We have just begun our pool being owner/builder. Tomorrow our pool is getting dug. It's pretty exciting! Someone in an earlier post had asked why a sub would want to do work for an owner/builder over a pool builder and that was one of my initial concerns. We have a pool consultant who has done this many, many times and when I asked him that question he said it is because when they do work for an individual they get paid right away. When they are working for a pool company they have to wait to get their money. That made sense to me.

We aren't really planning on saving a huge amount of money, we are just planning on being able to get all the things that we want for our budget. We talked to 4 pool builders and we couldn't get what we wanted. We tried all different kinds, really big, 2 medium, and one small. I was really opposed to being owner/builder at first, but when we couldn't get what we wanted with builders, I figured it would be worth the hassle. Our consultant looked at our bids and said we could save about $12,000. So I figured that even if he is off by a few thousand, we should be able to get the things we want and stay on budget. Plus, I was able to get the pool that I wanted. One builder wouldn't put in an in-floor cleaning system. One wouldn't put a rock waterfall in w/o boulders and transitional flagstone. One wouldn't give me a 7' deep pool. Now we are getting all of those things and feel so much better about it.