Planning
How long it really takes
Construction itself is a predictable sequence. What makes one build twice as long as another is almost always permitting, weather, or a decision that had not been made yet when the crew arrived.
Below is the honest shape of a gunite build. The construction phases are reliable within a few days. The two phases that are not are marked, and they are the ones that move a schedule by weeks rather than days.
The one thing you control
Choose tile, coping, interior finish, and decking material before excavation. Every one of those decisions made late stops a crew that is already on site, and a stopped crew does not restart the next morning. This is the single biggest source of delay that sits on the homeowner's side of the line.
Cure time is not padding
Gunite has to cure and it gets watered while it does. Rushing it is how a shell develops problems that surface years later, well after anyone would connect them to a schedule. Any builder offering to compress this is offering you a future repair.
Weather and inspections
Rain stops excavation and gunite outright, and soft ground stays soft afterwards. Inspections happen when the inspector comes. Neither is negotiable and neither is a sign that anything has gone wrong.
Phase by phase
- 01
Design and revisions
One to three weeks, and entirely paced by how quickly decisions come back. Free to change at this stage.
- 02
Permit
NOT ON ANYONE HERE. Set by the jurisdiction and its current queue, not by the builder. We submit; the calendar belongs to the city.
- 03
Layout and excavation
One to three days on open access. Longer where machinery has to be small or spoil has to be carried out.
- 04
Steel and plumbing
Three to five days. Rough plumbing and electrical conduit are set now because they are buried after this.
- 05
Gunite and cure
One day to shoot. Then the cure runs on its own clock, watered daily, and it cannot be compressed.
- 06
Tile and coping
Three to six days. The first point where the pool starts looking like the drawing.
- 07
Decking and hardscape
Under a week for simple concrete. Considerably longer for pavers or natural stone over a large area.
- 08
Interior finish
One to two days to apply, then filling starts immediately so the finish never dries out.
- 09
Startup and handover
Roughly a week of balancing and brushing while the water comes up, then equipment walkthrough and handover.
We will give you a schedule for your specific job at the estimate, with the permit window called out separately, because that window is the jurisdiction's and not ours. What we will not do is quote you a single headline number of weeks on a web page, which is the promise this trade breaks most often.
Questions
Frequently asked
What sets the timeline?
Plan approval and inspection scheduling, which are outside anyone's control, and then weather, access, and how many decisions are still open when the dig starts. A fully decided design is the single biggest thing you control.
What causes the longest delays?
Permit turnaround, rain during excavation or gunite, and changes made after a stage has been built. Reworking something already poured costs far more time than deciding it up front.
Is the yard unusable the whole time?
No. There are quiet stretches between stages while cures and inspections happen. The heavy disruption is concentrated in excavation and gunite.
Free estimate
Tell us what you want in the backyard
Send the shape of the project and we will come look at the space. Free estimate, no obligation.
Prefer to talk it through? Call or message and Jose Alvarado will walk the site with you.