Yeah, but in Socal, it's not the rent, it's the appreciation!

Oh, and Sammy, get MDX main drains. You don't want your intestines sucked out.

I was thinking concrete cherubs but same idea... think the cherubs would class it up a bit. :D ;)

it's about the tax write off, you bird-brain!

That's for Purple Martins. They'll swoop around all day, even dipping into the pool at dusk. It's actually a "small" house compared to some in this area. Here's a local place that makes them:

http://bestbirdhouse.com/

Only have 12 slots now...hoping to be a slum lord someday.

We have a similar layout. Consider the Jandy electronic controls & valves. You can control spa & electronics both spaside & inside. It is great to turn on the spa in the house, let it warm up before I go out.

We also put a seat/step in the concrete in the pool by the spa. We often climb in and out of the pool directly into the spa.

The equipment is also a little noisy. Can you place is at the far side?

We also had them set the benches in the spa at two heights, since I'm tall.

The only thing I would do differently is the lighting. A few more lower wattage fixtures instead of the one glaring light in the deep end. And you may want to specify long leads on the lights, so you won't have raised junction boxes near the pool. They can be piped back to the mechanical area.

_ You mean like this??

http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_185085504.html

Sammy, without any experience in pool construction, I general contracted my pool. Companies wanted $80k, but by hiring the subs myself, it cost $45k. PM me if you have any questions. I still have the contacts as well, David

Assume we are talking gunite pools here, yes?


JA

Head on down to the Home Depot parking lot for your labor and cut that number down to $20K!

No way. I will never use day labor.
Not only would I be supporting an illegal activity that I do not condone, I would be exposing myself to all kinds of liability.
One of them hurts his back, sues me and my homeowner's insurance, then takes the setlement back to his home country and lives like a king. I've seen it happen.
It aint gonna happen to me.

Everyone who steps foot on my property to work better be legal, have a license, a bond, and workmen's comp.
Otherwise they can go somewhere else.

My pool is 14,000 gallons or so, and they do them all the time in the Phoenix area for $30k or so, depending on options.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1183825084.jpg

Get the pebbletech finish and a walk in-walk out entrance if you have kids. Safer and a lot nicer.

The idea for a pool is to make it as maintence free as possible. Running a 1 1/2 hp Whisperflow Pump was about $37 a month in SO CAL. Get a Kreepy Crawler for self cleaning, Saline to keep the amount of Chems down. I had a Jandy system and it worked fine, I could program the pool from inside the house.

Owner Builder of a Pool isn't hard. One Sub contractor will lead to the next. There is an outfit in Garden Grove that sells the Engineering Details for your permit. U can shave 25% to 30% by doing it yourself. It just takes time and effort.

Your Pool should have its own Electrical Sub Panel, and make sure that there is a Drain nearby your Pool equipment so that when you clean the filter or drain the Pool the water has somewhere convient to go.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1183826707.jpg

This was my Pool in SO CA...I had a Pool Contractor start it, but we had a parting of the ways and I finished it. I had a seperate Contractor for the Walls and Hardscape.

If you take a close look notice at all the retaining walls. Those walls cost me $11 a sq ft back in 91. There was @ 35 yards of Cement just for the Footings for the Retaining walls. All together those retaining walls & Back Garden Wall cost about 20K.

The Pool required that the Rebar be placed 4" on center and the Gunite at the bottom was 18" thick, the Pool used 56 yards of Gunite. The tile Bill was about 3500, the Pool Coping was specaily made at 4000. The Ballster Railing material was close to $7000, installation was 3500. The Broze Statue was 5600 Retail I got it for half. I was running 3 Whisper Flow Pumps with an Automatic Jandy system...alltogether the Pool alone was in the neighborhood of 50K.

Now what U don't see is the 200 + Cubic Yards of Dirt and Rock that was hauled away to cut back into that slope. I had a D7 BullDozer there for a week cutting out and digging the pool.

The extra 4 car garage with walkin Vault was 25K. Total for that Landscaping was 150K back in 91.

Well, I pulled the trigger. The demo and excavation start today.
The contractor came down $5k and added about $3k in upgrades so it's a done deal. I insisted on high quality hardware and system equipment and high efficiency everything.
It's going to be a salt water type pool with a 4 speed automatic pump, upgraded fliter system, high efficiency heater, remote controlled everything, etc.
The only thing I'm not getting (yet) is solar heating and that is prolly down the road.

I spent the last 4 days getting everything out of the back yard.
I put an ad in craigslist for the old 10 foot trampoline (free to good home) It was gone in a couple of hours.
I put another ad in for the swingset/playset/fort, sold it the same day for $325. Craigslist is amazing.
A couple of trips to the dump, a completely full garage, and it's ready.
Momma has to park her car on the street for a while, my 911 and waverunners are taking up all the room inside ;)

I like having neighbors that have pools :)

What's the $ difference in purchase & install of gas heat vs. solar? I know my brother in law pay's $300/month to keep his pool going - not including the monthly maintainence guy.

$300 a month - that's insane.

Everyone I've talked to says the salt waater pools are MUCH cheaper/easier to run.

Sammy, what software did you use for the original design you posted?

Only negative comment on this is that I would make sure that the water in the hot tub is separate to that of the pool. Unless it is, then you get to heat all 20,000+ gallons to "hot tub" temps and that would get very expensive.

I have a pool just like that and love it. With a separate hot tub...