Had one and will never have another.

I remember well your adventures with your pool. You should resurrect some of that comentary and pictures for your journey on that mission. For the new guys who may have missed out on that. I actually considered it epic.
Did you actually finally win that battle or did you wind up calling a truce?

Bless your heart. Good luck!

Lol I haven't seen the contractor ever again lol. It was a once in a lifetime pita. It was expensive af. I do enjoy it now. I will say this negotiate your pay schedule because they try and push a schedule that will get them 90 percent of their money long before they are 90 percent done. I had paid 90 percent and thanks to some rain him not moving along when we had a window a 6 week build turned into 7 months of hell with no fence and a giant mud pit for a back yard. The pool industry is like the wild west so best of luck with whoever you are using and their subs.

As to the subs get their contact info because there is a good chance you will never see the contractor again and it will make it easier when you need repairs, more rock work etc. My mistake was using a contractor based on a recent from my neighbor. I don't know where they found him but he wasn't local. They was a guy that literally lived a mile away that has built tons of pools in my area and was familiar with certain issues like the ground water table. As to price 9 years ago we went in planning on spending 90k I think 125k was the final number but I wrote so many checks its hard to say.

Neighbor installed one and the gunite truck busted up the edges of the driveway. I wonder if pool contractors put a clause in their contract that they are not responsible for damage to driveways.

They pretty much aren't paying for anything they mess up. Things like that just happen basically. Sort of like when they drilling holes for the rebar to attach new patio pour to slab and hit a water line...... also there are probably gonna be things you don't think about like you are gonna redo your sprinkler in your back yard..... in fact you are gonna redo your whole back yard lol.

Our pool digging began in October 2004, finished DIGGING it in February 2005. This area received a lot of rain that fall/winter and kept postponing it. It was a bit stressful

Get her this for 8k. Be done in a week. Hop could do it in 12 hours.

If she uses it regularly for a year, you can consider something inground.

I think I'm in pretty good shape. My guy is local, and he's the owner and contractor. He and his crew, which is one crew, finish a job before they start another. He works on the job with his crew. Right now, they are finishing up a job in Port A, and then I'm next. Somebody is coming out today or tomorrow to check for any buried lines, of which there are none. It's supposed to be about a 5 week build with a 15% weekly payout after the 15 down, which I've already paid, and then a 5% final payment. He has the permits in hand and will start in about a week. I also have a 12' gate for him to get into the backyard with a 30 ft. easement around the pool area. No overhead lines or trees in the way. Water and electricity are all close by. He said he normally has to work around all kinds of obstacles. Here's his website: https://poolsbydcdesign.com

Concrete trucks aren’t liable for damage to driveways/yards, etc- they make you sign off on it. Think about it- residential driveways aren’t build to a standard that will hold a concrete truck/dump truck, etc.

I had no idea pool contractors get paid on a timeline schedule- any construction I’ve ever been involved in you got paid based on actual progress- not time.

My wife was relentless about a pool at our last house. I thought helping the neighbours with their pool upkeep and getting to use it anytime we wanted was the best pool ever LOL. We started looking for a one story house with a pool here in TN 8 years ago. 6 years ago we found it and bought. This house has a 16x40 lazy L. It's a fairly large pool with at least 30' of concrete on one side and four feet on the far side. I had to get all kinds of stuff repaired when we moved in (pool built in the 90's) but in the end we use the pool WAY more than I thought we would. It's work getting it open because of my neighbours huge trees dropping junk when the wind blows this way. Other than keeping an eye on salt and PH once it's up and running I just throw in a robot vacuum a couple times each week and enjoy. I had about 1/3 of the back yard covered with outdoor Lay Z Boy recliners and a 55" TV rolling on a big outdoor stand. It's nice to float and watch fall football or a movie on a summer night. Of course the grand babies love coming for a dip.

I'll need a liner (too much sandstone and sink holes here for gunite) in the next couple of years but we've saved for a replacement. It cost us about 600.00 a year to have it professionally closed and covered in the fall and reopened in the spring. A heater extends the season here about a month on either side of summer.

P.S. Go ahead and get brass inserts for ladders etc...because most pool companies price cheap aluminium.

i doubt its just his crew. i dont know any that dont sub out large portions of the work. now they probably have normal subs they use but its for sure not all his crews....

Huge waste of time and money!! After about 15 years the gunite will start coming off because of all the chemicals. Then it clogs filters. 10/12 grand to regunite . Now I mow it.