Gosh, sorry for the format problems. Hopefully you all know what it means.

Congratulations! Can't wait to see your progress...

Who is your builder?

Same as you Travis :) I totally stalked your build on here...
Any words of advice?

wdlnds_tx - can you shoot me an e-mail? (link on my profile page). I'm nearby and would like to pick your brain about your experience, if you don't mind

Don't sweat it. Enjoy the ride. Communicate with Kelly if you have any concerns. He'll take care of you.

wdlands,tx
Thanks for signing with us.
I'm sorry I don't know which one of our new pools you are or if your one of the ones on the board for excavation.
I look forward to meeting you and your family.

See ya,
Kelly

Oh Lord, Kelly...Just ask your wonderful designer about the client that emails with random questions!
I look forward to meeting you, as your reputation on this board and in the community helped make our decision. According to the last email I got, we are now a go for March 9. We moved all of the plants we wanted to save this past weekend, include a huge crepe myrtle so y'all could get in our gate (ouch!). Look forward to working with you!
(If you want to warn J., I am emailing a question tomorrow about capping off sprinklers in the back yard.)

Oh, I meant that as..."Oh my goodness, we are the ones who ask a lot of questions, I am so embarrassed." Not as, "HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM?"
Although I am famous in my own mind. Kind of. See, they are going to love working with me.

Guess it is too late to turn back now...they dug a huge hole in my yard today. Hopefully I've got this picture thing down:

If this doesn't work, I'll try again.

I look forward to meeting you in person.
I met Hubby yesterday while my boys were digging.
I've got a crew that'll be showing up at your house any minute now to tie steel.

See ya,
Kelly

The steel went in on Friday and the guys came by this morning to get some of the plumbing stuff set up before the gunite tomorrow...

I guess the highlight is that I met Kelly :) He exists!

Looking forward to see it take shape tomorrow.

The guys showed up early today (Sunday) and didn't get finished until after 5 pm.

It was a warm day here around Houston as well.

Anywho, here's the action from today:

Onward...

Looks great! Having a pool right out the back door is awesome. You won't regret your decision. I took off this week to spend time with the girls while they're on spring break, and to catch up on some landscaping around the pool. :-)

Plumbing was done in the last two days (pics to follow soon). Our yard is a mess...plus out of internet and cable after a line was cut. So, for you veterans...what's next? I am a bit of a control freak, so being out of control is freaking me out somewhat.
Oh, and now I know why people get frustrated with watering the gunite. It has only been there four days, but it seems like FO'EVA!(my stylish boots and sweatpants ensemble for the morning watering was epic...had anyone seen it.)

Things are taking more shape now. Let's hope we made good decisions...I think/hope it will all look nice when the package is complete. No real hiccups or anything. Lots and lots of dirt tracked through the house thanks to the dog. He hasn't learned to stop and wipe his feet. The husband caught on...

Plumbing

Tile

Guys hard at work

Waterfall is taking shape

I am surprised the gas and electric are permitted to be at the same depths.

Scott

That is a Kelly question...I am not well versed in the specifications. I will let you know what I hear back.

The rest of the waterfall was put together today. It was super warm here in the AM and then cooled off right after noon...kudos on those guys for working through the humidity that has already hit us in SE TX. They were finished by the time temps cooled.

Looks great! I love the tile and the pattern you chose. Please tell me the color and who makes it? What pool finish have you chosen to go with it?

The tile is great! Did they have to make lots of cuts for the radiuses? Doesn't look like it.

My math/geometry stinks but it appears that the majority of the tiles are 3X6 which would make going around the radiuses easier. But there are still some 6" wide tiles there, too. So, yes please...name of tile and if there are lots of cuts. Thanks and congrats on a beautiful pool.

Scott, I didn't call Kelly today as I worked a tradeshow all day and just got home. Maybe he'll see this...if not, I will call him tomorrow.

It is Master Tile, Random 103. Master Tile titles it "green random" but it is very taupe and blue. I can't really answer the cut question, the tile comes with the three pieces in 6x6 squares with a webbing type backing. The craftsmen install them...I don't know how to say but... parallel, perpendicular, parallel, etc. Meaning every second one is the same way.

We are going with the Pebble Tec Caribbean Blue.

Knowing Kelly, it's in code for there. I seem to recall having that conversation in another thread a couple years ago.

Scott

Your pool is really coming together! Can you tell me what your coping is? I love the color!

It seems the GW admins have mistaken Kelly as a spammer and don't realize how important to this forum he is. I am forwarding an answer he wanted to send last night:

Begin Forwarded Message:

The coping is Oklahoma Wister, it's a lot of earthtone multicolors.

