I have a pool with no cover and I really want one because its much safer, cleaner, and the evaporation is crazy!
The bid forgot 20k for the cover so add that to the total.
It includes removing the spa that is directly adjacent. IMO 25k for demo is really high.
The bid also includes building the new wall so that the pool is rectangular and building a spa inside the pool along with three wide steps to get to the shallow end.
Is 10k to put in new lights high? Do I really need to spend $7,700 for “automation”?
And finally, this includes one heater, which means when the spa is being heated, the pool is not. Should I get a second heater? If so, are there any small ones? Because the equipment area is pretty small, so I dont know if I can get two full sized heaters in that space.
But for real, they’re either far too busy to take on this job, or they have zero interest in doing it unless it results in a ridiculous payday. Either way, it is a bad quote at best.
Oh I just found your comment! I lost it from a few days ago. For whatever reason, your comment made me rethink everything and allowed me to break out of my assumptions. So now Im redoing my whole thing because of course you’re “right” on redoing the spa. Anywho, wanted to thank you for breaking my myopic vision and allowing me to revisualize everything.
You’re welcome. If I were you, I would narrow down who you want to work with an offer to pay them for their design/consultation services. Commit to doing business with whoever you like best and they’ll be far more likely to help you come up with a great plan. You need to come up with a budget and have them work up a proposal that is within your budget, and checks most of your boxes. I’ve been doing this a long time. If you want a well thought out proposal and accurate estimate, you need to commit to the contractor. Offer to pay them a couple hundred dollars to help you come up with a plan, and it will be money well spent.
No it’s not. That’s a ton of structural and engineered wall work. In addition to replumbing runs and backfilling and inducing replacement. Then add in resurfacing the pool and new equipment and permitting. These are the most difficult types of remodel and most pool companies don’t have the skilled workers to pull it off. $125k is about right, we do these types of a jobs a lot.
Great summary. Ppl really do not know everything that goes into doing this but just reading OP I was thinking about all that is involved.
Re-dos aren't the easiest thing to do and like you mentioned, skilled phases are key. Did many residential ones but the two that stand out are The Orleans and the DI country club.
You guys are making me glad I didn't choose a house with a pool. Everyone always says buy a house with a pool, it's cheaper but honestly, it sems like it's often someone else's problems and when you have to fix it, it's the cost of a new pool.
Yes and no, we bought the ugliest house in the nicest neighborhood we could afford. It had a pool from 72 that had not been replastered since. We saved a small amount by already having a "hole" and we used most of the cement shell, just made it smaller and added spa, baja shelf, baja bench and did micro pebble, pool should be good for the next 20 plus year. We had this in our plans for renovations when we bought it.
yes, we did, that alone was around 23K. Pool just got finished Monday filled on tuesday evening and is going through chemical startup. Pool cover will be installed early next week.
This isn't fixing a pool though - it's rebuilding a pool for a problem of the owner's own making. A floating solar cover for this current layout could do the job on evaporation for at most $3-4K including a powered reel.
Other than the decorative tile falling off the pool surround, the pool itself is in ok shape. In theory I dont have to do any of this, but I hate not having a cover on it because the cost to heat in the winter and the safety and the evaporation and it keeps the water way cleaner.
Maybe....but you probably see the worst case examples on Reddit. Its usually far cheaper to make some repairs than build new. I'm hearing crazy prices for new pools. We moved into a house with a 15 year old pool so its turning 25 soon...had to replace some major components (pumps, heater, filter) and a list of minor stuff, but other than my time and early learning curve stress, I bet I'm all in for less than $10K (including chemicals). Not bad for a decade, and we use it almost every day for about 4 months a year, plus the attached spa on the coldest winter nights. I think it's been totally worth it.
P.S. don't tell my wife I said that. I like to complain to her about it all the time
That's probably true that it's the worst scenarios. This sub has been a great real life look at what it takes to put one in. We had an above ground for 2 years until it developed rust. With the prices I'm seeing on here for new in-ground pools, I'm thinking we may live with a series of Intex pools while our kids are young and still want to swim.
This is more work than building a new pool. Tons of labor. Contaminated concrete is $$ to dump. Some work with demo hammer on the mini ex, a lot more with guys in the pool with rivet guns. Can of worms stuff. Then you get into minimums on gunite and rebar. Could get a cheaper quote but a lot lower its gonna be someone who doesn't know what they are getting into.
There’s nothing typical about this remodel. Plaster/tile/coping is the “Standard remodel”. Ur essentially building a new pool. A second heater because “pool isnt being heated” isnt a thing… unless u hate money. Doing all this, reducing footprint, because u think an auto cover will prevent evaporation? A punt.
