Old pool.

New pool design stage.

The main differences in pricing were really the way each company builds out their slide/grotto and firepits. I couldn't see much difference any where else, some of the equipment maybe. So we redesigned the pool by making it a little smaller and bringing it a lot closer to the house to save on decking and the linear feet was changed from 130 to 120. We also removed the firepit as we have a nice outdoor fireplace already.

We meet with the PB this weekend and hope to finalize the numbers and materials so we can get on the schedule to dig.

We are in North Fort Worth and love it here. Been here 2 years, I think I know where my house is or crap, these people are about to have a new pool in their yard!!! hahaha We have a bit of experience this being our second pool. The other companies we talked to were very good. We fit better and are happy with who we chose. Have a blessed day.

Will post pictures as the process unfolds. I have really enjoyed reading and seeing other's beautiful backyard creations on here. So glad they took the time to blog about their experience.

Unless I tried to sell you pharma meds, I wasn't the one you told "no". (lol).

I re-read my message and it did sound condescending, that was not my intent. Sorry I cam across that way.

I have to admit, I don't make it up to the North side much so I guess I don't know who builds the pools up there.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck and hope everything turns out just the way you want it.

If you need to look at pebble tec in person or anything at all, feel free to contact me and you can come by our place.

Your design looks neat. I really like all the radius's you have worked into your design. Please share with us what you are doing on this pool that you did not do on the first and why.

Garageworksguy...2nd pool built for us so yes we did our homework and were more prepared. We knew Klapprodt's would be high but we also heard that they did good work...so we gave them a chance. I'm sure you'll be very happy with your end result. So fun to watch it unfold.

The first pool is geometric, we had a small yard and it took up too much of our yard. I loved the tanning ledge (6") deep on that pool so that's why the ledge will be so large on our new one. We have a kid that can not swim fully yet...almost there and friends with children that can't swim. It provides a fun place for playdates with us mom's close at hand. Um...The corners in the old pool were hard to keep clean. The plain plaster was discolored, streaky and had some stains in it. It actually caused us a problem when we tried to sell the house. The original builder, Accent Pools of Arlington, came out and worked on a "rust" looking spot so the home buyer would be happy knowing it wasn't rebar! Ugh. Anyhow, that's why we are making sure to put some kind of coating, Pebble Tec, Pebble Sheen or something similar to help hide the sand or natural discoloration of pool surfaces. I really can't think of much we'd like different. Wanted a showcase pool but not sure we'll get that due to our budget. The grotto/slide feature may go in the end. I'll know tomorrow after meeting with our PB to finalize the plans and amounts.
Have a blessed day! I can't wait to see a big digger in my yard!! :)

Hope your pre-build process is a smooth one. We also are building a "kid friendly" pool with a tanning ledge, mainly for the wife I think. A large waterfall with a bench under it, kinda a half or quarter grotto I guess. We also decided to go with a diving board instead of the jump rock. I have two boys 5 & 9 and a street full of kids...so our back yard I'm sure will be the place to be in the summer, which will be fun for all.

See ya,
Kelly

Kelly: we went and looked at a pool the company had done and then saw some pictures he'd brought with him. Basically the structure is built out of gunite and not stacked on rocks. The backside is faced with flagstone or stained. It was beautiful. There is a moss rock waterfall on the front side. That was a big decision in who we chose because there is so much $$$ tied up there. It is also a focal point of the pool, not to mention permanent. I'm still a little worried about how it'll turn out.

Here's some fun pictures. This first one is our old pool with a pair of mallards that would come visit us several times a month. They weren't scared of us.

This next one is a picture of the way our slide will be done.

This one is an example of how I want the rock waterfall to look on the front, of course we want real rocks on the front, not gunite as in this picture. I don't know who the builder was on this.

This is an example, unknown builder, of facing the slide on the back side. I'm thinking we may use the same material as our retaining wall but not sure yet.

Problem: I staked out a couple major points of the pool. It looks so SMALL in my yard. But now we've agreed to price, design, everything so I can't change anything now. Did any of you go through this?

I seem to remember when they spray painted the outline of our first pool it looking very small but then afterwards it felt big when swimming in it. Kindof like an illusion of a house being built. The foundation appears very small until the frame goes up.

So a little panicky.

Don't worry, Be HAPPY!!!!

Scott

Is there a book or website to go to find out what type of plants for my area (zone 7) to landscape around our pool? I've got Texas gardening books that list plants but I'm not sure which ones would look good around the pool. What plants do you have for full sun exposure and the Texas heat?

Blessings, ftwpoolgirl

Greatness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WmxgFPjoYM

Don't be the fooled by the layout, this is a large pool!!!

If your apprehensive, take a 100' tape and pull it across.
It should measure 36' x 22', if it measures 34x20 then keep it in mind that the coping will go outside that line because your only looking at the surface area of the water.

