Let me try posting this photo again.

Just to show you what we are thinking in terms of design, this is fairly close.

Beautiful property and a negative edge pool would seem to be perfect. Mine is not, but I can see why you would chose it there. I envy your ability to do both the house and the pool the way you want them and not the way some builder slaps them together (and my house is pretty good).

As far as salt vs chlorine, you are really dealing with chlorine in both but supplying it to the pool in different ways. Some folks like the feel of salt water - folks use salt to soften water. We looked at converting, especially when the cost of chlorine kept going up every time we bought it, but our pool repair guy tells us that he isn't a big fan, at least for conversions. He says the cells on the saltwater pools break down and have to be repaired or replaced every 2-3 years and may wind up costing more rather than less, so don't do it as a cost benefit.

He does have some customers who have protected environments for the pool equipment. Since you are building new, you might want to consider housing the pool equipment with some climate control. He says things like the salt cells and the electronics for the variable speed pumps, automation, etc, hold up much longer. (We just replaced a variable speed pump that lasted maybe 2 years because the controller lost partial function and it was the part we needed to run the sweeper).

Since you have the option of starting from scratch, also look at the equipment plans from a repair perspective. Make sure there is room to get to, service, remove, replace, etc. The replacement of my pump ran into the equivalent of a tiled in DW and we had to replace a whole set of valves to create room to get the old one out and the new one in.

Having had a pool for 11 years and being a person who swims almost every day for 6 months out of the year I will chime in on one thing I wish was different about my pool.

Length and depth. Who will be using your pool ? How will you/they be using it ? We didn't build our pool but if I was I would make it all one depth...6 ft and longer rather than wide...more or less a lap pool but not too narrow. I swim laps and alternate simply treading water in place. I have no interest in lounging in the pool and don't have guest swimmers often enough to need to accommodate them.

Your pic shows a large shallow area for lounging...at least it appears that way. Perhaps that is what you want...just be sure and think about all the ways you and your close family/friends will want to use the pool so that you won't be sorry later on . Good Luck..that property is gorgeous !!! c

Here is a link that might be useful: infinity edge lap pool

I have an acquaintance who has one. It's beautiful. But, it was several magnitudes of expense greater than a "regular" pool. I think it cost them close to 130K just for the engineering, the pool itself, and the equipment. It's also an ongoing expense with higher maintenance costs for the saltwater, not just a one time expense for it's creation. As I said, it's beautiful, and their wedding poolside was a really beautiful event. But no way do I personally think it was worth the additional 100K in costs.

We built our pool on a steep slope and even without a Negative Edge the reinforcement on a gunite simple pool cost tens of thousand extra, and the quotes for an infinety pool plus landscaping, fencing and etc were well above 200k. If it were in the budget, which it was not for me, I still think I would not have had the edge. It is beautiful but not a make or break in my mind.

We have converted to salt generated chlorine and I hate it. I miss my old system so much! Our grass around the pool dies with contact and so do other greeneries, our auto track corroded from the salt and I notice the salt residue on my skin after swimming. I will preface this with I hate water softeners too. We will be redoing our system in the next few years I hate it so much but most others I know love it.

Thanks for all of the info! Wow! Looks like a pool with a negative edge on a slope costs a lot of money!

Roar and las, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences on a salt water pool. I have read that it is a pain to deal with. Food for thought!

Trailrunner, I doubt we would have that large of a shallow part of the pool. My husband would be in the pool the most. He just loves sitting in the water.

I guess I have a great deal to consider and will find out more when we meet with several pool companies.

Thanks again for your thoughts!
Amy