Building a swimming pool in Birmingham AL (Homewood, Mountain Brook: new house, neighborhood) - Alabama - City-Data Forum

hdgalvan · 08-11-2008, 06:02 PM

My husband and I are moving to Birmingham, AL from Florida. We were hoping to buy a new house and have a pool built. But after talking to a couple of pool builders, I don't think the pool is in my future. The pool builders that I spoke with quoted at least $100,000 for a basic gunite pool and spill over hot tub. Does this seem right? The $100,000 quote was for a level lot with no trees that needed to be excavated. If anyone has any recommendations on pool builders to speak with I would really appreciate the input.

cpg35223 · 08-11-2008, 08:04 PM

Well Cox Pools is pretty well known. As in Courtney's dad.

pennquaker09 · 08-11-2008, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hdgalvan

My husband and I are moving to Birmingham, AL from Florida. We were hoping to buy a new house and have a pool built. But after talking to a couple of pool builders, I don't think the pool is in my future. The pool builders that I spoke with quoted at least $100,000 for a basic gunite pool and spill over hot tub. Does this seem right? The $100,000 quote was for a level lot with no trees that needed to be excavated. If anyone has any recommendations on pool builders to speak with I would really appreciate the input.

To be honest, that's a bargain.

Keeper · 08-12-2008, 03:03 PM

The difference in the price is the soil. FL is sandy and is easier to dig.. The soil in N.AL is limestone and rocks..

If I am wrong about the soil please correct me, but that was what I have been told.

MadHaus · 08-13-2008, 12:02 PM

You might consider a fiberglass pool. I think that Earl's (a pool & spa company in Pelham) installs fiberglass and there are probably others. We had a San Juan fiberglass pool installed in NC and loved it. The pool builder did encounter rock and had to shift the location over about 8 ft., which could well happen in this area, too. If our other house ever sells, I plan to have a pool installed at our current home, and will probably do a fiberglass one again due to ease of maintenance. Good luck!

Pennsylvania · 09-29-2008, 09:23 AM

Unless the realtor that we have been in touch with is dishonest, you can get a pool for 20,000. or so. I guess price would be a factor if you have to build on a hill or run into a rock. I told him about your quote of 100,000 and he said, "Na, you don't have to spend that much."
Good luck with that.

cpg35223 · 09-29-2008, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pennsylvania

Unless the realtor that we have been in touch with is dishonest, you can get a pool for 20,000. or so. I guess price would be a factor if you have to build on a hill or run into a rock. I told him about your quote of 100,000 and he said, "Na, you don't have to spend that much."
Good luck with that.

Well, Penn, a lot of it has to do with the site. Remember that the topography of Birmingham is far different than that of Philadelphia. Whereas Philadelphia is flat, Birmingham has plenty of hills. There are areas such as Homewood that are mostly flat, yet most of Mountain Brook is hilly in nature, meaning that you will have to do a good deal more structural work. What's more, given the prevalence of limestone throughout the area, you may very well have to do a good deal of excavation work--depending, of course, on the neighborhood you choose.

So, while your realtor may have meant well and might have been optimistic about such things, I think you really need to get a professional's opinion on the matter. The good news is that, right now, pool contractors are dealing.

Pennsylvania · 09-29-2008, 05:13 PM

cpg, Pennsylvania has the Pocono Mt. and the suburbs I live in are very hilly (yes, I know the difference between mountains and hills). Beside that I had already mentioned about building on a hill or rock will affect the cost. My pool is built on a hill and my neighbors house couldn't even be built with an underground basement it is so rocky next door. So, as we have both stated, it would depend on the lot.

Pennsylvania · 09-30-2008, 02:11 PM

OK, I just called 2 pool places in Bham. Of course this is very general but Blue Haven said about 30,000 for a 450 -500 sq.ft. pool. I'm assuming that is a liner because Atkinson says 80,000-100,000 easy for a gunite pool and that a liner would be 1/3-1/2 less including a deck and all the bells and whistles at 30,000 for a 20x-40x pool. I hope this helps it was very educational to me. Not everything is cheaper in AL!

Ralph53 · 08-25-2010, 12:37 PM

I'm moving to BHM in Sept and will also be looking for an in-ground pool builder. I've built two others, one in Texas and one in Oklahoma. Both Gunite, both "play pools" vs. diving i.e. max 6ft depth for reasons I can explain if anyone wants to know the difference, and both about the 15x36 size. In both cases the pools were less than $30k and were fairly well equipped with options such as rock waterfall, heater, bull nose coping. In my experience the contracts to construct had clauses that provided for repricing the project in the event the builder experienced rock requiring specialized excavation. This can also be tested for prior to beginning the project. Could I spend 100k on a pool in a flat site with no rock? Oh yeah, easily. Is that necessary, I'll let you know in abaout a month, but I'd be shocked if that were the case.