SeanB.'s Pool Build

[eljefe281]

What's the current status, Sean?

[SeanB.]

What's the current status, Sean?

They have the rebar done and I think plumbing is next. I'll try to get a pic up tomorrow.

[SeanB.]

Well, after the heavy rain, we were delayed a couple of days on the gunite. As I mentioned in another thread, they did come on Friday afternoon, between the rain and spray a flash coating of gunite to keep the dirt from collapsing - worked great.

Here's a picture of what it looks like with a flash coat:


They came today and put in the equipment.


Another of the equipment from across the pool. We had to move it into the yard so I would have enough room to bring my lawnmower through on the same side. We'll probably screen it off with a fence or plants.


Sorry, this next one didn't upload all the way. I'm not at home or I would re-load it. It just shows the deep end (see the rain water) and a little closer view of the flash coat.


We are scheduled for gunite tomorrow. Oh, and as a little bonus, the plumbers accidentally installed the wrong kind of fill line. I only ordered a simple fill line, but they put in the auto-fill (at their expense) - can't complain about that kind of of mistake.

[eljefe281]

Looks good!

My plumbers come tomorrow.

[Ready2swim]

Looks great...sort of familiar actually?

As you know I used the same PB and so far I have been very happy with the quality of work done on the pool. I did have other problems though so I hired an outside expert to come over to the house tonight to check everything out before I sign that last check. He is only charging me $60 to come out and check everything out for me. I think I know enough to see the few things that need to be fixed before they say they are done but to me it was cheap insurance to have an outsider come in and give me a second opinion.

Once again, the pool looks awesome!

[Spensar]

I hired an outside expert to come over to the house tonight to check everything out before I sign that last check. He is only charging me $60 to come out and check everything out for me.

Bit of a tangent for the thread, but I did the same thing when we bought a house with an in-ground pool before closing the house deal. Best money I spent. He was an independent pool service service and isn't associated with a store, etc. and has been in the business for a loong time. Gave me a great run down on what was good, answered my questions and concerns, ran pressure tests, checked the equipment, and gave me peace of mind that the pool was fine.

[SeanB.]

Well, the gunite was done today so I thought I'd add a few more pictures.

The first one here is another of the equipment. I wanted to show a shot down the side of the house. You can see how narrow it is. Now that the equipment is in place, you can clearly see I would not have had enough room to get through with a lawnmower.



This next couple show them setting up and starting the gunite:



In this one, you can see where the nozzleman sprayed himself a little mound to stand on while he sprayed the opposite wall.


More next...

[26theone]

SeanB,

I am also looking to have a pool built in the Houston area. Would you mind posting what your total cost was not including landscaping?

[SeanB.]

SeanB,

I am also looking to have a pool built in the Houston area. Would you mind posting what your total cost was not including landscaping?

Our builder includes the landscaping free on pool/spa combinations over $32k so it was not additional. We paid just under $35k. We were at $32k but added additional deck to bring us up to about 700 sq. ft. It is an 82' perimeter pool with a 7' spa, flagstone coping, and sundek if that helps.

If I had known we were going to spend the additional amount, I would have probably tried negotiating a little harder to get some extras thrown in when we drew up our contract. I'm still very happy with what we got though and think it's very comperable with other area builders. They aren't the cheapest in town, but they do quality work and from what I can tell, only use high end equipment. I never felt like they were cutting corners or giving me cheap equipment only to try and upsell later.

Having a good salesperson can make a big difference. If you decdide to get a bid from Richard's, send me a pm and I'll give you our salesman's name - he was excellent.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[26theone]

Those numbers look right to me. We had a few bids a year ago or so and thats about where ours came in at. We ultimately decided to wait till our youngest daughter got a little older and learned to swim. We will probably start in the early spring since we wont be able to use it from now will probably Mar/April anyway. Also I want my grass to be able to grow back quickly due to the excavation and it has already slowed growing quite a bit.
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Great job posting your progress with pictures!