My wife and I are looking at putting in a inground pool but have many questions and would love any feedback you might have other than "Don't install a Pool". Serious and non serious replies are expected and welcomed.

1. Any pool builder you recommend?
2. Diving pool or game pool?
3. Approximate cost?
4. Attached or detached hot tub?
5. Heated or unheated?
6. Which shape do you prefer?
7. Vinyl liner, gunite, or pebble tec?

What part of town are you in? What's your budget?

cadetjay02 said:

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What part of town are you in? What's your budget?

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fort worth as far as a budget, I dont really know. I think i'd like keep it under $40K if possible. I honestly don't know how much pools cost. We really just want a simple geometric pool maybe a rectangle or L shape.

what part of fort worth? we're just finishing up a pool build and love our builder, but we're a few miles north of fort worth and i'm not sure how far he travels.
Under $40k might be tough, but you could probably get close if you're not wanting anything very big. Free form pools are cheaper than straight line (rectangle) pools. A lot of the price is driven by how much and what type of decking you want around the pool.

There are a ton of pool companies out there with a huge range of good/bad reviews, prices, etc. In the Tarrant County area, it seems a lot of folks use Claffey (high dollar) and Mid Cities Custom Pools.

When we bought our house two years ago, it already had a pool. The folks who sold us the house kept great records on everything, including the pool. As a point of reference on pricing, ours is a 33,000 gallon pool, 9 ft deep end and 3 ft shallow end, with attached hot tub. It is heated but has no fancy "extras" (no waterfall, rock features, slides, fountains, etc). It is gunite and chlorine, not salt water. The invoice, from 1998, was $38,000. I suspect these days it would be closer to $60k from what I've seen.

I don't know much about the Tarrant County builders. I have quotes from 2.5 years ago, all Collin County builders except Riverbend Sandler. 40K isn't going to get you much from a reputable builder. It will get you a smallish pool, but not much in the way of features or decking.

Good thread.
Jay what are your thoughts on the Collin/Denton county pool folks? We are interested in teeing one up soon.

I got bids from Foley, Prestige, & Riverbend. All were about the same cost within a couple grand. I would be comfortable with either of these 3 but it depends on the sales person and there are multiple for each company. Also know that once the sale is done then you deal with the construction guy and this is who actually matters. I went with Riverbend mainly because they've been around forever and seem to keep more of the subs in house than other companies.

I've heard good things from the 2 people I know that went with Robertson.
Gold Medal never called me back.
Never heard anything good about Hauk.

There are smaller companies out there and you can get lucky with them sometimes, but I dropped over $50K and didn't want to risk it on the small guy.

Most of the cost is in all the details and finishes that can add up quickly. Decking is a major expense and I'd advise you to put in as much as you can afford. We have around 700sqft and I wish we had twice that.

You can get some free stuff and upgrades out of them and maybe drop the cost some, but there is too much demand right now to really bargain.

Having done this two years ago, just be mindful that costs can get out of control real quick on a pool project.

Finishes (all stone decking), type of cleaning system (we went with an in floor system versus having a Polaris), landscaping/fencing, outdoor audio/video and outdoor kitchen were areas where the added costs really piled up. It is tough because these are items where you won't get a redo.

Also, not sure where you are located but be extra extra sure that you won't need piers (based on local soil type/condition). We have friends who have pool that is settling to one side (should have had piers (as pool abuts a creek area with a downslope) and it has turned into a big legal mess with their pool builder.

Pic of our pool with stone finish:

My story of getting a pool. I live in North Ft. Worth/Alliance.

Five years ago, my wife and I wanted to get a pool with outdoor living area/kitchen. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted, including a large attached redwood cabana, and a full size stone wall with a built in cabinet for a 50" flat screen TV, and stone benches and counters with a built in grill. The pool wasn't going to be huge, less than 18,000 gallons with some water features, no spa but lots of patio space. My biggest concern was drainage since my property channels LOTS of water in big rain storms right where I wanted the pool. That was my #1 concern I starts with in talking to every contractor. Our budget was roughly $75k.

