April Update - Pool, Estate Progress.

As it has been a while I thought I would provide a quick update to what we have been doing over the last couple of weeks.

Our estate is progressing well. Looks like most of the works are done and we look on track to receive title in May. The only downside is it looks like we might be sharing a driveway crossover with the block next door. Not ideal however it isn't the end of the world either.

Our block is in the middle of the two crossovers.
Our shared driveway is the shared one on the right hand side.

We have now officially signed off on our Colour and Electrical appointment paperwork. Lots of emails back and forth between Boutique and myself confirming changes and updating paperwork. Some changes we had to make were changing to a glass kitchen splash back as you can only have a caesar stone splashback if you have a induction cooktop (nearly $3k to add) which we didn't want. We also couldn't get the wall pendant lights in the ensuite as it turned out they are not supplied by Beacon so we have just installed capped junction boxes where they will be and source our own lighting after hand over.

I would suggest reading through your addenda and variation contracts multiple times. I think we looked at ours more than 10 times and each time we did it found mistakes. Incorrect tiles and sizes has been chosen for the bathroom floor and different colours used on our ensuite cupboards. I don't know how these mistakes happened and our colour consultant didn't either however I would hate to think we missed them and they ended up in the house! Overall I think we found nearly 15 mistakes, some of which would have had a major impact.

With the house contract signed and variations locked in we started looking at pools again.

You can see where we are planning to place the 10m X 4m pool and pool fencing

A few months ago we went to the Pool and Spa show at the Melbourne Exhibition  Building. We spoke to 4 different pool companies including Rainwise who we had been dealing with originally.

Out of the 4 new companies who took our details, only two made contact and only one of those seemed interested in our business. Outdoor Freedom Pools was the one who pushed hard for our business and as we already had a quote from Rainwise we decided to get a comparison from Freedom to see what they would offer.

I emailed through our house plans and design ideas so they could prepare a quote and then we arranged an on site visit of their showroom to see the pools in person. Their customer service was excellent and they really seemed keen to have our business. Getting to see the pool in person was awesome and we were really happy with the size. 10 X 4M is massive however it is exactly what we wanted.

The pool we are thinking about getting with the spa jets operation.
We will not have this many jets and they will not shoot that high.

Original we were looking at a pool that was rectangle and had a seat/step on the side however after seeing a clean rectangular pool in person we have settled on a the cleaner shape.

The pool shape we are going to get

We also got to see some add on features like water jets coming out of the paving and a "Wet Deck" which would be perfect to lay or lounge on.

An example of a "Wet Deck" Ours will not be this big.
This is 2m X 4m. Ours will be 2m X .5M

With the quote sorted and a price in mind we left Freedom and went back to Rainwise to discuss our original quote.

I just have to say that Rainwise customer service is second to none. We have been dealing with Shane who just goes above and beyond to cater to whatever we want. He is extremely knowledgeable and very friendly.

We didn't change too much on the original quote however asked if they could add the water features we saw at Freedom. As it turns out he can and the prices are pretty much the same (after a lot of research it seems that most pool places charge pretty much the same amount for all their features and options.

After a long discussion with Shane and working out the details and then receiving the quote we feel that we will go with Rainwise.

The total price is more than we planned for however this includes pool fencing and paving around the pool which we had origianlly planned to do after the pool was in. We feel that if we spend more now at least the pool will be 100% completed and ready to use straight away!

I have included the full quote at the end of this post however I have listed some of the major inclusions below.

Sequins / sparkle in pool - $650

4th LED light - $450

4 channel remote control - $750

Wet deck - fully tiled - $1800

6 x spa jets with separate pump - $1400

In ground pool blanket and roller system - fully installed - $4250

Paving within the fenced area, includes drains - $11,150

Glass pool fence as per drawing with 3 soft close gates - $10,500

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EXCAVATION INCLUSIONS

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

 Tipping fees and cartage of soil

INSTALLATION INCLUSIONS

 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.

POOL EQUIPMENT INCLUSIONS

 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 4

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

 POOL COVER – Recessed pool blanket and roller (installed) – recessed into the ground with hinged lid / cover

 POOL CLEANING – MAYNTRONICS: Dolphin X30 (cleans walls and floor)

 SPA JETS – 6 x jets fully controlled by a separate pump

 CONTROLS – Remote control for the features of the swimming pool

LANDSCAPING INCLUSIONS

 POOL FENCING – Fully frameless 12mm toughened glass (stainless spigots) 19m plus 3 x soft closing gates

 POOL COPING – Coping pavers to suit swimming pool design (Riverstone Pavers)

 PAVING – additional paving around pool (36sq m) 

 WET DECK – 2.0m x 0.5m on side of pool. Finished in ceramic tiles

 DECK JETS / FOUNTAINS – 4 x spirting jets to be located either side of the seat

CRANE LIFT ALLOWANCE / INCLUSION

PROJECT EXCLUSIONS

 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)

TOTAL PRICE:  $73,750 inc gst