I was quoted 500,000 B for a pool!

[DesertStorm]

I had to laugh. Naturally, I won't be taking the company up on their generous offer!

Is such a high price normal here?

I don't want an Olympic pool!

[BobHelm]

Difficult to say as you do not mention a size!!
A small pool, more useful for lounging in than swimming, could be knocked up for you by just about any jobbing builder.
If you want something suitable for swimming in then you are talking about specialist builders & they will not come cheap.
The weight of the water alone should not be underestimated in a pool of any size & just digging a hole & cement blocking it will not give a product that lasts very long, that is for sure.
On top of that you do not mention if the price included the water filtration/cleaning system - that is not an inconsequential charge either. With a pool (as with most things in Thailand) buying cheap will result in a product that is unfit for purpose in a very short time with little chance of recompense!!

[kopkei]

can you give some dimensions, depth , overflow or skimmer system, what kind of filter etc....( sandfilter, DE filter, element filter)...????

[kjellsnell]

My pool was builted for 320 000 bath and its 8x4 m all included.

[fdimike]

Building a pool in Thailand is a bit different from doing the same in the US where Gunite and steel rebar is used to form the "tub". I'm told the ground is very unstable in this area especially during the rainy season requiring much more than just a reinforced concrete shell. My pool which is kidney shaped and measures 17.39m x 6.8m had to be built on concrete pilings to insure the stability and integrity of the "tub". The walls and floor are reinforced high strength concrete with waterproofing chemical in the mix. There are lots of things to consider as well. What kind of tile do you want to use to line the pool, what kind of filtration system, salt water (no chlorine required) or standard freshwater (chlorine required), sand filter or DE filter, filter pumps (China, Australia, USA etc), underwater lights etc etc. Bottom line is building a pool here in Thailand is costly.

[LoveDaBlues]

I had to laugh. Naturally, I won't be taking the company up on their generous offer!

Is such a high price normal here?

I don't want an Olympic pool!

I have to laugh at this post. With no mention of size, materials used/build design, extras, etc. etc. etc.
500k baht could very well be a fair or even a bargain price.

My neighbor had a pool built for 900,000 baht; he's happy with the pool and price. I would be too as I watched the build and it was first-class.

[kjellsnell]

I dont laught at serios things as we, expats, have to suport each other about how things works in this country. There are many issues where we can be hasseled, exampel when we pay for built or take care of a pool. I have experience from all companys in Udon about poolbuilt and service of them. Somebody are real scammers and only try to steel your money and also make bad work. Personaly i stop use this companys for service of my pool and i like to give some small exampels......

When i like to change the system of the waterpipes of my pool some company come for look. They like to have 40 000 bath for the work and i find that price so high that i even not give them an answer. I tell them to .....pai the luuk..... Then i make the work by my self. It take me 1 hour to total price of........340 bath!

An other time ........i hired a company, to make service at my pool. They say there was a serios problem whit my filter and that it broke and water goes out from it. It was nothing wrong whit the filter when they come so........i tell them to go away..... Well, after i check, i can see that they have use a grinder to broke the filter so they can make money from me......i fix it alone, again!

About price for building a pool, there can be heaven and there can be hell and the prices are really different from company to company same as the quality of the work. I like people to think before they do something and we expats, stay here for long time, can also give advise from ower experiences and everybody did have to make the same misstake ower and ower again. If we help each other, we can be a part of clean up this ---- and the make smaller palce for scamcompanys. Then the quality and the prices will be better for the future. Somebody looks like they dont care about prices and make jokes about others in this tread but they dont no ----. When it comes to an end, experience and a god manner of helping each other is the best way!

The price to built and small pool, around 7x3,5 m whin clorinfilter, pump and everything included is today around 320000 up to 400 000 bath. Everything up on this price is a either extras which have to pay for ore it is.........a scam prise!

IF SOMEBODY OUT THERE LIKE TO HAVE SOME ADVISE ABOUT BUILT ORE SERVICE FOR POOL IN IZZAN, YOU CAN PM ME FOR CONTACT!

[kopkei]

well kjellsnell, i also think you are very close to giving an estimate price for the pool, normally all the pool builders have a quote of 10.000 to 18.000 bath / m3, all what you can go under the 10.000 bath mark is ok ......, of course if you have some knowledge and 2 good hands, you can build it easy with local workers( 200 bath / day) and you will save a lot more money.. ,anyway not everybody is up to it.... as for the pool of lovedablues from 900.000, this must be the olympic sized one with some golden in and outlets.......
but even than when the customer is happy with this price...no arguing .............
last remark there is a big price difference between skimmer system or overflow system, also in pumps & filters etc, etc...