We had 5 or 6 contractors come out and give us ideas & estimates. First was an Australian guy from "Signature Pools." I don't know if they are still in business, but the guy was offensive and rude. He tried to force ideas on us that we did not want and dismissed everything we said. My wife literally had to ask him to leave. Next was Mid-Cities Pools. Nice guy. Probably the lowest prices and seemed to want to work with us. But they seemed like a fast-food equivalent of pool builders and not quite what we wanted. Next was J Caldwell. Really liked them. But they tried to discourage us from installing flagstone coping which so many of the others were trying to sell, which we liked. They said we would regret it. (we did) We wanted the pool to match the flagstone wall we were going to put in. The next guy was an Aggie (don't remember his name, FW Custom Pools maybe?,) who gave us a design. We wanted to make some modifications and talk but he never returned our calls. Last was Paul Miller who we hired. Seemed great at first. But he turned out to be very hard to work with. He cut lots of corners and made some mistakes. Everything was like pulling teeth. He never took my drainage concerns seriously. He absolutely guaranteed we'd never have issues. We did. It was too late though. Long story short, we had to permanently close/block the pool overflow into the inadequate French Drain due to back flow. It would have been a simple problem to avoid but he was incompetent. Generally we really like our outdoor project and pool but if I had to do it over

1. I would have hired J Caldwell instead of Paul Miller
2. I would not have used Oklahoma Flagstone near the pool it erodes, messes with the water chemistry. Lueders is better.
3. I would have hired separate contractors for the pool, the cabana/patio, and the landscaping restoration (they cut my fiber 3 times and screwed up the lawn another Aggie BTW.) I thought hiring one guy to take care of everything was a good idea at the time.
4. I would have forced a better drainage design (multiple independent drains, etc.)

Live and learn I suppose. I've posted pictures here on TEXAGS before but I don't have a link. Pool is salt, free-form (square/straight edges are harder more $$,) gunite with pebble stone liner, not heated. The pool alone would have been $40-$45K. That was 5 yrs ago.

Test to post pics...

Other pics:

Just finished our build in NFW/Aliance and were very happy with Puryear Pools. They came recommended by a couple neighbors and I would definitely recommend them for FW area builds.

SIL in Prosper used Hauk and they would not recommend them and friend also in Prosper used Gold Medal and weren't happy with them either. My builder recommended Riverbend and Robertson for the North Dallas part of the Metro.

Budget of $40k is very low and not possible if you want a hot tub much less any appurtenances like arbors or extended decking.

cadetjay02 said:

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Never heard anything good about Hauk.

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I agree with that. Hauk built our pool about 5 years ago, shortly after the original owner left the company to his son (sons?) to run. We still love the final product and wouldn't change much if anything now, but the process was pretty painful. I spent way too much time finding and tracking issues than I should have.

My advice?
1. Go with salt water
2. Get an Internet / mobile app controller like iAqualink
3. You won't regret additional patio space
4. Put your equipment as far away from pool as possible and behind a wall/fence
5. LED lighting with multiple colors look great at night (place them on the side where you will usually be)
6. Consider an auto refiller (You can also use a faucet/underground pipe with a watering timer, and I've heard of others using a sprinkler zone.)

And to answer some of your questions:
7. Love the Pebble Tec
8. Not many folks put in diving boards any more. More expensive and less versatile. Maximum 4.5-5 feet for a really good play pool.
9. If you get a hot tub, you get a heater. (Don't assume it will also heat your pool though.) It will essentially extend swim season about a month earlier and about a month later. For us, it increases the pool temperature about 1 degree every 45 minutes, and it's not nearly as expensive to run as I expected.

What is the concrete pathway around the pool? Is there some type of epoxy or something on it. Kind of looks like the pebble walk around my pool but way more comfortable.

Fenrir said:

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What is the concrete pathway around the pool? Is there some type of epoxy or something on it. Kind of looks like the pebble walk around my pool but way more comfortable.

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Standard exposed aggregate concrete. They pour it and then hose it off before it hardens, washing the top layer away.

Mojave,

That fire table is incredible - love the arrowheads. Was that custom made for you or is it available to be ordered?

Not I made it myself along with the TV cabinet and door which has Texas Indian artifacts in the shape of Texas.