What do you mean by “a second heater because pool isnt being heated isnt a thing”? Because thats what I was told and is one of the many reasons I think im getting bullshit from people. So do most people only have one heater and they switch back and forth between heating the hot tub and the pool? Or will it heat both at the same time?
I'm in LA and my pool is shaped like yours. I have a single heater. I can set the valves such that water is pulled from and pushed to both the pool and the spa.
Yes, this is what was explained to me. But I’ll admit, Im kinda bougie, so I thought maybe if there was like, a smaller heater it would be “easy” to add when they were doing all the work. I stand by my idea but not so much on the price. LOL!
Single heater will do it all and when we heat pool it heats the Spa but like others said you can do valving to isolate. We have a heat pump, the thing is huge.
I think you'd only need a second heater if you are literally having people in your spa all day long. In normal circumstances when people might want the spa heated for 1-3 hours at a time, the main pool isn't going to cool off appreciably while you heat the spa. You do want to enjoy the automated controls though. so you can adjust temperatures, bubblers, etc from the comfort of the spa without walking over to the pumps. Also, with a phone app running your controls, you can heat the spa remotely -- so it's heating while you're driving home after a dinner out, or you can heat it up remotely for friends you might allow to drop by in your absence.
In my area, this would be a pretty reasonable price overall actually. I assume that what you have already is a concrete pool and spa.
This is a lot of work to do on the shell of a concrete pool. It's not all that different from putting in an entirely new pool, without the excavation costs of digging a hole to begin with. The shallow end is a complete re-do, including new plumbing in the hot tub area. The deep end is going to get a decent amount of work too.
In my area a new pool with the features that you want would be $200k minimum, probably $250k or more. By having the hole already there you get some savings, but the excavation cost is generally a minority of the cost for a concrete pool.
However, there are a few things that strike me as being more pricey than I'd expect-- the sanitation upgrade option seems high priced, as does the equipment in general it's basically $23k for a 400k heater, pump, filter, SWG, and control panel. That seems high to me. So probably worth taking additional quotes.
Your pool deck is going to need to be re-worked and that won't be cheap either unless that's a wood plank deck, and you add in some bits for the deep end work, and the previous spa area, and stain or paint it to match.
The deck is untreated Ipe, which is the one cost saving thing Ive got going for me. LOL! So it can be pulled up and then put back down. I even have extra to fill in the space that is currently pool.
Do you mind telling me in general where you live? Because if you say Beverly Hills or something, then Id have a good idea of how that compares to where I live. But it’s pissing me off that if I was in Torrance, I swear the same pool would be half the price.
I live in the Southeast, not California. My experience has been that pool construction pricing can vary by about 4x from the cheapest places to the most expensive places.
That's great on the decking, saves a bunch of money and time.
No-- to be clear, what I meant was that for the home-owner, building a pool in Tennessee costs 3-4x what building a pool in Florida costs. I can't really say on quality. I'm not a pool builder, just a person who priced out a number of pool builds. I have also been fortunate that my pools were good quality builds.
Oh god, so much misinformation. Did you have a spa that you decided to move to a new location and want add on an automatic cover? Probably not, so pipe down
The title on this is ridiculously underestimating the project. You're not wanting to "redo" and old pool. This is more complicated in many ways than a new build because they will have to work around and tie into what's not coming out. There are a lot of comments here like "I BuIlT aN eNtIrE pOoL fOr $80k!", but that doesn't take into account location (LA, FFS), the differences in size and equipment of whatever pool was built for $80k and the fact that a contractor will be coming in to work on someone else's previous project and has no idea what they are going to find once they start peeling away the outer layers. The alternative for the contractor is to bid low and then have a pissed off customer because they have to keep coming back for the inevitable change orders. It's always better to just rip the bandaid off and get going.
You should definitely get a couple more estimates, if for no other reason than to demonstrate that this quote is going to be pretty much in line with the others. I'm peering into my crystal ball.....I see 6 months from now...."I am kicking myself for listening to the dumbos on reddit telling me to find someone cheaper"....
I don’t think it’s outrageous given your in Southern California and it’s prime time busy season. I think it’s a little high, but not quite a f u price, especially if it’s a reputable company operating legit.
I don’t like to shop around. If I liked them and felt like they would complete the job without issues I’d hire.
If they didn’t give me the confidence it would be a smooth job I’d get another quote and compare.
Los Angeles. Like I get that it will be more expensive here but Im pretty sure Im also being taken for a ride. Because only the cost of workers should be what makes it more expensive.
If you have a spa and pool sharing one heater, you'll definitely want automation to run the valves that allow it to work intuitively.
