Building the Pool...

One of, if not the most viewed threads on TOSC was “Selling the Compound.” I’m still amazed when i look at what visitors are reading to still see it’s popular. It doesn’t surprise me, it was a little like watching a home sale in realtime. And, we know those stopping by TOSC love threads on the housing in Sun City.

While this is different, it will be similar because my goal will be to showcase the building of the pool in our backyard. For anyone who has followed pools being built in Phoenix, you know it has been a turbulent setting. The largest pool builder went bankrupt years back and left folks hanging.

We shopped around, asked advice and interviewed three companies. We went to numerous home shows and talked to pool builders as well. Everyone talks a good game. The challenge for most contractors these days is they mostly work with subs, which means they have less control than when they have their own employees.

There’s still lots of horror stories of projects being started and then sitting in limbo waiting to get done. We hope to avoid those headaches and went with a builder who is far from the biggest, but his reputation is solid and so far has done everything he said he would.

We signed the contract with Anasazi around the first of February. He told us straight up 4 to 6 weeks to get the permit from Maricopa County. No surprise there. We said that is perfect because our contractor would be done by then (not quite the case, but we’re working on it).

The first part of March they stripped the rock from the backyard. Last week on March 13 they laid out the lines for the pool and Baha bench. Just painted lines in the dirt, but damn it felt good to see a plan coming together. This project on the current house and its transformation has been three years in the making. It seems much longer.

And with that opening, i will begin to lay out the weekly progression as we head to the finish line. The time lines they have given us are aggressive to say the least. However, i have been really impressed with the people working for and affiliated with the company so far and would be stunned if they don’t accomplish what they have told us they would/could.

So you know, we asked if we signed a contract by Feb 1 if we could be swimming by June? They smiled and said easy and in all likelihood, well before. We’ll see.

PS. I will include not only the pool but the entire yard (front and back) will be landscaped as well. That is included in the timeline.

 

I can't wait to see your pictures.

 

Hey sus, hope all is well. Are you here yet? BLet’s have some fun with this one (i hope).

Can you dig it? Day 1 (March 20, 2019).

Anasazi told us they would start digging on Weds and darned if they weren’t outside the gates bright and early. They thought it would be a two day job but the two man crew were awesome and finished by day’s end. They dumped three truck loads of dirt out front for berms (probably too much), so that was exciting.

Gotta love pool guys, excavators and landscapers because three times that day we heard them say “good dirt.” For us neophytes, what the hell is good dirt? Here’s a couple of photo’s of the dig;

Okay, this maddening. Every effort i make to place a photo is telling me the file size is too big. Anyone out there know how to resize the darn things? Tried my phone, ipad and my wife’s ipad (which used to work on the Selling the Compound thread). Goodness i love technology.

 

Hey Bill- are you using that invisible ink to post the link to your photos?

 

Try this....open the photo you want, click edit in the upper right corner, click duplicate & edit, in the center bottom you'll see an icon like a diamond/square & click, drag a corner to shrink size and then click done. This should have reduced size but you may have to do it more than once to get a small enough pic to post.

 

No, I am not there. I am in Washington right now.

 

We’ll see if this gets me to a manage level size. I need to figure out how to make the resolution smaller on my ipad? Anyone know?

Can you dig it again? Click on thumbnail to enlarge.

 

Dang; on Thursday the pool equipment showed up so the plumber can get working on it Monday or Tuesday of next week. I really like how this is coming together. Really looking forward to the end of the month to see some concrete movement (pun intended).

 

I understand why anyone in SC would want a pool in their backyard
when we have so many rec pools. Status symbol??????

 

I suspect you meant you don't understand eh peg? How about because we want to use it? My wife loves to swim laps, has a boatload of friends that enjoy getting together and play volleyball and i'm looking forward to walking hundreds of miles a year in the water. Ya i can do it with a countless other people in the community pools (which are lovely by the way), but i find myself withdrawing from being all that social as i age. Is it a status symbol? I guess if that was the case i would take down the block walls so everyone could see it.

The beauty of Sun City is status is singular....we are what we are. What we were and what we have means virtually nothing here. The simple reality is we all have only so many more days on this earth and getting the most out of each is up to us individually. I guess you could argue sharing what i do and what i know on this site is a "status symbol," but in my mind it is what i have always done (even before moving here) and that is to convince those looking at Sun City as the right place for them to move to.

Hope that helps, have a great day.

 

The nicest part of your own pool is YOU set the rules. You don't have to "checkin" with some monitor to use it, you don't have to get out of the pool at a specific time or at the first sound of far distant thunder, you can play whatever game you want whenever you want, you can swim whenever you want and in whatever attire you want, you can maintain it at whatever temperature you choose/can afford. If you have a pet that likes water they can join you. The downsides are the cost and environmental/ecological issues.

 

What he said.

 

Dang, love when a plan starts to come together. Skilled workmen are always a joy to watch. Since the last pics, the plumbing is in, the rebar and the electric is all done. Hopefully the county gives the green light and the shotcrete is next up.

 

Sorry on the duplicate on the second pic above. You can enlarge them by clicking on them.

 

Holy shiitake mushroom, these guys showed up a little before 6, started working at 6:30 and had it done and cleaned up by 11 am. Takes your breath away to see artisan's at work.

Click on the link to enlarge

 

It looks awesome.

 

Thanks sus, it's going to be pretty sweet. Almost beginning to feel like this is someday going to get done. Whatever will i do with my time then?

 

Ya never know e, something to think about.

We're getting to the point where the landscaper is going to be taking over this week. Got the water line tile in the other day and the plumbing hooked up Friday. The electrician comes Monday and after that is the coping (edging around the pool deck). The travertine around the pool will be interesting to watch and the block wall water feature will also be cool to see built. Hopefully much of that will be done by weeks end.

Here's the latest pic. You know the drill, click to enlarge.

 

Nope, what they found was "good dirt." Then we they got down 4 and half feet, the last 12 inches was rock, lots of rock. All in all, they still had the shell dug in a day. Damn, the guys were good.

This morning they brought the travertine for the coping (the pools edge). Coming right behind is the travertine decking. The company doing the landscaping says it will be about two weeks, and that includes the back, side and front yard. Last week they laid 18 pallets of pavers, 5 guys, 1 day. I am stunned by how hard and fast some of these crews work. By weeks end, i'll post more pictures.

 

Been a bit since my last update. Lots done this week as they started laying the travertine and built the water feature across the back. Split face has to go on yet but with a little imagination you can see the 2 three foot and 1 five foot sections where water will spill down into the pool. Damn, i can finally see the end coming. Hard to believe.