WOW! It looks like you sit on top of the world. Your build is coming along nicely. Your grotto/slide looks sooooo cool. What a great feature.
Did you watch them do the rebar?
It was amazing to me to watch these guys make something out of all that hard steel that seemed to be going everywhere. And the speed in which they do it.
L-O-V-E your stone. Cant wait to see your builds progression. Keep the pics coming. Looks Marvelous!
Laura

Wow! That pool is going to be awesome! Please be sure to post more pics!

Wow your pool build so far is absolutely amazing. Please keep posting updates.

Wow your pool build so far is absolutely amazing. Please keep posting updates.

Very nice! That bubbling rock in the middle of the beach entry will really be cool!

Thanks for the nice comments. We are sooooo excited about finishing up soon. Three of my kids are sitting by the windows watching the workers getting the slide smooth. The barbecue is being built right now and we should get the patio cover in soon. So far so good, although I did not realize I had to do so much work during construction with checking up on the subs and making sure they are doing their job correctly. I was kind of counting on the project manager to do that for me, since we never built a pool before. Have you all had a similar experience? I am just not sure what to expect and want to be fair yet still getting a good product at the end.

Any input would be appreciated!

Your setting is so beautiful? Where do you live? It looks spectacular! California?

Gina171: yes we are in sunny California - Good observation.
With the Southern California location comes the postage size stamp lots, so we were limited in what kind of pool we could build on our 6,000 square foot lot. But the designer was able to fit it and still afford us lots of entertainment space with a bar, firepit and enough room for a large table and maybe a couple of lounge chairs. He was amazing and really knew what he was doing.

zookeeper93: yes, I have watched them build everything including the rebar.It's a good thing too that we have been home, because I have caught a few mistakes along the way including a pool love seat that wasn't supposed to be there that kept popping up. The excavation crew saw it on the original plan and dug around it, then dug it back out. The rebar people built the steel around it, and had to take it out. And then the shotcrete crew put it back in with no rebar behind it. The mason is jackhammering it back out today.

Right now we are waiting for our barebecue island equipment to arrive and that's late so the mason will not finish the island until he has it in his hands (even with the cutouts in hand). So that will delay us a few days. September may be a more accurate finish date if things get delayed.

I will post more pics as I get them, and hopefully one with water in it one day!

Sandra,

I guess in the big picture, we have been very lucky with our pool build so far compared to what others have gone through but we too have had to keep an eye on the subs. I have been disappointed in the project manager of our build. He has come out twice on his own. 1) the 1st day of excavation when they measured and set forms, and 2) for a few minutes before they did gunite.
He has come back 2 times since then due to an issue I caught. Just yesterday when an issue came up last Thursday and the proj. mgr. never called me. So the wall crew comes yesterday and they sit an hour while the pm drives here & the issue is handled. They had to redig 20' of trench.
Most of the subs have been really nice people. Only the electrician had no people skills. but that was ok. He got the work done right and the extra we had talked with his boss dad about doing.
Good luck with the rest of your build and keep the pics coming.

We are finished, finally! That August completion date was a little too ambitious - but October 21st is not so bad. Southern California is having a heat wave, so we are still enjoying the new pool. It is no longer an expensive hole in the ground, but our new favorite hangout. Here are some pictures of the rest of the build:

Pebbletech Crew

Tahoe Blue Pebbletech

Waiting for that pool to fill

A dry run - the pumps were not started up yet. So the kids used a bucket of water. Also notice the wetsuits!

Tahoe Blue water color

Water color later on

Waterfall operational

Wow. That is so nice!

I bet you will enjoy it for years to come. Great job!

Congratulations!!! Just lovely. They sure did a nice job squeezing it in to your yard with plenty of room to spare. Who did you use as your PB? We are in San Diego so your backyard looks almost exactly like ours!

Katherine

Hi there, your pool look great. I just finished up my pool build and did a beach entrance. I was hoping to get a better look at your beach entrance, mine seems to be very steep so the water line is about 2 1/2 feet from decking. Not sure what could be done to fix the problem. It seems that it should of been corrected at gunite. If you could take some shots of the beach entrance that would be wonderful! Thanks

Hi everyone

Thanks for sharing my excitement in getting it all done. We used Swan Pools of Lake Forest and were very, very happy with the design and workmanship. My project manager changed several times, so I felt that I had to really be on top of things (see my post above), but the subs that I had were excellent. They all have been around for a long time and their workers all speak English, which really helps.

