You can e-mail me at Rob@aqualinepoolandspa.com

We are in the Seattle area.

jesse,

Racket's company Aqualine did my pool in Bothell. As with any pool build there were a few frustrations along the way...but I would recommend them. Also, if I did another pool I would hire them. There are very few pool builders to choose from in this area. I also contacted Master Pools and didn't care for the salesman, his bid and his lack of interest in my project. I had a challenging yard that included a 70' x 12' retaining wall to level my sloping yard, access was difficult and when I bidded out the job the market was much better for pool builders.

It's all about expectations when you hire your PB. What are they responsible for and what are you responsible for.

As with my builder he made it very clear. "See the coping? I do everything inside this - you do everything outside this". That means you must hire independant electricians for the electrical, independant gas guy for the gas, independant solar guys for the solar... and so on. You will become the Project Manager of your pool build so be prepared for the work involved. I'd be happy to share more if you like.

By the way, I looooooove my pool! This was our first season and was disappointed with our weather this year. We just shut off the heat Monday. So no more pooling this year. :(

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Pool Photos

Thank you so much for responding. I havea million questions for poolmissy! Cost? Size? Do you love your little in pool seating area. I hear it is great. Salt water or chlorine or another cleaning method? I want to know everything you are happy with, what you would not do again,etc. I appreciate anything you can tell me. I will definitely contact Rob. Thanks!

Jesse,

Our pool is 18 x 36.

We have all Pentair equipment. Since we have an automatic pool cover, we could not have salt water. After calling automatic cover companies, none would honor a warranty with a salt system due to possible corrosion problems. Since the cover itself was $10K and the custom coping brackets another $5k, I didn't want to risk any future problems.

The costs of our pool was high. Many of my features are upgrades.

Glass Water tile line
Pre-cast coping
In-floor cleaning system
Itellitouch wireless remote system
Water/fire features

I spent nearly a year planning my back yard and we have spent over 200K on the entire project (which actually isn't finished yet.) But that included retaining walls, 100 trucks of dirt to level my yard, new timber teck decking and concrete patio around pool, pool house, fencing, trellis, landscaping, etc.

The first thing I recommend is purchasing a Pool and Spa book. I bought one at home depot called Pools & Spas by Fran Donegan. After reading this I became educated on the types of pools, systems and equipment.

2nd - set a budget. By the end of my original budget and upgrading to what I wanted my budget doubled!

Also, when you are ready I have a great (inexpensive) electrician and plumber who know how to do pools that I can refer you.

If you decide to do solar contact me first.

If you need to install gas equipment, bid it out to a couple of people. I used PSE's contractor referral system and even though the project came out okay, the workmen were questionable so I wouldn't refer them to anyone.

My concrete patio guy was a disaster so I wouldn't recommend him.

I love the baja/sun shelf. We use it alot! My pool is 4' deep at the end and 6' deep in the center. Long enough to do laps, shallow enough on the ends to play games, balls & water frisbees, etc. and just enough shelf to have lounge chairs for sunning.

My sun shelf faces due West. I have sun in my pool until after 8pm in July & August!

The only one minor change I would have made would have been to make the sun shelf stick out 5' instead of 6'. Other than that everything is perfect.

If you go with the Intellitouch operating system (which I highly recommend) Rob is an expert at programming it! Also as the follow-up guy, Rob has been wonderful.

What kind of pool have you been thinking about. Do you have any specifics that you know you want yet?

poolmissy
Thanks for all the info. I need to make some decisions. I have to have the automatic cover, just for safety. I wanted the salt system because I have an allergy to chlorine, but that is not an option from what you say. So I will need to look at other alternatives to basic chlorine. All the details are so helpful. Like the size of the shelf, that is something I would not have a clue about. I will be writing more to you for sure. We are building a house at the same time as pool construction, so we will be using the same electricians and other subs, who will coordinate with the pool people. More later.....