to the original poster (I think jacksonbird didnt mean to put that in here). It's hard to say whether or not youre getting apples-to-apples with just the equipment specd. A couple of things I notice- I would be skeptical about running 12 jets on one pump. The most I've really seen work with good pressure and efficiency would be 8 per pump, but I love sticking to 6 per pump for great pressure and true therapy feel. Im partial to Pentair equipment over Hayward 10 times out of 10....Im a builder and have you used both and simply prefer Pentair due to the product, feel, efficiency, and warranty/ follow up. One builder is doing gas heat only, the other is doing a heat pump and a as heater? Have them explain that more to you and tell them how you want to use your pool and spa and what months of each. As far as filtration....one is DE and one is cartridge. Do your research on how you want to clean your filter. One is backwashing and recharging the filter with DE (a little hassle and a little mess) and the other is breaking down the filter/hosing off/ putting it back together. Both do what they should and do it very well, I prefer cartridge. If you're not in love with your design, hire a landscape architect and pay for a great design that both builders have to bid off of. You'll get what you want and have much tighter numbers...my two cents. Good luck!

So, Chris and I have been working hard and have finally come up with my final pool rendering. The pavers and coping aren't exactly the colors we are looking at, but everything else is pretty much exactly what we are looking at. This revision might look a lot like the last rendering I posted, but it is different. We added people into the rendering so we could get a better perspective of space, we reduced the patio size and slightly reduced the spa size. We also added a paver boarder around the patio. We are looking at approximately 1300 sq feet of patio, approx 600 sq ft of pool and a 48 sq ft spa. We are going to restart the bidding process with 3 builders and we hope to have construction started in the next 2-3 weeks!

Susie, Sorry to hear that you're going through this. One thing you will learn very quickly working with these contractors. No one, absolutely, no one cares about your project more than you do. No one knows the details of your plan more than you do. You are the expert of your pool. I have a similar length pool at 7' deep and I was also concerned about the grade. I thought the pool would be 7' at the end of the pool, but it was 7' in the middle of the deep end which caused the slope to start soon and quickly. Pool is done now and I can barely touch in the middle of the pool (I'm 5'7"). My kids are older, so it's not that big of a deal to me, but there is very little space for younger kids to stand up and play. The one nice thing about the grade is that it slopes back up at the very end of the pool to the point I can get traction to stand on the end wall in the deep end if that makes sense. They probably gave you a grade that was convenient for their bobcat excavator with little regard for your meticulously laid out plans. There is plain physics involved with a 7' depth. 6' would be much more gradual. However, if it's not built to plan and you can easily demonstrate that, I would push back or consider what it would look like at a 6' depth. You may consult with another trusted pool builder, contractor, or even the building department (many are former contractors) for recommendations on how to approach it. Stay involved and ask questions at every phase. There are so many mistakes I caught by just asking questions. There are other mistakes I didn't catch, because I'm not a professional pool builder and didn't think to ask. As they say, all their work looks great from their house. Regards, Mike

This door will be removed. BBQ area will be under here. Not sure if you can tell from the pictures but the concrete is pretty rough. Our PB suggested poring new concrete to bring it to the new level of the door and with the pool and stamping it all to look cohesive. Problem with that is it costs 14k and we would like to put that money into other things.Anyone have any suggestions as to how we can make it blend in and look nice with the new stamped concrete?