Justjules: my waterline on the beach entry is 21 inches from the deck, but I am really glad it's at least that far! When all the kids are in the pool we get quite the wave action going and it would spill on the deck if it was not at least that amount. They also had to keep it a little steeper for that reason. I was also imagining a very gradual transition. But it is not steep by any means. Here are some pictures. We have not done the mastic yet, so you will see some foam sticking out still.

I love the different colors the Tahoe Blue gives you over the course of the day:

It is really lovely. The umbrella rock is a great feature for the beach entry...how relaxing and what a beautiful view!

What a great pool. We used Swan of Lake Forest as well and have to say we were happy with their performance. We built during the "Busy Season" before the housing bust, so our pool took a little under six months from start to finish. However, we completely removed an old, very big pool and the rest of our backyard, to make room for the New smaller pool. Here are a couple of pictures from two years ago, right after completion. We put a built in, curved bbq island in the opposite corner with power, gas and water and the landscaping is amazingly full and matuer now. You can't even see our neighbors any more. It's great!

I love your choice of materials, very similar to ours. Boquet canyon stone, we went with Midnight Blue mini pebble, and a very similar colored concrete. I really, really love the look of the glass in the fire pit. I am seriously considering crushing my black lava rock to make a base and putting in the glass. Was the glass part of your contract, or did you do that yourself? If you did it, could you please let me know where you purchased/found the glass?

Thanks and again, congratulations on your pool!

Mike

Both pools look great! I am jealous. I wish we have started already. I also love the glass in the fireplace. I think you can order that material on line for less $ than local shops? Someone here posted a link about 2 months back.

Katherine

Gorgeous pool and a really nice use of your space! I like the firepit by the water as well, it give it a really nice ambiance at night!

Regarding the Glass- I hate to tell you how pricey this stuff is. We were supposed to do a 2 inch layer above the mini lava rock but so far I only have done one inch and it cost me a fortune ($450.00). I would do the clear fire glass first and then fill it up with the more expensive colored fire glass. All fire glass in not created equal, so be sure to get the good stuff. Here is who makes it: http://americanfireglass.com/ They will answer questions, but they do not sell direct.

Home Expo seems to have the best prices around here, but shop around. If you have little kids, I would wait on the glass purchase. They think they are jewels and like to take them out :-)

Sandrasmith: Could you share the $$ amount this project ended up being? we're thinking of using Swan Pool (nothern Cal) too and have a similar project without a spa.
Thanks, and enjoy your pool, it is gorgeous!

Thanks for the inofmation on the glass! Very good point on the kids, I have a 2 year old daughter and a 5 year old son. I think I could convince my son to leave it alone, but my daughter..... who can ever control their daughters? LOL.

Great information, and again, thank you.

Regards,

Mike

Aquariuslady: It wasn't cheap. I think outside of Southern California though, it would be way less

With the economy going downhill I think you should be able to negotiate quite a bit on the pool cost. If you want to have a pool warranty that is worth something, I would stick with a builder who has been around for a long time and has weathered a few recessions. Just my opinion. Swan gave me a lifetime guarantee on the pool and they have been around 50+ years. I hope they will be around another 50+ I am sure there a lot of other reputable builders who also will be able to weather the storm and not close up shop. Email me at sandrasmith140@gmail.com and I can give you the cost of the project.

I love everything about it - especially your view! We are doing stackstone around our spa also - it looks like they used something different for the spillway?

Tahoe Blue is definitely my favorite pebbletec finish - wish that was an option for us...

Love the pool!! Would be nice to see some pics of the fire pit up and running at night!!

Had to look through this thread twice . . . it was so nice! So many creative ideas and great material choices. I didn't see a mention of the type of stone you used? There are so many different local choices around the country. The Tahoe Blue looks so wonderful in combination. You guys are very talented and must have great artisans and craftsmen working for you. Best of luck and enjoy.

Hello all,

We are still swimming here in Southern California. I got the pool up to 83 degrees last week with solar heating only and the kids were swimming very happily. We should have another small heat wave coming next week with temperatures in the eighties again. I have never looked at the weather report as much as the last few weeks since the pool was done.

njfolks: The stone is called Red Mountain. Mostly grey with some beautiful rust colors here and there. All the stone (flag and stacked) is that same stone. I had them replace several pieces on the flag stone that was flaking badly - but the rest has been fine. As with any stone, there will be a few bad pieces here and there. Just make sure they don't install those pieces.

I wish I could take credit for the design - but it was the builder's designer who made our smaller yard into all that entertainment space.

Here are some nightime pictures of the fire pit:

Everything just turned out perfect!!