hmlinca,
Heat in the valley can be mitigated by using foggers near the pool. If the pool is on the North side of the house you will have some natural shade.
The skimmer should be placed at the SE corner of the pool as this is the direction of the prevailing wind. If you are in the foothills sometimes the wind blows toward the mountains at certain times of day and away from the mountains at others. In these cases I will use two skimmers depending on the size of the pool. Good luck.

I live closer to the bay area but our summers get nearly as hot as yours. The downside of concrete is that it can get real hot. So hot, it is uncomfortable to walk on. Foggers would help and so would a Kool Deck coating. The size is important too so you don't want something too small.

The skimmers and returns need to work together. The returns will help move the floaters toward the skimmers so the skimmers should not be in any dead spots. Skimmers really can't move the water effectively by themselves and so rely on the returns to help move the stuff toward them.

BTW, how do you where your dead spots will be? Can you change the design so there are no dead spots?

I have a couple of small dead spots where the bond beam sort of bumps out. Here is the link to my site plan on the forum. http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pools/msg030029409746.html?7

We actually wish we'd added a couple more planting areas - our thought had been that we could do it all with pots and then our yard would be more flexible down the road - but we wish we'd added a couple more at the far end of our yard - so it's worth thinking about a bit before you pour the concrete! I'd make sure you have a planting area on each side of your yard, some things just grow better in the ground - and it takes less water to keep them going. That being said our heat related concerns are more about the color of concrete than having it - we had a dark release in our stamped concrete and the concrete is a darker gray than we expected - that is pretty warm and seems to make more of an issue than the sheer fact that we have concrete.

I'd be willing to share my costs spreadsheet - but prefer to email rather than post on the internet - shoot me an email/message and I'll send it to you.

I'm happy to give you prices of my recent build - but according to the forum I am in a really cheap area and you are likely at the other end of the spectrum.

Here are a couple examples -

1) 520 sq ft Diamond Brite plaster spa and pool, including 6 drain covers, 7 returns, 6 jets, 4 ft bench, 3 barstools and cleaning - total $2240.

2) Excavation - $2900 (125 ft dirt walk, no rocks, etc.)

3) Steel - $3200 - including raised spa, and a 43' long one foot high raised bond beam.

4) Plumbing - $8900 - about 150' gas run, 80 foot run to spa, minimum 2.5 in pipe, 1 water feature pump with about 60 foot run, 2 skimmers, 1 circulation pump, separate spa pump, separate blower, heater, salt cell, filter, included all Jandy valves. Price included the skimmers and drains, etc, known as "white goods."

5) $2500 for material for travertine coping, I did the labor myself. $10 for pain pills after doing the labor myself!

6) $2300 for tile labor - smart enough to hire it done after doing coping myself! (I had a lot of tile, including 1" mosaic in the footwell of the spa, and he tiled the whole raised wall (3 rows of tile at 43') - he also grouted all the coping. Tile material was about $1500, including 2 large dolphin mosaics) Took 3 guys 3 whole days.

7) About $4800 for 800 feet of concrete deck including 6 drains, 3 downspout tie ins, around 80 feet of drain pipe, foam backer between concrete and coping, various expansion joints, and a couple of 4'x2'x2' pads to hold water feature.

8) $2400 for spray deck, including building and spraying a 22'long 16" high seating wall out of cinder block.

9) Right around $5k for equipment all Hayward - two 1 1/2 hp pumps, one 2 hp pump, 400k btu heater, 48 sq ft de filter, with valve, Pentair salt cell, 2 hp blower for spa, 2 standard 500w pool lights, one spa light, Intermatic timer.

10. About $3750 for electrical - hooked up everything, including 3 outlets along the back of the property, plus one at the outdoor kitchen. Also ran 4 switches to the inside of the house, and added an extra outlet to a room in the house. We had a separate 200w sub panel added, plus an outdoor motion light at the equip pad. This guy was a little expensive but VERY good.

11. About $7000 for gunite - I think...3.5 to 6.5' deep, 43' raised wall one foot high, raised spa - 7' round and raised 6", 3 barstools, corner bench, 3 steps at 12 feet wide, and a 3'x12' pad for equipment with rebar and about 4" to 8" thick due to sloping yard.

Again, this is in Katy, TX outside Houston. I started on Halloween 2008. Most was completed in about 3 weeks, although I waited until this past week to do spray deck.

Hope this helps.