Congrats on the new pool. Your look is the same look I enjoy at my home.

See ya,
Kelly

Right now it's 5' from the patio to the coping edge. Staked out, it looks too close. How much more $$$ for an additional 255 square feet of decking? That the length 51' times 5' additional. I just emailed the PB hoping they don't throw a pool light at me :) With the curviness of the design I guess I could live with 5' as only two parts are that close....so I'll have to weigh the cost benefit.

Hope this helps you in your decision. None of them (pool builders) are perfect. Accent is basically a management company, they contract out all the work. Funny thing is the same gunite crew works for almost every builder here. H&H Tile does a lot of work for several of the companies too. It has been my experience that a lot of companies are like this. They built a nice pool for us the first time. Though don't buy the ozonator...that was a joke. :)

ftwpoolgirl: Our yard is flat, but we do have a low spot that helps to drain all the neighbors yards to the street (we have a corner lot). I have always been concerned about the drainage; that's something to bring up to any pb we use. About the pbs and their use of subs--isn't that true with most of the pbs anyway? I kind of had the idea that most of the companies did the work that way to begin with. Do I need to ask about that when interviewing pbs, or does it not make that much difference anyway? Thanks for all your insights; I do appreciate them!!

One less thing to worry about :) Enjoy seeing your idea come to life in your yard. I really enjoy that process. Now if I could just quit worrying about making the right color choices, rock choices...hahaha

Looks great!

The tanning ledge is a 2 tier. Probably why it looks big. They actually cut the first step really short so I'll have to try to catch that tomorrow when rebar goes in. 10' x 8' the another 2' wide step below that and then a little step out into the pool.

Scott

Glad our builder is explaining everything to us each step of the way. Also glad that the crews understand English pretty well. I think I need to spend some time learning a bit more Spanish. No new pictures...just mess right now.

Here's the pool with gravel in bottom and rebar/plumbing in progress

Here's a close up of the slide/grotto area.

Have a good night and hope to have some gunite pics to show tomorrow.

love the design and the slide as well, keep the pics coming!!!!!!!

The only part I'm worried about is where the drains are as the constant water has not allowed the gunite to dry there....if the pump is off, water comes in pretty fast. They said that they will drain it as much as possible and patch all the weep holes and near the drain right before plaster and then start to fill it. Gosh I hope that works. They know what they're doing, I sure don't :) So far it's still in the ground...that is a GOOD sign!!! Doesn't look like any activity until next week. The electrician may come today or tomorrow but not sure.

I don't really understand why the retaining walls were not framed with gunite the same time as the pool but again, I'm not a builder so maybe that will be the deck crew's job.

Thanks for keeping me sane to all of you :))

For your drawing it does not look like you have alot of retaining wall, not sure why they didn't just shoot it when they did the pool. We had over 80' of wall and they shot it with gunite as well as the steps. Maybe with less linear feet of walls they use cinder block?

Hope your pump troubles are over soon. We have a pump in the bottom of ours right now to pump out the weep water that is still coming in some, maybe 2' per day. I just plug it in in the morning and train real quick. No where near the amount of water that you are seeing at your place though. Looks like you guys have it under control with the steps taken.

We're pumping out what we can, water is still running out but the water does not seem to go down much....which tile did you choose?? I like the blue color...I'm still trying to choose tile and it's driving me nuts.

Keep your head up and know that this will all be passed soon! :)

Tara

It's all a little to "busy" for me right now. I like the many colors of the flagstone and I like the tile but it all seems a tad bright/busy to me. It rained some today and washed off some of the grit and dirt. Some of the darker colors came through thankfully. I think this color of flag will go nicely with our aggregate decking. Also then you add the dark colors of the moss boulders...you can see how I'm unsure how this will turn out... :) We all fret over color choices for the stone, plaster and coping!!

We went to Home Depot and bought our own submersible pump. A Flotec. It has done excellent. I'm really wondering how the Plaster crew will get all the water out in order to complete their process????? I mean water has been over the drains, including gunite completely over one of the drains the entire time. Are you posting your pool build here? I'll have to follow yours too. I love watching the outcome from paper to swim :))

I deleted most of the previous pictures so the thread would load quicker.

The pool still has an odd shape to it without the retaining walls there on the sides. The deck crew will be forming those. Our PB wanted them separate from the pool shell. Never would have thought of that but I guess it'll allow them to move/settle without disturbing the pool or vice versa. Less cracking due to natural ground movement and settling.

We have rain today so I doubt any work until Wednesday or Thursday and then it's a small chance of rain on Wednesday...Ahhhhh. Oh well. Our pool is filled to the 3rd step this morning with the storm we had over night. We'll let it get to the first step and then start draining some water out. Anyone want some sticky/muddy clay dirt :)

Don't delete the pics. People will review this thread in the months and years to come. It's a valuable reference.

