For medical (arthritis etc) and practical (daughter getting old enough to have swim parties, and we'd rather know where she is!) reasons, we decided to build a pool in our backyard,small as it is. We have a classic 1940 cottage style home, and already converted the front lawn in to an enclosed courtyard with hedges, and somewhat drought tolerant plants in the beds, and our backyard is 1/3 patio, 1/3 pargola area with cushioned artificial turf (under the swings and hammocks), and 1/3 lawn.

This posting (and the ones to follow) will - I hope - help others considering a pool build benefit from our faaaabulous ideas, and (more likely) learn from our "interesting" experiences! Additionally, if anyone reads something I write that suggests we are heading in the wrong direction, PLEASE let us know! We welcome any and all suggestions and input.

Based in part on previous postings in this forum, as well as the recommendations of friends, I recently contracted with Mr. Carlos Pools to build our pool and deck. Here are the specs:

13' x 32' custom-designed pool (it has to jog, at the deep end, around the pergola, so deep end is only 8' wide)
About 14' of raised bond beam around back edges (adjoining pergola), so as to provide bench seating on pergola, and
18" raised sheer descent water feature on other side
3.5 ft to 7ft depth
Solar heating system
Salt Wise salt water chlorinator
Automatic water filler
Pentair Dual Speed Pump
Pentair 420 Clean & Clear filter
French Gray plaster

The coping will be PIP colored concrete (bullnosed), and the deck will be brushed concrete, also colored.

The designs they sent to us are a *little* off (the deck on the right should run into the pergola, on the other side of that post, and not into the garden bed, for instance!), but they do give a basic idea of things.

More to come as we progress!

So, we're a few days in to the build, and things have been going wrong, which require a painful and unforeseen fix. The salesperson/designer of the pool apparently measured the property wrong, and subsequently drew the plans incorrectly! Obviously, we had no idea of this, until the demo and dig crew were halfway through their job, and noticed that the plan called for an 8ft wide deep end, when there was only 5ft available in reality! Apparently, the designer failed to measure the pergola! So, after spending well over $10,000 on the Pergola, which we built to support swings and hammocks for our family and friends (including costly cushioned artificial turf underfoot), we now discover that the only way to keep the pool according to plan is to chop off 2-3ft from the end of the Pergola, losing a big part of its functionality and aesthetics!! I've been assured that this is the only sacrifice we'll have to make, so have agreed, though this is not an auspicious start to things. The crew are great, and the supervisor, Mike, is wonderfully patient. He agrees that this is big mess-up, and is trying to provide the best solution, but he can't suddenly make my property 3 feet wider at the deep end of the pool!..

The pic is of the crew hacking back a few feet off part of the Pergola and concrete slab...Painful to watch!

Let's hope this is the only hiccup!

Piaa

In addition to having to cut about a quarter of our Pergola away, we are also going to be losing nearly half of the remaining lawn, as the WHOLE pool has to move over 2 feet. Instead of a 18' by 7' lawn area, we are now left with a 16' by 5' area. Big bummer. So, end result is we have lost all our swings, and a quarter of the Pergola, and a half of remaining lawn. that's the bad news...

The good news (there is good news!) is that the PB came out on Saturday, admitted his error, and we negotiated that he will certainly fix everything so it works functionally and aesthetically (step 1), but also that he will undertake to make some other tweaks that would normally have meant overages, at no cost to ourselves. Additionally, ANY and all further surprises or necessary fixes will be covered by them. So, I've lost a lot of the functionality of my garden, but I'm getting (I hope!) peace of mind for the rest of the project, no financial overages, no surprises that I have to deal with, and the pool I contracted to have built.

Granted, we're far from done here (we've only just begun!), but the PB's willingness to step up and take responsibility was admirable. They could have disappeared, as so many contractors seem to often do. They could have forced me to take this to court. Instead, they conscientiously sought to find a solution that would be acceptable to all of us. They are certainly getting the better end of the deal, but they are also sharing some of the pain! So long as the rest goes (no pun intended) swimmingly, and we get a fabulous end result that lasts us for years and years, I'm cool!

My daughter's enjoying it, at least!