[EssexGaz]

Have a look at this website

They have some good promotions on pools

http://www.issworldwide.com/index.php?o ... &Itemid=55

[Khun Paul]

%00,000 for a pool, if you took a family of 4 to a pool here in Udon at approx 250 baht per family a day that is 5.47 years with NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO maintainance.

[fdimike]

Khun Paul you are not considering the Thai mindset vs the western mindset when it comes to the cleanliness of the pool. I have yet to see a public pool in Udon that I would consider to be CLEAN all the time. Public pools can be a real problem when it comes to spreading disease as well if they are not maintained correctly. Typical problems: insufficient chlorine, poor ph balance, poor filtration.

[kopkei]

there is a little truth in what fdimike say's, you can imagine somebody come swim, i hope somebody check when anybody go toilet and forget to wash his hands and jump back in the water..., but hopefully you can eat something on plates 2x washed , 3 times rinsed with disinfected product , and dried of with paper towels....,you not get contaminated to much...,( sorry guy's, couldn't help myself)
sometimes strange priorities here...., again in my opinion, there's nothing better than the privacy of your own home to take a swim, and (normally) the pool will be better maintained as anywhere else, also you can swim whenever you want to,and believe me in this warm weather here you will swim several times a day...... , as of maintenance of a pool, vacuum the pool even everyday, 30-45min( depending the size) , i have DE filter ( sand filter not adequate in thailand), cleaning the filter element about every 2 months,30 min , checking chlorine ( use floating chlorinator , never more easy)and ph also weekly( sometimes in rainy season PH to low, ad soda ash, in summer, ph to high , adding hydrochloride acid)sometimes clean floor with brush weekly , nothing really sophisticated...., never had problems, when this already to much work, do not put swim..... , and go swim in hotel..., anyway what ever you do enjoy your swim....., where ever you swim....

[Khun Paul]

Yes point taken but when ( he says swinging the lamp here folks ) I was staying for a considerable time in Las Vegas, that hot plae in the nevada desert, my friend ( he who has loads and loads of money ) did not have a pool, upon asking why he stated, why buy a hole in the ground and then put in water and then... you have to bloody well clean it, so he had a jaccuzzi instead, more refreshing, cheaper to maintain and the little bubbles went......well anyway he made sense. he did not want the hassle nor the upkeep costs although it was small change for him, he felt it over the top that is probably why he had a lot of dosh. .
Understand concern about public pools, but all the time I have been here narrry a problem, but then I go to swim, not soak. But good point well made, still will not deter me though.

[pompui]

I would have thought 500,000 would be ok if includes everything ,there is a company selling poolstyles at Global House called 'Phukit' or something similar and saw one of the pictures of a small pool with a waterfall feature priced at 495,000 in their picture album.Trouble was only there for a cordless drill and the saleman's eye lit up when he saw a farang having a browse

[KHONDAHM]

IMHO and having just completed building a rather beautiful American-style house myself, putting in a pool is ridiculous. Yes, it is up to you - blah, blah, blah; but it sure is a hella lot cheaper to take the family and check into a hotel/resort for a swim and a day away from the usual. Now, a large jacuzzi or a small (4 x 3) lap pool make practical sense to me, but do they even have decent lap pools around here?

[jimboLV]

IMHO and having just completed building a rather beautiful American-style house myself, putting in a pool is ridiculous. Yes, it is up to you - blah, blah, blah; but it sure is a hella lot cheaper to take the family and check into a hotel/resort for a swim and a day away from the usual. Now, a large jacuzzi or a small (4 x 3) lap pool make practical sense to me, but do they even have decent lap pools around here?

Packing up the family to a hotel to swim in a pool of dubious sanitation, open for limited periods of time, and paying exorbitant prices for drinks and snacks, is not my idea of a good time, but to each his own. I lived in Las Vegas and enjoyed my pool. You can't beat an early morning swim at 6 AM; or having friends over for barbecue and taking a dip while it's cooking; or even those moonlight swims with your sweetheart, sans swimsuits. I'll stop there since this is a family forum.

