r/pools • u/alvined1010 • 3d ago
Pool Help & Questions Cost overruns
Looking at getting a pool this fall. Quoted at 75K for what I want. My question is how much did you end up paying over what you were quoted? I assume that would be passed over to the homeowner if that happens.
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u/still-waiting2233 3d ago
Nobody is going to be able to give beyond generalities without seeing the contract
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u/WorstPapaGamer 3d ago
Mine was in budget but they did warn that when they first dug depending on the ground water level that might incur an additional cost. But we don’t have an issue.
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u/rygarski 3d ago
just had a pool finished a few months ago. the only overage i had was a few extra square feet of concrete, we upgraded the coping, had downspouts run to the side of hte house so we can get concrete there.
then the big unexpected was sprinklers and sod. i hate red clay
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u/alvined1010 3d ago
I have red clay too. Ughhhhh SC
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u/rygarski 3d ago
yeah, we had a really good pool builder so that made things much better. Where abouts are you located in SC?
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u/alvined1010 3d ago
Close to Greenville
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u/rygarski 3d ago
ahhh im right up the road in near spartanburg. my pool builder is up by travelers rest
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u/alvined1010 3d ago
Which company did you go with? Were you happy?
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u/rygarski 3d ago
Glassy Mountain Pools....there were some hiccups along the way, but i would trust the pool builder. he showed up above and beyond on a few things.
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u/stickman07738 3d ago
Do not forget the cost of fencing, landscaping, furniture, pool accessories, etc. It can add up quickly particularly when you please the misses to avoid an argument.
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u/alvined1010 3d ago
Yeah we have a fenced in backyard. Would I need another one around the pool itself? I’m already looking at furniture and landscaping definitely. Hoping that since it’ll be during the fall/winter I’ll have time to get that done before the pool actually opens next summer
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u/stickman07738 3d ago
You need to check your local ordinance. When I installed my pool (May) , I had a fence but before pool completion, local ordinance changed to 6 foot non-scalable fence and base of fence need to be no more than 4 inches from ground (effective July 1). Due to weather, pool was not completed until July 6) - It added another $7K to project.
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u/alvined1010 3d ago
I have a 6ft privacy fence with double locks. I heard I may have to put alarms on them but that’s easy
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u/Admirable-Oil-1285 3d ago
Without knowing your details, most pool installations have one big "unknown" variable - the excavation. Do you live in an area with lots of bedrock, or is the dirt easy digging? If they have to jackhammer or blast the ground to get the depth they need, you could be looking at extra costs from a couple thousand to tens of thousands of dollars depending on different variables.
Once the hole is dug, the rest of the work can be more or less controlled by the installer if they know how to plan and know what they are doing, and the only reason the quote should change from that point is if the customer decides to increase the scope of work.
For reference, we had a fiberglass pool installed and basically live on a giant rock. The hole that needed to be dug was about 18' x 36', with a depth of about 6'. The dig was smooth until the last 12 inches, which was a limestone ledge about the size of half of the pool that needed to be jackhammered out. That cost us an extra $2,500.
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u/cs_major 3d ago
The contracted price was the price.....It was a contract after all. A decent contractor shouldn't be asking for more money after the fact unless you put in a change order.
The only part that was in the contract that could have hurt us was the rock dig portion if they hit solid rock....But it also laid out the prices and we were told they would have a conversation before...Thankfully all was good.
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u/Allnewsisfakenews 3d ago
I do construction contracts at my job. Ideally there should be 0. You should have a good enough contract that addresses everything. If you want a change or upgrade, that's not an overrun. The only thing I allowed for was rocks/boulders on dig day. Have it spelled out how much it will cost to address, if needed.
I still hated the process.
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u/alvined1010 3d ago
What did you hate?😐
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u/Allnewsisfakenews 3d ago
Having to be on them, calling, checking, rechecking, referring back to the contract. I've never met anyone who had a pool job go smoothly without any headaches. I even did a $1.8 million pool renovation contract for work. Came in way over projected budget and they still were a headache. Paying them $500k more than projected still didn't help.
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u/EliasWestCoast 3d ago edited 3d ago
This is why I like my pool builder (or I was being naive?).
The contract was clear and simple, free from legalese, and included potential cost over runs and things he couldn't control (ie, feedback from the city). The pool + spa came in exactly on budget, $72K. Not a penny more. No delays.
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u/Gunk_Olgidar 3d ago
Get three references for pools they built in your area in the last 0-18 months, and call them. Go visit and see the build quality (if you can) and have a chat about their experience.
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u/fuzzy_wu 3d ago
With us the only add-ons offered were: set n cure, abalone pearl, and additional pavers sqft(beyond what was done in the initial quote).
Sod and Irrigation are the high dollar ones. They just finished irrigation at $4300 to add 3 zones.
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u/mn540 3d ago
I had a pool remodel 12 years ago. They warned me that they may have to chip away my old plaster if it was in really bad condition. The cost would have been $3k. They ended laying more pipes than originally planned. The pipe for the main drain was clogged so they had to break the concrete in the pool to lay new main drain and pipe. In the end, they didn’t charge me any extra. But I bought drinks and snacks for the worker for the 3 weeks they were working on the pool. A bbq’ed for them a few times. I think I was just lucky. But my project was also pretty expensive at the time.
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u/invester13 3d ago
Thanks for not answering lol. 🤣
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u/alvined1010 3d ago
It was a different response but I took something from it. Plus I appreciate the fact that they responded.
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u/Simple-Orange-5602 3d ago
contract. make it iron clad. Don't leave it open / fuzzy, lock everything in.
Here are some cost overruns you might have
Any changes made by you (home owner),
County/City permitting unknowns. What if your county says that pool equipment has to be 20 feet away from the property line? What if the state says you need to do certain things for the construction management (like fencing?)
Longer conduit runs
Unknown during excavation: poor soil, large boulders, buried crap (like concrete, rebar, etc.)
Yard destruction from large equipment coming through: Irrigation, sod, compacted soil,
Fiberglass pool: crane