I have a bunch of pictures on my pool blog (mostly under the "Electrical" titles), but here's a sample:

We had two issues with the equipment pad.
First was electrical. The cranky electrician (sub) didn't communicate with the PBs guys on where the equipment was going to go, so he assumed that the controls were going to be on the right side of the equipment pad, so that's where he ran the wires (see posted picture). Of course, the controls were mounted on the left side, so he had to run a junction box and extra stuff (fortunately, behind the equipment) to wire it all in.

Second, they ended up putting the gas heater on the right side, to get the exhaust vent as far away from the window as possible (It is technically not "legal" because it is less than 4' from an opening window, BUT we never open that window because of the noise from the neighbor's A/C and pool equipment, and now our equipment, too. Eventually, we'll put an exhaust stack up if required, but we passed inspection, so we're in no rush. Otherwise we would've had to screw the window permanently closed.) I just realized that in this picture, they stuck the heater out to the "legal" spot so we could see where it would be, but we had them push it back towards the wall back onto the pad.

Anyway, we didn't call the gas guy until later and they ended up working around all the other equipment and so it kind of looks jury-rigged because the gas stuff is all in the front. I just realized that I didn't put up any gas pictures yet, so if you want, you can look for that in a couple of days (I write the blog for my in-laws in CA, because they get into that kind of thing).

Also, the pad is a few feet too big. That's fine with me, but I thought it would be poured exactly to required size.

The big thing is the spa jet pump. PB wanted that as close to spa as possible for the most force and it is pretty powerful.

The plan is to put a trellis between the heater and the pool and grow something thick (bouganvillea) for view and noise.

We'd like to put solar in eventually, but I don't know how that's going to work at all. The equipment is on the north side of the house and of course the solar will go on the south-facing roof surfaces. Not something to worry about now until we save up more $$$!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pool Blog

Use the search function on this site and type in: Equipment Pad. I got several hits with lots of pictures.

Good luck with your build. It's a lot to digest, right?

We put ours on the backside of our detached garage. It is away from the main decking area, but very near the back deck. About the only spot we could put it. Our switches (we do not have automation) are located on the side of the house in the main decking area.

Good luck!

This is what ours look like. It is on the side of the house. The pool and screened cage is to the left of the picture. Wish we had a bigger pad though, we should have made it 6ft wider. The actual pad size measures 9ft wide and 19 ft long. The white plastic box is where I store chemicals. Make room for future heat pump and solar etc.