I like your design better than the PB's for what it's worth. We are putting in bubblers on our tanning shelf just for the look of it. It will be on a separate pump so we can turn them on at will and not disturb the other water features.

We had bubblers put on our tanning shelf and we love them. They have a nice calming/bubbling sound to them and prefer that to the sound of the scuppers (we have three) as they are much louder (but not nearly as loud as a rock waterfall). If you have small children, they will love the bubblers!

I love the way your pool is going to look! Either design is great! I esp. like the video!!!!!!!!

Looks good!! I really like your design. It is about the same size as the pool we are looking at. I am also in the DFW area. Would ou share who your builder is and appx $$$ ? Thanks and I look forward to watching your progress.

Your pre designed pool looks so pretty. I will look forward to seeing the posted photos as you progress and until you finished it. Thanks.

Looks good. I did the same thing last year when we had our pool built. I used some CAD software and designed my own ideas. Then let the builders come in and tweek it. You can definitely tell your in the metroplex by the pictures with the houses in the background. I am in Carrollton and after all the emotional tug of wars we are definitely glad we had our pool built. We are in it almost everyday. Also, when you don't even get in it is relaxing just hanging out.

Day 2 started before 7 am on a Saturday. Today was rebar and plumbing. Sadly I had previous plans so I wasn't able to hang around all day. Thanks for the feedback on the bubblers! I had planned to speak to the supervisor about adding one in but he got called to another dig and wasn't going to show up. He said he'd convey the message to the plumbers to put in a stub pipe since he wouldn't be able to get me an estimate to add one in until Monday. How much should a bubbler be anyways? If it's going to cost me $500, I can certainly live without one. I think it was going to be extra since I wanted to be able to turn it off and on. I was worried that there was a miscommunication because I didn't see any bubbler pipe sticking up when I got home later that evening. On Sunday I was able to have a closer look and they didn't finish the plumbing at the rear of the pool. So, it looks like they are going to have to come back on Monday and hopefully they can put in a bubbler pipe. There just isn't much room left in the trench. Boy there's a lot of piping!

During my research, I tried to compare building methods of the various pool builders. Beam dimensions, space between rebar etc. I'm not a construction engineer so I had to try to figure out if the distance between the rebars and the rebar thickness made any difference. Anyways, this PB puts a thinner rebar between the off centers rebar for a smaller spacing. You can see the difference between the first and second pictures. No idea if this is any better but I'm glad they followed through with it.

So now the plan looks to be finish up plumbing on Monday, inspection on Tuesday and possibly gunite on Wednesday. Seems like we'll be the spared the rain previously forecasted for Tuesday. I do want the rain, just right after they finish the gunite!

Rebar in progress

End of Day 2

Lots of plumbing

And thanks to all for the comments. Partypond, we ended up going with Mermaid Pools out of Hurst. They were added to our list at the very end and worked well with us. I was a bit hesitant since I found neither bad nor good reviews. They had a clean BBB record. Our pool is low 50's which was pretty much in line with most of the quotes that we got. It was very hard to compare apples to apples as there are always something different in the quotes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Day 2 in Summary

Love the time lapse photography.

Day 3 build (Day 4 calendar)

They started early again this morning to finish up the plumbing. In the back, you can see the multiple pipes for the weeping wall and also one for a future slide. We had looked at getting a SR Smith Turbo Twister but couldn't fit it in the budget. So we had the PB plumb a line for future use. They managed to get a pipe stubbed in for the bubbler but it isn't in a position that we're too happy about. I'll have to see if they can move it. We're still waiting on a quote too.

Plumbing complete

Has anyone ever tied their fill line to a sprinkler zone? A friend recommended this to make the pool refill much easier and idiot proof.

We had our first snag today. We cleared a tree in order to move the equipment pad into the corner of our fence. You can see that the pipes end well short of the fence.

I spoke with our superintendent and he confirmed that it was a mix up and he'll have them move it to the end. Our superintendent has been really great to work with. We also picked the location of the lights. I have them going left and right vs facing the house.

For those shopping around, it wouldn't hurt to speak with the superintendent/construction manager who's going to be building your pool. The sales person is off to the next sale once you sign and you're left dealing with the super. I'm finding they can make all the difference. I'm crossing my fingers for continued good service.

Here is a link that might be useful: Day 3 - The 1 minute build (now with some YouTube tunes!)

Tex.....we had our pool fill tied into the sprinkler zone and I would definitely recommend it. I would have never thought of this, but my PB said you would regret it if you didn't. We have 7 zones on our system, so they just made the pool fill zone 8. I don't run it with the programs....I just notice the pool getting low and go over and manually run zone 8 for 5-10 minutes. Ours run out of the skimmer basket.....so if you end up doing this, clean out your skimmer basket before running, because it spits some of the debris back into your pool. Another reason I do it manually. Good luck and everything looks great.

