Pool Construction (Jacksonville, St. Augustine: buying a home, buying, contractors)

[RIB]

Would appreciate any information/experiences you may have had regarding construction of an in-ground swimming pool.
We are about to dive in (bad pun).
Thanks

[jawg]

RIB, I've been in construction a long time and this is what I would do if puting in a pool.I would find a hurricane salvage sailing yacht ,say about 30' to 40' or what every size fits for your situation.Gut and strip the boat and sell the parts on eby and cut the top deck off, as well as most of the keel, and patch with fiberglass.Plug all the thru hull holes with fiberglass and then set it up with the drain system and skimmer, lighting (12v),etc.Then dig a hole and set the hull in the ground. I would pour colored (coalbolt blue probably) concrete with a stamped texture around the perimeter and overlaping the edge of the hull say about 3" .I would run raideant floor heat tubing in the concrete to make use of the solar heat absorbed by the concrete and run the tubing to your pool heater if you're going to have one.If you're not going to have a heater, then install a slow circulating pump to run the pool water thru the tubing in the concrete where it absorbs the heat and warms the pool.You would have a unique pool that would probably be about 12 ft wide 30- 40 ft long and 6 ft deep.You could do for 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a gunite pool. Well just some thoughts,,,best to you.
RN

[RIB]

What a great imagination you have! Honestly, I cannot fault your suggestion however, because of time and financial considerations I would not be able to take on your project.
Should you want to do this for us please feel free to submit a bid.
I will think it over after I take out the trash, or have I just done that?

For anyone else viewing my original post understand I am really looking for others to share opinions based on their experiences.

To RN, thanks for the early morning giggle.

[daisies76]

We used Swimcraft to have ours put in. They did a great job!

[riveree]

I'll just add that the city of Jacksonville's website, coj.net, offers a lot of useful advice regarding permits and working with contractors including affadavits you can print right off their site (free).

Go to: coj.net, Office of Public Works (poke around "guidelines")

I'm sure Clay county and St. Johns county offer similar info...not sure which county you're in.

[RIB]

Thank you both, Daisies and riveree for the come back.
I did neglect mentioning that we are in the St. Augustine area; St. Johns County.

Mon. Tues. & Wednesday we have licensed contractors coming with their thoughts about pool design and estimates.
This is such a large financial investment I just want to be sure we have dotted all the "i's" and crossed all the "t's", as best we can.

We are just recovering from a disasterous remodel experience with a "no longer licensed contractor". We were 5th in the line of consumers he scammed. The wheels of justice turned too slowly to warn us in time.

We are seriously leaning toward a gunite pool with solar heating and want to explore the oxygenation/ozone system of pool purification. Beyond that we are open to suggestion.

The recommendation and the advice you have shared is important.
Appreciate your taking time to help.

[I95]

RIB,

How long does it take for pool construction? How big is the investment, usually?

I'm in the market for a pool home but considered properties without them and thought to build on after the home purchase. I'll be following your experience.

Good Luck!

[RIB]

I originally came looking for advice and now I find myself giving a bit!

I95, what little I know has come from researching online, reading and pre-interviewing contractors over the phone.

The adverage time given from the first scoop of earth to pool filling, on a gunite job, seems to be 8 weeks.

As for costs, we will know more after Wednesday of next week. There are so many variables from location, water table, design, type of equipment and all the additional goodies one might be tempted to add. (Temptation, stay away from my door!)

On the low end you hear $30-35,000. On the high end over $100,000.

If this were a perfect world there would have been a pool on the property.

However, before buying a home with a pool, from what I have discovered, it would be just as important as a home inspection; to have an inspection done on the pool by a qualified person.

Will take your good luck wishes and then some!

[I95]

RIB,

Thanks for your reply. Buckets Load of Good Luck to you. I hope you find the right contracter that will build exactly what you want... the right way for the right price.

[daisies76]

Pools have gone up in price a lot (as with everything else) in the past 5-10 yrs. I would say average would be about 45k without a lot of the upgrades and without it being screened in. It's definitely cheaper to get a preexisting home that has a pool already then to add one in afterwards.

I think it took about 2 months to have ours put in from start to finish, it's hard to remember, but it wasnt very long.