Researching a pool

With the house details becoming a little tedious Natalie and I started looking at the type of pool we would get. This really started to get us excited again.

I really liked the idea of a square/rectangle swimming pool. I felt this would best fit in the area between the alfresco and the boundary and behind the third garage.

After doing our research on types of pools we settled on fiberglass. Concrete has it's advantages with flexibility of shape and the overall finish however as we were looking at a rectangle shape we felt a fiberglass pool would be fine. Looking at some displays and searching the internet showed the end result and quality was equally as good.

Here are a couple of fiberglass pools. Still looks impressive.

We also semi settled on a style/shape of pool. It turns out that most pool manufactures have similar style of fiberglass pools, just under different names.

With some initial decisions made we asked for a quote.

With advice from the pool company we decided that we would build the pool before the house went in. This would mean that the pool company had free access to the block and ease to excavate the pool. As we pay by the hour for the excavating equipment this would keep costs down. A small downside is that you then have to pay for temporary fencing and an engineered lid to ensure the pool is safe during the construction of the house. We also found that the fiberglass pool has to be filled with water immediately after being installed to ensure it keeps it's shape.

The quote came back at;
$49,500 inc gst (10.5m Maradona)

$47,500 inc gst (10.0m Franklin)

Pretty much what I was expecting. The quote does not include Pool Fencing or Paving around the pool. Both items which we will probably source ourselves.

The steps during the construction process of the pool is as follows.

- Excavate the hole.

- Install the pool with a concrete beam around edge to help maintain shape.
- Fill with water.

- Install engineered lid and temporary fencing to ensure it is kept safe during consturction of the home (you can just picture tradies leaving bricks and rubbish on the pool!)
- Once house construction is done they will return to finish any paving or pool fencing if required.

- Connect plumbing equipment and heating.

- Swim!

For those interested here is what is included in the quote.

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 Excavator and 2 x tipper trucks (1 x day) 

 Tipping fees and cartage of soil

 Access – full access

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Base (aggregate) and backfill (stabilized sand mix) to secure the shell

 10,000lts of water (by tanker) to ensure safe and secure shell installation

 380mm-600mm concrete beam (100mm thick) with reinforced steel mesh, tied to pool shell

 Large Skimmer box (for filtration and sanitisation)

 Suction / return fittings (for filtration and heating)

 40mm & 50mm pressure pipe for fluent water recirculation 

 Hydrostatic Relief valve (for safety and levelling of the pool pressure)

 POOL shell to be pre-plumbed in factory, ensuring stronger installation of all fittings & pipe

 All start up chemicals and pool salt

 Complete supervision by our own fully trained staff. We will follow the installation of the 

pool with an extensive tuition of the pool maintenance and equipment operation.

 180 days temporary fencing

 OH&S Hard cover, fully engineered (will pass all requirements by home builders)

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POOL PUMP – DAVEY: PowerMaster Eco / multi speed / 8 star energy rated pump

 POOL FILTER – DAVEY: EC1550 Cartridge filter or 25” GLASS MEDIA filter

 POOL SANITISER –DAVEY: Salt Chlorinator / Self cleaning w/timer MSC24C

 POOL LIGHTING – Multi colour changing LED underwater pool lights x 3

 POOL HEATING – SOLAR HEATING, 100% coverage, fully automatic

 POOL CLEANING – MAYNTRONICS: Dolphin Robot SWASH

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Supply of electrical or gas lines for the filtration and heating

 Excavation of rock or other sub-surface materials that may extend the excavation

 Existing pipe diversions due to excavation

 Sewer connection for Sand filters 

 Council application fees for ASSET PROTECTION (must be done)

 Council application fees for PLANNING PERMITS (only if required)