Imho brick, stone, poured in place, or cantilevered; are worth every penny when the project is complete.

There are hundreds of old San Juan pools in my area that have the fiberglass rim @ the top. Over the years it really tends to fade out and looks crummy imo.

I've never been a big fan of the fiberglass edge showing. Maybe it's because it looks like a fiberglass pool when the edge is showing. Don't get me wrong, we have a fiberglass pool and love it, but it seems that gunite pools are looked at as being "higher class" than fiberglass. (Maybe it's just my perception!) When you have a coping, you can't tell what kind of pool it is unless you get up close.

Sharla: That is my point. I don't like it. I thought I could adjust to the idea since he was so set on it, but I just can't, and here I am supposed to start next Monday. I talked to him again last night and he just says he doesn't want to spend another 2 or 3k on the pool. I'm thinking, either now or later. I am wondering if it is possible to go back and have it done later? I have seen a couple of pics on the internet of concrete coping that appeared to be done later, raised up. I thought it looked nice, very finished. Would stone or something like that be possible to do a year from now or so without redoing the deck? I have also seen ceramic (or some kind of tile) tile placed OUTSIDE the fiberglass coping, and I like the look.

Sorry, I can't be of much help. I don't know if it can be added later. Does it really add 2-3k if you just had a cantilever edge poured with your deck?

Well, I asked him how much, and the PB said it was $800 more than brick coping. I don't have the strict brick coping upgrade price. At the time, I didn't get that all split out, since I didn't realize how much it would bother me. I do know that it was going to be $8k more to add three things: 6" tile inside pool perimeter, brick coping, and colored concrete. The colored concrete is $1,100, because we already asked about that option. That leaves $4900 to be split between waterline tile and brick coping.

Oops, I guess I really CAN add and get $6900 difference. The old difference was from the old pool upgrade.

New here, first post. I've been browsing since before we built ours this summer. Anyway, we have fiberglass with cantilever concrete. We love it so far. We put SunDek, two tone, with a light color over most of the deck and a 9" "coping" color of terra cota. It makes the pool really stand out well. I was opposed to the exposed fiberglass edge and the wife didn't like it either, so we went with the cantilever. According to our builder, the cantilever concrete is quite a bit less than brick or stone coping. I did not get prices on the brick or stone, cause we liked the cantilever the first time he showed it to us.

Sounds like you have a tough sell on your hands! We have the cantilever edge on our fiberglass pool with no real issues. I assume that your fiberglass pool is a solid color such as white or blue. We have the metallic crystite finish, and I noticed before it was installed there was some huge color variations on the exposed top lip, so much that decking over it was not an option, it was a must. I suppose its personal preference, our pool came standard with the cantilever edge, brick coping was like $25 per foot extra. I will say this, now is the time to do it! Adding anything later always costs more, and once your pool is in and finished, the last thing you want to do is come back in again and tear things up. The big positive you do get from the fiberglass edge is a smooth spot to sit around the pool!

I would not budge and would probably throw a huge fit if I were you. Having coping instead of the fiberglass edge showing is going to make a huge difference! Don't settle, you will look at it everyday and regret it. I have a gunite with real brick coping, thats just what I chose because I like the look. My mother in law has fiberglass with just the fiberglass edge showing and it really not an attractive pool at all. I have a fried with fiberglass who has the spray deck up the the edge of the pool, and it looks so much better than mother in laws. As far as having a smooth spot, even my brick coping has a good feel. Its not rough at all and nobody has ever snagged a bathing suit or complained all summer. Its not even been an issue. I would definitley not give in on this, I don't think that you will be able to go back later and do it.

We are putting in a new fiberglass pool next month too. We are going with the brick coping and either brick or concrete decking around the pool. We saw one pool with the exposed fiberglass coping that was actually chipped. It looked like someone dropped something heavy around it. If you are going with a colour FG pool and you chip the coping I believe it will show white in the chip which IMO won't look good. Also my DH said that it looks like a lot of dirt can get trapped in that area between the fiberglass edge and the decking material. After talking with our PB we have decided on the brick coping. He said it is the one area if you are considering to upgrade to definitely do. We opted to leave out the waterline tile and fountain we were originally considering and spend the extra $ on the brick coping. We are not actually getting our coping and decking installed until next spring...just the pool this fall. That will give us a little more time to save up.
HTH and good luck with your install. We are not far behind you. Dug the old onground pool out this weekend and now we are looking at a big mud hole.
Kim
PS If you go to mypoolspace (all San Juan FG pools) you can do searches that show the different types of coping..exposed FG, brick, concete etc. It will really give you a good idea of looks.

Well, DH is actually CONSIDERING it. I am trying to call the PB this morning, but haven't been able to get them to answer the phone yet. I have researched. Jimcufsem, thanks for that $25 brick number. My PB had said $800 MORE than brick for cantilever..weird. I priced out the forms on the net, for about $176 per box of 112 feet (our perimeter is about 98 feet), and with the $5.50 per ft I was quoted for COLORED concrete, the big number just doesn't make sense. Can anyone throw me some others numbers to use in my discussion with PB?

For what it is worth I charge the same for Flagstone as Brick....So that may be another option for you,,,

Really? Do you use a local stone place, or do you have an inventory of stone yourself? The only person I know with flagstone said that PB sent them to the local stoneyard to pick out what they liked. I have been to the stoneyard to pick out retaining wall stones, but figured the flagstone, etc., was just way out of line.

Just a guess... Your PB might charge more because of the extra finishing 'skill' or 'care' that must be taken when doing the cantilever edge. It needs to be rubbed out at the proper time to get the proper finish.

My builder charged $300 dollars to add dye to the concrete and a "truck cleanout charge". That was all my colored concrete cost, its not stamped or anything, just added color. They poured a bag of mix into the cement truck and that was it. Extra concrete above what was included in the package was $4.25 sq foot.

I am waiting for a call back from my PB, hopefully this morning. I am super saturated with pool right now. This is tiring!

I'm in Tennessee, So we have (Tennessee Flagstone) And yes I send the Homeowner to the yard to pick the 2inch thick stone...

Thanks. I went to the yard today and just picked one on the off chance we'll use it. We picked 2 inch. I'm in MS

Okay, DH and I (and PB) finally came to an accord. After talking to the PB again, we are going with brick coping. We chose the bullnosed greystone color. It is very similar to the gray flagstone we had picked which had black in it and was a little sparkly. Greystone has black specks and is not a flat black color. PB said he would do the flagstone for $400 over brick, but he didn't recommend it because he has seen a lot of people cut from it, and it is quite rough around the pool edge. One of the reasons DH wanted to leave the fiberglass exposed was to have a smooth surface to back up to on the benches. I can see someone slicing themselves on that stone. Flagstone would not be smooth without extra expense to smooth the edges (not included in the cost). I know I said I didn't want brick, but I didn't realize that gray was a color option. Most pics I have seen are red...although I did like jescat's cream color. The gray goes better with our dark blue pool. I have looked for pics of it on the forum but cannot find any.
Now I am finally set for Monday.

Hi Readyami,
I saw your question on another post. I know how you feel, we agonized over choosing just the right coping. I know that we used a brick coping but IÂll have to see who the manufacturer is and what the color is. IÂm in my office right now but IÂll check later on. Thanks for the nice compliments.