Don't do salt water with flagstone unless you plan to seal the stone and maintain the sealer by resealing it often. Salt water is very aggressive on the stone work and will cause it to deteriorate in a short time frame.

I am worried about that too. The PB seems to be totally confident the the Oklahoma flag stone is robust enough to resist issues and that he has a special distributor who only sources hard stone. He said the next hardest alternative is travertine, which is very expensive.

Bump

I use that stone a lot and he is being truthful in telling you that it stands up better than most stones but it will fail. It may not show immediate signs but it will crumble and deteriorate within 5 years unless you keep it sealed.

Travertine is a much better option but is still subject to the issue or time. Best alternative is to get away from the salt.

90K seems like an awful lot. What exactly is he doing? I just finished a 15x36 pool(Owner Build) and I'm done at 30K. Add 10K for the spa I don't have and that puts you around 40K. Hard to believe there's 50K worth of decking and profit there. Where are you building at?

You need to get a list or have the PB give you a detailed list of equipment and post it. I saw atleast 4 different water features. I see you have two pumps. One for pool and one for the water features. What about a automation panel and automated valves. Which panel, which spa control, which remote??? It all needs to be listed on your contract so you get what you are paying for.

Returns--Separate the returns to put two or three on one loop. Not all 8 on one.

Main drain--IMO I would put main drains. There is so much trash and debris that collects in my deep water I would be constantly vacuuming with out the mains.

dewalt17,

Just curious if you watched the 3-D virtual fly-through video I had posted to see exactly what he is doing....

The patio-level spa is elevated 6 feet from the ground and there is a 6-foot drop from patio level to ground that a relatively large set of stairs has to navigate to get to the pool. The grotto fits in there and is capable of serving as a flooded tanning shelf on top that people can sit on. The yard continues to slope down another 3-4 feet so there are footers required and the back wall of the pool is about 4 feet out of the ground at that point.

This is Austin, TX, and the rock starts about 6 inches.down. There is a Hayward PS-8 automation panel, LED lights, etc.

Take a look at the video and keep the feedback coming!

I have watched the video again for the second time. I do see some areas of concerns. But maybe a few pictures from the back of your house right now will allow us to see what you are working with. And we can add comments then.

Try these pics of the as-is

Now that a better view of what your working with. So they are probably going to need a footing under the SPA and tie it into the house slab if possible. That's alot of weight that need supporting. Use as much of the dirt as you can to build up the the patio decks areas. Steps and grotto work could be done by gunite or shotcrete crew. But concrete crew is probably cheaper. The pool sticking out the ground in the rear worries me. Usually one would build a retaining wall and back fill adding a walkway off the pool edge. Or a negative edge over the rear would look great as well.

Couple of other things that caught my eye. Make sure you make accomodations for rain water! I see several gutters coming down the rear walls of the house. Make sure they are connected to a large drain system as well as the decks, steps and grotto areas. You don't want them draining back into the pool. Electrical outlets. Make sure you have electrical outlets where ever you may need them. And run conduit for speaker wires(if needed) and or other area lighing(flower beds, walkways, step lights, etc) as well.

It's going to be a great back yard.

Awesome pool! I don't normally build in Austin, but I did build one there a few years back that had similar topography. My customer used the raw elevated rear as a climbing rock wall for the kids. $90k does not strike me as unreasonable for all you are getting.

Here are some updated specs from the PB. Now we are $96K... Included site plan picture.

