I did a spreadsheet with all my expenses as an owner/builder. Adding up what I paid for what you are getting, it came to around $11K. Since prices are a bit different in your area and you still have demo to consider, you could probably do it all for around $15K. That gives you plenty of room for upgrades :)

There are different types of clay, some are extremely expansive and others are actually fairly stable. It is hard to say what caused the popping in the photo without more info. Most stories of popped pools are due to the pool being empty and then the water table rises due to excessive rains. When that happens it basically floats the pool right out of the hole. But since your neighbor's pool had water in it when it popped, I'm guessing you're sitting on some very expansive clays and possibly his pool was installed during dry conditions and it rose 4" after some wetter weather as the clays expanded. Then when he emptied it, it made things worse because the water table was so high it just floated the pool. If you are on highly expansive clays, you need to be very concerned about the subgrade prep regardless of what kind of pool you put in. There are things that can be done such as installing the pool on piers, moisture treating the subgrade, installing a drainage system and/ or over-excavating the dig and putting in select fill. I would highly recommend getting a structural engineer involved through the PB. If the PB says not to worry about it, they do this all the time and it will be fine; then look for another PB! Good luck!

We have been doing this, and we have unfortunately encountered some nightmares during our build. My advice is - get everything in writing! It doesn't matter if the sub has done multiple jobs for you on your build, how well you think you know them, and even if this is just a smaller add-on job, still get it in writing. And do this for every single job they do. Make up a payment log, and anytime you pay them, write down the amount and the date and have them sign that log that they've received payment, even if you pay by check and they write you a receipt. Even if it's for changing out a toilet paper holder. Get it in writing. Check out references and check them out again. Ask for proof of licensing and insurance and bonding, make a copy and check them out. If they don't check out, run like the wind! If there is anything not done correctly, take a lot of photos. You never know if/when you might need them. Make your policy on drug and alcohol use very clear. Show up unannounced now and then. And, if you smell anything that doesn't smell legal, call the authorities. (I wish I was kidding.) Make sure up front all your subs know your policy on picking up after themselves. Make trash cans available to them and keep them emptied. Make it clear what your plan is for materials. We provided all materials for most of our subs (other than plumber and electrician) and required that materials lists be given in advance so that we could have materials there and ready for them when they arrived so they could get straight to work. That worked fine for all of our subs except two - a drywall sub who tried to convince me he couldn't calculate drywall needed the day he bid the job (bidding labor by the sheet hung), but then miraculously knew how to the day he showed up to start the work when we were on a time crunch...and then there was the sub who wanted to spend his entire day running around town getting materials he "forgot" to tell me about rather than working. Of course, I heard all about him hanging out at different places around town shooting the breeze while he was supposed to be working. That one also took it upon himself to take materials I had purchased (that I had planned to use), return them to the store, get something else and also buy something for his daughter while he was there with the store credit he got from my materials he had returned - all without asking. Nope, not kidding. Being a softy has no place in being an owner/builder. I know because my husband started out as one, and it bit him in the rear more than once, and as much as I hate to admit it, it did me, too. I wanted to be more professional and view this as a job, because that's basically what it is. When I started seeing warning signs with one of our subs, I was ready to let him go, but my husband, the softy, wanted to give him another chance, then another, then another. Then his wife called me begging to help her out (she was working with him and knew me well enough to know that kids are my soft spot) and her daughter needed glasses. She promised she would come work to do whatever I needed her to do on the house until she paid it off, so I caved. They left with a chunk of our money and not completing the work. And by the way, after this happened, I did a lot more digging and found out they've done this to other people, and I've since talked to some of them. Too bad I didn't do that kind of digging prior to hiring them. Live and learn. But, this story doesn't end here. We will see them in court. Unfortunately, most subs do not treat you the way you would want to be treated. Trust your gut/intuition. If you have a bad feeling about a sub, there's usually a reason for it. Even if it means it will delay your build, a bad sub will delay you even further and cost you more money in the long run, so trust your gut and find someone else.

The numbers don't necessarily look out of line for your price range or location, but only other pros working in that price range and location would know. Allowances are useful as a guide to make selections and keep within total budget. Have the contractor provide references and review each allowance line item in their office across a table. The first allowance on the list is Landscaping $7,000 My questions would be 1. How did you come to that number? 2. can you show me examples of a $7000 job? 3. Can you show me examples of other jobs your clients have done and how much. (BTW, I only have enough landscape allowance in projects today to cover undefined "city trees" and undefined "yard drainage systems" assuming the client will instead hire a landscaper and I would credit) Adjust if necessary. Allowance for pavers is $5760 Allowance for Countertops is $8325 Same questions How were the allowances arrived? DO they include installation or is it only materials. Did you measure and calculate or is this just a job average? etc. You can get through this in 90-120 minutes. You can ask similar questions of their referenced previous clients... were the allowances enough? Where did you exceed? I've done allowances for my entire career, mostly because clients won't pre shop materials but they've usually seen one of my homes. My least amount of overages was $360 for the entire job as client was disciplined and had seen one of my homes. The highest number.... add some zeros, but the client planned that.