To get back on topic, ฿500,000 doesn't seem out of line for a pool. My pool in the US cost the equivalent of ฿1,300,000 but it was super deluxe with all the singing and dancing. It was 4 X 8 meters by 1.5 m deep. kidney shaped, reinforced concrete plaster and tile; in ground automated cleaning system; underground lighting; oversize pump and filter system; solar heat; waterfall; all remotely operated from inside the house. I wouldn't think pools here in Thailand would be much cheaper. One reason things are cheaper here is the low labor cost and the major cost component of a pool is not the labor but the materials.

Best thing to do is to get a few quotes from reputable pool contractors (if there are any here in Udon) and compare. But first do plenty of research because there are pools and then there are pools. There are many features available which you may or may not want and they can change the cost considerably.

[monkeyman]

I can 100% recommend JD Pools which also happens to be a sponsor on here,

http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/j ... 16130.html

Professional from start to finish and excellent after sales service, =D>

[fdimike]

I couldn't agree more with what JimboLv says. The bottom line is do your homework and don't rely on what you are told by the local pool shops. Quick example. I needed to replace the filter pumps (2) and didn't realize they had to be sent to BKK because no one up this way can do the work. To make matters worse they are Chinese made and the parts had to be oredered from China. I opted to replace both pumps due to their age (5 years) and visited a local dealer who tried to sell me a pump which was rated (water delivery) well above the capacity of the filter. It didn't sound right to me so I questioned him further and he told me that it would make backwashing the filter much easier???????????? I asked what do I do with the extra water that the pump will move to the filter on a regular basis and received back a blank stare with a grin? I contacted the pump manufacturer office in BKK and they confirmed for me that you do NOT want a pump which pumps more water than the filter can handle. All the guy in udon wanted was the bigger sale. My experience with pool dealers here in Udon is "buyer beware".

The original installer NEVER told me anything about servicing the pumps and I stupidly never asked. The same goes for the skimmer boxes which are also Chinese made and difficult to repair.

As for costs. True labvor is cheaper but components which have to be imported more than make up for the cheap labor. Building a pool is an expensive proposition here in Thailand but but in the end certainly worthwhile from my prospective.

Never having a pool in the US despite living in Florida definitely worked against me when it came time to build one here. Do your homework before venturing down this road which can easily turn slippery.

As for JD Pools. I could disagree more with monkeyman. JD Pools in BKK was supposed to design a filtration system for my pool. I paid them 10,000B for the design and as a downpayment for the system. I received nothing in return despite numerous phone calls. A year later we were contacted by their BKK office and told we would forfeit the money because we never went forward with the project. Never mind they didn't design the system as they said they would. Bottom line is we lost 10,000B. Live and learn. Additionally, I don't THINK they will build a concrete in ground pool. To the best of my knowledge their pools are in ground with a plastic liner or a preformed plastic/fiberglass tub.

[fdimike]

I forgot to add the following re: construction costs for a pool. Steel rebar (highstrength type) is also expensive these days and will also offset the low cost of labor.

[kopkei]

fdimike ,look like for a good swimming pool you have had already many problems, how old is the pool anyway...., as you say it is all about making good marketing research, when i wanted to build i went to look everywhere, shops , hotels private homes..etc..., read on internet a lot , first pool i saw was a jdl pool, and i agree with you, at that time this pool was 10x5 build above ground, had liner no tiles ( life expectansy 10 yrs, make it 7 or 8 in thailand) , the filter was located in the stair, and consisted of a sort of bag ( i call it a coffee bag ) surely for me not adequate enough , price of this pool was 700.000 bath???, ( later i heard many of these pools get a lot of problems wich disappear after installing a descent filter..) , i have a friend in central thailand whom put about same pool as mine , he had problems with water quality , green water , milky water not clear..., because ( at least i think ) he made the installer talk him into buying a sand filter wich was even more expensive than my DE filter ( he is going to replace it, so..), as of reparation skimmer , not much can break in skimmer??, about steel rebars, the swim companies are using 9 and 6 mm bars as they use in the home building , i used 12mm re-enforced irons in my pool wall-floor( double layer) , never breaks,btw my pool is 7yrs old, never had problem water, pump ( the pump is american and maintenance free) , only had to replace magnetic switch in control box ( due to bad electric,TIT,did it myself) costprice 1.000 bath...,last advice , do not buy made in china , at least for some things, all junk without long life expectansy.......