Okay, after lots of research we decided the pool had to go.
BID #1
I contacted a very popular local pool demolition service for the first bid. The gentleman was very knowledgeable and professional. He said in four days they could cap all the lines, remove all of the pool equipment and fence, tear out our entire concrete deck, demolish the top 18" of the pool, punch three large holes in the remaining pool shell for drainage as required by code, tear out the spa, fill the whole area with dirt, compact the dirt and grade the area for $12,500. We'd have to landscape after he left. He then told us we had a second option which was what a lot of apartment buildings were doing which was to simply leave the deck intact, punch holes in the pool shell, fill the pool shell with dirt, compact it and then we could plant grass on top of it. This would cost us approximately $7,500 not including the grass. He did say we'd have to tear down a 10 foot section of our brand new concrete wall so his dump trucks would have easy access from the street. He said he couldn't repair the wall once he was done but it should only cost me an extra $800 or so. When did we want to start? I told him I'd give him a call.
Okay, now we had a big decision. Did we want to tear out ALL the concrete and landscape the entire back yard? That would mean lots of plants and a sprinkler system which alone would run about $6000. We both wanted to do something more eco-friendly so we decided on synthetic grass which requires no water or mowing, etc. However, it's not cheap. Installed, the stuff runs around $8.50 to $10.00 a square foot. Cha-chingggggg. Sure it eventually pays for itself but until then we're paying for it. Then I started thinking about Plan B. What if we did leave the concrete intact and just fill the pool? We could cover it with the synthetic grass and make it a kidney-shaped putting green or mini golf course. We'd definitely use that more than 3 times in 4 years and we'd need no water or electricity which the pool was presently devouring. That didn't solve the problem of the spa a few feet from the pool but I was starting to think this was a cool idea. It would look totally funky and give our toddler a place to play outside that's safe and soft. Hmmmmm, I was liking this more and more.
BID #2
Since I already had the one $7500 Plan B bid I thought I'd get some more. One contractor in a Notre Dame cap came by and he said he could do the pool only demolition and fill in for around $7000 and he wouldn't need to break a hole in the wall cause he'd use illegal workers who'd load the dirt with wheelbarrows. Since we're looking at about 100 cubic yards of dirt he figured they'd be done in a few weeks. Okay, I liked the part about no hole in the wall but the idea of illegal workers loading dirt in my back yard for 3 weeks did not sound all that appealing.
BID #3
A third contractor finally showed up two days later than he said he would, completely unannounced one Sunday morning and after telling me his personal problems he said he could do the whole job for $6000 and use a bobcat which would fit through the gate. No hole, no illegals with wheelbarrows for weeks at a time. Things were definitely looking up. The only problem was this guy was a total dumbass and if he didn't show up on time to GET the job bid there's about a 1% chance of him ever showing up to finish the job.
Then I started thinking...for a change. I looked at all of the steps involved in this process and decided I could save money by making myself the general contractor and subbing out all of the steps. Step one is the demolition - disconnecting and removing the pool equipment and fence, capping the lines and punching the holes in the bottom of the pool. I figured I could use a demolition company to do that. So I called a demolition company.
BID #4 (DEMOLITION ONLY)
A very friendly guy with a gold tooth arrived at the site, looked at what I wanted done and said his company could do it. Taking away the stuff was no problem but punching the holes in the pool was not easy - that alone would be $980. His total for holes and demolition was $1400. Hmmm, interesting.
Then I found a guy on Craigslist who was looking for free dirt to fill his pool. I called him up and he was doing the same exact thing as me - filling his pool but he was covering his with grass. I started telling him about all of the crazy bids I was getting and he was shocked. He said his demolition was done by a handyman who rented a jackhammer at Home Depot for $25. The demo cost should be no more than the handyman typically charges for his time plus $25 for the jackhammer. This was getting better by the minute. So I did a little research, asked around and found a handyman that people like. I gave him a call.
BID #5
Robert the pompadoured handyman arrived at my house on time, legal and with no personal problems as far as I could tell. He looked at the job, said he had a pool of his own so he knows how they work and that he could do the whole demolition for $500 including jackhammer rental. HIRED!!!
So basically the bids went from $7500 to $6000 to $1400 and finally $500. I liked where this was going.