We studied threads both new and old before we built our project, I suspect you did the same. People need to see the pics!

John

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pools/msg0120430918962.html

We just bought our pump from Lowe's hope it's working, we still have it plugged in and there's still water! :) We got snow today so who knows what will happen! :)

My build starts with Goldfinch Stables...hope to follow yours so we can see when to add salt, start pumps etc.! :)

Great job so far on your build!!
Tara

Enjoy.

I am so ready for summer. We only got to use our pool for 6 weeks last year as we built late in the summer.

How often do you see 100% on anything? That is awesome, you got to enjoy your pool a bit and now you'll get to live it up the whole summer!!!!

Scott

to-the-beach - What in the world did you do with three people there? Did you politely ask them to leave? It was hard for me to remain calm. It's none of their business! I listed the tile above in a previous post. There are some beautiful all brown pools. We wanted to be a little different...so hopefully it'll work out. I'll keep posting updates. Need to dry out so they can start the decking. My brother lives in Fredericksburg and works in DC. It is a lot of snow there for you guys! Snowing here right now...weird....but so pretty on the steps.

I am pretty certain that every single neighbor I have, went into my backyard during the build. I would look outside and there was always someone out there. Funny how the neighbors that have never even waved at me, became my friends once the pool was done. Some of them came by during the build and helped me with small projects, they are the ones that got invited over last summer.

I think it's a regional thing...here in the deep south (well, for most natives, lots of transplants wouldn't have this reaction!) if someone came into my backyard we'd have them in for a bite to eat and some sweet tea...then you talk for 30 minutes and realize they're actually a distant cousin! :) I have been known to walk up to strangers and ask if I could see their backyard because they had an incredible landscape design..when I did that, he pulled his golf cart around and gave me a 2 hour tour of his 5 acre backyard pointing out where each daylily came from and which trees had started out as saplings...we became fast friends and I eventually shared some daylilies I had in my garden with him....it's just a different way of thinking down here! :) I'm sure it makes outsiders feel very uncomfortable, but we really mean no harm, we're all family down here...stranger or not! :)

Can't wait to see your finished pics!!!

Tara

Few weeks back we had a semi hauling cattle tip over about 1/4 mile from my back area. Poor cattle were scattered and within a couple of hours their were people on horse back scouring through the woods and creeks around us looking for strays. I office out of the house and looked out the window and see two guys open up my back fence and walking around the backyard. They were met with a double barrel shot gun and asked to leave. They said they were just looking for some rope. I could not believe that they just unlatched my gate and walked right in and looked all over my yard for rope. They were lucky to walk out, had it been dark I'm almost certain that I would not have asked questions, the first shot is in the air, the second is in the tail as they get over the fence. Our home sets back from a major highway, by about .5 mile. We own all the property behind us to the hwy. If people are on that part of our land I can deal with it, come over or through the gate/fence and you may have just made one of your biggest mistakes.
Later in the day I did get a visit from one of the Sheriff Dep. about the guys trespassing and he actually apologized for his helpers doing what they did and thanking for me not taking serious action on them. He stated that they had direct orders not to go in any ones fenced in yards or to cross any wire fence lines...hope the two guys learned a good lesson, the next Texas landowner may not hold up.

I now have put bolt locks on all the gates, needed to get those on there anyway with the pool so hopefully we wont have any more uninvited guest. I am a very laid back dude, any and all are welcome...just come to the front door first.

Now we just need this 6" of snow to blow out and dry up!

Not to derail the OPs thread but I think I read some where that you are into car racing? I used to be into some serious drag racing. Is that what you do?

Actually what I do is Garage related and is in my "My Page" I just don't want to do any promoting here on the board.

Sorry fwtpoolgirl, won't high-jack the thread anymore with car talk. :)

Sorry fwtpoolgirl, won't happen again.

Love your pool!

Here's the rebar stage. Starting to really take shape.

The slide has turned out not very pretty. The grotto is cool. They stained the slide to look like rock. I do not have a photo of it but they are coming to look at it today to decide what to do. Just glad that they're working with us.

getting close! congrats

Here is our grill they finished. It was a small 8 ft area but worked out perfectly for us :)

This is the first half of the arbor. We are building another one right behind it that goes into the ground to support the entire thing. The second arbor will be for a hammock...totally can't wait.

Looking from under the arbor back at the house. You can see our iron fence for the dog run is up and hubby got his Longhorn emblem made into the fence.

A little path to our pool equipment behind the slide.

Maybe someone with photoshop can select the ground and change it's color so you can see what I mean.

The golden grill is really sharp looking. You might want to mount a utensil hanger on the left wall since the counter space is going to be needed for the platters of burgers, chops, etc... that are waiting to be cooked or just coming off the grill.

Scott