Pool:ÃÂ
35'9"ÃÂ xÃÂ 16'8"ÃÂ (19,609ÃÂ GallonsÃÂ Estimated)ÃÂ
Perimeterà96âÂÂ10âÂÂàLinearàFeet,àAreaà581àSq.Ft.ÃÂ
DepthÃÂ 4ft.ÃÂ xÃÂ 5.5ft.ÃÂ xÃÂ 4ft.ÃÂ
1ÃÂ BenchÃÂ TotalÃÂ 15ÃÂ Sq.ÃÂ Ft,ÃÂ 2ÃÂ BeachesÃÂ TotalÃÂ 56ÃÂ Sq.ÃÂ FtÃÂ
ÃÂ
ExcavationÃÂ andÃÂ formingÃÂ
ExcavateÃÂ andÃÂ formÃÂ poolÃÂ shellÃÂ
Shellàwallsàtoàbeà8"àâÂÂà10âÂÂàthickàwithà12âÂÂàbondàbeamÃÂ
RockÃÂ excavationÃÂ -ÃÂ noÃÂ extraÃÂ chargeÃÂ
ÃÂ
SteelÃÂ &ÃÂ GuniteÃÂ
Steelà8âÂÂào.c.àâÂÂàrebarà-à8âÂÂào.c.àbothàwaysÃÂ
Steelàinàbeamà1/2âÂÂàrebaràxà4ÃÂ
CaliforniaàstyleàâÂÂàupgradedàguniteàwithàfiberàmeshÃÂ
ÃÂ
PlumbingÃÂ andÃÂ EquipmentÃÂ
PoolàPipesà-à2âÂÂàscheduleà40àpvcÃÂ
Skimmers:ÃÂ 2ÃÂ independentlyÃÂ plumbedÃÂ forÃÂ optimumÃÂ controlÃÂ
Returns:ÃÂ 8ÃÂ loopedÃÂ forÃÂ evenÃÂ pressureÃÂ
NoÃÂ MainÃÂ DrainÃÂ
PumpÃÂ -ÃÂ VariableÃÂ SpeedÃÂ HaywardÃÂ andÃÂ WaterÃÂ FeatureÃÂ PumpÃÂ (SP3400VSP)ÃÂ
CleanerÃÂ -HaywardÃÂ SharkÃÂ VacÃÂ withÃÂ CartÃÂ (RC9742)ÃÂ
1àAutoàFillàValveà(PoolàMiseràPMIâÂÂMP101)ÃÂ
InstallÃÂ VacuumÃÂ Breaker(s)ÃÂ atÃÂ HoseÃÂ Bib(s)ÃÂ
(4)ÃÂ BubblersÃÂ (ÃÂ 3ÃÂ onÃÂ theÃÂ GrottoÃÂ ledge,ÃÂ 1ÃÂ onÃÂ EntryÃÂ Beach)ÃÂ ÃÂ BubblerÃÂ andÃÂ spillÃÂ overÃÂ pumpÃÂ (HaywardÃÂ SP2315)ÃÂ

SpaÃÂ
7'10"âÂÂHorseshoeàshapedàwithàHaywardà400kàBTUàHeaterà(H400fd)ÃÂ
6ÃÂ JetsÃÂ MassageÃÂ WaterwayÃÂ PulzarÃÂ jetsÃÂ (ÃÂ 2106170ÃÂ orÃÂ 2106510ÃÂ )ÃÂ
2ÃÂ flushÃÂ mountedÃÂ floorÃÂ jetsÃÂ forÃÂ footÃÂ massage.ÃÂ ÃÂ
6ÃÂ ft.ÃÂ SpilloverÃÂ
BlowerâÂÂàAiràSlencerà(ASFâÂÂ1636120f),àHaywardàPumpà(SPâÂÂ3010X15AZ)ÃÂ
ÃÂ
DeckÃÂ andÃÂ MasonryÃÂ
CopingÃÂ -ÃÂ OklahomaÃÂ FlagstoneÃÂ OklahomaÃÂ FlagstoneÃÂ HickoryÃÂ
NewÃÂ PoolÃÂ deckÃÂ 730ÃÂ SqÃÂ Ft.ÃÂ inÃÂ OklahomaÃÂ FlagstoneÃÂ OklahomaÃÂ FlagstoneÃÂ HickoryÃÂ
TurndownÃÂ asÃÂ neededÃÂ rubbedÃÂ concreteÃÂ
172ÃÂ Sq.ÃÂ Ft.ÃÂ StoneÃÂ StepsÃÂ (ÃÂ includesÃÂ TreadÃÂ andÃÂ raisersÃÂ )ÃÂ
RunÃÂ pipesÃÂ fromÃÂ downÃÂ spoutsÃÂ forÃÂ ÃÂ
ÃÂ
TileÃÂ

I assume you are getting multiple bids?

Am down in San Antonio and the range of prices between reputable builders of roughly the same design and equipment has been $20k.

No one wants to do Salt systems here and are staying away from Oklahoma flagstone.