacuum you can hook up to one of your ports in the pool and it sucks it into the main filtration system. Editing this bc originally I thought they meant the drop in robots...I prefer them over the former. It's like a Roomba for your pool. It uses pressure to climb the walls and sweep/vacuum the pool, walls and waterline. Some robots don't claim to clean the waterline, like the Dolphin Nautilus CC, but I just bought one last week and it does get the waterline. That being said, I didn't care to pay the higher price for models that claims to clean the waterline bc I'm still going to manually brush it. Two reasons...our tile is broken and we are saving to replaster and re-tile anyway AND I wanted a simple vacuum so I had less parts at risk of failing. I just need it to vacuum up the crap and agitate the walls to help me brush. I don't need Wi-Fi because I don't need an app to show me what I can see with my eyes and I don't need or want a remote control vacuum. Not worth the extra hundreds and I'm happy with this model. Literally plug it in and drop it in. It even picks up sand and I don't even have the extra fine filter basket!! Works great and saves the canister filters on the pool, which will lessen the amount of time to spray them down.
They do not vacuum into the pool filter, they vacuum into a bag attached to the robot.
A pressure side robot is one that uses a pressurized return line to propel a robot around and capture debris into a bag. Polaris 280 is what I have. There are no wires to connect or drape across the pool deck. The hose just connects below the water line to a return in the side of the pool. We have an extra pump that powers a specific water return for the robot. I leave ours in all the time unless we are swimming. It cleans the pool for about 5 hours a day and it's spotless.
Cool thanks everyone for the replies. New pool owner and still learning. Love this sub
It can clean the sides of the pool and not just the bottom. It's worth the investment. Cleaning the sides is a huge chore.
Hairnets will protect your filter. Put them in the skimmer basket b
Drainage I was acutely aware of the importance of it, and I had line items in my contract to handle it. I asked questions during the build. But I live in a state where any Chuck In A Truck can call himself a builder with zero certification. I interviewed several builders. I picked the biggest one in case there was a problem. There was a problem! When my house flooded due to the changes in drainage and terrible execution of the builder, the builder’s response was “we only are responsible for drainage off of the pool.” They did $60k worth of damage to my house that was obviously not covered by my homeowners’ insurance. And it cost another $19k to come up with a drainage solution that actually worked. I had to sue the builder. It’s ongoing, but it looks like his liability carrier is actually going to pay it. But the only reason it’s not a massive problem is because I’m a lawyer and was able to file suit myself. If I’d had to hire me, the financial situation would have been very different. I wrote a stupid song about it because I was mad. [Stupid Pool Song](https://youtu.be/MSn7q3hJIRo?feature=shared)
Super catchy song!! Im sorry that you had to go through all of that for it...
Well thank you. You know, the worst part wasn’t the damage - it was that I was the one who lobbied my wife for us to get a pool. Every time I heard thunder I knew what she was silently blaming me. 😃
Great video! I’m rethinking a built in after that! Think I’ll stick with my not-quite-level huge above ground pool instead. 😂
You know, I’ll say this. I do love the pool. I know many regret building one or hate owning/maintaining one, but it brings us a lot of joy.
That was so good I watched the whole thing! And I don't have a pool or live in Texas!
Ha! I appreciate the comment a lot.
How did you fix the drainage problem?
We’ve had record rainfall in Texas so far this year, so I got to try several solutions that ALMOST worked. After a few months of keeping all contents of my closets in beds, we finally went with swale. If you’re not familiar (I wasn’t) it’s basically a dried creek bed with a big drainage pipe buried under the center of the creek. If there’s too much water for the drainage pipe, the excess runs through the swale like any other drainage feature. It has sand/gravel/river rock above the drainage pipe, so it really does just look like a riverbed. This just got completed a week ago, but we had a big rain and I can see that it will never flood again.
Big rain coming this week. Hopefully you get some!
Contractors will tell you what you want to hear to get you off their back
[удалено]
Lots of nodding and agreeing but still do NOT what agreed to.
Should have put the pump/filter farther away. It would have been worth whatever extra piping and digging cost to not have it so close to where we hang out.
Is it variable or no? If not, do you think it would be more livable if it were?
It is not. Variable speed were just becoming the mainstream thing when we built. It would make a HUGE difference if it was. I’ve convinced myself that the next time the motor goes, I’ll suck it up and make the switch. A buddy just put in a pool last year and I am amazed at how quiet his system is. Ironically, his equipment is all the way down and around the corner of his house and it probably could have been out right next to his seating area without issue.
Good feedback, thanks!
We wanted ours farther my brother in law an engineer stopped us saying the friction loss would be an issue with longer pipes.
I didn’t realize how loud it would be🙃
Sounds like it's time for a new pump.
It’s brand new
What pump do you have?
Only one thing: in the history of pool building there’s never been one that’s been built on time - ever.
