Yep, giant very heavy trucks will tear up your yard. Normal practice should be a rough regrading once they are done. Then you can just throw a little top soil on and resod. I prefer to resod vs. seeds as I like the look to be nice quickly vs waiting for seed to grow. Around here (Texas) a pallet of sod is about 100 buck and that will cover ~500 sq.ft so the cost is not that bad.

We went with sod even though it was the more expensive option versus seed. I did not want to deal with the dirt blowing into the pool. Plus, we have a dog and I was tired of wiping her feet everytime.

Thank you both for your feedback. I definitely appreciate it! I can't say that the damage was a surprise but the degree thereof unfortunately was one. Perhaps the incesant rains we have had in the northeast over the last few months did not help! It looks like we will be putting in the deck next season to allow the ground to settle. Given that will again tear up the lawn we will leave lawn repair until next spring I think. I don't really know how much sod goes for up here but I will look into it. I have re-sodded a lawn before with some success and so am leaning toward re-sodding after reading your replies.

Thanks again for the help!

Here is a picture of my front/side yard. I never even thought about it getting torn up but was once I saw the Track-Hoe, I just kind of laughed.

Here is a picture of my backyard, where the beautiful lawn was earlier in the week.

And here we are after they poured the deck this morning. By this time next week, all this will be behind me and I will have new grass along with water in my pool.

Hi, sorry about your yard. We thought we could keep some of the grass in the backyard but all our lawn was ripped up and we plan to put down sod in the small area that we have left.

You can probably get more use from your pool by getting a gas heater unless you don't mind chilly water.

Hi everyone,

Well let's see ... on the positive side at least our yard is not alone! I wish I had my pics to post but they are on another computer. I have to say looking at the pics I think that we have gotten away with less damage than was possible. I am sure that re-sodding will be tremendously fun but if in the end we enjoy the pool as much as i know that we will it won't be too much of an issue!

As for the cold water I can't say that I mind. Having been a competitive swimmer for years I am quite used to chilly water and actually prefer it. But we will see about that as well :) Since we do have gas lines running it wouldn't actually be too much of an issue to put in a gas heater. Well wish me luck. They are supposed to be finishing up on Tuesday and starting to fill the pool by Wednesday. Weather permitting we may actually be able to enjoy the pool for a few weeks!

Hello,

We are also in Mass and looking into vinyl pools. What company did you go with and did you like them?

Thanks

Hi kparenteau,

After a lot of searching we ended up going with McCarthy Pools in Southborough. Overall and so far we have been very happy with the project. However, I will say that you need to be on top of everything. This is certainly not a one-stop shop and despite not having a lot of time I did have to keep an eye out. Cost wise they are mid-range. Their customer service has been solid. Most of difficulties that we ran into were site related and not PB related directly. There are a lot of unanticipated costs and my 15% overage in the budget was used up quickly. Overall I would recommend them to anyone. One aspect that I particularly liked was the freedom to choose the elements that we wanted in our pool, equipment, contractors etc. Not everyone wants this hassle but I find that you tend to get the best in the end :)

Good luck with your project!

I like to see postings of all of the mess created when building a pool. They add realism for folks not aware of the process. When my last pool was built the PB told me about the mess and I believed him. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I just focused on the prize. Looking at finished pools is good but they didn't get that way all of a sudden. I hope to get my pool started soon because there is a vacant lot next to my house I can use to get the equipment to the hole. I must get started before they sell the lot. There will still be a mess but not as great.