How Hard Is It To Build A Pool?
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How hard is it to build a swimming pool? First, you need to consider who is answering this question for you. As an industry leader I typically poke holes in the quality of swimming pool installations done by professionals. Lots of them. I have long since been compared to Holmes On Homes infamous contractor Mike Holmes as being someone who you call when you want to make it right in the pool industry. I built my entire career on taking projects that other builders could not or would not take on, as well as being the end of the line for countless pools abandoned by less-skilled builders mid phase. So believe me when I tell you this; building swimming pools is vastly more technically challenging than most people give it credit for.
Most people look at the idea of building their own swimming pool like it is just a hole in the ground with water in it, so how hard could it be. These people are experiencing the Dunning-Krueger effect in that they do not know enough about swimming pools to realize just how little they actually know. Sadly this affects many actual professional pool builders as well. I have met countless numbers of professional pool builders who know little about the nuances of how to do this job properly, or efficiently, or safely, or with longevity in mind, or serviceability in mind. So to think that you can walk through the door of an industry you have never spent a day active in and just do what these "professionals" can not seem to get right despite doing this for a living...well it's kind of ridiculous when you put it like that. The problem is that there is simply so much to know it actually takes decades to amass the knowledge needed to build swimming pools properly.
Do you want to self-build your own swimming pool? - If you want to install a swimming pool yourself it is important to understand that my goal is not to convince you not to do it. My goal is to properly prepare you for the challenges ahead. If you go into a new pool installation project thinking "how hard can it be?" then you are surely going to end up with a crappy, compromised, inefficient, leaky pool. But don't worry, it won't last very long either. If you want to build your own pool then you need to know upfront that it is actually pretty challenging to do, many moving parts, many little tricks that you would have no way to know but are critical to the quality of the installation. If you have your guard up and are prepared to research and learn to overcome the technical challenges then you might be able to build your own pool. Part of the problem is that without the benefit of experience it is hard to know what you need to know and nobody is going to be in a hurry to give away their trade secrets to you so you can save a ton of money by not hiring them.
How hard is it to build a pool? - Building a pool would be very similar to building a house. If you think it would be really hard to build a house from nothing more than plans or blueprints then you might struggle to build a pool because the two are closer than you might think. Just as a house starts with a formed concrete basement foundation, so do concrete swimming pools. Then you add plumbing, electrical and lighting, HVAC systems for drawing in air and then heating it and sending it back into the house...all of this is pretty much the same for a pool. You add plumbing for filtration, and electrical for lighting and bonding grids, but pools are even more complicated as you do not need to regulate, test and adjust the pH of the air in your house. Nor maintain appropriate alkalinity levels to buffer your pH movement, but in pools you need to do this. Also sanitizer levels being maintained and filtration schedules, so much more than a house in some ways. So if you do not think you would have the skills it takes to build a house then you really should not be building a swimming pool yourself either.
Installing Fiberglass, Vinyl & Concrete Pools
When you talk about self building a swimming pool it is important to differentiate the different kinds of pools. Above ground pools for example can be installed by any team of handyperson level technical skills. The manufacturer sends instructions with the pool kit, and leveling the ground preparation is basically the hardest part. So for any kind of above ground pool I think it is totally realistic to install one yourself. Which is good because finding skilled installers for an above ground pool kit is like pulling teeth. If you have the skills to build an above ground pool you can probably use those skills to work on an inground pool and make 5x as much, which results in few professional companies operating in the above ground pool installation space for long. Fiberglass pools are the next easiest to install, and in fact the easy to install nature is one of the main reasons that they are as popular as they are. This allows custom home builders to also install the pool which was normally a huge chunk of the budget lost to a professional pool installer to put in a concrete pool.
Most people can put in a fiberglass pool themselves because the manufacturer often will help you to do so by sending out a helper for the installation day. Vinyl liner pool kits are a step up in technical complexity and would require someone with previous building or construction experience to effectively build the wall panels, set the elevations, pour the concrete collar and smooth bottom floor. These are things which require a fair amount of experience and technical skill to do. Installing vinyl liners is hard for anyone not experienced with the process, especially with modern design elements like vinyl over steel steps, benches and ledges which are much harder than less complex liner installations. When it comes to concrete pools these are almost exclusively installed by professional crews due to the rare ability to shotcrete / gunite, as well as waterproofing, tile setting and plaster installations being far beyond the scope of even enthusiastic do-it-yourself pool installers.
Cost savings of installing your own pool - Without a doubt the cost of installing a swimming pool is prohibitive. A modern day swimming pool (inground) with a few bells and whistles is going to set you back a few hundred thousand dollars by the time you factor in decking, landscaping, lighting, design, the pool and filtration equipment. Yes a budget pool installation can still be done, but I have yet to meet the home owner self building a pool that did not include plans for a hot tub, or waterfalls, or deck jets or some other thing that budget swimming pools are definitely not supposed to have. I can definitely understand the motivation of a home owner because a pool with features like that is going to cost an arm and a leg, so it is very appealing to think you can get the same for far less money by doing it yourself. Again, if you are the kind of person who would and could build a house if you want to in order to save money then I am on board. If you think that building your own house sounds crazy and intimidating then I encourage you to really think long and hard about self building a pool. Maybe a professional build but start with a bare bones pool. No water features, no turbo twister slides, no in-floor cleaning systems or any expensive options.