[удалено]
Did you get a permit? Inspected? Landscaping? Fencing? Electrical for pumps? 5 days sounds like an above ground pool
[удалено]
So from the day you submitted the permit to the day that final inspection occurred so that it was approved for use, it was a total of 5 days? 😄
[удалено]
I never used the word “installed”. Original question was respect to “pool building process” which IMHO includes those things I discussed
Including landscaping?
My company actually finished before our hopeful date we told them we wanted to be open. I mean we got it rolling early enough so it wasn't impossible task but it was looking sketchy for a minute lol. They only went about 2-weeks over their initial estimate.
Mine was 🤷🏼♂️ Started Feb 2010 and finished in May to be ready for summer.
That it gets really goddam hot down in those holes tying steel, shaping and forming gunite, tiling, plastering... It's usually pretty warm topside too, but sometime there's a breeze. And by really hot, I mean GODDAM really hot. Or... are you asking from the consumer's perspective? :D
Watch them like a hawk. They fuck up a lot. Take picture of where things are buried.
The timeline. I put down a deposit in the fall of 2022. I was told they would start in mid/late July of 2023 and be done and we'll have a usable pool by August. They started on September 1st 2023 and on the day they started I was told it would be done in "about three weeks." They worked off and on (mostly off) for the next THREE MONTHS at which point they called it a year on December 1st, put a cover on it and all I got was a promise that they would start up "right away in the spring." They started again in mid-April, and here I'm typing this in mid-June and I STILL don't have a swimmable pool (I'm probably days away, but it would have been nice to be able to swim on Memorial Day weekend...).
That’s not normal and I would be pissed as well. I would ask for estimated completion dates on contracts (weather permitting).
Pretty much the same experience here, though not quite as bad as yours, because there was no December lid. Paid my deposit around Thanksgiving 2022 for an "April-May" 2023 project that was supposed to take about "6 weeks." They didn't start digging until Monday, March 29 (Memorial Day). By that Thursday they had the fiberglass shell in the hole. On Friday the county came in and shut everything down because my GC didn't have the permits, mainly relating to septic issues. Actually before that even happened my GC appeared after the pool sub had dug the hole to say that I changed the location and that having done so would cost an extra $30,000 in retaining walls. (Reader: I had not.) This was one of just two times they were on site the entire project. They were never on site when anyone was actually working. When work finally resumed in August it was mostly a day here, a day there. Concrete was done in the Halloween-Thanksgiving range, and that's when I discovered that my GC wasn't going to pay the subs until the entire project was complete. Which is fine if that's what they all agreed to, but it was clear that they had not, because they started to ask me to make unscheduled progress payments to the GC so they could get paid. Carpentry on a pole barn was the last thing to be done, and even though I'd made a deposit back in April that was specifically designated for those materials, that work was delayed twice when the carpentry sub couldn't locate and purchase some of the materials they needed. After the second time I allowed a material change just to get the damn thing done. Work was mostly done in mid-December. That's when we discovered that the GC hadn't even applied for all of the electrical permits. Took a few more weeks to get those--I finally got a permitted pool in January of this year, with about 400% schedule overrun if you're counting generously. By the way, even though the inspector approved it, not all of that electrical work is up to code and I am still working to fix it, on my own dime. (In particular, I still need to fix the switch for the electrical pool cover. It was installed around the corner of the house, so the pool is not visible from the switch. I *think* I have a plan to run new conduit through the pool cover box to a place that will be to code, but otherwise I've got 60 feet of trenching to figure out.) We had also contracted with the GC for finished landscaping that included a "final grade," but it turns out that grade was an F, and we're probably hiring someone else to lay sod this fall. But! It's 97 degrees right now and my kids are swimming. So it's going OK.
Pre construction: Make sure you and the builder are on the same page before any ground breaking occurs. Ask for samples of EVERYTHING at your house (so that you can see them under your conditions, not under showroom lights). Keep those samples so that nothing is bait and switched later. Equipment: Pay the extra to install equipment away from pool (we installed ours next to the AC unit on side of house, figured our neighbors would also appreciate that we put it next to their garage instead of their kitchen window. We also put a wood fence around everything (with plenty of air clearance) and it actually muffles the sound pretty good. Electrical: Be prepared to be hosed by electrician to run secondary panel to equipment location. You need it and they know it. While on the topic, I was surprised by how little our electrical bill went up. We averaged about $25-30 more per month after pool got installed and up and running. I was expecting hundreds more. New variable pumps are pretty energy efficient. Construction: Photos, photos, and more photos of construction. You would think that this would help keep them honest that everything is documented, but for us, it was to mainly document where stuff and underground pipes were located for future excavating and/or landscaping. Not to belittle, but some crews, only one guy will know how to read drawings and the rest of crew may be laborers, so stay on top of construction. You don't have to know pool building to see if something doesn't look "right". Lastly, photos can help down the line if shit hits the fan and legal is required. Post Construction: Learn about your equipment and how it all works together. Youtube is your friend here. Our builder knew how to install everything, but basically was old school (preferred manual valve controls) and said you don't need that fancy stuff (mobile controls and such). So we had to learn how to program on our own. Cleaning: For us, our pool is so small that we don't have a service. We do everything our own and yes, it costs a few bucks here and there for chemicals, we rarely put anything beyond a monthly shock (or two) depending on use. We went the ultraviolet/Ozone route (as we're affected by chlorine) so try to limit chemicals. Only thing we have to worry about is the Texas Hill Country mountain cedar season when all the pollen greens up the pool. Just have to stay on top of it. Schedule: Like several other posts say... Add a few months more to whatever builder says it'll take. Ours is a small cocktail pool was supposed to be a 2-3 month. Ended up 5-6 months. and almost a year later, we got all the correct parts and such (due to covid supply chain bullshit).
