JSH,
I am a sub for a couple of pool companies. I have encountered a few pool companies that are not as good as others. Appearantly, you have had a bad experience. You seem almost hostile. Most subs work for several pool builders because there are few pool companies that can keep a concrete guy, electrician, plumbers, etc. busy 5 days a week. My experiences when customers have tried to do it themselves, is that, they don't know if something is being done right or not. Heck, there are a lot of pool companies that don't know when something is done wrong until the pool is in. Every sub out there is going to tell you they know what they are doing and have been doing it for 20 + years. I am an electrician, and I was out on a service call today. The customer had an intelli-touch system that I had to reprogram and add some sensors. He also told me his heater temp would rapidly climb and then shut off. I noticed that the arrow pointing in (inlet) was hooked up as the outlet. This was plumbed by a company that has been around for a while. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it happens alot. Most of the subs are going to charge you a premium price over what they would charge the pool company since it is a one time job versus repeat business. But overall you should still save quite a bit. Unfotunately all the reasons why you shouldn't do it yourself would sound like a scare tactic. Personally, I would be more inclined to do a fiberglass pool myself over a gunite. Again, I am a sub, not a GC. I wouldn't be afraid to put my own pool in, but I see these everyday in various stages of construction and would stand a pretty good chance of catching something that didn't look right. Usually, the things that go wrong, are not things you can see. I have seen plumbers use regular glue on flex pipe, which holds for a while, but eventually turns loose. These events are what would eat up any savings of doing it yourself. Also, around here, most banks wouldn't loan money to you to do your own pool. Home equity or cash become your only options. As with most things construction, reading a book only takes you so far, it really is a baptism by fire. I'm not trying to scare you, obviously you've already done your own. If you had gotten a sub that messed something up, what is your leverage to get him back out there? With a pool company, he knows he has to make it right or they quit using him. With you, he can blow you off. It can turn it to a much bigger nightmare than dealing with a licensed and bonded pool company. The other thing is, no one is going to come on here and admit that they tried to do it themselves and screwed it all up. I see many jobs where the customer thought they would save money by putting in their own sub-panels only to have me tell them that they won't pass inspection and I am liable for their work if I tie into it. Usually, instead of getting a decent panel like a GE 125 Amp panel ($37 at home depot) they opt for the $27 panel that doesn't have enough space to make up connections and doesn't have room for a real ground bar. They undersize the wire and oversize the breakers and they all have brothers/cousins/friends who are master electricians who put this in for them. So, to sum it all up, sure you can save money doing it yourself. If you can get references for the trades and check them out to know they do good work, do it. If you do that, you should be ok. Don't max out your pool and keep a fair amount "in reserve" for the just in case and you will have a high percentage of success. Once again, I'm not trying to flame you or be argumentative, just trying to shed some insight from a sub contractor.
TXT