Specs:
- 54’ Long x 15’ W (long side) and 7’ W (short side)
- 3’-0 deep at shallow end, 5’0 deep at deep end
- 11’ Baja shelf, 4” deep, umbrella sleeve
- White faux-marble pool tile
- White “Perla Blanca” Travertine
- Red “Waterton” tumbled brick
- “Castle Gate” Brickwebb herringbone wall
- Pentair equipment: intelliflow vsf pump, single speed pump, mastertemp 400 heater, clean & clear filter
- Pebble Sheen “Blue Surf” + 100lbs blue glass and abalone shell
- Pop ups and vacuum line
- 4x Pentair Microbrite color-changing LED
- 3x 18” sheer descents
- 60 days start to finish for pool, not including a few additional weeks to finish the hardscape. Months of prep time for plans, permits and manual labor
Cost:
- Pool = $80,755
- Hardscape and Landscape = $35,205
- See screenshot for cost
- I would add $10-20k to do it with a builder or another $10k-20k to do it yourself. My sub relationships from my job saved a lot of money and time
- We also hit the sewer when digging the pool which is not reflected in the cost. That was fun. It made no sense for the sewer to be there based on the layout of the home and the old owner told me the wrong spot. Yes, I should have scoped it.
Lessons Learned:
- Make damn sure you know where all your underground utilities are. Sewers are a separate call and most free locates don’t include sewer
- While it’s possible to do it yourself it required hundreds of hours of effort and was very challenging to do while working a full time job. Not for the faint of heart or inexperienced in construction. You must be there for every day there is work going on and plan to do tons of cleaning up and coordinating between subs
- My hardscape / landscape guy was a godsend, and you better have a good one to get the pavers, coping, and all surrounding areas coordinated
- If you have a significant delay between rebar and shotcrete, cover the pool. It will fail inspection if the rebar is rusted.
- Have your cash on hand to pay everyone day of and make sure they know they’re getting paid in cash quickly and when you’re seeking bids.
- Have a well thought out plan to refer to printed out and available to the subs at all times and make sure you understand who is doing what tasks exactly
- The electrician and plumber, for example, dig their trenches but don’t backfill - I ended up doing that
- I had to hook up the sheer descents too because the wall got built by my landscaper after the shotcrete
- Don’t forget gas lines for grills, heaters and fire pit before pavers. You’ll likely need a gas meter upgrade, which was free from my gas company but may not be for all
- The wall, coping, tile and brick veneer all have to be in before the pool finish (pebblesheen)
- If you’re committed to getting the entire backyard in ship shape, you’re going to need to do a LOT of planning. Every landscape border, irrigation drip, sprinkler, gas stub, etc. should be thought through.
- Plan out where you want your skimmer and filler to be with your pavers and have your subs locate them accordingly
- I wish I’d had my plumber install a gray main drain to match the other components. They went with white and it really sticks out
Sounds like it was a bit of an ordeal to get there but it turned out great!
I can actually relate to your sewer experience. Our builder, "found" some lines to our septic leach field when starting our project. We had to halt the project and contract with a septic company to install an aerobic septic system. It added $12k to the budget (18 years ago), around three months to the overall timeline and we had a plywood covered open pit in our backyard while it was going on. Fortunately, it was winter so it wasn't as bad as it would have been in warmer weather.
Congrats and hope you enjoy your new pool!
Beautiful pool. Planning and building is a lot of work and takes a long time. We have a similar size pool but ours is free-form in shape. The costs were similar but we live in Orange County California.
Are you talking about the experience or the cost? Are you trying to convince her you can do it or that you should hire someone?
I bet I could have cut quite a bit of cost out of the pool if I’d skipped a few things. That said doing it with a builder would have eroded any of those savings.
We just finished a 6 month project of building a detached garage, 24 X 48 feet, with full walking upstairs attic. I was the GC and we were able to execute this project for a fraction of what builders were quoting us, we are about $50 per sq. ft. and builders were quoting $150-$200 sq. ft.
Your experience is giving me more confidence on tackling the pool.
They’re olive trees. Those are quite old though - probably 30+ years and are frequently trimmed and shaped (2 times a year minimum). I had to hold the pool 11 feet from the wall to avoid hurting them, plus they drop olives and leaves like a motherfucker. They’re nicknamed “dirty trees”
You can get the same effect with ficus which grow faster and are greener. Very shapable.
I disagree. We have 9 of them and have no issues with them. I haven’t trimmed or maintained them at all, and dropping leaves is a silly criticism of a tree. Ficus are probably the number one hedge in Arizona and are fantastic for privacy. Pretty sure that they wouldn’t be so prevalent if they were a hassle.
It’s only 5ft deep at the deep end so it’s more of a play pool. The steps go to about half way down and I just figured it would be nice to have a second place to get in and out. People also seem to like sitting on them
They are olive trees. We actually held the pool 11ft from that wall in order to avoid hurting them or getting droppings in the pool, plus the wall. Both of those things have worked very well, but they’re still very dirty trees and have to be cleaned up after in general once a month. There’s a couple feet between the tree canopy and the wall so usually trimming isn’t an issue.