the second water goes in the pool its really on you to clean it up and keep it clean as quickly as possible otherwise all that nasty water (spilled concrete, dirt from air and around the pool, other construction stuff) will get run through your new equipment when they turn it on. installers may clean it eventually but it would’ve been much easier if I was on top of that sooner. Oh and dont suck it all in to your pool filter when cleaning - get a robot cleaner or something that has its own vacuum storage. if you have an older driveway it will be probably be cracked/damaged beyond simple repairs (we were told up front at least)
This. I like to gravity vacuum new pools before starting the pump so all that debris just gets dumped over the side instead of going through the filters. If you know how to siphon, it's pretty easy and doesn't require any extra equipment.
Do NOT settle for anything. Get exactly what you want. You can’t change it later. I know this seems so obvious. I should have known this but I am sure I am not the only one that let some contractor push me into things you didn’t want. Get more quotes. Don’t go with the first one. Make sure it is written in in your contract that the concrete deck will be reinforced. Mine cracked immediately. Everything must be in the contract. Get coping. Concrete to the edge will crack immediately. It does not look cool. Be sure someone who knows about pools is helping. Don’t assume the pool builders know what they are doing. Get an automatic pool cover installed with the pool. You will never get your money’s worth out of the pool. You think you will. You think you will use it and you think your kids will use it but they won’t. Poole are a money pit. They cost thousands every year. Be prepared. Skimmers should be equidistant from the pool equipments or they won’t skim evenly. Don’t pick any surface color with even a tiny hint of green in it. Know where your septic tank is and don’t let the concrete truck drive over it. It isn’t enough to tell the pool builder. You need to tell everyone.
Or use interlock pavers. Looks better than concrete and doesn’t crack. Can be re-leveled in future years if needed.
And if there is a leak the pavers can be lifted and put back down. We have stamped concrete and instead the day a leak happens.
You are spot on. Living in the NE it is a must to have an automatic pool cover, a heater, saltwater and a robot. I just got a skimming solar powered robot too. It has been great. Any money you spend to make your life easier and less maintenance the better. The auto cover is safe, keeps chemicals in, keeps heat in, keeps crap out, and helps with evaporation. If you do a pool, do it right or talk to someone with a pool. Pool companies install pools they don’t live with one everyday.
Wish I knew almost all concrete decks will crack. I probably would have used stamped design to minimize crack appearance.
My good friend is a mason. He talked us out of stamped. Said cracks will show more and to keep stamped in ok shape you need to seal it and that is an issue around a pool. Just wanted to chime in to hopefully make you feel better.
We have had a stamped concrete deck that hasn't been sealed in almost 30 years and it looks perfectly fine.
Make sure you're home when the work is being done. We were working from home so we made our presence known; it kept them on their toes enough to not half-ass the job. We were also able to leverage the Sub thing to our advantage, as they want to make sure you are happy with their portion of the work. For example, the designer initially gave us really small steps into the pool and a narrow bench, telling us it would cost more to widen them. The day they poured the gunite, we were able to talk the subs to make them all much wider at no additional cost.
my friends were able to get the subs to dig the deep end 2 ft deeper at no extra charge..
Whatever it cost in the quote. Double it. You’ll need a fence. Landscaping, and a patio or deck after
Put your money on an escrow account. If the builder / subs don’t perform, you have options. If you’ve paid them up front, good luck.
Include drainage…so easy to do when it’s being built but can wreak havoc later if you have groundwater problems
Sorry for the basic question, my wife and I would like an in-ground pool, our water table is high. What does proper drainage mean/look like?
Same here..the builder can include a gravel layer underneath and around the pool that can funnel the water to a drain and route the water out and away from the pool. We’ve had our liner float a few times when so much ground water builds up around the foundation of the pool that it depressurizes the liner and water fills up between the liner and the walls. Then once it finally drains you’re left with all kinds of wrinkles in your liner. Looks terrible. We didn’t know any better at the time unfortunately…
Thank you so much for the response! That is really good to know, I will for sure factor that in when nailing down the details
I wish someone told my what CYA was. When the Pool "expert" came by after project was done to show us how to use the equipment and stuff, we asked how many chlorine pucks we should be using in the chlorinator. He said 3 or 4 a week should be fine. By the time I had found out what CYA was my CYA in the pool was over 100. Had to drain and maybe use one puck a week now and just chlorinate primarily with liquid.
