Bringing this back from the dead. Getting some estimates. Seems like for a basic ig, vinyl, concrete decking is gonna be about 55 to 60k.
Jan 2025 IG pool build in Georgia, need liner re set!!!!
- Thread starter suzook
- Start date
Actually $70k ish with 1000sq ft of cool decking/concrete, de filter, swg, and heat pump. Need a 2ft retainer wall at the long side of the one end of pool due to sloped yard.
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Senoia, south of Atlanta. I don't see myself doing it at $70k I'd be fine at $55k.
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- Jun 1, 2018
- 15,985
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Waiting on 2 more, but from what I am hearing, they seem to be the same around here. I am hoping I can work something out with one of them for $55k. I guess we will see.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 15,985
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Have you considered an owner build?
Aka - you being the general contractor.
Then Subbing out contractors as you see fit/need. For instance buying a kit on your own and then paying installers. Many of the places that sell kits may have installer lists for your area.
It can be a headache but building a pool is a headache anyway lol.
it can remove some of the higher markup expenses.
Aka - you being the general contractor.
Then Subbing out contractors as you see fit/need. For instance buying a kit on your own and then paying installers. Many of the places that sell kits may have installer lists for your area.
It can be a headache but building a pool is a headache anyway lol.
it can remove some of the higher markup expenses.I definitely would consider it. Not sure where to start.Have you considered an owner build?
Aka - you being the general contractor.
Then Subbing out contractors as you see fit/need. For instance buying a kit on your own and then paying installers. Many of the places that sell kits may have installer lists for your area.
It can be a headache but building a pool is a headache anyway lol.
- May 23, 2015
- 25,688
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
The TFP Wiki is full of great information -
Construction Best Practices - Further Reading
www.troublefreepool.com
- May 23, 2015
- 25,688
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
And ... one of the most EPIC OB threads in TFP history -
www.troublefreepool.com
It started off as a home building project and then the pool build comes in a lot later. I'm sure @setsailsoon would be happy to guide you to some of the posts in that thread that are "best practices" for getting started .... unless you really want to read 68 pages of posts ...
16 July 2024 Finishing Up my OB Pool
Folks, *** EDIT: This is a long, long thread. So I suggest you press the "jump to latest" button top right and go back to the previous posts as you have time and desire to do so.*** To make navigation a little easier first ~30 pages are for the house construction, rest is for the pool...
www.troublefreepool.com
It started off as a home building project and then the pool build comes in a lot later. I'm sure @setsailsoon would be happy to guide you to some of the posts in that thread that are "best practices" for getting started .... unless you really want to read 68 pages of posts ...
I will also tell you that you may end up doing most of the PB (Pool Builder) work as far a managing the different trades. If you have the time to be there at the drop of a hat and the composure to deal with "I have been doing this for 30 years........." when you ask them what you want then you can do it!
Well I am currently not working, so I have plenty of free time. I did work for a private contractor many years ago, So I do know basics of running a jobsite. I am wondering if my wife will be ok with this though, because she would have to deal with my insanity through it. LOL
I kicked myself with my first pool for not being my own GC when I watched it play out.
Pool #2 was real close after moving and while I was sure I could handle it, I was worried about having the time with everything else going on. Due to terrible subs and the Covid shortages, I had to be the GC anyway constantly going to the PB to get the subs up to speed, scheduled or to come back and fix their numerous foul ups.
It added another layer of communication issues relying on the PB to properly relay everything, when he got around to it. Dealing with the subs directly would have been much preferred, and I would have likely picked better subs with many friends in construction.
Pool #2 was real close after moving and while I was sure I could handle it, I was worried about having the time with everything else going on. Due to terrible subs and the Covid shortages, I had to be the GC anyway constantly going to the PB to get the subs up to speed, scheduled or to come back and fix their numerous foul ups.
It added another layer of communication issues relying on the PB to properly relay everything, when he got around to it. Dealing with the subs directly would have been much preferred, and I would have likely picked better subs with many friends in construction.
- Oct 25, 2015
- 5,809
- Pool Size
- 28000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
suzook,
Hi, I just finished my OB pool after doing the house 2 yrs ago. It took a lot of time and some dog-headed persistence to find high quality subs but I'd do it again the same way in a heartbeat. Our pool is pretty high end and we saved a little under 40% compared to top quality builders for custom pools in our area of S Florida. If I was doing a simple smaller pool the savings would be less. My guess is 25-30%. Schedule improvement was huge. Even with some self inflicted delays we started moving dirt Feb and added water May 30. All of the high quality custom builders were a year or more out. First sub you'll need is your designer. I would start looking for them first. I interviewed 3 including DIYpools.com. If I was doing it again I'd sole source them. Problem with the other Florida designers I found was they were all super busy with their existing commercial builders. I think they could have done a good job for me but I wouldn't be really their main type of client. With DIY you are right in their wheelhouse. There are some delays due to response time for changes but all tolerable. Price was almost identical across the board. ~$700 for a simple pool and up to $3000 for the most complex. Mine cost $1800. This included preliminary design workup with several cycles and two design changes before locking scope. They guarantee the product will be approved by local building department and lived up to that on mine. They left out a swim out bench in deep end and had a typo on the site plan they fixed on their nickel. Their Florida PE is very well known and I'm sure not the cheapest.
