The Wife and I always wanted/knew at some point we were going to get a pool at our current home (the closing date of which just happened to be almost exactly a year from this post). The original plan was to sell our first house and then use the liquidity to build a pool and put a healthy down payment down. That did not occur. Instead, the liquidity stayed in the now rental property forcing us to put a minimal amount down on our current home and not having the liquidity to purchase a pool…or so I thought.
Once COVID hit we started to revisit the idea of building a pool. Actually, first we discussed buying an above ground pool, but when we say the price tag of $1,500 to $2,500 for something we didn’t really want we then went for a more permanent structure of a hot tub, but when we saw that price tag (in the $10,000 range) we also balked. It was at this point that I agreed to meet with the pool guys that The Wife already met with for a deeper conversation.
We interviewed 3 different pool companies (the 4th wouldn’t come back because he was too busy due to the demand for pools on Long Island since COVID hit). One company was significantly cheaper, and he gave a fantastic presentation, but when I found out that his estimate was off $5,000 due to a mathematical error I got extremely turned off. One company gave a terrible, rushed presentation, not warning us about a building issue that the other two pointed out immediately (previous owners had built a pool where we wanted to, if they didn’t fill the pool in and shut it down correctly way back in 1992 then the cost of the job would be 50% higher and they couldn’t tell us until they were down there). That left us with option number 3. His price for a built-in, heated, saltwater pool is/was about $42,500.00. It is going to be a big pool at 24′ by 42′ with 2 water features. The actual cost is going to be a lot higher than that cost as we have:
- Tree removal – we have this massive, 30ft+ tree that has been the bane of my existence. The tree is a Sweet Gum Tree. When we moved in last August we loved the shade it provided, and the color was fantastic. Then came September where it dropped little balls of death all over my yard. These little one inch bastards rip the bottom of your feet up if you are barefoot, and cause you to twist an ankle if you have shoes on. To boot, this tree has caused a ripple in the current patio (which is to be replaced), and the last FU the tree has given me is that I can’t even freaking burn the thing when it is cut down!
- Moving Gas Lines – since we are doing a heated pool we need to add gas lines from the front right part of my home to the back left part of the property.
- Patio Work – Last and certainly not least (by a long shot) we are going to have brickwork done at the same time or shortly thereafter. This was a very interesting part of the process for me. I couldn’t believe how quickly this could add up to a sizeable amount. I always knew that masonry work could be expensive, but wow!
Our 3D Pool Renderings
Part of the process was receiving 3D renderings which I thought was very cool. It should be noted that I live on Long Island which means we don’t have anything close to those mountains….anywhere! Also my neighborhood is made up of half acre plots which means I have plenty of neighbors…not zero.
Paying for Our New Pool
The total cost is going to be about $75,000 all in. We are going to split up the cost between cash/non-qualified investments and debt. The cash/non-qualified assets are going to come from 2 line items in my net worth posts. The first is the asset that was marked as “Wife’s Mutual Funds.” This was money gifted to The Wife when she younger that we took over a decade ago and basically just stuck it in 80% index funds and 20% disney. The second asset being used is a cash bucket that is equal to the amount of law school loans I have left. I planned on paying them off if Trump won the presidency. If he loses I truly believe that there will be some type of school debt.
Beyond those two accounts I was comfortable looking into a few debt options. I didn’t look too much into the personal pool loans, because I came across a really great option for my family. As I have discussed on here, I have a couple whole life insurance policies (maybe I discussed it more than once), and those policies build cash value. Well I have found that there are banks that will put a collateral assignment against the cash value and provide a line of credit against it. The debt will be only be at 3% and can be paid back at any time (which I will try to do quickly).
