Obviously in today's market swimming pools are considered a luxury item. With the cost of material goods, gasoline and labor driving prices up it is getting harder and harder for the white picket fence American family to justify the cost of installing a pool. For this reason you should have a hands on designer/builder to help conceptualize and develop a plan for the project that will not only suit your families needs and desires as well as be aesthetically pleasing to look at. In most case you only get one chance to do it right. :o)
              While the physical correlations are not there, there are some philosophical similarities in purchasing a swimming pool and purchasing a car. Not all Cars are built the same, in turn not all builders are the same. Every builder has different specs. that they choose to build to. So when deciding on a builder for your project it is always important to look for the builders emphasis on quality standards in there projects. For example, many builders build every pool the same regardless of the conditions, while others look at the conditions of the soil and other factors to develop the steel matte and shell thickness. Obviously, the later is more concerned with long term structural integrity of the swimming pool. It can be very easy to be persuaded by the rock bottom cost associated with an under built pool, but very much in the construction industry the old saying rings true, "you get what you pay for". Always know what your looking at when you are comparing bids. A under built pool will always cost you more.. eventually.
               As a designer, aesthetics are very important to me. I feel that a prospective client deserves the time from me to nail down a preliminary plan with a budget. Upon confirmation of budget and the desire to move forward then we can sit down and delve in the minute design details such as material selection and colors.. Many companies like to come into a home, slap a stencil down and give you a prefigured cost.. There is a market niche out there for these builders as they generally have a very low price based on there building standards. I like the hands on approach to the design process though and feel that there are many aspects that should be addressed during this phase of the project. I often run across many different types of architectural elements when working around custom homes and not all houses are well suited for an altadina (kidney bean shaped) pool. In the last 10 years free form pools have been the norm but on almost all high end projects we end up with a very linear (geometric) shape to the pool. Geometric pools age very well and can be very complex or very simple but either way (with the right material selection, features, etc..) always scream "classy". On the flip side though, sometimes the clients personality may drive the direction that the design takes. I often find that clients with a more structured personality tend to like the geometric design while people with a more laid back personality tend to gravitate towards the flowing design of the free form design.
                In the end, a well designed swimming pool should not only be a place for friends and family to gather and have a good time but with a little thought and quality control can (and should) also be a work of art. Aquatic art.

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