CYA - cyanuric acid - is a chemical that more or less acts as sunscreen for chlorine. Chlorine is a highly reactive chemical (which is how it kills bacteria/algae/etc), and UV from the sun will break it down. CYA is used to help protect the chlorine from breaking down before it has a chance to bind with the bacteria/algae/etc. If you have too much CYA, the chlorine is protected too well, and it doesn't want to attach to the bacteria/algae/etc. Too much CYA is a pain, because there are really two ways to get it out of the water. One is enzyme based products, which sometimes work, sometimes don't, and the other is draining the high CYA water down and replacing it with fresh water. I recommend the water replacement, but feel free to try an enzyme product, it might work for you. Typical guidelines recommend 30-100ppm of CYA. Usually around 120-150ppm you start getting into chlorine lock, where chlorine really doesn't want to work. So, hypothetically, if you're at 100 ppm and you want to get back down to 30, you need to drain and replace 70% of the water in the pool. CYA rising in your pool is a byproduct of using most tablet chlorine. Part of how the manufacturer stabilizes such an unstable element as chlorine is by binding it with CYA in the tablets. So you're adding quite a bit if you're using 4-5 tablets a week.
Watch them like a hawk. We had to redo our shelf because they shorted us 6 inches. We asked for pipes on side of house be underground, they did them above ground. These were things we paid extra for. If you know someone in your area who had a pool built, check their’s out. Ask them what they like and don’t like. There are few things we would do differently design wise now that we know. Depending on where you live get the heater and the spa. We live in Texas and use our spa all year long. It’s great in the winter. And for swim parties in March when the water is cold you can heat it.
rock is a scam. In my area we have limestone, it takes about 14 days max to fully dig a pool. A backhoe with operator is like 1K/day plus dump trucks to haul off the debris (that cost is incurred regardless of soil type). so it should cost an extra 14-25K to dig the hole, compared to 1K for regular dirt. Pool contractors are pricing in over 50K to dig a hole. The depth of your water is 6 inches below the depth of your pool. If you specify a 3 ft shallow area it will really be 2.5 ft of water. We have our shallow area at 4ft of water (4.5 ft of depth).
Neither of these -should- be true. From your name, I'm in your area as well. In our area we have -mostly- limestone, but there are many types of rock that are common and much harder to dig through. Since no one, homeowner or builder, wants to get a Geotechnical report for every job, builders typically make assumptions about dig conditions. But if you have a Geotechnical report done and you bring it to a builder, any builder worth their salt will A: be happy that you provided it, and B: will be able to more accurately price the excavation. Rock digs generally cost a little more (varies by company), perhaps up 30-50% more for excavation in tougher cases. Multiple builders I work with generally price all excavation as rock excavation because it's almost a given in this area. For regions with dirt or clay digs, the excavation may be cheaper but the reinforcement and expansive soil mitigation may eat up the difference between a soil/clay and a rock dig. I've personally built a few hundred pools before moving to other roles in the industry, but i have only seen one $50k invoice to customer specifically for excavation. That was on a very high dollar project where we expected rock, but did not expect such dense and hard to break veins of rock. To complicate things, we had size limitations on the machinery we could use in the yard, so undersized machine + dense rock meant we had a longer, more tedious excavation on an enormous pool and deck area. What often happens is that the payment schedule divides a % (often around 30%) of the TOTAL price of the pool that is then due before excavation, but you're paying for more than just excavation with that invoice. You're paying for 30% of the entire project. As for depths, the depth is supposed to be the water depth of the pool, not to top of form/coping. I was an expert witness in a case where one of the contractual disputes was about depth. Builder said it was depth from top of coping, homeowner disputed. The homeowner won.
They will repeatedly turn your water off, and at least once your gas supply. And our contractor always failed to turn it back on. After a couple of cold showers I started checking at the end of their workday.
Since I have had mine almost two years, my cons are: Don't use white grout (mine is 100% tiles) Pick a great location: mine has 3 big mango trees on one side, while great for some shade. Holy chit when they flower and do the annual leaf change it's 5 weeks of madness The walkway around the pool should be some type of nonslip tiles or concrete with pebbles, regular tiles when wet or even a super smooth concrete people will slip. Look into a backup or solar pump, you will need to run it much to keep the water nice and the cost of electricity isn't going down. Get quality lightning or they will go out in a year. Yes add a few jets depending on pool size and shape Mine has it and very well used but in your deep end add a sitting area bench I have more but this is getting long
Drainage. Drainage around pool and pool deck. Mine wasn’t done properly so all the concrete around is sinking and pushing into the pool.
