New build Natural Style Pool NJ with East Coast Pool Concpets

12 years ago

Hello, I have been reading on this forum for a few years now, and have finally decided to have a pool built.

I researched and spoke to several pool builders in central NJ and selected East Coast Pool Concepts out of Manalapan NJ.

I selected these guys because IMO nobody comes close to achieving the look these guys achieve over and over again.

Their pools are timeless, and IMO stunning.

The build started Tuesday of this week, and I will document the build on this forum.

We are building a natural sytle pool

shotcrete

Approximately 850 sq foot total

Beach entry

Natural rock waterfall with 2 extra spillovers

SWG

Heater

Diamondbrite for pool, river rock for beach entry

bubbler

natural stone coping

colored concrete decking

Here is a drawing of the pool:

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These guys are a small company, and don't do any CAD drawings, or virtual designs or anything like that, so to get a better feel for what their pools look like, check out their website at:

eastcoastpoolsnj.com

and go through their natural style pools gallery

I have seen several in person and they are even more impressive in person than they are in picture.

Here are a few drawings of the pool in our yard, a bit tough to see because of the sunlight, but you can see the yard and placement:

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Here are some pics after Day 1's excavation:

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I will keep updating this thread as more work is done with pictures.

If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer them.

Also, anyone doing a pool in NJ, NY or PA should really check these guys out and consider them. Their work is really top notch, and they are great guys as well.

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Comments (32)

poolguynj
12 years ago
As pretty as their pools are, some of the hits I hear are the use of flex (IMHO, a no no), the use of Hayward gear (I prefer Pentair and Jandy), they like to tie drains to skimmers while I like to see them separate, and they aren't the fastest bunch.

Holler when you're ready for a safety cover. :-)

Scott
njnspool
Original Author
12 years ago
Scott,

Thanks, I will definitely ask them about this.

Today they worked on the rebar, and plan on finishing the rebar tomorrow.

So far they have been great, getting out to my house quickly to keep the process moving.

I will post more pics tomorrow.
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njnspool
Original Author
12 years ago
These guys have been moving quickly. They have been here every day this week, yesterday they finished up the rebar, today they are doing the plumbing rough ins.

On Tuesday we are scheduled for inspections, and Thursday they are scheduled to shoot the shell.

Here are some shots:

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Stefv1
12 years ago
We are in the middle of our build also. Its neat to watch the step by step process. Good luck with yours. It is much bigger than ours. We have a small yard so ours is about 460to square feet. I decided to wait and post my build when it is complete.
njnspool
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks, Good luck with yours as well!

It really is a fascinating process.
Stefv1
12 years ago
We are in the middle of our build also. Its neat to watch the step by step process. Good luck with yours. It is much bigger than ours. We have a small yard so ours is about 460to square feet. I decided to wait and post my build when it is complete.
njnspool
Original Author
12 years ago
A lot of work has been done in the last week. They are moving really fast, and putting in a lot of long days.

We had our first round of structural, electrical and plumbing inspections, and they shot the shell on Friday.

Yesterday they ran the gas and electrical lines, setup the equipment, and ran the pipes.

Here are bunch of pics, starting to really take shape:

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The beach will get a sandy river rock color, and the pool will get a diamondbrite color to give a two tone look.

The back wall notches will all be filled with natural rock, and a center waterfall and two spillovers, and behind that will be built up landscaping.
poolguynj
12 years ago
Pic two from today's shows side suctions. How far down? My concern is for winterization. Reaching down in cold water is not fun. Not winterizing them might be dicey. If the water is cold, it isn't likely to happen.

I still hate flex pipe. Easier to run, yes, but its durability against impingement from rocks and termites, swelling from tablets in the skimmers, and collapses (AKA kinked lines) worry me.

I see they still have Hayward gear. Bummer. But if it works, that is fine then.

The shell and rebar looked just fine, neat and professionally done. I would expect no less of the waterfalls too. I am looking forward to seeing them.

Scott
njnspool
Original Author
12 years ago
Scott,

Thanks for your input.

I have researched the Hayward equipment, and I am comfortable with Hayward, while I do understand and respect your opinion.

We are going with a SWG, and from everything I have read, Hayward's is among the best, and we are sticking with all Hayward equipment.

I also spoke to them about the Flex, and I am comfortable with the flex as well.

Regarding their work, so far everything has been done great. As you noted, the rebar work was excellent, and the shell looks fantastic. I see no rebound whatsoever, which is very important from what I have read.

I too am looking forward to the rock work and waterfalls. To me, that is where these guys really separate themselves from everyone else.

Thanks.
Erik
jscozz
12 years ago
NJNSPool, I am anxiously awaiting the latest pictures from your build! It looks great! I am trying to determine what the slope is on your beach entry. Will it be flat enough to sit a chair on it? Is it 10' from edge of entry to edge at step? Is that also a bench on both sides of the entry? And all along the back of the pool, seating also? Or something else?

Are the 4 lines coming up through the beach entry for bubblers?

I am guessing the two rocks on the edge of the entry will be to keep people from going that way and the big drop.