Our auto fill is tied into the sprinkler. Love it! Ours is a seperate "return" looking fixture, not through the skimmer basket. Added another cover in the deck, but we did pour-a-lids and so it's not very obvious.

What about metals in the sprinkler water. Should one get the water tested first? If the water is tested what should we look out for?

I didn't tie the fill line into the sprinkler for 2 reasons:
1) my sprinkler controller is in the garage on the complete other side of the house from the pool. So if I needed to do a manual fill I'd have to walk around the house, open the garage and go to the control panel.
2) PB wanted $250 to do it which was ridiculous

Instead I put on a timer unit (about $30 at HD) at the manual fill line in the backyard. I am very pleased with the setup so far as I can program it for auto daily fills, but the cool part is that it has a default manual 15 min cycle button which I have found to be just the right amount of time in most cases to top off the pool if i see it manually needs more. I can just hit the button and walk away. And it is right next to the pool so I don't have to walk around the house to control it.

jpark - My sprinklers and outdoor faucets run off the same drinking water supply to the house. So it is the only source of water - metals or not.

(The white line is the pool fill line, the green my garden hose)

Thank you for the sprinkler zone feedback. I've asked for a quote on how much it is going to cost to tie in the fill line to the sprinkler. We'll see what the quote comes up with so I can decide the cost/benefit. hv4xpy4, I've got the same set up where my sprinkler controller is in the garage. I like your solution. We have a timer, albeit a lot less fancier than yours, that we use to water our vegetable garden. No reason why we couldn't do the same for the pool fill! Currently the fill line isn't by the faucet but the PB said no problem to move it.

I'll have to check but I think my sprinkler and outdoor faucets all come from the same city water feed. There's a valve box in my front yard that diverts to the sprinkler system from the water main.

I guess they don't have backflow prevention codes in Texas?

you can't see it in the photo, but the faucet is one of those helpful anti-siphon faucets that spray the water all over you when you turn it off.

Hmm, wish it were that easy. We are required to put in a reduced pressure zone backflow preventer ($400+)and has to be permited. Not to be confused with the duplex check valve bf preventors required for sprinkler systems.

renovxpt, this is what I have outside my house near my main water line valve. Can you tell if this is a reduced pressure zone backflow preventer or a duplex check valve backflow preventer? What's the difference? This, and the sprinkler system, were already installed when I bought the house.

Thats the standard duplex check system for irrigation. An RPZ has what we call a spitter or atmospheric breaker underneath the check valves and is usually above ground. It is typically used for high hazard conditions. Beecause of the large volume of water in a pool they require them in our area or thats what I have been told.

Day 4 Build (Day 6 calendar) - Gunite

I'm a little behind with the progress updates. Going into gunite, we were worried if a few things were going to turn out right. And then inspecting the pool afterwards threw us into a wave of second guessing some of our decisions and designs.

Gunite in process

Gunite Completed

So, here are the things that we fretted over.

Tanning Ledge
Step location - we moved the steps from far driveway end to the middle. I think it looks much better plus it didn't make sense to have steps going into the deep end.
Tanning ledge edge - after moving the steps, we didn't think to extend the tanning ledge. Doh!
Bubbler location - managed to get it in. Originally had it in the far flat area but then moved it to bottom of the beach entry. And what's with the return sticking up from the middle of the beach entry? We originally wanted a return that came back across the beach entry to keep it clean. I looked at this and thought they are giving me a bubbler return. But then they said they put an angled jet on the return so it sweeps across. Do you pool builders ever get annoyed with our questions?
Beach entry angle - it seem too steep. I'm not sure what my options are. Maybe we can flatten the slope and angle it back into the deck? Would this comprise the pool beam integrity?

Weeping wall and moss rock below water line - we wanted the rocks in the water and not above the tile line. I thought they were going to build a ledge into the beam to support the rocks. Instead they angled the beam down. I was told that this is preferred since it can accommodate bigger rocks.
Reverse beam - In this area, they also transitioned from the angle too late. We should have more beam and less rock. I was told that they can address this with the rock guys.
Deep end step out - We had a seat in the deep end. We thought it would be good to add some steps to make it a deep end step out. I think this turned out well.