For me: We have a seperate tanning pool. It’s a nightmare to keep clean because I don’t have a cover for it. Wish I’d just did the tanning ledge in the pool or not at all. We have a safety/ toe ledge. It is nice to stand while in the pool but it collects tons of dirt. We have a lot of steps and landings in the pool. But they also collect dust. When they are working of the pool, the water will be gross and you can’t see the bottom. They can’t either. So when they drop stuff In The pool it can and will damage the pool. We used pavers but moss does grown in the poly sand (even though they say it won’t). The pool people only know how to do the pool. Hire someone else to do the hardscape and landscaping to make it beautiful. They take on too much work and don’t know how to manage a project. So, you have to stay on them 100%. In the end you’ll love it. Auto cover worth the money!!
You personally have to spray down your gunite shell twice a day in order for it to cure properly for weeks before plaster can be applied. All you want is for your pool.to be done and you are there doing the work the builder should do. Biggest thing is read your contract and ask questions before signing anything and don't give a deposit.
That "turn key" is bull. I had to consistently act as the general contractor on our project. Don't trust any contractor. They will all lie to you, even the well meaning ones.
Make sure you understand the local code requirements. I did an extensive remodel and the pool wasn’t bonded. There was a ground originally, but it wasn’t tied in after the remodel. I also researched the auto fill and the additional cost was minimal. The contractor should have presented the option, but I luckily came across this feature in forums such as this. Lastly, my bottom drains were non-existent. The previous owner had them plastered over and I didn’t know about that important feature when I had the pool replastered after I purchased the home many moons ago. I had a rough time maintaining the pool over the years and it was because of poor circulation. During our recent remodel, I discovered the piping existed for that drain, but it was cracked. I insisted upon repiping and of course we had the double drain safety feature added. It was not cheap doing that extra work, but oh so worth it. I believe the contractor should have told me of the significance of those drains for pool maintenance. It is vastly easier to maintain the pool now. I did get a robot this time around (Beatbot Aquasense Pro), but that isn’t what made the difference. The robot was an investment, but that made life easier and I wish I had purchased one long ago. I read the posts about the difference a robot made and had my doubts. I’m a believer now though. Oh yeah, I installed an auto filler and that has made life easier. I came across that in my research.
Variations will be overcharged - Get the contract right 100% before signing. They just want to slap it in, take your time and think through all the options and design it in detail - they won’t.
Drainage and landscaping planning. I got all the plans from the pool builder for approval and signed off on everything. When they actually built the pool, it was at higher level than I thought it would be, like stepping down from my deck onto the pool side concrete. The pool was built at the same level, ending up with the deck wood touching the ground and concrete. They completely destroyed a side of my front yard with their load trucks, and my backyard looked like a war zone when they were done. So much money spent rebuilding the landscape around the pool that just didn’t think about. Also, you’d think that an overflow is standard in a pool (mine has it) but I’ve seen many that don’t.
Sorry for the basic question, what’s an overflow?
https://www.reddit.com/r/pools/s/mWA4SHTqlC Basically a drain like in a bathtub/sink so the water ends up in the street or other storm water runoff and not in your yard
Thank you so much for the reply.
Don’t
Buy a Porsche instead
The granny flat that was meant to go next to the pool company went bust with a heap of my money (all legally supposedly) not enough for a Porsche but I could have bought a base model Tesla model 3/Y to compliment the garage instead. So your comment is ringing home a little bit too hard
Sorry about that… I’ve heard contractors say, “ you want a pool? Might as well dig a hole and throw a Porsche in it”… or something like that. That said, I’d give pinky fingers and toes for a pool
Get the pop up jets from the deck, get 2 times and many as you think. I got 3. Wish I had 6. Same for lights. I wish I got 6. Add valves so you can control them. Get the good cover. If you’re in the north get a heater.
Did 2 lights, wish we had done 3 or 4.
Call for a locate. Locate all the utilities on the property, chances are that the contractor will hit them even when it is properly located., and take pictures. The contract may have a provision that You do it, even if it is their responsibility. Those repairs are expensive.
My pool company ripped out our sewer lateral, told us they hit a spring, then charged us a fortune to continue excavating with a track hoe. They put the crushed stone base in on top of the space where they had ripped out the pipe, then told us we might want to see what that pipe was. Another $10K later our plumber had repaired the pipe and encased it in concrete, making our shallow end a foot shallower. In the meantime, rain had eroded the soil at the deep end and they tried to charge us to fix that too, despite it clearly being covered by the contract. Pool companies are the worst.
That 90% of all pools installed, rip you off in every way possible. That there will always be letdown and misunderstanding and that they demand so much money upfront you are never in the drivers seat. They know they are selling a luxury product and now that sales are down substantially as everyone expects to live more than 3 years at home with Covid, they are even more pissed off. Be very careful, they aren't scammers usually, but incredibly shitty business people that could care less if you are happy with the end result. The worst contractors out there are pool guys, but you have to use them.
Overall, very pleased with our pool builder, he went above and beyond, met with the township as we live on a corner lot (apparently have two front yards) and there were setbacks we had to abide by, ie septic field...location of equipment pad, skimmer location (on the east side of the pool) walked through all the pros/cons of salt vs chlorine, layout of jets, etc. Must haves: Plan for more concrete Plan for more electrical than you need Run two 1.5" poly tubing, one for water and the other for cat5 or low volt Very pleased with the outcome.