Did code require you to go deeper under the beach entry for a footing down to frost line?

Hope all is going well for you!
njnspool
Original Author
12 years ago
jscozz, thanks for stopping by and checking out our build.

The slope goes from 0 to 18" over a 12 foot run. It actually looks steeper in the pics than it does in real life. I have walked on it several times, and while I have not tried out a chair yet, I am quite sure it will be fine for a chair. In person it does not feel to steep at all.

In an ideal world, we would have added another 5 foot of run to it, but we wanted to preserve as much of our yard as posible, and preserve as much true shallow end as possible. But now that it is shot, I am very happy with it.

The beach entry is only on one side, the other side they call it a swim out, it's kind of like two steps coming out of the deep end, next time I take pics to post, I will take closer pics of it.

The back all is all bump outs for natural stone waterfall. It is kind of hard to picture now, but the way they do it is they actually put the rock in the pool itself, so that ledge allows the rock to be in the water.

If you check out there website: http://www.eastcoastpoolsnj.com/gallery-construction.html you can get a better feel, of course I will be putting up pics soon, as they plan to start the rock work over the next few days assuming the weather cooperates.

Yes, the 4 lines are for a bubbler.

The two rocks are for just that, along with look and feel. I am a rock junkie, and the more rock and stone the better for me, but it will also serve the exact purpose you mentioned, even though it is only an 18" drop.

I am not sure about the code for the beach entry,but they dug it 4' deep, so the beach entry actually has 4' of concrete which goes below the frost line. This was important to me, and one of the reasons I was happy choosing East Coast Pool Concepts, not all of the builders wanted to do this, these guys said it was the only way they would do a beech.

So far it's going great, we had to wait a while for some inspections, but those are done now, and yesterday they got back to work, now hopefully the weather will cooperate. I will keep updating this with more pics as progress is made.

Feel free to ask me any more questions.

Thanks!
SwimIn2012
11 years ago
Hi NJNSPool,
Your pool looks like it is going to be amazing! It looks much bigger than 850 sq ft. I have mapped out 800-850sq ft in my backyard, and it does not seem as big as yours, even though your yard looks much bigger than mine.
I have a question about the slope between the house and the pool. In the pictures, it looks like the pool is a lot lower than the house. How much lower is it? Will you be putting in a retaining wall/drainage? I would like my pool to be lower than my house, so I am very interested in how you are handling this. Thanks very much for sharing.
njnspool
Original Author
11 years ago
Hi SwimIn2012, Thanks for checking out our build.

Regarding the size, it may be a touch bigger than 850, the plan called for 850, but they may have gone a bit bigger when they actually drew it out, but not by much, I would say 900 absolute max.

What I will tell you is when it was drawn in orange paint in our yard, it looked much smaller than it does now.

For some reason, 2D always looks much smaller than what it turns out looking like actually. When I saw it painted, I thought to myself, that does not look very big at all, and was wondering if we need to go bigger.

My backyard has a very interesting slope.

From my french doors to the ground right below, is about a 5 foot drop. Then, it drops another 6 foot over the next 20 foot towards the back. Our patio is built into that big drop, and is done in 3 levels.

Beyond the patio, we drop another 3 or 4 foot in the next 20 feet, and then it does not really slope any more going backwards, it remains very level for the remainder of the yard going front to back.

We do however have a slope of about 3 foot from right to left.

You can see the deep end is about ground level, but the shallow end is about 3 foot above ground level.

This was really the best place in our yard for a pool, because there is never any accumulation of water in that area, it all goes far left of the pool.

We will be doing some retaining walls to handle the 3 ft or so slope on the shallow end of the pool, but that will really be more for aesthetics than anything.

Not sure if this helps or not, if you would like, I would be happy to take more pictures to show this in more detail.

Good luck with your pool!
SwimIn2012
11 years ago
Hi NJNSPool,
Thank you very much. Very helpful, especially about the size of the lines vs. the actual pool. I am looking forward to seeing more pictures!
njnspool
Original Author
11 years ago
It's been a while since I posted any updates, so I figured I would put up some pics from yesterday. We have had a lot of rain here in NJ the past few weeks, which has really slowed things down. There were some delays in having the rocks delivered, but other than that the crew has been working whenver we get a break from the rain. Hopefully if the weather cooperates, we are a few weeks away. Still a few more days of rock work to go, have to finish the waterfalls, have to do rocks in the sides of the beach entry, and we are having 20 truck loads of dirt brought in to build up the hill behind the pool, in which many rocks will be placed as well, as well as landscaping.
banana_fanna
11 years ago
WOW! I haven't been this excited to see a pool complete in a long while! The rock work is fabulous. Even in it's very early stages you can tell it's going to be incredible.

We had 2 boulders hauled in - TWO! - for our jump rock. They weren't even that big and they set me back 500 bucks. Admit it, you're P. Diddy, right? LOL
poolguynj
11 years ago
This is nothing compared to what I have seen them do with rock. I've seen them make 35'+ Waterfalls with a sliding tunnels, bring in a load of boulders I would guestimate weighed in at 30 tons, etc... I just wish they had some equipment changes to improve some areas I think can be improved. But they use what works for them so I can't really find fault there.

