THE DESIGN AND BUILDING PROCESS
OF A CUSTOM Lucas Lagoons POOL

1. INITIAL DESIGN MEETING

The first phase is design. We will meet with you at the pool location. We will listen to your ideas and dreams for the pool and come up with a preliminary plan. We will take a picture of the area in which the pool will be located. We will ask you to think about the type of rock you like, whether or not you want a spa, interior finish color, and what kind of deck topping you want. But don’t worry. None of these decisions has to be final. Remember this is the dreaming stage. So let’s dream together. In order to proceed to step two you will be required to pay a fee for the design work based on 2.5% of the estimated price. This fee will be deducted from the total estimate when you decide to go forward with the lagoon.

2. PLANS AND DESIGNS

During the next two weeks we will check with the county on all zoning requirements for your area, draw up a set of plans showing the location of the pool, its dimensions, and the location of all the pool components from drains, to falls, to pool equipment. We will have a list of all the equipment and amenities we recommend. We will also create a virtual photograph of the design. We have found that the photograph gives a better idea of our design than a simple plan view of a pool. We will also prepare an itemized estimate of the whole project.

3. CONTRACT AND PERMITTING

We will meet with you again, go over the designs and make any changes you want. Once the plans are finalized you will sign the contract as well as the necessary Notice to Owner and Child Safety Act that are required by the county. You will also provide us with a site plan and a drainage plan (if required), and you will give us the first payment. Then we will put together the package with all the plans and specifications required by the county or city, and deliver it to the proper authorities along with the payments required to get the permit. The time to get a permit varies from three to six weeks. In Manatee County for an extra $450 you can get a permit in about two weeks.

4. POOL LAYOUT, EXCAVATION, FORMING, PLUMBING
       AND FIRST INSPECTION

We will notify you once the permit is issued, and will be on your site within the next week to lay-out the pool. Pool lay-out takes a day. The following day we will excavate the pool and begin to form it and put in steel reinforcing rods on the bottom and sides of the pool, into the bond beam and around the skimmers. These rods are firmly wired together to add to the strength and long life of your pool. This step should take one day. Then we will call for our first inspection. The inspector should arrive the next day to sign off and allow us to proceed.

5. POOL SHELL

The following day the pool will be “shot” meaning a concrete mixture in pneunatically applied under great pressure to bond tightly around the steel reinforcing rods. The result is a steel reinforced concrete shell of superior strength. If we are building waterfalls or rock walls on your lagoon you will see that the pool sides may be 2’ to 4’ thick where the rock is going to be placed. (The normal pool sides are 6” thick). We will then let the concrete cure for a day. And start the 28 day count-down for the interior finish. (In order to warrantee the interior finish the concrete must cure for a minimum of 28 days). So you can mark you calendar.

6. STRIP FORMS AND SEAL

The next day we pull off the forms and apply a special sealing material to any areas that will be under the rock work. It is a special crystalline sealer used to seal tunnels, bridges, and airport runways. We are the only pool company that uses it. This guarantees that there will be no water loss underneath the rock waterfalls and stone work.

7. STONE WORK

Three days after the pool is shot we can begin the stone work. We will also be doing the coping and the tiling and finishing the plumbing. Depending on the scope of the rock work this part of the job can take anywhere from one to three weeks.

8.TILE, COPING

Now the rock work is done the tile and coping are installed.

9. FINAL PLUMBING INSPECTION

Our plumber will install state of the art equipment to filter and purify your water. Once the plumbing is in, and before it is hooked up to the pumps we call for a final plumbing inspection.

10. INSTALL POOL EQUIPMENT

All the pool equipment is brought in and installed.

11. ELECTRICAL HOOK UP

A licensed electrician hooks up the pool equipment. If power or more power needs to be brought from the main panel in the house to the pool pad this electrician is qualified to do it.

12. ELECTRICAL INSPECTION

Once the equipment is hooked up and ready to go we call for the electrical inspection.

13. FORM AND POUR DECK

After the rock work is done, and the tile and coping are installed, if there is going to be a concrete deck, it is formed up and the soil is treated by a professional pest control company. We call for a deck inspection and after it has passed we bring back in the concrete truck to pour the deck. This is the last step before the interior finish.

14. INTERIOR FINISH

As soon as the 28 days have passed the crew that applies the interior finish arrives. It usually takes them about a half a day to do a pool. Some of our lagoons take all day. (By the way, do not worry if the color that they are applying does not look like the sample you chose. What you are seeing is the grout that covers the pebbles and not the pebbles themselves.) The next day a specialized member of the crew comes back to spray down the pool and wash off the grout that is covering the small pebbles that make up the interior finish. As soon as he finishes washing down the pool, we begin filling it up. This usually takes from 24 to 72 hours depending on the size of the pool and the water pressure. If you are using public water we will give you a letter so that you are not charged at the highest rate for water usage. The usual pool usually costs between $75 and $175 to fill.

15. SUBSTANTIAL COMPLETION

After the pool is filled and the pool and waterfalls are running, the project is considered to be substantially complete and the final payment less 5% retainage is due.

16. BALANCE POOL CHEMISTRY

The next step is to balance out the pool chemistry. This takes from three to seven days and, yes, you can swim in your pool after the first 24 hours. It won’t be as perfect as it will be, but it won’t be dangerous or unhealthy. Once the pool chemistry is balanced out we will give you an instruction sheet telling you how to maintain your own pool, and we will show you how to test the chemistry, clean the filter, and fill the chlorinator. If you decide that you would rather have someone else maintain it, we will give you our recommendations.

17. INSTALLATION OF FENCES AND ALARMS

Now the pool fence and alarms must be installed so that we can call for our final inspection. This is your responsibility, although of course we will help you with it.

18. FINAL INSPECTION

We call for a final inspection and the inspector checks the alarms and fences and signs off for the last time.

19. IRRIGATION AND PUNCH LIST

The last thing that we will do is add any irrigation that is needed for the new planting, and re-sod any areas we have destroyed with our heavy equipment. We will do a final walk through with you and fix anything that you think needs fixing. When we leave the job we want both of us to be completely satisfied that the job was done both beautifully and professionally.

20. WARRANTEE

We warrantee our work for five years. (The average pool company warrantees its work for one year or less.) The equipment comes with warrantees that vary from one to three years. We only use the top of the line equipment and it has been our experience that any equipment problems (which are extremely rare) are addressed immediately by the manufacturer’s certified technicians.

21. PARTY TIME!

When everything is finished we will wait for our invitation to the party we know you are going to have to show off your beautiful new lagoon.

So to recapitulate. From the time that the permit is issued the project should take from 6 to 8 weeks to complete. During that time with a couple of exceptions (waiting for the concrete to cure for the rocks), we will be on the job every day. The average pool takes anywhere from three months to 2 years to complete. A Lucas Lagoon takes 6 weeks to 2 months. But of course we are not your average pool company.

PRICES FOR A LUCAS LAGOON START AT $100,000.00

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