First Post: Constructing a low cost pool for a fitness club

[Pool Masters and Hustlers]

Hello Pool Fourm.

I am young entrepreneur and I would like to start a Health Club/Gym someday. I have done a little bit of research and I am shocked at how expensive pools are. How ever I checked many forums and this forum seems to be the best place for knowledge and a great place to tackle specific questions.

What kind of ranges are there in terms of cost and quality? I'm looking to open up a gym about the size of a planet fitness. So I need the pool to allow users to swim laps for there fitness related goals. My Budget may be around 10,000-25,000 for a pool.

I'm wondering what are the benefits of building the pool my self vs hiring a separate company to do this for me.
Thank you.

[PoolDoc]

Try setting the LOW end of your budget at $50,000 for a 20 x 60' outdoor pool, and $300,000 for the same pool, indoors.

[Pool Masters and Hustlers]

ok, so a pool under the 50,000 dollar budget is just not possible?

[Pool Masters and Hustlers]

I know that above ground pools are also a lot cheaper. This is probably gonna sound weird and not what you guys want to hear but I'm really trying to go as cheap as possible with out compromising the ability to swim and swim in clean water.

What are my options in terms of above ground pool construction and purchase? Also are there any good threads you would recommend for my specific issues "Gym start up"?

Thanks for the speedy reply comrade.

[PoolDoc]

No threads like that here; quite possibly none elsewhere either. Commercial pool operators -- like you intend to be -- are in-&-out on forums. They show up, ask questions, either get answers or not, and then leave. They don't become part of the community. As a result, there's no information sharing.

However, I can tell you, the 'budget' fitness pool is a goal of many fitness center operators: I've seen the pools that result. And, as a fitness swimmer, I tell you that they are essentially unusable.

[Pool Masters and Hustlers]

Hmmm alright... Well would you be able to point me in the right direction? I guess from what your saying there's no such thing.. Alright sounds understandable. Ok what's a pool you would actually swim at that you could build for the least amount of funds. Than could you tell me what's a people you'd be impressed with because if I'm gonna do it perhaps I should do right. I see that you feel people like my self may not have much to add to the forum but I would actually like to learn and I'm willing to give back.

[PoolDoc]

If you're "gonna do it", you're have to do it in a way that makes money . . . which is NOT the "right way", except at the very high end.

And, to be 'frank', you have neither the expertise, nor the budget to go there.

Even at the high end, pools are mostly marketing devices for fitness centers, rather than actual focus areas for users. For some reason, many fitness center customers put a lot of importance on a center HAVING a pool, even though the users mostly -- once they join -- do not USE the pool.

I've worked with various fitness centers and country clubs over the years, and can tell you that, almost without exception, fitness center and country club managers HATE their pools, and live in FEAR of them. Operating locally, I was able to 'exploit' that, by providing service contracts through which they paid me to make sure their pool ran as well as possible, given the often half-a## design and equipment they had. But it's not a service I could provide here, even if I wanted to do so.

Honestly, if you can come up with a successful business plan for a budget fitness center that does NOT involve a pool, you'd be wise to do so.