Scott
njnspool
Original Author
11 years ago
Banana, Haha, no, P. Diddy I am not! But yeah, stone is not cheap!

I have been planning/saving for a pool project like this for almost 5 years now. I really wanted something that would add to the look of our yard as much as provide all of the great things a swimming pool provides.

One of the things I like so much about the rock work these guys do is they put the rock in the water. Many waterfalls, rocks sit on top of the coping, if you see how they do it, they put it below the water line. It is a LOT more work to do it this way, but IMO it is well worth it when you see the finished product.

As Scott mentions, this is really modest compared to a lot of East Coast Pool Concepts work.

If you check out this youtube videos, you will see some serious rock work! Maybe one of those pools is P. Diddy's!

East Coast Pool Concepts Youtube

Nobody I have seen anywhere builds as nice of a pool as these guys do. They do the whole thing from the design, to the pool building, to the rock/waterfalls in house, so it flows together perfectly.

Many builders build the pool, and then outsource the rock/waterfalls. Nothing wrong with that at all, I just think the look these guys achieve as a total package is unmatched by anyone else.

I will put up more picks as more work gets done. Still early, but I had not updated in a while.
njnspool
Original Author
11 years ago
I just realized I put the shorter of the two youtube vids they have. Check out this one, this one is even more amazing:

East Coast Pool Concepts YouTube Vid
jscozz
11 years ago
NJNSPool... If you wouldn't mind sending me an email via my member page, I would love to talk to you about your experience... I am probably going to contact the PB you are using for a quote.
njnspool
Original Author
11 years ago
JSCozz I sent you a message, let me know if you do not receive it.
jscozz
11 years ago
No. I tried a test message myself and looks like the forum messaging is not working. You can email me at jt546 at comcast.net. Thank you!
njnspool
Original Author
11 years ago
I emailed you at that address, if you still did not get it, let me know. Thx, Erik
njnspool
Original Author
11 years ago
It's been a while so here are some updates.

Since I last posted all of the rock work has been completed. Coping and waterline tile are in.

Deck poured and stamped.

This week we have some grading to finish, diamondbrite/river rok, landscaping and the fence.

If all goes well we are hoping to open it up next weekend.

Here are some pics taken yesterday after the deck was poured, it has not reached it's final color yet.
poolguynj
11 years ago
Measure for the safety cover before the pool get plastered. Its a lot easier (but isn't required) for the tech when he can go in the pool to measure. It's even easier if the wall anchors can get put in too. It removes the need to lean over the edge.

Scott
njnspool
Original Author
11 years ago
Scott,

At this point since I am way over budget and we are doing the perimeter of the pool fenced in, not the whole yard, I am 50/50 on a safety cover for this year.

If I do go the safety cover route, I would certainly call you.

I can take some measurements today or tomorrow and have them for either now or in the future.

Can you tell me exactly where you would need the measurements taken?

If you would prefer, I can email you to take this off-line.

Thx, Erik
poolguynj
11 years ago
The measure needs to be done by the team installing it. There are too many details, rocks, opposed surfaces, etc., to expect this to be done on a DIY basis. There will literally be hundreds of points and cross point measures to ensure accuracy.

It isn't going to be cheap either. That would be taken off-line. Pics of the install will be cool though. I am sure others would like to see it.

A tarp cover, IMHO, is useless here. It would get shredded annually. Anything on top would go in then and pool water could be pumped out. Not a good thing given the trees in the vicinity.

Scott
vkap
11 years ago
Hello Erik,

I'm currently pricing out a pool with pooltown 37X19, but a vinyl pool. If you don't mind me asking how much is this pool going to run with the landscaping? Thanks in advance. Im out of Manalapan.

Vk
njnspool
Original Author
11 years ago
VK,

Good luck with your pool.

I would rather not discuss what I paid for my pool on a public forum.

What I will say is it was very competitive with what other builders would have charged.
jhmjr
11 years ago
Any updates?
njnspool
Original Author
11 years ago
jhmjr,

Sorry for the delayed response.

I actually made a completely different thread for the final product.

Here are the pics and a youtube video for you:

We opened up the Pool June 24th, and thouroughly enjoyed the pool the entire summer.

East Coast Pool Concepts out of Manalapan NJ did an incredible job from start to finish. I would HIGHLY recommend them for anyone considering a pool in NJ/NY/PA area.

I cannot say enough about the quality job these guys did, the attention to detail, and the follow up. Even after the job was done, and I finished my payments, they were still checking up with me and stopping by to make sure all was going well.

They build a great pool, they are great to work with and they stand by their work.

Here is a youtube video of our pool:

Natural Style Pool CNJ by East Coast Pool Concepts

Here are the completed pics of our pool:

Here is the before pic:
lilsophie
10 years ago
WOW, your pool is awesome, I just LOVE it. What a beautiful backyard you have. :)