Two Pool Options - Help!

[hllb]

We are planning on installing an inground pool this year. We've actually been working on this since last July and are still waiting on final quotes. We likely will end up with the following two options and both have pros/cons. Any insight?

Option 1 Kafko 18X36 Inground Vinyl Lined Sport Pool

• Salt Generator
• Liner Covered stairs running length of shallow end
• Solar Tube Heating (installed by us)
• CoverStar Auto Cover (HUGE discount)
• Stamped Concrete around pool
• Automatic pool cleaner
• Cantilever Concrete
• Spring Cover for winter

Approximate Cost: $30,000 (this is a special deal through a friend of a friend and we've been talking to him for over 6 months - but it's taking forever and we're concerned it may not be installed in a timely fashion). The retail cost of this set up is $50K to $54K

Pros:

• Big pool
• auto cover (we have a young child who is really sneaky and we're worried about her- we will also install a fence. We have older kids too but aren't worried about them as they behave well most of the time)
• less expensive
• We'll have money left over for a master bathroom remodel (this is the only room in our house (built 5 years ago) that we didn't fully customize - it's just builder standard.

Cons:

• The current install schedule is July. They are going to try to fit us in before that (waiting on timelines) but I worry that they won't actually hit that. The contractor (we've been working with the pool manufacturer) hasn't been returning our phone calls
• It's a vinyl pool and liner will need replacement eventually
• We're really worried about repair and maintenance of the auto cover - we've been reading some bad things about them and don't have a ton of money for costly repairs in a couple of years
• Aesthetically, we'd prefer a free form pool but are going with rectangle due to the auto cover

Option 2: Thursday Pools 14X33 Fiberglass Freeform pool

• Salt Generator
• Integrated stairs and sun ledge
• Solar Tube Heating (installed by us)
• Stamped Concrete around pool
• Automatic pool cleaner
• Cantilever Concrete
• Spring Cover for winter

Approximate Cost: $35,000 (this is a special deal through a close friend who just became a distributor of the pools a couple weeks ago - we've known him for years and trust him - his primary business is stamped concrete and he's done all the concrete work at our house). The retail cost of this setup is around $46K to $50K.

Pros:

• Fiberglass pool (I like the look better)
• Installed faster - and probably 2 months sooner
• Less maintenance
• No liner to replace (though this isn't a huge concern for us)
• Free Form pool
• Work with a friend whom we trust

Cons:

• More expensive
• Slightly smaller pool, but still a good size
• Guilt from not going with the guy that's been working with us for 6 months!
• No auto cover - we'll still have and are looking into this product: http://www.allsafepool.com/pool-nets/
• Won't have any money left over for a master bathroom remodel

I'm normally good with decisions. When we went into this project last year, I wanted a fiberglass pool. But we fairly quickly learned we'd have to do a smaller pool than we wanted with our budget (around 12X25 max). So we decided to do a vinyl pool for cost reasons. The person we connected with works for the manufacturer. He's doing us a huge favor and has likely spent a lot of time negotiating big discounts with suppliers on our behalf. But, this has taken literally 7+ months and the install date will be much later than we anticipated. He's a good guy and I do trust him. He found a dealer that was willing to install the pool that we purchase direct from the manufacturer. We liked him, but he has been unresponsive to phone calls and we don't really trust that he can squeeze our install in earlier than July/August. Because this process has taken so long, our friend called us and said he had just become a pool distributor for fiberglass pools and wanted to give us a quote. We trust him, he returns phone calls, and has done great work for us in the past. We would likely be his first pool, but he's working with experienced people on it, and has a fiberglass pool himself.

Any thoughts? Especially on the auto cover maintenance and repair and whether it's really worth it? I suppose if you take the auto cover out of it, we would go with the fiberglass though I'll feel really guilty about it.

[Apollo217]

Where are you located? The vinyl pool is a super deal and I wonder if he's trying to figure ways not to lose money on the job and that's why he won't give you an install time. The cover star auto covers are great. My company is installing one on a new pool in a few weeks

[toofast]

well, what did you decide ?

[hllb]

We went with the fiberglass. Never did get an official quote on the vinyl and gave up on them. Shell should be installed on the 16th of May!

[toofast]

Oh cool...assuming you stuck with the Thursday Pools? Reason I ask is that I just did an extensive evaluation and I choose Thursday Pools as well...lots of reasons, but man it is one solid fiberglass pool!

[hllb]

Yes, we're doing the Cathedral model in Ocean (the darker blue) instead of the free form.

[toofast]

Ha, I did the same color, it totally rocks and looks AWESOME ! LOVE IT! Best of luck.

[hllb]

Do you have a picture you could share? I'd love to see it. Our budget ended up significantly higher than we wanted, but also included a concrete patio, a manual cover (an auto-cover without the motor (hand crank) for our sneaky 3 year old LOL, a custom bench built over the reel for the cover, and a great aluminum fence around everything). For what I had listed in the original post, the price came in well below that.

[toofast]

Sure, I am at work and the pool is SUPER DIRTY as the plumbing has not been completed yet and the concrete work is not done, etc. But if you can deal with all that I will snap a few pics tonight!