In March my wife said, " I think we should get a pool instead of re-doing the kitchen right now so the kids can have some fun and swim this summer." Well, as some of you might know, pool contractors are booked several months in advance. We called around anyway and found someone that could start at the end of June and be done by the middle of July. We sign the contract after we got financing in place and gave a $10,000 deposit. He said he would not touch the money until he had the permit so he could buy the pool kit. We called onecall and had the utilities marked and all was clear for our dig site... days went by and I finally asked the guy if he had the permit yet. The response was, "I need to talk to you." That doesn't sound good... He comes by that night and says he cant start till August... at least. But he says if we can find someone that can do it faster, he understands and will give us our deposit back. My wife and I talk about it and I convince her to let me do it myself... Holy shit, I'm putting in my own pool! It takes me two and a half weeks to cut the trees down and haul them off to the local incinerator and then I get a loaner excavator from my Father-In-Law. I've spent 4 days on it and finally have my hole dug. (minus the finish work, i.e. hand digging) In the meantime, I had to order the pool kit myself but didn't realize some of the options we wanted could take 4 weeks to fabricate. Oops...Instead, we order some standard equipment and should have the kit early next week. Did I mention it's a 100 F-ing degrees with about 80% humidity. It's F-ing HOT!!! Anyway, I'll try and upload some pics of the construction. Just thought I'd share. Peace out! Trees to cut down. - 6 [url=https://imgur.com/a/Jyemm] https://imgur.com/a/Jyemm [/url] Clearing trees [url=https://imgur.com/iqVUvN6] https://imgur.com/iqVUvN6[/url] Digging up the roots [url=https://imgur.com/8PZ86fL] https://imgur.com/8PZ86fL[/url] Big roots [url=https://imgur.com/w5dIQPk] https://imgur.com/w5dIQPk [/url] Me [url=https://imgur.com/3LfNocV] https://imgur.com/3LfNocV [/url] Starting the dig [url=https://imgur.com/H90vSOX] https://imgur.com/H90vSOX [/url] Kids helping [url=https://imgur.com/aMCw3hq]https://imgur.com/aMCw3hq [/url] Starting the deep end [url=https://imgur.com/t9zpfe0]https://imgur.com/t9zpfe0 [/url] Deep end to depth. [url=https://imgur.com/AZ1nPbZ] https://imgur.com/AZ1nPbZ [/url] Of course it rains! [url=https://imgur.com/W8mR3p9] https://imgur.com/W8mR3p9 [/url] Lots of pick axe work later... [url=https://imgur.com/DbESk3r] https://imgur.com/DbESk3r[/url] Clearing with the tractor [url=https://imgur.com/7fC4iDM] https://imgur.com/7fC4iDM [/url] Setting up the wall panels [url=https://imgur.com/jY3BhiT] https://imgur.com/jY3BhiT [/url]