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How Swimming Pool affect the value of Property part 2
By arlene | November 13, 2008
Swimming pools Price
The swimming pool industry in South Africa has had its fair share of knocks, largely because of disreputable companies springing up to take advantage of the economic upswings and offering ‘cheap’ pools to money-conscious clients. Most people will consider price before they consider anything else. This is a natural reaction of any consumer, including the pool buyer. But in speaking to the experts, it is abundantly clear that all warn against going for the cheapest price quoted.
It’s very sad to see some people who have gone for price, burn their fingers when they find they have problems and there is no one to deal with them. This situation has arisen fairly often in South Africa where pool companies have gone ‘bust’ before completing building contracts or a few months after — in time to get paid for the job, but not in time to handle the complaints of dissatisfied clients.
Shopping around is a good thing, but avoid ‘fly-by-night’ companies by requesting quotes only from those that have been around some while and belong to the NSPI. A final point to consider: Take the trouble to double-check your contract and do not hesitate to add amendments. Find out exactly what you are paying for. Does your quote cover excavations, filter, paving, lights? What happens if construction difficulties occur such as hitting rock or underground water? Is the company going to undertake soil removal, set aside top soil and store grass turfs for replanting? For your own protection put everything down in writing. Pool construction prices follow the same upward trend as other building costs, but during the winter months when the pool companies are least in demand you are likely to get the most competitive quotes.
National Swimming Pool Institute
The National Swimming Pool Institute (NSPI) members in South Africa comprise not only pool builders, but also chemical manufacturers, sauna and spa manufacturers and suppliers, and other firms involved in the R100-million-a-year swimming pool business.
The conditions of membership are quite stringent and names of members include the biggest and best-known firms in the country. When choosing a firm to build your pool, keep in mind that NSPI members have a reputation to uphold. An individual private concern may be able to deliver the goods, but there are no guarantees and no standards with which to comply.
Pool institute members are obliged to have been in business for at least three years, to be financially viable (they have to submit their balance sheets), to submit all pools built by them for inspection by other builder members and to pay substantial subscriptions to a central fund.
Plan your pool
Many pool dealers advise that building should commence in winter to ensure that the pool is finished in good time, since the demand for pools is generally low during the winter months. Human nature is such that when you hear the sound of your neighbours plunging into their pool at the height of a summer’s day, that is when you decide to have one too.
Planning, therefore, is an important step. This applies both to the aesthetic planning of the garden — how best to incorporate a swimming pool into the scenery surrounding the house — and to time planning by ordering the pool well in advance so as to have maximum enjoyment over the summer months.
In most cases the garden will take a beating when a swimming pool is installed. The earth-moving operation and ground excavations cannot help but disrupt the grass and flowers. And the builder’s residue will no doubt prove a headache to the avid gardener who watches the building progress of the pool. But the building operation is usually short-lived and within a month at the most, balance should be restored.
Choice of pool
What kind of pool is best? Again, this depends very much on the requirements and means of the buyer. In South Africa there are approximately 260 000 swimming pools, the most common being gunite pools (60-70 percent) which first came on the market .
Gunite pools are built of concrete which is sprayed onto a metal framework. The concrete is kept damp for several days to allow it to harden and strengthen before an outer layer of white marble plaster is applied. This has a matt, porous finish and as such, algae in the pool can cling to it fairly easily. However, with normal care this should not happen as algae formation is a result of neglect.
Fibreglass, or rather glass-reinforced plastic resin, is also a popular material used in the manufacture of swimming pools. These are prefabricated and installation should take little more than a week. Many of the small patio plunge pools that are becoming more and more popular are made of fibreglass. The plastic resin comes in a range of colours and choice of colour is, therefore, a feature of fibreglass pools.
The best swimming pool shell is a heavy structure with ample reinforcing and no `hourglassing’. Fibreglass has to be made under perfect conditions and at a constant temperature to guard against cracking and other problems, although when cracks and fractures do occur in fibreglass pools, the repairs can be done under water. Conventional gunite pools, on the other hand, can only be repaired when the water has been drained out. Fibreglass pools are mostly rectangular or circular in shape, and this combined with the smooth surfaces makes cleaning extremely easy. In addition, the material acts as a heat insulator and the pool retains heat for longer periods during the day.
Vinyl-lined swimming pools are fast becoming more popular, especially with people who build their own pools. The pool vinyl is specially treated for outdoor conditions to make it more durable when exposed to strong sunlight and pool chemicals. If the vinyl material is top quality, you should not have to replace the liner for 10-15 years.
Use of the wrong chemicals or too much of the right chemicals can damage the vinyl. Also, sharp objects, such as spear-guns, should not, for obvious reasons, be used in these pools. One company received a complaint from the parents of a child who had, literally, gone spearfishing for frogs in the pool and, not surprisingly, had damaged the lining.
Like fibreglass, vinyl is a chemically inert material and does not form chemical reactions with the water, making it easy to clean and to keep free of algae. If algal growth is allowed to develop it will have no adverse effect on the liner.
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Topics: Africa, Company, Contract, Form, Job, Market, South Africa |
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