Dealing with my wife was well let's say interesting... we'd done an OB custom home just 2 years ago and she understands fully the concept of design freeze plus cost of late changes. She also dealt well with the mess and it was a lot plus it looked bad for almost the whole time. I guess the main ingredients for "happy wife" are get her very involved at the beginning and keep her involved along the way. She did a great job of picking out colors and styles and we also posted a lot of them on here. One of our resident experts in that area @kimkats , seemed to always endorse Robin's choices so that helped too. Since my pool is anything but standard I got a lot of tremendous help here and ended up with a way better pool because of it. Even if I had a simple standard build I'd post designs here. You'll get input from technical experts all the way to experienced builders and it all helps a lot.
I hope this is helpful and I'm happy to share anything else I learned.
Chris
Appreciate the response. When I say simple, its simple. 16x32 vinyl. with a sunshelf incorporated into the steps with a 2 foot retainer wall along one 32' side of pool due to slight slope to backyard. Concrete/cool decking around it. I know for a fact I could install the filter, SW system and pool heater myself, would just someone to bring all the plumbing from pool to the equipment site, which is approximately 30 feet away from end of pool. And probably an electrician to bring electric to same area. I looked into diy pools, very mixed reviews though.
- Oct 25, 2015
- 5,809
- Pool Size
- 28000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
I saw the same thing on the DIY reviews. I think some of the negative reviews had to do with unreasonable expectations. But when I compared to my design options they were still the best choice. If you find somebody else please let us know it's always good to find options. The steel and forming sub was able to do all the plumbing and electrical penetrations plus dig the trenches back to the pool pad. And he installed all of the plumbing runs plus the electrical conduit. Not sure if this is possible in your area but it was convenient to have the same sub do the work. He also installed all of the bonding including the ring Bond that was a little tricky on mine because of the elevation changes. We had to make sure the wire was 2 to 5 in from the outside edge of the water and 2 to 5 in below the surface. He used Landscaping pins to hold it in place.
Chris
- May 23, 2015
- 25,688
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Be wary of online reviews, they often have no bearing on reality.
The designs for a simple inground vinyl pool should be fairly straightforward and probably something they already have canned and ready to go. They’d just need the plat map of your property to drop the design in to and then tweak it for size and fit. Mostly what you’d be paying them for is design compliance with local building codes and even that should be fairly straightforward. If you can’t find anyone else to do the designs that you think would be better, then I suspect the DIY Pools folks will knock out your design pretty easily and cheaply.
The designs for a simple inground vinyl pool should be fairly straightforward and probably something they already have canned and ready to go. They’d just need the plat map of your property to drop the design in to and then tweak it for size and fit. Mostly what you’d be paying them for is design compliance with local building codes and even that should be fairly straightforward. If you can’t find anyone else to do the designs that you think would be better, then I suspect the DIY Pools folks will knock out your design pretty easily and cheaply.
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I guess my biggest issue is will I really be saving money using diy pools. They don't give you an estimate, just claim it would be about $20k cheaper. Cheaper than what? A $200k pool?? Idk, I guess at the end of the day, even if I saved $10k, including what I have to pay them, it would be worth it. The plus is, I get to pick out exactly what equipment I want.
- Oct 25, 2015
- 5,809
- Pool Size
- 28000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
When you use their estimating to give you a high level estimate and savings for similar pool.
I hope this is helpful.
Chris
- May 23, 2015
- 25,688
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
OB pools can generate savings of 25-40% over the cost of the traditional builder route. Now that doesn’t mean you won’t spend as much as you would with a builder, it just means you will get a whole lot more of what YOU want and you’ll be able to do a lot of the “upgrades” that builders throw in to fluff their numbers. Remember that a traditional pool builder is looking to make at least a 20% profit margin on most line items. They don’t get a whole lot of savings from equipment vendors but they usually get kick backs at the end of the year based on sales volume. That’s why a lot of builders will be “preferred vendors” for a specific brand and steer you towards those products. If you take the builder out of the equation, you eliminate a lot of that profit margin and then you can deal with the subcontractors directly. They will often offer discounts if you pay in cash or you’re flexible with scheduling. Many will also not require full payment upfront but rather give you a net 30 or 45 day payment period. That helps a lot with managing cash flow on a multivendor job. Some vendors may want to use their own consumable items or they’ll let you buy the consumables as long as they are delivered to the job site before they work. That can save some money too because you can buy what you need and you’re assured of what your getting rather than using whatever the guy might have sitting on his truck.
There’s more flexibility with an O/B pool build but also a lot more scheduling and potential delays. But if you can afford to wait and be patient, you’ll get more of what you want and you’ll be able to target your top-line budget number better.
There’s more flexibility with an O/B pool build but also a lot more scheduling and potential delays. But if you can afford to wait and be patient, you’ll get more of what you want and you’ll be able to target your top-line budget number better.