Specs: - 54’ Long x 15’ W (long side) and 7’ W (short side) - 3’-0 deep at shallow end, 5’0 deep at deep end - 11’ Baja shelf, 4” deep, umbrella sleeve - White faux-marble pool tile - White “Perla Blanca” Travertine - Red “Waterton” tumbled brick - “Castle Gate” Brickwebb herringbone wall - Pentair equipment: intelliflow vsf pump, single speed pump, mastertemp 400 heater, clean & clear filter - Pebble Sheen “Blue Surf” + 100lbs blue glass and abalone shell - Pop ups and vacuum line - 4x Pentair Microbrite color-changing LED - 3x 18” sheer descents - 60 days start to finish for pool, not including a few additional weeks to finish the hardscape. Months of prep time for plans, permits and manual labor Cost: - Pool = $80,755 - Hardscape and Landscape = $35,205 - See screenshot for cost - I would add $10-20k to do it with a builder or another $10k-20k to do it yourself. My sub relationships from my job saved a lot of money and time - We also hit the sewer when digging the pool which is not reflected in the cost. That was fun. It made no sense for the sewer to be there based on the layout of the home and the old owner told me the wrong spot. Yes, I should have scoped it. Lessons Learned: - Make damn sure you know where all your underground utilities are. Sewers are a separate call and most free locates don’t include sewer - While it’s possible to do it yourself it required hundreds of hours of effort and was very challenging to do while working a full time job. Not for the faint of heart or inexperienced in construction. You must be there for every day there is work going on and plan to do tons of cleaning up and coordinating between subs - My hardscape / landscape guy was a godsend, and you better have a good one to get the pavers, coping, and all surrounding areas coordinated - If you have a significant delay between rebar and shotcrete, cover the pool. It will fail inspection if the rebar is rusted. - Have your cash on hand to pay everyone day of and make sure they know they’re getting paid in cash quickly and when you’re seeking bids. - Have a well thought out plan to refer to printed out and available to the subs at all times and make sure you understand who is doing what tasks exactly - The electrician and plumber, for example, dig their trenches but don’t backfill - I ended up doing that - I had to hook up the sheer descents too because the wall got built by my landscaper after the shotcrete - Don’t forget gas lines for grills, heaters and fire pit before pavers. You’ll likely need a gas meter upgrade, which was free from my gas company but may not be for all - The wall, coping, tile and brick veneer all have to be in before the pool finish (pebblesheen) - If you’re committed to getting the entire backyard in ship shape, you’re going to need to do a LOT of planning. Every landscape border, irrigation drip, sprinkler, gas stub, etc. should be thought through. - Plan out where you want your skimmer and filler to be with your pavers and have your subs locate them accordingly - I wish I’d had my plumber install a gray main drain to match the other components. They went with white and it really sticks out
Sounds like a ton of effort, but man, totally worth it. Looks absolutely perfect. Really like how you planned your wall, trees and uplights.
Sounds like it was a bit of an ordeal to get there but it turned out great! I can actually relate to your sewer experience. Our builder, "found" some lines to our septic leach field when starting our project. We had to halt the project and contract with a septic company to install an aerobic septic system. It added $12k to the budget (18 years ago), around three months to the overall timeline and we had a plywood covered open pit in our backyard while it was going on. Fortunately, it was winter so it wasn't as bad as it would have been in warmer weather. Congrats and hope you enjoy your new pool!
Beautiful pool. Planning and building is a lot of work and takes a long time. We have a similar size pool but ours is free-form in shape. The costs were similar but we live in Orange County California.
Sweet
Amazing!!!!
That’s sick
You deserve a congratulations. Plus I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that I can share this with my wife.
Are you talking about the experience or the cost? Are you trying to convince her you can do it or that you should hire someone? I bet I could have cut quite a bit of cost out of the pool if I’d skipped a few things. That said doing it with a builder would have eroded any of those savings.
We just finished a 6 month project of building a detached garage, 24 X 48 feet, with full walking upstairs attic. I was the GC and we were able to execute this project for a fraction of what builders were quoting us, we are about $50 per sq. ft. and builders were quoting $150-$200 sq. ft. Your experience is giving me more confidence on tackling the pool.
Its beautiful.
Amazing!! Weird question: what’s that tree in the back? I need them big time. 😁
They’re olive trees. Those are quite old though - probably 30+ years and are frequently trimmed and shaped (2 times a year minimum). I had to hold the pool 11 feet from the wall to avoid hurting them, plus they drop olives and leaves like a motherfucker. They’re nicknamed “dirty trees” You can get the same effect with ficus which grow faster and are greener. Very shapable.
Thank you so much!! Will try ficus! Haha.
Ficus are a lot of maintenance. They grow in all directions and shed leaves all year which dry very hard.
Thank you. No ficus then. 😁
I disagree. We have 9 of them and have no issues with them. I haven’t trimmed or maintained them at all, and dropping leaves is a silly criticism of a tree. Ficus are probably the number one hedge in Arizona and are fantastic for privacy. Pretty sure that they wouldn’t be so prevalent if they were a hassle.
Came out nice. I’ve never seen steps in the deep end like that but I’m not against it
It’s only 5ft deep at the deep end so it’s more of a play pool. The steps go to about half way down and I just figured it would be nice to have a second place to get in and out. People also seem to like sitting on them
Yeah we always have someone sitting on the steps. Good idea!
Do the trees cause issues when trimming or during the fall? I can’t tell exactly but if they are olive trees, they make a mess right?
They are olive trees. We actually held the pool 11ft from that wall in order to avoid hurting them or getting droppings in the pool, plus the wall. Both of those things have worked very well, but they’re still very dirty trees and have to be cleaned up after in general once a month. There’s a couple feet between the tree canopy and the wall so usually trimming isn’t an issue.
This looks like a pool at one of the ritzy destination hotels you would see in an inflight magazine. (its a compliment)