@mellybean1, Hubby and I have installed an indoor pool into the home we are currently building but fortunately we were able to do everything ourselves, including all the foundations, pool excavation, plumbing and concreting. Could't begin to work out how much you would have to pay to have a pool installed on a slope too and totally by others but I'll give you a bit of an idea of what I know: Engineers plans for pool construction - $3,000 Fibreglass pool - $20,000 Excavation costs including removal of soil with trucks, if you cant use it elsewhere in the build: $10,000 Excavation if you had rocks: $20,000 Foundations a bit of an unknown but a concrete pool about 15m x 3m x 1.5m would include several loads of concrete at approx $1,000 a load and each truck load would hold about 5 mtrs. I'm guessing about 3 loads for the pool alone, however concrete used in pools is differend and sprayed on and not installed like ordinary concrete that can slump, so it's probably allot more than $1,000 a load. Concrete pump to use to construct concrete pool: $2,000 to come to your door before it begins forming up the pool. Pool fencing, a guess $5,000 You won't have much change out of about $80,000 My figures could be a bit wrong but they will be fairly close. Labour nowadays constitutes approx.60-70% of the value of the works to be performed. Best of luck. Cheers, Barbara

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It's always heartening to hear stories of people achieving successful and great value outcomes. My comment above was however not for standardised design or DIY scenarios, rather responding to an urban scenario with split level. The work we do is by nature customised and we deal with this sort of thing regularly & yes it (usually) involves a lot of money..as a flagfall and the sky's the limit. It's not however necessarily about bells and whistles and being fancy for the sake of it either. Rather it's about quality and long term value. You can spend a lot of money that lasts a long time which ends up being a more cost effective option than spending half as much but not lasting nearly as long. It's all relative and it depends of course also on land value, what is being proposed and the capacity for a proposed project to be financed. It's always a balance across a number of factors. We can rarely pin down a specific number either. It depends on specification and the design detailing. DIY construction is a completely different kettle of fish to a contracted build, as is a more simple, standardised design & construction/ specification to a more complex and customised multi/split level scenario with intricate/unique detailing...as is also rural scenarios to tighter inner urban situations. It really is a case of how long is a piece of string and it will range dramatically depending on how you are going about it. I had a client once who similarly was a DIY Owner builder with a trade background who did most of the work themselves. They similarly achieved the construction for a dollar amount far less that what it would have otherwise cost in a commercial contract. The design was also for mirror imaged connected townhouses so there was an economy of scale there as well, as well as being a compact and efficient design with certain details standardised to make the construction more efficient and materials relatively minimised with essentially 2 houses fitting within the size of a standard house, so they got 2 for the price of 1 essentially (good result!). BUT when you factor the practical hours "donated" or performed on the project for "free", including every hour of labour, construction management etc, supply and handling etc and apply a reasonable dollar value to it, as well as GST and builder's margin (or a construction management %) on top of the total, it's pretty much a resulting cost in the ballpark of what I was indicating.

Thanks Fiona. We'd love to landscape the far side but sadly that is our neighbour's property and the river rock lined area right beside the pool fence is an easement that runs like a creek when we get rain so can't plant in there :). I do plan to sneak in a few more of the Golden Cane palms onto the neighbouring paddock as some have self seeded anyway- hopefully create a nice screen. I have my eye on some nice pots and two lovely wooden loungers with cream cushions, all in budget. But I'll only get them once I decide what to do with the paving area to better blend with the pool surround. I've just had the area pressure washed about 2 weeks ago so my thinking is to go with the repaint in the medium grey and hope we get 5 years out of it.