My heart really breaks for her turn and my other customers too.
I started her pool 4 weeks ago to the day tomorrow and I haven't even got my
decks poured yet. Jeez am I ever sucking wind on my projects.
17 new excavations and another one for tomorrow for a Saturday gunite in the
past 7 weeks has had me running on the ragged edge.

Trust me on this, I ain't complaining but I got my butt chewed out today by a
housewife because we took 5 1/2 weeks from dig to plaster. We built two of her
girlfriends pools in less than 4 weeks start to finish and she didn't give a
spit when I told her what my workload has been.
Here's her quote "I don't give a dam about your other jobs, I want mine cleaned
up now, you've been in my back yard entirely to long"
She got furious when I lightly laughed and said "Your on a great turn, I'm
certain Jan told you that we'd be 6 to 8 weeks due to the high volume of fresh
starts. I'm sorry for the inconvenience but I really don't see your cleanup
coming until the first of next week"
She'd of made a Marine Corps Gunny Sgt cringe with the profanities that followed
when I started walking for the gate. I've never seen such unbecoming behavior
and vocabulary come from a lady before in my lifetime of constructing pools.
After leaving I called Hubby at work and told him that if she addressed me in
this manner again she'd find out just how quickly I can dispatch my crews to
jobsites where we were appreciated by our customers and that I'm digging 4 pools
next week so if she wants any chance of me sending a crew her way next week for
a cleanup
she should just accept the fact that were very busy right now.
Woodlands TX, don't give up on us, I've got a 2500 sq/ft stamped and patterned
pool deck to pour that we're setting up tomorrow and Friday and hope to pour on
Saturday. Yours is next in line after theirs. I'd be tickled to see your deck
get poured Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and be ready for PebbleTec by the
end of the week.
Note to all readers,
I want you guys and girls to know that it's indeed been a pleasure interacting
with y'all but I guess I'm at the end of the line.
Trust me, I've NEVER SPAMMED you guys for work, I've always generated plenty of
work on my own, and I've been deeply grateful for the many many members here who
have signed with me due to my interaction on the forum answering your questions.
It's truly quite a shame the way this site has come down on me, I always thought
I was a valuable contributor of swimming pool construction industry insight into
the pool/spa forum of Gardenweb. I guess I was wrong.
See ya,
Kelly

I know Kelly won't see this (at least not right now) but we're not concerned about the progress. It has been an easy process thus far and we were kept in the loop about our number in line. Sorry some other customers didn't listen to actual time frame thing.

Thanks for the comment on the coping! I was so nervous picking all of these components...overwhelmed maybe.

I really appreciate this forum and the information I obtain through reading everyone's posts.

He'll see it. Until GW corrects their error, He is more than welcome to continue through me as his proxy until then.

I am fairly confident that the key contributors will also chime in. I don't think the GW powers that be would want to this ad revenue generator cease because those that generously donate their time and experience move to different forums, taking the viewing public with them.

Scott

Nice looking build.

That tile is great. I used it last year, only the black and beige version. Crazy thing is the way its placed on the mesh. You CANT screw up the pattern. When you split the 12" sheet and lay your 6" band together, no matter how you turn it, the pattern remains. Glad I didnt have to figure out the symmetry on that one! LOL

Nice pool!

-ks

Guess who is getting water?

I will take more pictures when we get a bit further along.

It looks so good! Know you will enjoy! Look forward to more pictures!

Love your tile! What color plaster did you go with?

I really like your tile choice and how your moss rock is laid without tile under it. Had i known in '08 that this was an option, I would have gone the route you did. Instead, I have a tile I do not like, much less love, because it goes so well under the moss rocks and ties it in together. A tile like yours would have been my choice.

Looks beautiful. Congratulations! I'm sure you are enjoying it with this wonderful TX heat we are enjoying. With 30K gal, ours is cool by the drains. It's tepid other than that.

Ack! I haven't posted in so long...I will try to get some completed pictures up this afternoon. We have really enjoyed having the pool this summer, so we've been in it most afternoon/evenings.

We went with Caribbean Blue PebbleTec. The water is really a beautiful shade of blue now. It took a few days after the fill to get it less green... We also added the shells to the PebbleTec and they sparkle in the sun. Pretty nifty.

Would love to see pics now that the water is in. I love your tile. Does the green in the tile make your water look green at all? I really like the tile, but I do not want any green hue to the water. I am struggling right now with tile selection.

Below are some pictures...they were all taken with phone or IPAD, so forgive the quality. I took some just this morning, those are the ones when the pool is completely off.
The tile doesn't make the water look green at all. Even though the tile name is Random Green, they are blueish and brownish. Our builder had the samples so we saw it in person prior to ordering and it was mighty blue to me.

I'll get some with the waterfall on today...

Here are the pics:

wdlnds_tx, do you still visit these messageboards? If so any chance I can pick your brain regarding your pool build? Thanks