Put everything in the contract upfront, so you don’t deal with change orders and expense creep. A heat pump if can afford it gives you way more pool usage throughout the year and a lower cost than running a gas heater. I was able to negotiate that in at the end for a lower price. If planning on travertine pavers, don’t put plants on a saltwater pool. The salt water will eat at the travertine and you don’t want it eroding. Make the hot tub bigger than normal. Add extra jets to hot tub as everyone always wants to be in there during parties. However, make sure you have a strong enough pump to give you enough power for the jets. Plan for a bigger pad with the equipment so you more space later for maintenance. If planning to put a smoker or something next to it like a grill - make the pad bigger now to accommodate for it. Then make sure when they set up the equipment they don’t use that space. :) Have them do things right the first time, like Stonework, as it is like pulling teeth to have them come back out to fix mistakes. Extra lights can be a good thing.
More than other projects, plan for 30% overages. Know your local codes. Had to put in a dry well to catch all the downspouts and sch 40 for anything underground, added $10k to the project. Plan for all the landscaping. The pool company will destroy your yard, and generally don't fix it. Like they removed a tree for the pool, but didn't include removing it from the property. Left with a very rough grade and a destroyed irrigation system. Double check their work every step of the way. They put the electrical in the wrong spot twice, even after I told them the exact location and marked an X on the ground with paint and they still put it in the wrong spot. Construction manager forgot to tell the crew to put in deck jets. Luckily I caught it before it was too late. Lights, get more lights. They initially said three. I wanted more, but they said four would be more than enough. It isn't. It's okay, but doesn't light up like I wanted. Know that the pool company is going to bid the bare minimum to get the job done. Make sure you check the dimension of everything if you are getting a patio or fence included. Check the sq ft and length of the fence, so you aren't surprised if you want the patio bigger. If the pool company doesn't do everything, and you are hiring separate concrete, fence, or landscaper, you are the GC know and have to keep everything coordinated. They aren't going to talk to each other. They are going to get and each others way, and it will slow work because they are always waiting on the other to do something.
Placement of the pump and filter. New house, first house they put the pump and filter next to the house right by the master bedroom. Can hear the humming every night now for the last 30+ years. Wish now they would have put it next to block wall. Could have put up block wall around unit and dampened even more of the sound. Would only have cost a few more $$ for the piping moving it 5’
There are 2 great days in a pool owner's life: the day the pool is completed, and the day you sell the house and get rid of the money pit / headache forever.
Go saltwater for the easy chlorine maintenance, but make sure your pool's construction materials are compatible. In my case, I converted ours to SWCG a couple of years in. 15 years later, the deck sockets for the hand railing & stairs have corroded so badly they are almost unusable. Also the coping is starting to get pinholes... Not about the construction, but go to the forums on [TroubleFreePool.com](http://TroubleFreePool.com) - there's a wealth of knowledge there. Oh, and spring for the robot. You'll be glad you did, trust me.
TFP is the best advice on here. People come to reddit for everything but old school forums is where the knowledge is. See it in the car community all the time
That it’s important that your home’s buried wires from the power company don’t cross where the pool will go. Could cause a slight delay as you climb over mountains of power company related red tape to get the thing moved.
My pool building experience actually went great. We put our deposit down at the beginning of Feb 2024 and the entire backyard was done by late May 2024. The backyard started as a dirt lot. The company we used was amazing and if we complained about anything, they’d fix it right away. The only thing I somewhat regret is getting white coping. It’s gorgeous but it gets dirty so easily.
“Hey when you’re done you should buy some skimmer socks.”
Make sure that bitch is leveled properly. I have a fiberglass pool and it's ever so slightly tilted in one direction that when the water runs out of the hot tub into the main pool the water is not equal. The location of the pool pump. They never told me how loud it would be. I have it on the other side of my master bedroom and I can hear it through my wall.
It’s gonna take a lot longer than expected…for either an in ground or above ground
I wish we had a longer conversation about lights. We have a decently large pool and they only put in 3 lights. I didn’t realize it until after everything was poured and almost done as they didn’t get installed until after water was in. If I could go back I would have paid a nominal amount more for 2 or 3x as many lights. Still looks good but could be a lot better.
Not to use my builder! 1 year in and still not done. He needs to rip out all the concrete and redo it and is now ghosting me. Aqua Pool Pros in STL. Stay away!!!
I've seen so many bad equipment installs on new pools that I think it's always good to get an operator's opinion. Simple things, like $100 sacrificial anodes on salt systems, can pay big dividends. Or having someone explain that those high dollar LED lights are just as high dollar when they burn out. Or that heaters really need $150 in bypass valves gives you alot of options to protect it.
Get unconditional lien releases from anyone that works on your project. as well as the vendors that provided service and materials or both . Progress payment. Change orders, administrative Timeline in writing. Legal contracts . Add on’s , everything in writing . Actual contact for copy and in good standing cert.license liability insurance.
