LOL. I KNEW it was Borba. It's a sad day when I've become so obsessed over tile selection that I can identify tile name and brand with 99% accuracy. :-) I have a sample of the Borba. I'm torn between that and the Tondela Blue, also by NPT and in the same series. I'll post pics of my build. I also have a 45' lap lane with a narrow end. I think mine is 6' wide. It's an unusual design but like you, I wanted a lap lane, play space and a shelf. In addition we have a water line in the yard that needed to be avoided/contended with. Thanks for tile confirmation - I love how it looks. So nice to see a picture of a pool in progress that is using it. Makes me comfortable with my choice.

Hi Scott, Thanks for your reply. I have been spending a lot of time on this website, and I have gathered a lot of helpful information from your posts. Thank you very much for sharing! I think I will get a soil sample. Will the same engineer be able to find out about both the water level and the rocks? I am very uncomfortable with all the unknown potential costs on top of the already high known costs. Do you know how much extra it would add to the cost of a pool if you have to pump the water and/or cut into solid rock? (approx). Would you have to go back to the town to get permission to break up the rock? Will the noise drive the neighbors crazy? Regarding the septic system field, the pool company landscape architect told me that the problem will be if they are trying to dig a hole in a specific spot and they run into the septic field, there will be gravel falling out, thereby messing up the walls of the hole-something like that. They will have to do something to remedy this problem and that will cost more. I tried last year to find out where the septic tank and field are, but all I could get from the town was a permit from when the house was converted over to the town sewer (1963 I think). it only showed a drawing of where the pipe exited the house and the path to the sewer in the road. I had a roto-rooter guy here that showed me the path of the pipe with a camera and a metal detector, and we think we know where the septic tank is since it looks like they just rerouted the pipe from the septic tank to the town sewer - due to the way the pipe first goes to the backyard and then makes a u turn to go to the front where the town sewer is. But we really don't know for sure. Regarding the retaining walls, when you say we may need two walls, do you mean at the top and at the bottom? The pool landscaper said we could either fill in the bottom of the slope to raise to the level of the top and put retaining wall at bottom, or we could dig into the slope and put retaining wall at the top. Since the bottom of the slope is at the property line and already has a small retaining wall and since I wanted to do two levels, we will choose to put the retaining wall at the top. I was thinking we will need another small one at a 90 degree angle to the first one, with steps in between, due to the fact that the slope comes down on a diagonal line across the property, although he only mentioned we would need one. (Of course this was based on preliminary walk around property). Thanks very much for all your help.

We are currently in the process of building a pool, and it looks like we are in the 10% range too. Unfortunately a pool doesn't add anything to the house price around here. My neighbors sold their house 2 yrs. ago, with a $28,000 pool, and they only got $2000 added to their appraisal for "landscaping"!! We're putting in at least $40k for our pool, but that includes decking, cabanna with lots of extra storage for garage items, solar heating, in-pool spa, waterfalls, fencing, retaining walls, outdoor kitchen, etc. If I sell, I'll loose most of the $40k+. But I've already got tons of equity in the house, and after this is done, I'm finishing off extra space in the house which I will get a large return on. Besides the kids are still in Elem. school, and I'm not leavin' until their done with college!!No regrets here either! We might have to get older, but nobody said that we have to grow up!!!

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