Let's build some pools!

OU Ariakas

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We just signed on a pool/backyard project. We are going 3" to 5" max at the end as a every pool builder we talked to said that 90% of time people do not hang out in the water when it is at or above the shoulders. My wife did all of the design herself.

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Cutlery

Kill All the White People
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Turns out, I am in fact a liar.

12' is the dimension of the deep end. Looks like about 8'3" at the lowest point.

31,430 gallons.

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Still though, 5k to get rid of it ain't bad.
 
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TheBeagle

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Just plastered this one last week. Travertine coping, gas fire pit, deck is three levels- one level around the spa, one around the pool, and a third one down and behind the pool. $135k.
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OU Ariakas

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Just plastered this one last week. Travertine coping, gas fire pit, deck is three levels- one level around the spa, one around the pool, and a third one down and behind the pool. $135k.
View attachment 475188

This is going to sound really girly, but why go so light on the tile, coping, and plaster just to put that dark blue waterline tile in? I know for a fact they have lighter blue and translucent options; it just seems very jarring. This is coming from a guy that has had to help make just these decisions for going on 4 months now.
 

TheBeagle

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This is going to sound really girly, but why go so light on the tile, coping, and plaster just to put that dark blue waterline tile in? I know for a fact they have lighter blue and translucent options; it just seems very jarring. This is coming from a guy that has had to help make just these decisions for going on 4 months now.
Everyone has different tastes. This guy was building a $2 million dollar home while I was building the pool. Normally I finish a pool like that in 90 days but this one took 7 months while we waited on the house. Mediterranean exterior but ultra modern interior. He spent $15k on barista equipment for his kitchen. He got his certificate of occupancy today in fact and will get to enjoy the house and pool for Memorial Day. Ended up a pretty happy client.
 
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Cutlery

Kill All the White People
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Everyone has different tastes. This guy was building a $2 million dollar home while I was building the pool. Normally I finish a pool like that in 90 days but this one took 7 months while we waited on the house. Mediterranean exterior but ultra modern interior. He spent $15k on barista equipment for his kitchen. He got his certificate of occupancy today in fact and will get to enjoy the house and pool for Memorial Day. Ended up a pretty happy client.

Story goes that the previous occupants of the house (2 owners ago) spent so much time with the couple across the street in their pool that they decided to just build their own.

I gotta wonder how much crossing the street pissed them off. This thing is fucking enormous, and for little reason. I guess they really enjoyed diving? I dunno.

I'm waiting on a couple of job prospects that would be ~50% raises. If that's the case, I *might* fix it up, but I dunno. I don't really care for swimming, being in the water at all, but the GF and kid do, quite a bit. So, we'll see.

What do I replace the liner with if not vinyl?
 

Captain Suave

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We are going 3" to 5" max at the end as a every pool builder we talked to said that 90% of time people do not hang out in the water when it is at or above the shoulders.

Depends if you have kids or not. Mine are fish in the summer and spend basically all of their time diving in and picking toys off the bottom of the deep end. When I swim I like the peaceful feeling of drifting through deep water. Amusingly, even in shallow water I always tuck my legs until it's up to my neck. I'd hate a pool I couldn't dive in.
 
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TheBeagle

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Story goes that the previous occupants of the house (2 owners ago) spent so much time with the couple across the street in their pool that they decided to just build their own.

I gotta wonder how much crossing the street pissed them off. This thing is fucking enormous, and for little reason. I guess they really enjoyed diving? I dunno.

I'm waiting on a couple of job prospects that would be ~50% raises. If that's the case, I *might* fix it up, but I dunno. I don't really care for swimming, being in the water at all, but the GF and kid do, quite a bit. So, we'll see.

