Many Things Can Delay Your Pool Installation

Deciding to install a swimming pool in your backyard is an exciting decision. These amenities transform your yard into your own personal oasis. You can use your pool to exercise, cool down on a hot summer day, or relax. Regardless of your intentions, a pool will drastically upgrade the aesthetic of your backyard. However, pool construction is a complicated process. People often only have the faintest of ideas about what goes into installing a pool. It requires many moving parts and many parties to work together.

We know better than anyone that people are beyond excited to take a dip in their new pool. While new pool owners might have an idea of how long the pool construction timeline may be, it often varies. Just because your friend’s pool was completed in six months does not mean yours will be, too. Conditions at your home may differ from those of another. Even a pool built just a street away may have a longer or shorter timeline. Unforeseen circumstances, such as the current global pandemic, weather, and soil type, can all cause delays in your pool construction timeline.

Many new and future pool owners are unaware of the many things that can slow down the process of installing a pool. As a premier North Texas pool builders, Mid City Custom Pools has experience dealing with a variety of factors that can delay pool construction. Through these delays, we will continue to work to the best of our abilities to bring you a quality swimming pool. In today’s blog, we would like to go over some of the factors that can impact your pool construction timeline.

Weather

The weather can drastically impact the timeline of your pool installation. Rain makes pool installation particularly challenging. Rain can affect various steps of the pool building process. Excavation is one of the first and most crucial steps in the entire process. When the ground is wet due to rain, excavators struggle to reach the construction site. However, if an excavator does make it to the site, the soil is often too soft and unstable. The ground will fall apart easily, making it virtually impossible to excavate the shape needed for your pool. The walls of your pool may also cave in when the soil is wet, which means builders would need to excavate again. If it rains after excavation, builders have to wait for the water to dry up and remove the excess water with a pump.

If the dirt is wet, the shape is more likely to cave in, which means builders cannot install steel reinforcement or plumbing. The same goes for gunite application. If the ground is wet, builders cannot get the right trucks close enough to apply gunite. Dry sand is also necessary for gunite. Wet sand can cause issues for equipment. Finally, while gunite can be applied to steel and the floor when wet, workers can’t apply it while it is raining. Additionally, inspections are often put off due to rain.

Removing Existing Structures

Another factor that not many people think about is the removal of existing structures. Often, people want to replace something in their backyard with a new swimming pool. Occasionally, that something may also be an older pool. While removing this structure may not seem like a big deal, it causes more problems than you realize.

Often, these structures disrupt the ground where they are, which becomes an issue because it leads to unstable dirt. When excavating, builders need the ground to be stable to ensure that they can create the correct shape for your pool. Removing existing structure leads the dirt to be unstable, leaving it susceptible to cave-ins. These cave-ins lead to delays.

Soil

When it comes to building a pool, soil is one of the least conspicuous yet most vital factors to consider. Soil can drastically influence the design, construction, and maintenance of your project. Some builds are straight forward with soil that is conducive to excavation and construction. Others require more intense construction, involving over excavating, deeper foundations, and soil conditioning.

Soil contains many different components that each have pros and cons. Unfortunately, many of these components make it difficult to build pools. Some soils are more expansive than others, meaning they will swell when they come into contact with water. Another critical factor when it comes to soil is if it can compress under pressure or if it can bear the weight. These factors must be taken into consideration when building your pool.

The presence of soft or sandy soil means that the walls of the excavation are more likely to collapse, making it difficult to spray gunite. Clay is very expansive and absorbs water better than any soil type, causing it to expand, which can cause many issues. Soil type can cause delays, as your builder will need to come up with a plan around it.

The Size of the Project

If you only want a swimming pool built in your backyard, then the overall process will go by much faster. However, if you request additional amenities to be included, the process will be much longer. In many projects, homeowners also want to include spas, fire features, water features, decks, outdoor living spaces, and much more to their pool.

While all of these amenities will make fantastic additions to the aesthetic and usefulness of your yard, they will also extend the pool construction timeline. These additions can add a couple of months to the length of construction. However, it is best if you do include the installation of many of these features when building your pool.

The Impact of COVID-19

As we briefly mentioned earlier, the ongoing spread of COVID-19 has led to many challenges for pool builders around the country. While we can prepare for most delays to happen, the current pandemic is unprecedented. COVID-19 has caused many delays, including the following:

• Delay in Pool Parts: Throughout the pandemic, companies that create and distribute pool parts necessary for pool construction have either shut down or slowed their production. Parts such as heaters will take nearly twice as long to get, pushing your timeline back further.
• Permits: COVID-19 has also impacted the ability to get permits. Approval from electric providers and city permitting departments are taking longer than usual, taking as long as two months. Construction cannot finish without these approvals.

With the pandemic still ongoing, we are unsure how much longer these delays will last. However, without specific parts or permit approvals, your pool construction timeline will be delayed.

Delays are common when installing a swimming pool. Whether it be due to weather, unstable soil, or unprecedented circumstances, delays keep you from reaping the benefits of your pool. While one pool in the same neighborhood as yours took seven months to build, yours may need to take 11 months. Or it could take shorter. A host of factors must be taken into consideration. Regardless, the expert pool builders at Mid City Custom Pools will continue to work through these delays, finding ways to further your project through delays to ensure you get your pool as soon as possible.