Including photos using photobucket this time ...

First, the easy touch can come packaged with an Intellichlor, so the $$ make sense (no pun intended). Not to mention it is a good unit, with a good warranty. You will have around 17,000 gallons of water, so if you go with an IC40 for up to 40k gallons you wont need an ozone backer. Make that a 400K heater, faster is better, and only a few bucks difference. Solor, check local companies. Dont lump all the PB's together, we average 6 weeks or less, some done in 3. 3months on one 500k job. As far as saving money, that is up for debate. You would be paying for experiance, and management. And a good quality builder would have the best of the sub pool, unless you have nothing better to do with your time.

we are considering having a pool added to 5 yr old home we bought in December in DFW TX area... no one has mentioned much about the piping/plumbing used in your pool---or the interior mechanics much-- although on other posts people talk about good planning for energy efficiency and cleaning efficiency... was glad to see someone mention planning where the sun was during its cycle for umbrella shades...and the location of the pumps for noise control... how far can/should your pads for equipment be set away from the pool--read something that made the think you could not get TOO far away because of the power factor... did anyone have to have new breaker box added for your power does the location/orientation of the pool have any effect on the color...we had a very difficult time picking paint to repaint interior of house when we bought it because of the light--north light creates a different color pallete... does anyone here have a spa that is actually separate from the pool--we have see some new homes with in-ground spas done that way to make it more of a pool/youths and spa/adults set up...close but not in same construction...that kind of appeals to me but I assume it would mean more expense... is there any rule of thumb about how close to the foundation line of a house that you can have a pool start...I know there are easement issues with other boundaries like fence lines/phone/cable...

Wow, this forum is great! Scott  I had placed the accent boulders by the shallow end to be a transition from deck to coping, but great point about the jumping risk  those rocks would be smaller and hopefully not as tempting to jump from as the 3 intended jump rock areas. I didnÂt anticipate the pool sweep climbing up 2 feet onto the baja shelf, but will have to think about that. Already made the changes per your skimmer and light location suggestions. Bobinbaltimore  Will seriously consider the obstacle course feel, but we too like the look of various accent boulders throughout. Your note about the thin decking on the far side is a great one  the plan should state that it is 1 wide coping around the entire back of the pool. I intended that section to only be walked on when climbing out of the pool from the bench and onto the rock waterfall . Gonna have to think about how weÂll use it and how wide it should be. BTW, your pool looks great so far! Just-a-pb  IÂve known several friends/neighbors do OB with the general comment being that it is a headache, but you will get more pool for your $. I hadnÂt heard that the OB market has plummeted. Not sure how the downturn in the past 18 months in the pool biz has altered the OB market. WeÂll only use licensed, bonded, insured subs who are clean with the ROC and have been recommended by other OBs  and we are hiring an inspector to check after each sub. So not totally on our own. Barb ÂThanks for the warning - IÂll make sure I check codes before I get permits. Thank you all for your feedback! More of this good, honest feedback would be awesome!