What do I replace the liner with if not vinyl?
You just keep replacing or fixing it. I don't do liner pools but a friend had one that we were in every weekend of every summer when we were in our 20's and he had to mess with that liner every couple years it seemed like. He was a pool guy so he took good care of it.
 

taebin

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TheBeagle TheBeagle we built with Riverbend Sandler in 2021. Priced out Prestige, Gold Medal, Foley, Southern Wind, Venture, few others. Riverbend was the easiest to work with and reasonably priced. All in we were around $150k. Good size hot tub, tanning ledge, swim up bar under a covered structure, pergola. Our yard was fairly sloped so allowed us to create different seating levels. We were happy with how it turned out.

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lurkingdirk

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I have an uncle who was in the concrete business. When he built his retirement house, he custom built his own pool. It was 12 feet deep at the deep end, 3 at the shallow, and if I remember correctly, it was 50x30. He spent a fortune on plumbing alone. Then he had his employees do the shotcrete. No hot tub, but continuous concrete from pool to deck, never any need for a liner, and it was fantastic. He made it so deep because he had a grandson on the diving team at a local high school. He even installed a springboard. It was in a pretty shaded area, so he even designed a heating system where he used black flexible pipe on his roof with a simple pump, and he could keep it as warm as he liked.

No idea what it cost him, but it was a whole lot less that most people because of his concrete company. And it was an amazing pool. Dive as deep as you want off a springboard. No worries.

Oh, and he made it work with saltwater.

And this was the second pool he built for himself. The first was in the previous home, and that was was pretty small, but it was indoor. He did similar things. Not as deep, no where near as large, but he got a good feel for the process. Indoor pool was cool for winter months, but he said he would never do it again because the moist, chlorinated air was not cool to have indoors.
 
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Cad

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I've got a question for pool builders, how come nobody shades the pool/surrounding area? Even with retractable shades. I can't be out in the sun for any period of time without being covered up so I either wear long sleeve swim shirts and a big floppy hat and look like a retard or I stay in the shaded areas or I swim at night.

If there would be shades so I could swim in the shade during the day it would be perfect. But no place has this outside of some Vegas pools or indoor pools. Why not?
 

Sludig

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I've got a question for pool builders, how come nobody shades the pool/surrounding area? Even with retractable shades. I can't be out in the sun for any period of time without being covered up so I either wear long sleeve swim shirts and a big floppy hat and look like a retard or I stay in the shaded areas or I swim at night.

If there would be shades so I could swim in the shade during the day it would be perfect. But no place has this outside of some Vegas pools or indoor pools. Why not?
Think above post covers some of it, pool may stay too cool for most people without enough direct sun.
 

Dr.Retarded

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I've got a question for pool builders, how come nobody shades the pool/surrounding area? Even with retractable shades. I can't be out in the sun for any period of time without being covered up so I either wear long sleeve swim shirts and a big floppy hat and look like a retard or I stay in the shaded areas or I swim at night.

If there would be shades so I could swim in the shade during the day it would be perfect. But no place has this outside of some Vegas pools or indoor pools. Why not?
I think a feature of newer pools / decks have umbrella holders set at regular intervals. If you need some shade in the middle of the day, just pop a big beach umbrella in, and you're good to go. You'll see the holders in the shallow end of the pool so you can hang out in the shade. They're pretty convenient.
 

Fogel

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Cad ain't gonna settle for some cheap ass umbrella. He wants some shade and the rest of the city will just have to deal with it

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Captain Suave

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I've got a question for pool builders, how come nobody shades the pool/surrounding area?

You need a pretty massive shade footprint to consistently cover a pool at different times of day at different times of year.

 
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Onoes

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Have you guys done any of the prefab lap pool \ hot tub things? Thoughts on those?

I wanted to do a big pond (like 20x50) but the wife and kids wanted a pool. Looked into it and the absolute low end 10x20 pools started close to 80k here. Now they are on team big pond with me :D

I was thinking it might be cool to get an 8x16ish lap pool hot tub thing so everyone wins, and when I looked at them last year they were much cheaper than the pool option. I want to say 20ish thousand total? The big thing was every place was at least a year behind on orders at that point, and I'm still not ready to pull the trigger, so I put it off at the time.
 
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