Spa Oh, where do I begin with the spa?
Size - dang this thing looks huge. It seems more like a small wading pool! And it looks really high. I remember making sure it was 18" (vs 12") so that it would be a good seat height from the deck. It just looks like a castle turret now.
Multi level spa seating - managed to get a section 21" deep as I wanted to be fully seated and submersed. Never did measure the length of my upper body...
Seating - they did a horseshoe seating arrangement. Seems like the wall along the spillway is just wasted space. This was to prevent playing footsies with the person seated across from you.
Spillway - we didn't spring for the fancy spillway. Nor did we cut it open as we were hoping the notches would give us a scupper effect. Now I wonder if that was a wise choice. Again, castle turret...
Piping - What's the deal with the piping outside the gunite? I know it'll be covered up with the mortar and veneer. Should I be worried about this kind of stuff?

In pool table
We thought this was a cool idea. Being able to have a drink or a meal while sitting in the pool. Well...
Pedestal placement - I posted before that the pedestal had to be a mere 9" from the pool wall to prevent the cleaner from getting in there. I thought that was too close. In actuality, there's no problems. The pedestal itself is very small and the corner seating is wide so it's not like having to shuffle into booth seating at a restaurant. We are planning on using one large oval piece of rock as a table top.
Table height - now this is where we didn't think it through (or the PB didn't educate us). The table is going to be at water level. They did standard in-pool bench seating. So it appears that when I sit on the bench, the table is going to be up to my neck! At this point, they can't raise the seat with gunite. The only thing I can think of is adding a layer of flagstone to the bench seating to raise it up a few inches. Any other ideas?

Of course we also changed our tile selection for the 3rd time and made some last minute changes to the light locations. All of which I hope were the right decisions.

Anyways, enough of my rants. It's good to document this stuff as I'm sure my wife is tired of hearing me talk about these things. Sounds like I'm just a worry wart. We're still very excited and can't wait for the pool to be all done and the backyard mess all cleared up.

Cheers!

Here is a link that might be useful: Day 4 - Gunite

A lot of the features on your pool are similar to our design so I am watching your build with great interest. I really like the steps in the deep end! I think the spa will look great when it is done. I would be interested in others feed back and yours once completed on not doing the bench all the way around. The beach entry does look steep but hopefully when done it will all be ok. Good point about depth on the table and bench. I will have to make a note of that. The videos are fun to watch and my kids like seeing the crew run around like ants!! Keep the pics coming and hang in there!!

Day 5 Build (Day 6 Calendar) - Electrical Part 1

While I was watering the gunite, the electrical crew showed up. These guys worked all day wiring the pool lights and mostly digging the trenches to run the electrical lines. These trenches are way deeper than the plumbing trenches. They even went under my driveway to get to the circuit panel as they couldn't go through my garage attic. And they somehow got through the tree root that had stopped the plumbing guys from laying the plumbing all the way to the end of the fence. By the way, I've got the tree company that originally removed and ground the stump to come back and regrind it. Then they can move the plumbing back into the corner of my fence. We're now trying to figure it we want the equipment pad lengthwise or width-wise. Do the decisions ever end?

We also made had them add a couple of extra outlets (thus the extra digging). We had one on either side of the pool for future landscape lighting and one near our patio for a future outdoor kitchen. I was even thinking of getting them to run a heavy duty outlet to our patio for a future outdoor sauna but didn't because I couldn't figure out what type of electrical line I would need. We are trying to plan for as many future phases as possible but it is very hard.

Unfortunately, my ancient webcam decided to flake out on me. I've got another webcam lying around but it doesn't work with the current software. Now I'm looking for some other time lapse webcam software.

Here is a link that might be useful: Day 5 - Watering and Electrical

texascanuck, it's looking great! I LOVE the step out/bench in the deep end. Wish I had been so smart! :) And the in pool table is going to be awesome, I wanted one but just did not have the room to spare in our small pool. :( Your spa looks JUST like ours to me. I, too, thought it was rediculiously massive (it's 8X9 inside the water line---add the massive 20+ inch coping and it's a lot going on spa wise...). For MY pool, being small, it's a bit overbearing. For YOUR pool it's GREAT. Ours is also raised 18". In hindsight, I wish we had just done 12" but you will like it for seating. Our spa is just not situated in a location that makes the seating aspect worth it. I think you'll like it, ours doesn't have the bench along the spill way either and I'm glad. I love to stand there and look out into the pool and it allows more space for LEGS and FEET, which is very good. You have so many wonderful features going into your pool, I've loving watching it and I know it's going to turn out great.

Yes, you should be concerned about the plumbing exposed on the spa. Pressure variances as the spa jets are turn on and off could cause rubbing of the plumbing on the stone veneer and cause issues later on. Sounds like you have a lot of second guesses. Did the pool builder not effer any of their experience? I guess if something is not right, the pool builder is off the hoook. Good luck