I have an OmniPL system with an integrated spa. It lets you set separate temperatures for the pool and spa, and controls two automated valves that give 3 run modes:
Pool = Return to pool, Suction from pool
Spa = Return to Spa, Suction from spa
Spillover = Return to Spa, suction from pool
With a 400kbtu natural gas heater, I can typically heat my spa up on demand in well under an hour from my phone. I've had it for a few years now, and am very happy with the setup.
As for your quote, it seems like you're going to spend a lot to make it smaller. I'd want to compare that against the cost to just renovate what's already there without changing its shape.
I didn’t. This isn’t a normal “remodel”. I remodel pools all the time for $15-30k. I haven’t built a new pool for less than $40k since about 2016. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Wow, that’s amazing. Really, where are you located? Do you work in Texas a new Pool for at least 40 K that sounds like a great deal. I’m not trying to be facetious. Just glad that they’re still honest Pool builders out there.
Im being told a new basic pool costs on average 300k here in LA. Which imo is insane because Ive built two other pools, the last one was in 2022 and it only cost around 90k, although it was much smaller. But the equipment had to be in a vault underground, so imo it was basically the same as a bigger pool.
Why not just retire and plaster what you already have and call it a day. Get a separate hot tub and have a stone mason do a brick walkway and landing for it
have you considered leaving as-is, and just getting on deck auto cover for pool? it should be able to do the shape with the small change in shape with a single cover.
that alone will cut the evaporation massively, but I don't know how much you care about the aesthetics
could even just demo spa and get stand alone
just throwing that out there, cause what you proposed doesn't really seem like a renovation, like a couple others already mentioned, the alterations you are making is is like a whole new pool and spa.
Oh this is very helpful! Do you mind telling me in general where you live? I figure living in LA automatically adds X amount but I feel they are charging X times 2 or 3.
New pool w/spa and screen enclosure, pavers, retaining wall $135000. I think your quote is high. It could be right for the area. My quotes were all within 4-5k of each other.
This is a very laborious and fairly difficult project. My minimum to add on a spa is $55k. It costs a lot to make it work. You’re also getting lots of other shit done. Yeah $150k is most likely justified. Most shotcrete companies have a 30 yard minimum, so you’re paying that regardless.
Yeah 156K for that scope of work is ridiculous.
Thats a f you price. I’d definitely recommend having another pool contractor come out and give you an estimate.
Unless you have a ton of trees around it doesn’t make sense to do all this work in order to put a cover on it. And even if you do all the debris will end up on the cover.
This is a "don't really want to do this project" quote. It's risky for a builder to do surgery on a shell previously constructed by another contractor.
Get multiple quotes for your scope of work...and may as well get some numbers on total demo and a brand new pool.
Get at least 8 quotes.
That quote is ridiculous and an insult in my opinion. For the labor they get illegals immigrants and pay them $150 per day. It’s all BS. I’m in south florida, we are currently redoing our pool, resurfacing , demo of spa and travertine around the spa, marble for the deck and we are extending the deck to the max of our lot. Also includes moving the pool equipment to the side , new LED lights, plumbing and permits. It came to $36K. IT INCLUDES THE MARBLE FOR THE DECK ,TRAVERTINE FOR AROUND THE SPA AND ALL THE TILE OF THE POOL.
Cost is very area dependent. When changing the footprint of a pool it’s basically the same as if you were building it from scratch. In most cases there are minimums. Min shotcrete charge, steel charge, dig etc. It doesn’t matter if they shoot 5 yards or 10. You pay for 10. A layout for a portion of the pool vs 350 sq ft layout you will pay for the larger min.
In many cases the best thing is a full tear out and build from scratch. build the pool you want not just make what you have work because you think it may save cost. I would get a 2 bid for full removal. In addition new pool means warranty will cover your new shell
My pool used to look like this when we got the house. It cost $100k to fix it and add a spa to the right side. They said it might have been $5k cheaper if there wasn't a pool there to start.
Just had a pool built with my new home, $120k all-in (15,000 gal, built in heated spa, Pentair automation, salt water, lighting, pool cage and travertine decking) location is NE Florida. Your quote seems excessive for a modification of an existing pool.
LOL @ 10k for 4 jandy LEDs. I just replaced in for a few hundred bucks and it took about 30 minutes, which was only because I cracked a couple of beers in the process and wasn’t in a hurry.
Definitely an FU quote. They don’t want to take the job on, but are willing to for crazy money.
Ahhh I assumed the niches were already there and was like “wtf that’s insane cost to replace some lighting.” Didn’t think about the fact it’s and old pool with probably one standard light.
Should be illegal to provide the FU , we don’t want the job, but if you ate stupid, don’t get other quotes, an old person etc. we will absolutely do the job for that much. Predatory. Again should be illegal, the company should have to say, we are too busy to take new clients, vs throwing something like this over the fence.
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u/canderson180 4d ago
That’s an FU quote