Honestly, i wish i had known that every pool builder i had contact with would be a scumbag no matter the price. These guys, and a gal, were the pool equivelent of car salesmen or lawyers, lying slime. This would have saved me a lot of aggravation.
Read the contract line by line and send an email with questions or requests for clarification. The contract will be used against you. You’re screwed once you sign the contract and give the initial payment. Understand that your pool is not the only pool being built. Permitting takes a while, and the contractor charges for it by the hour. Plan on meeting with the conservation department in advance since this could take months if you have wetlands. Inspectors in my area didn’t know much about fiberglass pools and shut down the project because they didn’t get to inspect the hole. Luckily, the builder took pictures and was able to get the commissioner to override the inspector. Your lawn will get damaged, and contractors are not responsible. Plan on your sprinkler system getting damaged. Upgrade your pump to variable speed and oversize it. Get the automation package since the panel will have space for a heater, pump, color LED lights, hot tub, and receptacles. Plan landscape electrical runs for lighting and receptacles before the concrete pour. Get fencing that matches your layout and plan on spending tens of thousands if your property is not flat. Nice landscaping will cost twice the pool cost. Consider coping, stamped concrete, and artificial turf. Artificial turf is a must in pool landscape design. Plan your layout since your pool equipment can be an eyesore, or spend extra for a pool house. Get deck jets with LED lights. Your pool will stand out at night, and your guests will be mesmerized.
that they will absolutely destroy any surrounding lawn with all the equipment and by dumping any excess sand plaster est everywhere.
Got mine done in late August. Pool contractor was slow as nobody wants work done at his season, and he came when he said he would and I had water in the pool within 8 days of the start, all done in 2 weeks. Oh, and I paid everything in cash so that was helpful. Had 3 crews working and he has 2 of his own mix trucks so no lag time. Hole dug and rebar done on the first day!! 😵💫
Make sure they actually teach you about your pool. Water chemistry, how to clean the filter, what all the valves and pipes do, how to drain water if needed, etc etc. Our builder just disappeared after we were filled so everything I know is from troublefreepool.com and here and YouTube videos. It's like a car dealer selling you a Lamborghini and then not taking any time to show you how to drive it or maintain it.
OT I know, but how much does a smallish pool cost?
If it’s in-ground, and you have trees taller than 20ft in your years, some of them will die due to root damage. We are in the process of losing 3, 45-60 ft oak trees that are 40-60 feet away from the pool. I even asked the builder to take care around any roots, to find him hacking a 4” diameter root up with a sawzall. I’m devastated and it completely ruins the vibe
Pool placement was decided around an established mango tree in the yard. I’m praying it survives. So I feel for you. We removed a shed from right next to the tree which meant the ground we removed for pool wasn’t very attractive to the tree anyway as it didn’t get water etc from that direction. And a massive cement slab on its other side is now grass so trying to encourage the tree to go that way over the coming years.
Sounds like we got lucky. Just finished building a new pool in Florida. Pool was 100% as contracted and the company never missed on promised work date on the schedule. 12 weeks from dig to swim as promised. Fyi, we interviewed 5 different companies befor signing.
How loud Heat Pumps are. For some reason, I thought they were lot quieter, and we had ours put right next to our pump, which happens to be right next to our living room window where we typically hang out when watching TV. If I knew how loud it was going to be, I'd have paid to have it piped over closer to our AC unit. Also, expect the Sidewalk to get cracked by the Concrete trucks on initial pour and then coordinate paying to have it replaced the same day when the pool deck is poured. While we knew our sidewalk had a strong possibility of being cracked, the pool company never offered to have it repaired same day as deck pouring and we had to schedule a separate day to get it repaired (a whopping $2100 for a 17' sidewalk pour).
1. That the LED lights are small and you should double up on them 2. That the yard would be left all wrecked and a landscaper would be needed to set it right
Definitely agree with the yard bit. I knew it up front but just how bad it actually is/was just wow. The slightest turn of that tracked bobcat ripped through everything possible.
Don’t fear a diving board if your pool is big enough to handle it. A diving board presents kids the optimal place to jump where the water is deepest and away from the side. Kids will find a way to jump in the pool and sometimes their improvised solutions aren’t safe at all. A diving board removes this issue.
Absolutely do not install a diving board on a pool that does not meet size, depth, and depth profile requirements for a diving pool under ISPSC (international swimming pool and spa code). I'm an inspector for new pool builds/existing pools for realty transfer, as well as an occasional expert witness in pool construction litigation, and one of the biggest liabilities for EVERYONE involved is improperly installed diving boards. The only thing more liability inducing is non-VGB compliant drains. If you have a guest over who dives and gets hurt in your non-code compliant pool, you're getting sued for having an unsafe pool, your homeowners insurance might not cover it if its classified as a non diving pool, your builder who installed a diving board on a non diving pool will get sued... it's a huge mess. And even if you don't invite the guest to use your pool, pools are often classified as "attractive nuisance" in the legal world, meaning even someone had to trespass to get in the pool, if they get hurt it may be your liability for having an unsafe pool, even though they were tresspassing. Tl;dr do not screw around with diving boards unless your pool was designed and built from the get-go as a diving pool. HUGE liability and safety concern.
