Anyone put in a pool lately and have company recommendations to share? We are moving to Georgetown area in the next few weeks and want to add a pool. The overall cost may be higher than I'm expecting so any light you can shed on that will be appreciated.

Do not use Designer Pools of Austin. Our pool is great, but the process was awful. Not a good company. Stay far away from them.

I know several people who have used Denali Pools and have been pleased with the experience and results.

Do not use Johnson Pools. Our pool has been a work in process since December. Luckily it's been swimable since mid-May but they are still working on the decking.

If you know anything about general contracting, we've decided we'll build our own because we've virtually managed this build ourselves.

Mine has been under construction for 3 weeks and almost complete- Round Rock Pool Pros. At least 15-20 percent savings in cost versus Cody and Sylvan.

I would budget 50 - 75K...Much will depend on your deck (stone?) and pool finish (plaster vs pebbletec) Also do not fall for the you are in rock and that will cost you extra - have them bid where you are at (they know where the rock is generally at).

Many of the contractors use the same subs, so ask around.

If the guy I used did not tick me off (for not returning calls), I would post their name (PM me if you want it). They were 20-30% lower than other guys which allowed us do more landscaping.

highly recommend you look into troublefreepools.com for an ways to maintain your future pool.

I'm just starting this process as well in cedar Park and have a company coming out for my first quote this week. That company is Texas Pools and Patios in Cedar Park. I'll let you know how that goes. Any tips for those going down this road appreciated.

Do y'all think I'd be safe to assume that's any cost savings realized by not having to dig would be more than offset by additional concrete and rebar for a basically above ground pool? Our back patio is about 20' above our backyard ground level. Was thinking of having our pool level be about half of that distance, if that makes sense.

AgTDub said:

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Do y'all think I'd be safe to assume that's any cost savings realized by not having to dig would be more than offset by additional concrete and rebar for a basically above ground pool? Our back patio is about 20' above our backyard ground level. Was thinking of having our pool level be about half of that distance, if that makes sense.i

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Gut reaction.... it will help some, but be more expensive then an in ground pool since the retaining structure appears to be 10' tall (?).

Yeah, I guess the trick is going to be lowering the pool level to where the cost of the retaining wall is a wash relative to the cost of digging. We're out towards spicewood in solid rock.

I've not yet signed a contract but have asked for four quotes and received three, I have contacted Anthony & Sylvan, Cody, Reliant Pools, and Johnson Customer Pools. We are building in Cedar Park.

Standard freeform pool, no frills, with spa. The three quotes so far came in at $77K, $82K, and $83K. I expect the final quote to be the highest of the four.

I've not yet negotiated with any of them, can probably get the price down a bit - but these quotes are all higher than I would have expected before going into this process. I had thought, naively I guess, I could do this for $65K or less.

Ag in tu land said:

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Do not use Johnson Pools. Our pool has been a work in process since December. Luckily it's been swimable since mid-May but they are still working on the decking.

If you know anything about general contracting, we've decided we'll build our own because we've virtually managed this build ourselves.

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If you are referring to Johnson Custom Pools I am very surprised to hear that, they were recommended by someone who runs a pool cleaning company (sees tons of pools) as well as even the other pool builders ("if you pick Johnson over us I cant feel bad because they build a great pool and are a great company" was one quote).

Sorry to hear you are having a bad experience on this high ticket item - not fun.

Complete Idiot said:

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Ag in tu land said:

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Do not use Johnson Pools. Our pool has been a work in process since December. Luckily it's been swimable since mid-May but they are still working on the decking.

If you know anything about general contracting, we've decided we'll build our own because we've virtually managed this build ourselves.

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If you are referring to Johnson Custom Pools I am very surprised to hear that, they were recommended by someone who runs a pool cleaning company (sees tons of pools) as well as even the other pool builders ("if you pick Johnson over us I cant feel bad because they build a great pool and are a great company" was one quote).

Sorry to hear you are having a bad experience on this high ticket item - not fun.

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Thank you for the sympathies. I have to say my wife is worn out being the one at home dealing with all of this.

We too received the referral from a good Aggie friend with a large pool cleaning company. It's not his fault and it just a bad run of luck with the various subcontractors that every pool company in town uses.

I do have to say Johnson could be more responsive and timely as they are trying to make everything right and I'll be glad to let you know the final outcome.

I'm the a-hole referring them to both of you. In spite of my buddies recent bad experience, I would still recommend them highly based on a 30+ year track record. No one else in town can boast a track record that long, and with that kind of longevity comes some inevitable **** shows. It is just very unfortunately one of those fell on our friend here.

As someone whose company sees hundreds of end products all day every day, my 3 go-to referrals are still Johnson Custom Pools, Jaida Custom Pools, and Cody Pools.

