SeanB.'s Pool Build

[divnkd101]

OK, don't lie. You took off your shoes and walked on it with your bare feet, huh??? How did it feel?. Neck and Neck we are. My PB called yesterday. Plaster on Friday, weather permitting. They have already done the prep on the pool (Clean it out, drain water, scrape any loose gunite/ mortar). Let's keep our fingers crossed.

[SeanB.]

OK, don't lie. You took off your shoes and walked on it with your bare feet, huh??? How did it feel?. Neck and Neck we are. My PB called yesterday. Plaster on Friday, weather permitting. They have already done the prep on the pool (Clean it out, drain water, scrape any loose gunite/ mortar). Let's keep our fingers crossed.

No plaster today. Scheduled for tomorrow, but alas, so is the rain. I think it will probably be put off until Monday at the earliest. They said it becomes a real mess if it starts raining on them mid-way through plastering, so unless it's clear skies, I'm going to ask them to wait - can't believe I just wrote that.

[SeanB.]

Wow, things really went our way today! The weather has been good and the clean up crew showed up around 7:30 am and the plaster crew followed just after they were done.

First, here is the closeup picture I mentioned of the deck surface.


And here is the pool with the plaster finished:


And filling (I can already see I'm going to be cleaning lots of leaves this winter):

[eljefe281]

Hey, it's a pool!

And all this time I thought you were building a bomb shelter, like me.

[geralde]

Wow Sean...that looks awesome.

Is that marble plaster...or the 3M product?

[SeanB.]

Thanks all.

It is just white marble plaster.

By my calculations, it's filling at 650 gph and should be done around 8am.

BTW, here's a good tip I got from my pb - it's probably been posted here already but it was new to me... When filling your pool, if you are nervous of overfilling during the night, DO NOT turn the water off. Reduce to one hose and cut back the flow to just a small amount if you think it is necessary. If you turn the water off before the pool is full, you may end up with a ring at the water line - like a ring in the bathtub.

I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow once it's full.

[divnkd101]

Sean, it looks great. I just spent the last hour outside sitting on my chair watching the pool fill. I'm sure everyone watching our threads, that already have a pool, are thinking back to when their pool was almost finished. Go figure, huh???

[SeanB.]

They are coming to do the landscaping tomorrow so hopefully I will have an updated picture for everyone then, but I just had to take a second to brag on my pb a little.

Of course, like just about every build, we have had a few minor snags but overall things have gone well and as projected. One of the only complaints I had was how our fence was handled.

Our contract included taking down and rebuilding an 8 ft. section of fence. Each additional section was to cost $350. Well, after our excavation I asked the supervisor, at the time, when they would be coming to put back up the fence. Well, he told me they would only put up one section and that the rest of the fence would cost the additional amount - like $700 or more, for about an hours worth of work and no material cost to speak of. If you look at my pictures, you can see I have what is called a "good neighbor fence." It can be taken down and put back up in entire sections witout having to do a picket at a time.

As luck would have it, I happened to catch the fence builders putting up the fence of the house being built next door. They put up the entire fence for $75! So, I was a little aggravated, but decided to let it pass as it didn't cost me much. Also, shortly after, they assigned a different supervisor and things have been going very smoothly since then. He's been far more attentive and effective.

Move forward a month...late last week, the scheduler called my wife to give her an update and said they would be sending out a crew to put our fence back up. My wife asked her if they were going to put back up the whole fence and the scheduler told her, "of course." My wife told her we'd already done it ourselves.

Well, today I spoke with the scheduler who was giving me another update and who has been very nice and she asked me if there was anything else I needed. I told her about the misinformation on the fence and that I felt like I should be compensated for what I spent out of pocket in addition to the service I didn't get that was included in my contract. I told her I would consider it fair if they would replace all the sod in my backyard along both sides and on the backside of the pool behind where the new landscaping will go. She didn't hesitate for one second. She told me they would be happy to do that and sent me an e-mail within ten minutes saying that she had contacted the person who coordinates the landscaping and instructed her of the change and that they will be out tomorrow.

I was almost speechless. Honestly, they just did what they should have done, but I guess I've gotten so used to poor customer service in just about every area as a consumer, that I was shocked to actually get good service.

I expected to have to debate or wait for her to talk to a supervisor or maybe have them meet me somewhere in the middle. Needless to say, I am now very pleased.

Anyway, just in case someone in Houston is looking for a builder, I think they have earned my endorsement. BTW, my builder is Richard's Total Backyard Solutions. They can be found at THIS LINK

Anyone considering this builder is welcome to send me a pm and I'll try to answer any questions I can.

[SeanB.]

And now for the exciting conclusion...

Pool filled, but still very dirty:



After the pump and polaris are running and started chemicals are in (still a little cloudy but we're getting there):



The landscaping is in, but they still have to come back to do the sod:


More landscaping (there are also a couple of small Oleaners in front of the equipment, which should eventually provide a screen as well as a small bed by the back door):



The spillway from the spa:


edit: hit picture limit, continued in next post...

[SeanB.]

and the rest...

The Polaris 280 in action (this thing really did a good jub on the many, many leaves that were at the bottom of the pool):


And finally, a view from the back:



The gas company was supposed to come today to install our new (larger) gas meter, but they called this morning and said they did not have all the necessary parts, so now they won't be back until Wednesday...so much for hitting the spa this weekend.

At least we can sit out back and finally enjoy the view. I'll post one more once all the sod is done and it is truely complete.