In the Houston, TX. area, Homeowners Associations (HOA) govern a lot of what an individual is allowed to do with their home and property. This is just a word of caution for those of you planning to build a swimming pool. An HOA can throw off your plan for swimming in your new pool if you do not address their requirements early on in the process. An HOA may only meet once per month; this is pretty typical. Before you can start building your pool, the HOA must approve the plans. You have to submit those plans generally 5 - 7 days in advance of the meeting date. Then you have to wait on them to notify you of their decision. Sometimes a friendly one will give you the results over the phone.

I mention all this because it is a factor in your timing for building your pool. Keep in mind that you may want to get the HOA approval process going now if you want to swim this spring.