Semi-retired bloke I know built his own several years ago right after pulling the semi-retired lever. He did all the work himself and traded a favor or two here and there so he only had materials costs, fuel for the backhoe, and his own labor. Roughly 20' x 40' x 5' deep. 8" slab for the base, fully grouted block walls, tiled border, flatwork around the top, plastered interior, equipment, etc. Total cost was about 30 grand. I provided one of those favors, so I saw the labor required first hand. It's not for the faint of heart or weak of back. He gets to see the kids and grandkids much more frequently now and is very happy with the $100,000+ still in his bank account.
Another Pool Thread
- Thread starter dcg9381
- Start date
Gigem
Well-known member
Builing pools is stupid expensive. I'm near you, in Lakeway. My house has a pool, but it was already here. I didn't build it. Neighbor is finishing a pool now. Cost is north of $400K. If you HAVE to have a pool, I'd at least ask myself how much I loved my house. If it's not love, then I would consider selling and buying something with a pool already built...
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Well, you add salt whenever your salinity drops too much. If you are partially draining for the winter then yeah, you'll likely need some salt when you refill, but other than that, there really isn't anything about the beginning of the season that would make you need to add salt.
We did the initial salting then I added more when we were refilling due to a leak, but otherwise, I haven't added any since (18ish months?)
True. But also depends on how much rain you get. We get big tropical downpours that overfill the pool and dilute the the chemical balance. So I have to add salt during the season as well. I also keep liquid chlorine on hand to add to the pool after one of these events as it takes to long for the SWCG to catch up. When I built my pool I installed drains in the back of the skimmers to allow the pool to drain down on its own instead of having to pump it down.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I love my cover. Rain doesn't dilute or cool it down, pool never gets dirty.
3rdgendslmech
Well-known member
This time last year the wife and I welcomed our 2nd baby into the family. Knowing we werent going to be going on a beach vacation last year or even this year we talked about getting an above ground pool. I did some research and settled on the 400 dollar bestway pools that samsclub sells. The pool was 400, I bought a Intek saltwater chlorinator for 275, 300 dollars worth of 1" green foam boards for a base, like 50 dollars for the pavers under the legs. 300 for a tanker load of 6000 gallons of water. All in start up total was around 1200-1400 by the time I upgraded the vacuum, bought salt, some maintenance chemicals, floats, umbrella etc etc, oh and built a poolside table for drinks, waterproof speaker.
It's a little bit of work to maintain, but after 8-12 hour days in a hot shop as a heavy equipment mechanic, being able to walk in the door, grab a beer and swim shorts and go for a quick dip is pretty damn refreshing
It's a little bit of work to maintain, but after 8-12 hour days in a hot shop as a heavy equipment mechanic, being able to walk in the door, grab a beer and swim shorts and go for a quick dip is pretty damn refreshing
Professor Fate
Well-known member
Get a lifetime membership at the local YMCA (about 100 a month for a family). $150,000 will pay for about 125 years worth.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Yeah, but with inflation, you'll probably only really get 80-90 years.
Building a pool is the smarter move.
I looked into a automatic one when I built it. The wife grew up on the water and nixed it. She likes to be able to see the water all the time. I get it as it is nice to look at and just stick your legs in and sit on the side and drink a beer.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
My sister had to get pulled out of my folks' pool and administered cpr when we were little, so with 2 little kids, an autocover was not even given a second thought when we built our pool. I'll wait the 20ish seconds to open it for that trade off
Even at 4, my daughter could open the code-compliant pool gate for the fence we also did
Understand the safety factor. I did the mesh style pool fence around the perimeter when our daughter was little. Didn’t do a gate, you had to unhook a clasp on top and pull the poles out of the deck to create an opening. It wasn’t the most attractive thing but it served its purpose well.
jar944
Well-known member
How many times can you bring a keg to the ymca?
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
You can do anything once.