Without the benefit of experience it would be pretty easy to make a critical mistake with one or more parts of your self-built pool. This is something that I see often from people who learn to build pools from Youtube. I have hundreds of Youtube videos myself on the Swimming Pool Steve Youtube Channel but I am very careful to try to give honest feedback to people to help them understand pools better. I have met countless people who have already built a block wall pool design that they found online, and they are having trouble finding a company to plaster the pool. This is because block wall concrete pool construction went out in the 60's and pretty much nobody builds block wall concrete pools outside of 3rd world countries now. The problem is that you can not plaster a stacked block wall even if you fill the blocks. Solid poured (or shot) concrete pools can still crack from the immense forces that are put on them. Think just how much stronger a uniformly poured concrete vessel is than hundreds of concrete blocks jointed together. It is a guaranteed failure if you try to plaster over block walls. Block wall pools should exist only as membrane or liner pools, in which case they are a totally valid build style. But you should never plaster block wall pools and unfortunately many home owners and self-builders learn this after they have already completed their block wall pool. If you do not mind a vinyl liner then you are in luck. If you really thought you were building a concrete pool for tile or plaster, then you are out of luck.
What Makes Building A Pool So Hard?
When you build a house you hire plumbers for the plumbing, and electricians for the lighting and electrical. Then HVAC technicians for the duct work, heating and air conditioning systems and don't forget the concrete crew for the house foundation and driveways etc. as well as the framers who actually do all of the woodwork to form the foundation and frame the house. When it comes to pools you will have to deal with pretty much all the same stuff, except you have to be able to do all of it yourself, or at least in house within your company. That is a lot of technical trades all coming together and this does not even take into consideration the circulation and filtration system and organic chemistry you need to learn about. Perhaps now you are seeing a little more clearly why pools are so challenging to build, at least for people who find building and technical trades challenging.
The swimming pool industry is largely unregulated to this day, unlike plumbers or electricians or mechanics all of which need trade certification in order to operate their company. Swimming pools are unregulated not because there is too little to bother regulating, it is unregulated because it is so immensely complicated and crosses so many trade barriers that it is almost impossible to design a trade certification course that would actually teach you what you need to know. Based on my real world experience it would take me 10 years to train someone how to build a concrete pool properly including all of the facets of this type of pool. And that is only one type of pool, and only to build it. None of that information would apply or really help you at all if you want to change areas of the industry and work as a pool maintenance technician in Florida. You would be completely out of water even though you build concrete pools. This is why pools are unregulated, and the complex technical nature of pools should not be underestimated. Can you describe the difference between bonding and grounding, or even what an equipotential bonding grid is? Are you aware of water velocity limitations to prevent underwater entrapment hazards? How much water should you design this pool to filter every day? How do you deal with ground water in the area you want to build the pool? What makes one pool more or less efficient than another pool? When you set out to build a pool you will need to touch on almost every skilled construction trade there is, plus learn chemistry and water filtration, plus structural building elements...are you sure you want to take all of this on without any experience previously building pools?
For many years now I have said that swimming pools are the origin of the phrase "doesn't hold water" simply because if you do any part of the job wrong, the pool will simply not hold water and that is pretty obvious for the pool owner to see. If you want to build your own pool then you definitely can with a good attitude, great work ethic and a dedication to learn about what you are doing before you do it. You can plan it will not be an entirely smooth process as there are more moving parts than you might suspect on the surface, but there has never been a better time where access to information is better and more readily available than now. You might also want to consider signing up for the Swimming Pool Steve Pool Installation Consulting where you have access to an industry professional that you ask questions and get second opinions about your new swimming pool installation. If you are trying to do this on your own then you will find this service to be a tremendous value. If you want to try building your own pool, completely on your own, then consider a vinyl liner pool kit for inground pools as these are much more realistic to build technically speaking, and much more affordable as well, and vinyl pools have come a long way in terms of how they look when installed. Perhaps it is best to leave the concrete pool construction to the professionals.
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Swimming Pool Steve is an award winning, second generation swimming pool specialist from Ontario Canada and one of the most trusted voices in the swimming pool industry. With over 20,000,000 views on the Swimming Pool Steve YouTube Channel, winner of the Pleatco Pool & Spa Industry Leadership award and author of hundreds of pool and spa articles both online and in print. Steve is committed to helping pool and spa owners as well as pool and spa industry workers learn more about the technical side of building, renovating, repairing and maintaining all types of swimming pools and spas. Follow Swimming Pool Steve on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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