Ag in tu land will cringe at that right now, but I'm just playing the numbers. The sad thing with this industry is most of the companies out there that screw up as bad as Johnson has on this pool would claim bankruptcy and start over again next week under a new name. Make sure to beat them up over it and keep me posted if they start dropping the ball on the follow up so I can kick them in the ass, but I know Craig is a solid human being after watching him and his dad over the years and I know they build a helluva pool (almost all of the time).

AgTDub said:

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Do y'all think I'd be safe to assume that's any cost savings realized by not having to dig would be more than offset by additional concrete and rebar for a basically above ground pool? Our back patio is about 20' above our backyard ground level. Was thinking of having our pool level be about half of that distance, if that makes sense.

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I am in the permitting process with California Pools on doing this. My back patio is 10' from ground level and we are building our pool about 6' from ground level with the hot tub the full 10' up.

It is EXTREMELY more expensive to build up than it is ground level, but for us it was worth it because we didn't want two distinct different areas for the patio/house and the pool. We figured we would use it far less if the pool was that far away from the house/bathroom/grill/outdoor TV etc.

It will depend on how much decking you do and the scope of the project but I would anticipate atleast 30% more for building up. And if you do the whole 20' up would be even more than that.

Had Texas Pools And Patios out yesterday to quote me. It was my first quote but I was definitely impressed. Apparently they're owned by the guys who started Cody and they sold off a long time ago. They have a long history of experience and seem to be pretty competitive. Might be worth a look for anyone around CP like myself.

Cody is a completely different company than when Mike bought it from the Crites family. None of Cody's current successes should be attributed to prior ownership. He bought it for less than $1M and he has turned Cody into the biggest builder in the country.

I won't speak to TP&P, but Hayward equipment is bottom of the barrel.

We used Reliant Pools and have been pleased. Cost was ~85k...largest cost was excavation

Mid 50s for 16 by 32 free form with lots of upgrades.

Randy Herzog at Elite Pools was very good to work with when we built ours about 5 years ago. There is a pic of ours on his website although we've addrd some more plants and the originals have matured some

Archie86 said:

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Mid 50s for 16 by 32 free form with lots of upgrades.

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Was that in '86? You must have subbed it out yourself.

Ryno01 said:

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We used Reliant Pools and have been pleased. Cost was ~85k...largest cost was excavation

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So did we. Our cost ran well into the 6 figures but by our (read: my wife's) choice. Very well done, highly customized. Joel is a good guy.

Cost aside, which I guess it can't be cast aside, I appreciate the feedback on Reliant Pools.

Potcake said:

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Randy Herzog at Elite Pools was very good to work with when we built ours about 5 years ago. There is a pic of ours on his website although we've addrd some more plants and the originals have matured some

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That's one of the classiest, best looking pools I've seen including million dollar homes. Congratulations. No hot tub saved you some bucks and I'm guessing it's not heated. Simplicity at it's finest.

It's just my wife and I so we wanted something straight-lined. It's 3.5 - 4.5 deep. It was heated yesterday after mowing, 94 degrees. Agghh

Potcake said:

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It's just my wife and I so we wanted something straight-lined. It's 3.5 - 4.5 deep. It was heated yesterday after mowing, 94 degrees. Agghh

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Ours was that hot yesterday. I started wondering how many 50 pound bags of ice would it take to cool it down!

Had our meeting with Texas P&P yesterday here in Cedar Park. Their proposal is an 84ft perimeter pool with 7ft spa, outdoor kitchen (sunk to pool level with a roof extenstion over making a swim up bar). Costs for us came out to 82k for the pool and spa, and 20k for the kitchen and patio. We've got three more companies coming out.

Ag in tu land said:

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Potcake said:

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It's just my wife and I so we wanted something straight-lined. It's 3.5 - 4.5 deep. It was heated yesterday after mowing, 94 degrees. Agghh

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Ours was that hot yesterday. I started wondering how many 50 pound bags of ice would it take to cool it down!

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Way more than you would want to buy.

I run coolers to keep my pool in the mid 80's, I can't stand the pool feeling like bath water.

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Hey Trey, I reached out to you through your company website. Look forward to speaking with you. - Todd

Did you ever have this project completed? I am moving to Georgetown and would be interested in putting in a pool/sunk-in kitchen/swim up bar.

Better question is what happened to Trey?

https://www.myunfinishedpool.com/

Ouch... hate to see things go south like that. Sounds like poor cash management... couldn't pay his subs so they quit showing up for him.

Cody Pools pricing is extremely competitive & generally do a good product. I'm building a stone deck around one of their pools right now. Owner had a few issues with them closing out permits in Austin, but otherwise it went well.

Randy Herzog is an outstanding high end pool builder. I don't think he could touch Cody's pricing (nor would he want to)

70-75k seems like the minimum for any pool of any size these days, at least in Austin.

The Silverback said:

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Better question is what happened to Trey?

https://www.myunfinishedpool.com/

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I don't know about Trey, but I finished that pool, and a few others, for his former customers.