Dougster75

Aaagh. Hate to be the new kid asking all the questions but I have not got a clue how much it would cost and before we chase the few rental homes with pools, thought it would be worth checking out.

Our Location... Houston. (But don't hold back on other areas - might as well make the thread useful to someone else)
Size... average/small yard size pool.

• Is water often/ever metered in Houston?
• Are chemicals expensive?
• Does it increase utility bills hugely?
• Do I need to pay one of those semi-clad young men who ends up shagging the wife? - oh no, wait - that was Desperate Housewives.

I will definitely give something back to this group once I actually have a clue what I'm doing. Appreciating all your help in the meantime.

Thanks,

Doug.

md95065

I am not sure how it works with rental properties but if you were a home owner you would definitely want to factor in the cost of insurance (to cover your legal bills when one of the neighbour's kide sneaks into your yard while you are away and drowns in the pool).

rebs

We live in Dallas and rent a house with a pool.

You don't need to get a pool service if you don't want to - we've not found it a big job to deal with the pool stuff. Probably about the same effort as keeping a lawn tended - that's what we've found anyway.

In terms of cost, I can't answer as to what the effect is on utility bills as we have only rented this one house so don't really have a comparison. I suspect it is fairly heavy on the electric.

The chemicals do cost a bit - not too sure exactly how much (sorry, not much use am I really!).

The main additional cost that I have seen is in the fact that houses with pools cost significantly more each month in rent - at least they do round here!

Bob

Ray has posted a good bit of info in the past so you might have some luck searching out his posts, same with AWP, but I can't remember if that was before or after he changed his name....both Florida based though.

Anyway, I guess you really need to know how many gallons, how it's heated and how you plan to filter it etc...

ChocolateBabz

I remember reading somewhere that your electric bill would be about 20%more if you had a pool. Think it was on the Houston city-data.com forum. And with your a/c running your electric bill is going to be high to begin with. And yes our water is metered - that was a shocker our first month after we had been (stupidly) running the sprinklers every day. First months bill $196 - aaarrrgghh.

I guess if you are renting the buildings/public liability insurance is taken care of by the owners otherwise that would also be a factor plus maintenance. It's not so much the cost of maintenance either it's the time factor plus having to do it in the summer in 100 degree heat. I managed to get my hubby to spring for a lawn mowing service for those very reasons - and from a tight fisted Aberdonian thats saying something .

Sue

Hi Doug,

There was a thread on this subject back in March that you may get some costs and tips from. Here's the link.

Hope it helps

Sue

dbj1000

Water is always metered, but it's not the pool that will increase that cost much. It's the sprinklers. And don't think about not running them or you'll end up with a dead lawn and a cracked foundation slab on your home. Been there, done that.

We pay ~$70 per month for water, and that only goes up to about $100 on the months that we part-drain and refill our pool (less than once per year in our case).

Yes, chemicals are "expensive", but they're not going to break the bank. We probably spend ~$150 for 3 months supply of Chlorine tablets, shock and testing kit supplies.

I don't know what our utility bills would be without the pool filter running 6 hours per day. Less than they are, obviously. But as has been pointed out already, your electricity will be huge anyway with your aircon running most months of the year in Houston. We pay up to $500 per month in summer, and I've seen much higher electric bills discussed here.

I think your wife pays for the pool service...

But seriously, if you take a "pool school" course that many pool shops offer, it's not rocket science to keep your pool maintained yourself.

mayhemuk

www.troublefreepool.com

The above has some good education on the chemical side.
It also has a nifty calculator to work out how much of what to add.

I would expect the plumbing and structure to be looked after by your landlord and they may or may not include a pool service for cleaning in the rent.
Make sure it's not leaking when you take it over as this can quickly ramp up a water bill while you wait on repair.

ukintexas

Had responded to a PM from Doug, but thought I'd share this info in here too in case other peeps were searching for the same info. We're in Houston and I would say:

Is water often/ever metered in Houston? You will pay a set price for your water usage - ours is around $25 a month. We have a 2700 sq ft house, with a 33ft by 17ft pool.
Are chemicals expensive? - no, not at all - if you do it yourself via the pool shop you'll probably spend about $20 on average a month. Might be more expensive through a pool company as they will include that in their price.
Does it increase utility bills hugely? The pump runs on a pool on a timer but has to run all year round regardless of whether you're using the pool or not. I know I sound like I know what I'm talking about, but this is being shouted at me by hubby who is in the other room! Apparently, the pump runs longer in the summer months so it will increase at that time. Our electricity bill is normally about $150/200 during the cooler months and nearer to $500 in the hotter months. This is for both our a/c, general electrical use in the house and the pool pump so it's a little difficult for me to break it down fully.
Do I need to pay one of those semi-clad young men who ends up shagging the wife? - oh no, wait - that was Desperate Housewives. Gosh, I've been begging hubby to give up doing the pool himself in favour of such a semi-clad young man, but have had no luck yet! Average cost, I believe is about $120/150 a month to have someone do it for you. They would come once a week, check the chemicals, replace any necessary and give the sides of the pool a brush. It's amazingly easy to do it yourself though Doug - if my hubby can - anyone can!!! He spends about 30 mins each weekend doing it.

Tarkak9

the other thing you can do is call up the utility companies with the address and they should be able to give you the high, low and average over the course of the year for utilities on that property. But remember, its based on the consumption habits of the current owner but should give you some insight.

The Horticulturalist

We are in MS, and I'm guessing that like gas, electricity costs vary in each state?

Anyway, we arrived in August last year, we have a 4 bed house, up and downstairs. We had AC running up and downstairs (2 units) 24 hours a day, until we got our first months bill, it was $550. That's with no pool........

Our average winter bill has been $160 per month, we would run the heat in the day and evenings (downstairs only) but not overnight.

meauxna

OK, I'll bite.. I've never heard of that. What does that mean? How would the slab crack from a dead lawn?

Are many people taking lawns out down your way? It's become quite popular here.


Holy crow, what a deal! Is it seriously that little for water?
For a comparison (of course very few people have pools), we live in the freakin' RAIN forest here and the water just keeps creeping up.. the last several bills have been +$200 for 3 months' worth.
Keep in mind there's only 2 of us, we have a no-water yard and conserve water actively.

I mean, it's not enough to get me to move to Texas, but still!

rebs

Lol!- I think the dead lawn and the cracked slab are separate effects! It's a condition of our lease that we use the sprinklers as dictated - here's how it was explained to us (bear in mind I'm not the scientist that dbj is!).

With the extreme high temps we get here the soil expands and contracts (technically I should imagine it's the air pockets in the soil). This can cause problems to foundations - the solution is to keep the soil moist which avoid the expansion / contraction. Hence the need to use the sprinklers.

Lawns still seem to be pretty popular round here - over where we lived in the UK they were being torn up all over the place (mostly to create off street parking), but not so much here.

Ray

Get rid of the Chlorine system and go salt generator
An incredible improvement

meauxna

Thanks for the info, I've never heard of that! Just wondered why, since I've lived in some arid places before that didn't have that problem (Greece for ex, they just pour the concrete slab straight onto the ground).

We gave up the lawn a few years ago; just too much work and wasted water. The big thing right now is putting food gardening in in front. And I think I am the last hipster in town to not have chickens. Oh well, can't be cool forever.