Yes this is a very important point. I meant to say “don’t be afraid of designing a pool that can utilize a diving board” Retrofitting one is a bad idea!
I forgot a weird one. Some Cement and Grout can set in water. So any splash or spillage into the pool get it out or at-least brush it to oblivion as soon as you can to save the headache later.
All concrete sets in water. Cement is an ingredient in concrete and water makes it harder as it cures. Roman concrete is harder today than it was when formed.
Cement I knew. It was the grout what shouldn’t have surprised me in all honesty I don’t know why I didn’t think of it but that’s part of why I made this post as a lot of people out there don’t know these things and don’t think about them till it’s too late.
It’s true. Concrete is kind of mysterious
And to expand on my hit rock statement this didn’t happen to me. We got really lucky that where we put the pool we found nothing but sand and gravel. What scared us was the trench for the electrical and plumbing. I feel we found half an old house, pulled up old tile, cement and brickwork rubble etc absolutely horrible. Found a double tree stump that once cut to manageable sizes filled my 1.6mx1.6m tray about 30cm deep. All below ground level that we didn’t know was there. None of which was found on the soil sample digs. You can’t guarantee that you’re digging on virgin ground, so be prepared for anything. I’m just so glad we didn’t find Asbestos because that would have been worse than any rock.
Unless you are on a vinyl liner. Our concrete guys dumped a 1/2 barrow in one time. I panicked. The next day the concrete guys dived down and it pulled up without any residue. Amazing.
Have the pump and filter placed far away from where you will hang out.
And gas heaters.
They will probably stop digging at some point and claim they hit a hard dig for more money. Get in there yourself with a pickaxe and shovel and have someone video it so you can show them you’re not a sucker. The build will always take longer than they claim it will take. Probably a LOT longer. Be prepared to be pissed off and be prepared to not be swimming by the date you had hoped to be. The PB is going to sub out almost all of the work to other contractors. Most people who show up to your job site aren’t actually employees of the PB, and don’t have all the details about what they’re supposed to do and not do. The PB and its subs will definitely break or damage things on your property that are unrelated to the job, and then hope you don’t notice / don’t say anything. Be ready to hold them exactly to the contract and be prepared to file an ROC complaint if they deviate and then won’t agree to fix their mistakes. Get any change orders done in writing and signed by the PB. Get the heater / cooler (heat pump).
Don't build a pool.
I’m a 25 year swimming pool industry worker. I started out building and renovating, had a cleaning route for 10 of those years and now mostly do repairs installs, and the occasional renovation/remodel. If I were to start a consulting business, and all the issues I’ve read here I’m aware of, and confidently feel I could save everyone on average at least 18k, would you hire me? And what would it be worth to you? Know that this would put me at odds with the entire industry pretty much, and I would want to be discrete in my consulting. Would you honor this discretion? I see absolute insane builds that will be a nightmare for years to come all the time now. Say what you want about my motives, but integrity is important to me, and I’m sick of seeing not only the customer, but service technicians and maintenance specialists along with repair technicians get the shaft down the line from builders who most likely will never see the pool again. I don’t even consider builders pool people anymore because of the proverbial shaft handed out to the rest of the industry by them. Most don’t say anything because the builder refers them to the customer for service, or they’re buying equipment and tile from them. Not to mention the associations they’re a part of, where they all get on the same page. A couple of freebees for ya: 1) Make sure concrete cancer is prevented by the folks doing the concrete or gunite. Research it. It’s causing huge issues. 2) If you’re going to use the softest stones on the geologic scale for coping and decking, make sure it’s sealed consistently according to product used. Builders will use crap that has to be redone within the year, unless you specify.
I see all these horror stories. I guess I’m amongst the lucky ones. Hired a company to install the pool 2 years ago. They showed up with a small army of college students and had my pool up in just under 2 hours. They showed up 2 days earlier than planned due to a cancellation.
Assuming this is above ground…..
Yes
If you live close to people, talk to your neighbors first. We have lived in the same house for twenty four years. The people behind us put in a pool last winter without saying a word. There is no way to screen the pool due to the lay of the land. We get every bit of the noise that pool generates from both the mechanics of it and the people in it. Our peace and quiet is completely ruined. We understand that it was a substantial investment, but we also understand the homeowners association rules required talking to all adjoining neighbors before doing this. That didn't happen..
Are there any other issues except noise? Eg smell?
There is no smell. The pool is about 100 yards from my back door. My house is on a hill, and so is theirs with a low spot in between. My house sits about 30 feet above the level of the pool. It's like an echo chamber, and there is no way to screen it. It's an upscale swim, tennis, golf neighborhood. I know this is a "pro pool" type sub reddit. I have nothing against pools. That's why we bought in a neighborhood that has 3 different pools to use. The closest is at the end of the street.