Hello, congrats on getting near D-Day (dig day)! I'm an architect and just went through this myself, so it's a subject near and dear to me. For me it was very important to orient the pool to maximize views to the pool from inside the house. This required a slightly off-parallel orientation. The sight lines determined the final decisions on pool orientation as well as the grotto and waterfall locations. Location of utilities is a consideration and did affect our decision on location. We ended up relocating the phone line, but thankfully the power was OK (that would have been a high cost item). Do you have a septic system or are you on sanitary sewer? If septic, is it anaerobic or aerobic? Is it the main coming out of the house that conflicts with the pool, or the secondaries? Secondaries are easier to move than the main. Before letting everyone else decide your pool orientation, you should get pricing on relocating utilities (if required) so you can evaluate it yourself. What I did was generate a drawing of our back yard with all existing utilities and trees shown. Then I laid in several different pool orientations to evaluate. Your PB should be able (and hopefully willing) to do this for you.

If you have a traditional brick ranch-style home, just about any pool style will go with it. But if you have a home with a lot of classical detailing (greek-based columns, etc.) then a more formal design may be more appropriate. But you can do a free-form pool that has classical detailing incorporated into it, it doesn't have to be a rigid geometric shape to look classical.

Good luck!!

Thanks so much, tresw! I appreciate you mentioning these various factors. Our house is a traditional two-story brick house. I guess you would say "Georgian" in style.

One important thing I probably should have mentioned. Not only are they saying it should be perpendicular, but it's not centered with the house. It's slightly to the right of my house, and I really like things centered!

We will take your advice and check into moving the septic lines. The health dept. comes tomorrow, so maybe I'll know more then!

I appreciate your help!

Jdegid, your pool and back yard is lovely! Thanks so much for sharing. It's interesting that you mention sun -- I live on a mountain and my yard has many trees, a creek, boulders and a sloping yard.(Could our yards be any more opposite?!) With the trees and position of the house, the pool area will only get morning sun. I'd love a sunny, flat yard like yours! :)

Quote: "Not only are they saying it should be perpendicular, but it's not centered with the house. It's slightly to the right of my house, and I really like things centered!"

Haha! I know what you mean. I don't like something being just a little off center, either center it or move it way to one side! That said, things always look different in plan than in "real life" because in real life you're viewing things in perspective and even when items are centered if you're standing to one side or the other you don't perceive it. Landscaping will impact that as well, if you're going for a formal English-garden style of symmetry the pool location will matter a lot more than in a more organic-shaped setting. There is a lot to consider and the best thing to do is develop a master plan that shows your pool, all your paving, your landscaping and any other fixed items (playset, BBQ, etc.) Consider not just what's going out there now, but anything you might add in the future too.

Quote: "I live on a mountain and my yard has many trees, a creek, boulders and a sloping yard"

Wow, that sounds beautiful! Do you have any pics?

Another consideration for you since you mention boulders and being on a mountain, try to get the PB to commit to an excavation cost. There can be huge cost adds later if they budget a small amount for excavation and put in the contract that they don't guarantee the excavation cost. This is common practice as they don't want to price themselves out of the job. You are very likely to have rocky conditions and it's going to be expensive to excavate if you do. I've heard of some pools costing an extra 10k after the contract was signed due to this! This will drive up your initial cost if you get it guaranteed in the contract, but at least you'll know what the number is and can budget accordingly versus trying to wrestle with them over the cost later. You're also more likely to get a better price on it if it's incorporated into the contract.

tresw, I do have pictures but I'm afraid I'm very challenged when it comes to posting photos here at Gardenweb. When I finished my kitchen remodel this past fall, I tried and tried to post pictures of the new kitchen and the renovation process, but was never able to post much of anything! Sorry that I'm not technologically savy! :)
I will tell you though, it's not really beautiful! My yard is quite wooded and really needs a lot of work!

Thanks so much for all your help. I have heard that hitting rock can make the pool price go through the roof. The pb's are saying that my slope actually is good, in case they hit rock. We will definitely get the PB to commit to an exact cost before work begins.

Many thanks!

Hope you get a chance to do pics soon, as a wooded mountain top site does indeed sound lovely...

In our case the angles were pretty much set when we built our home. The pool is parallel to the main house but perpendicular to the master wing. We essentially were more focused on the sun exposure and distance from the house...

Here is a link that might be useful: Our blog

Our home is on top of a rocky ridge. We also have a sloping, rocky, rocky! yard with many trees. We ended up building the pool into the side of the rocky ridge and orienting it slightly horizontal (a little angling away) and to the left of the house. A waterfall will bridge the gap between teh pool and ridge top. It was the only way we could see fitting in a pool and we really wanted one. It cost us 3K to have the trees and large (and I do mean large...think volkswagon bug) boulders removed, then another 3k for rock excavation/gravel during the actual dig. Hopefully in the end it will be worth it! I have pictures posted on here if you search for posts with my user name. We just had the shotcrete yesterday so we're getting closer. Good luck!
Judy

See link for our pool position. We did not want the pool directly in back of the house, nor did we want a screen (real popular here in FL).

The shell is in, and the long side is actually parallel to the garage... the picture has a bit of error in it. Our home is a 2-story traditional... farmhouse/colonial.

-Gorilla

Here is a link that might be useful:

Our pool is going to end up being more perpendicular than parallel and offset from the house, mainly because of our septic line. Guess it is on a 45 degree angle from the house.

We did not want to move the line that runs from the house to the tank but we did have to reroute the line that goes to the drain field. This was completed two weeks ago and cost about $1500 including a $167 permit fee to the county.

I've seen a number of pools in both directions and don't think one is "better" than the other but the location needs to work with your site and you have to like it!