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GUILDERLAND – Local outdoor recreation retailer, Alpin Haus, marked the start of spring this past week with the installation of its first residential pool of the 2023 season.
Work began Tuesday morning on the company’s first pool installation of the season at a residential home in Guilderland.
“Day one we usually dig the pool, and build the pool, day two we normally come in and pour the concrete,” project foreman T.J. Rocklin said. “Day three we do the liner, plumbing and backfill, so it’s a three-day-project to get water in. Then you have to wait for it to settle around the outside so you can do the decking.”
The company typically installs 50-60 residential pools in a season.
Costs of materials and products have gone up about 45% in the past two years, Rocklin said. Finding employees for the season is also a challenge, he said. A pool installation typically takes five guys to complete.
“We struggle getting help every year,” Rocklin said. “These two guys working are always here, and then getting additional help is really hard.”
The pool installation season usually starts when the frost is gone in mid-March, Rocklin said, but the heavy snowstorm earlier this month moved the start back a little.
Alpin Haus typically installs two pools each week, Rocklin said. The company installs pools as far west as the Little Falls area, and east out into Albany, he said.
“We still have more room for more pools this year, we’re not sold out for the season quite yet,” Rocklin said.
Building and installing in-ground pools can cost around $50,000, Rocklin said. The first pool being installed will have a lot of concrete in it, and cost a little more, he said. A pool built by the company usually lasts 30-40 years, and at some point in the life of the pool it will need a new liner.
Alpin Haus was first founded as a ski shop by Bud Heck and John Daly in 1964. The business expanded to included pools, recreational vehicles and snowmobiles in 1967.
Categories: -News-, Business, Fulton Montgomery Schoharie, News, Schenectady County
