Owner Builder Pool Install

Hi

we have started gathering pool quotes and want to cover all bases. When doing a pool owner builder what is the process?

So i have found a kit with pool and pumps etc

-Excavation
??Then what would be the following steps and what trades do we need?

Clearly very new to this so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

We had one put in recently. It was all through a company, but would've been the same had we done it ourselves.

For us it was something like:

1. DA & CC approval
2. Excavation & dirt removal (day 1)
3. Electrician came to finish power to pump location (day 2)
4. Pool & kit delivered, sat on front lawn (day 3)
5. Pool craned around house. Put on ground adjacent hole and plumbed up. Excavator placed into hole, frinished hook up. We had a team of about seven installers, all doing different parts. (day 4)
6. Pool filled with water and temp fencing up (day 4)
7. Pool cleaned by professional (day 8ish)
8. Concrete formwork and pour for bond beam/slab (apx 3 weeks later) (has to be between # - # weeks. Maybe 2 - 5 weeks?)
9. Pavers laid on top of concrete (week 5)

Depending on how much landscaping you need to do, you'd only need a pool installation team, electrician, concreter and fencer.

I see a lot of failed swimming pools and if yours becomes one you will have no redress because it will be entirely at your risk

^ Not entirely true.

We went through a reputable company here. They supplied and delivered the pool and kit. That was the extent of our contract with them. They then got us to sign a separate contract directly with the pool installation company. That second company dug the hole and installed the pool.

We have the pool shell warranty with the first, and installation warranty with the second.

I'd expect if you arranged these two companies yourself you'd have the same. Just insist on contracts and write in warranty clauses if they arent there.

Yes you have a warranty from installers but who checked their work complies and conforms. If you are not experienced in pool installation you won't know what to look for, the supervisory element is missing. Then you just have to trust blind with a warranty in your hand. What about pool design and site assessment, who checked that your pool won't be subject to external site influences?
If your pool fails , everyone will be blaming everyone else.

Regardless I wish you luck and hope it's never tested.

Tranquility (our pool supplier) never came back *at all* after they delivered the pool shell. In fact they didnt even answer the phone, they only replied to texts after we paid for the shell. The installation was entirely in the hands of the installer.

Tranquility also never commented on pool design or site influences. They just wanted to make a quick sale. In hind sight I don't recommend them.

I think the case is what you just said applies to our situation and also the OPs, the difference being the OP is ahead several thousand dollars as they dont have Tranquility's margin on top. Perhaps we'd have slightly more pull as we'd take it to social media etc if we needed to.

I guess the moral of the story is if you go our route, pick someone better than tranquility, someone who takes ownership of the shell AND the installation, understand how it works before they start putting paper in front of you to sign.

cat_dunc says

"someone who takes ownership of the shell AND the installation, understand how it works before they start putting paper in front of you to sign"

Yes, that's your pool builder. If you are doing OB you don't get that.

"Yes, that's your pool builder. " - no as I said, with fibreglass pools not always. As I said "Tranquility" are a fibreglass pool company in competition to the likes of Barrier Reef, and many others. Whilst they called & booked in the installer, arranged the dates, they seperated the installation out of their own contractual agreement into a different one. We only "went" to Tranquility for everything, but we were asked to sign two contracts and paid two different entities. I'd be super keen to see if Barrier Reef did that also. I think this is vastly different to concrete pools, where they really are a "pool builder".

Anyway, I'm no building expert so moving along

Good luck OP!

Thanks for you replies, it does seem like if we went with two seperate companies one for actual pool and one to install we may save some money not sure how much yet will be looking into it more. Would prefer having someone like Narellan, Bluehaven or a local company that oversees the whole job from start to finish. Will be going to the pool show in Sydney in march to suss everyone out.