Has anyone built a pool using a pool kit?

[poolguy968]

I recently came across these vinyl liner pool kits where you can purchase everything you need to build yourself an in ground pool for only about $25k. Of course I know that I would probably need to pay a bit more to have somebody dig and plumb and setup everything but even then I have to imagine that the total cost of the pool project would be significantly less than the $130k I’m currently spending on a gunite pool build.

I’ve attached an example below and I’m just wondering if anybody here has experience buying and building their pool using one of these kits? What was your experience like? Were you happy with the results? It seems like there’s gotta be a catch because now I’m just wondering why everybody doesn’t just build a pool this way. If this is actually legit then I feel like the biggest fool in the world for not looking this up sooner.

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[PoolGate]

What do you think you're saving? Installation is a huge part of these. Pretty much any builder can sell you materials for this price and then charge another $100k for installation.

The lowest price for a pool is a liner pool. Then fiberglass and then gunite.

 

[Newdude]

These 2 are up there on my fav list for amazing jobs.

New DIY Inground pool build - Arkansas (Picture Heavy) - Outdoor Kitchen Complete!!!

Ok...well I am a little late starting this thread. We decided last spring it was time to take down the above ground pool and put one in the ground. I had been planning to do an IG pool for 5 or 6 years. I had a local pool company give me a bid even though I was 90% sure I was going to do it...

www.troublefreepool.com

INEXPERIENCED OB Steel wall vinyl liner inground pool under construction in north texas

First things first….after all this weeks and questions I finally started my installation :):)…… I am sure I am going to have millions of questions, but my main ones right now are 2……. 1- foam on the walls….. if I remember correctly, I made a conscious decision not to order it when I order my kit...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[JohnnyG66]

I built our pool from a similar kit. I'm an advanced DIYer...very familiar with electrical, plumbing, and general construction. Also very detail oriented and a bit of perfectionist, plus I'm an experienced project manager. You need ALL these skills to build a pool! It is not at all an insignificant task. However, it can be done. In our case, we hired a excavation company with pool experience to do the dig. They did an A++ job and it was worth every penny. Then I built the walls, levelled and plumbed, then had another contractor pour the concrete collar around the exterior. He did a lousy job - after he left, I went to take a look and there were just blobs on concrete dumped in. I spent over an hour doing my best to smooth it and angle it away from the pool wall. For some insane reason, I used the same contractor again to do the pool floor (honestly, finding ANYONE was a challenge, but this guy sounded like he knew what he was doing). He measured nothing, didn't even remotely follow the liner plan I had provided him, and left us with a miserable mess. Instead of 45 degree angles, everything was rounded and uneven - looked like a bathtub. I asked him if he wanted to fix it, or part ways. He never responded (which tells me he knew he messed up - he left about a grand worth of tools/equipment behind!). Thankfully, we hadn't paid a penny for the floor, but that was little solace because we were left with the job of breaking up and disposing of all the concrete he put in! Then we had to do it again from scratch. Concrete work like this is not something I have on my list of previous accomplishments so I wanted to go slow and wasn't comfortable bringing in a concrete truck, so we ordered some 300 bags of the stuff instead. Now, over a year later, the pool is finally open! But the work is not done. For the last week, I've been putting in fence posts (as required by local regulations), and when that's done, more cement to lay the coping stones on, and then I'll build a composite deck.

So yeah, you can buy a kit and do it yourself, but it's a commitment to doing a very significant amount of work, and learning how to do it right. You'll find lots of information online, including from Royal, as there's was one of 3 or 4 "installation manuals" I read when preparing. We saved tens of thousands on the build for sure, but if you don't LOVE that feeling of accomplishment you get from doing it yourself, you may regret not paying. Worse still, you may get part way and then decide to hire someone to finish, and end up paying more to fix your mistakes!

So my advice is to go forward with research, research, and then a bit more research. If after all that you feel like it's something you can tackle, go for it.

 

[Caro325]

me, me ,me

 

[Newdude]

me, me ,me

I gave you a shout out above. Glad you made it.

 

[poolguy968]

Thanks! I just checked out those threads and the results look amazing!

Out of curiosity Caro325, how much was the cost of your diy build?

I think part of my gripe with the gunite is that I have a builder who isn’t very … design oriented, like he has a general very high level rough sketch of the pool but then expects us to fill in a lot of the details along the way and to tell him exactly what we want throughout the construction process which has been very stressful and challenging since nobody in my family really knows much about pools or has any passion/talent for design and decorating.

And now we are $130k in the hole with a bunch of things that we are not quite satisfied with but are basically too late to change now without a huge do over that would probably either require a huge fight with the contractor and/or spending tons more money.

I think at this point I just wish I could’ve gone with a more out of the box solution, like fiberglass or these pool kits where the shape and depth and benches and color etc are already preset when you order and I just have to get somebody to dig a hole and put it in for me.

I’ve always wanted a pool but I guess gunite is really not for me.

 

[Skelly_GSR]

Im going through a diy pool right now, follow along!

New DIY IG Pool Build Pittsburgh PA

Hi all, finally took the plunge and ordered my diy IG vinyl pool kit from Royal. Location: Pittsburgh PA Size: 18x36x26 L-shape Wall height: 4' steel Depth 4' to 8' Personal background: Automation Engineer with four young kids. All boys. They will be my helpers on this project. I will say...

www.troublefreepool.com