Planning to GC own pool

[cdocon]

Hello from Natchitoches, Louisiana. I am a first time pool builder and will be GC'ing the construction of my pool. I found this website from the website of Ben Choi. I am appreciative of any help that I gain from this website. Again, Hello!

[ Merged from separate, and now deleted, thread- PoolDoc ]

After getting 3 bids for an IG pool from local builders. My wife and I have decided to GC this pool ourselves. We have a neighbor who GC'd his IG pool last year and will be helping us as well. We have decided to go with an 18 x 36 IG gunite pool. Depths will be 3.5'-6'-4'. A 4 x 8 tanning ledge on the long side nearest our patio. 3 Steps that span the width of the pool on the 3.5' side. On the 4' side, there will be two corner ledges (seats). We are planning 2 bubblers in the tanning ledge. 3 deck jets on the opposite side (without the tanning ledge). The long side of the pool with the deck jets is close to our river, so nothing on that side that would impede a view. 2 skimmers on the house side of the pool.
We are going with a Hayward SwimClear cartridge filter with 425 sq ft capacity. Also, a Hayward TriStar pump. I am thinking for this size pool a 1.5 HP dual-speed motor. We like the Hayward Turbocell 15. The salesman of one of our pool bids said that we should do the automatic salt chlorinator.

I really would appreciate any and all advice/suggestions/warnings from the contributors of this forum. Thank you for all your help in advance.

David & Katrina / David O'Con