I am so glad the site is back up! I have been reading like crazy during the planning and construction of our pool, but recently, our relationship with our "pool contractor" has begun to disintegrate, and I am thinking we might have to finish this alone.

If I have learned one thing from this forum (well 2 things), you get what you pay for and no one likes to pick up a job that has been abandoned.

We went with a fledgling starter-upper who promised a low-cost show stopper for his "first solo pool" and it has cost us time, money, and lots of frustration. The pool is at the gunite stage, and we have picked pool tiles, coping, pavers and screening (all delivered and ready to go) but not the pool surface. We have secured all of these contractors ourselves and feel good about them.

I'm wondering in what order these things need to go in - coping, tile, surface, pavers and screen? The one step I'm really unsure about is the surfacing.

The only thing we haven't picked yet is the surface (PebbleTec, RiverRoc, Marbeltite, DiamondBrite) and quite honestly, it's down to cost and color.

I'd appreciate any advice you can give - I have learned so much from this forum and I'm anxious to get to the next step!