I’ve been living at my condo for a few years now, and in the beginning, there was rarely anyone at the pool. The past couple of years have seen a lot of families move in, and now it’s quite crowded at certain times of the day. I’ve developed a love of swimming laps for exercise, and when it’s crowded and there are kids playing everywhere, it’s almost impossible to swim laps. I’ve found myself in the habit of getting to the pool right at opening time and getting my laps in before the crowds show up.
This obsession of swimming laps started a couple years ago during a very hot summer. I had been riding my bicycle for my daily exercise, but it got pretty grueling to ride my bike during a stretch of 90 degree weather, so I started swimming laps instead. I eventually gained an enjoyment of swimming laps to the point where I was inspired to make a painting to reflect my love of the pool, a self portrait (below left), titled “Pool Reflections,” 2024, measuring 20 x 20 inches. But now, with the increased activity at the pool, I find myself daydreaming of leaving the condo, buying a house, and building a lap pool to have all to myself. A conceptual digital sketch below right shows something that would be very appealing to me.
But I really don’t know much of anything about building pools, or how much they cost, other than the fact that they’re very expensive. I saw one real estate listing of a single family home where there was an existing pool that was described as needing “a full renovation,” and trying to get a sense of what that meant by asking A.I., was told that could be as much as $50,000 to $100,000. And I think, is it really that expensive? Could I afford something like that? I don’t know. So, I figured I should do some research and find out, which I’ll share here on the blog as I do my investigating. Perhaps a long and narrow lap pool is less expensive than a full width, full size pool? How many options can one consider? I guess I’d like to find out in advance of further real estate adventures, as I’d like to see if this is something I can pull off.
One of the coolest lap pool concepts I’ve ever seen is the elevated lap pool at Villa dall’Ava, designed by Rem Koolhaas. Notice the view of the Eiffel Tower in the distant background? How cool would that be??? I saw it on the cover of a House & Garden magazine from 1992 and have been carrying it around ever since, fantasizing about having something like that. When I compare the feeling of settling into the empty condo pool to swim laps (a sense of bliss) vs. arriving at the pool to see it jam packed and my ability to swim laps nearly impossible (a sense of frustration), I figure maybe it’s time to really think about buying a single family home again, either with a pool or the space to build one.
So, to be clear, I’m not in the market for a Rem Koolhaas house, and don’t see myself coughing up $100,000 for a pool, but is there a way around these hurdles to get something I could enjoy? I’ve seen ideas for shipping container pools, concrete block pools, both of which would depend on how they’re lined as far as being comfortable and safe possibilities.
So here’s an A.I.-generated image of a swimming pool made from a shipping container … this could work for me. So how much might this cost? My condo pool is approximately 40 feet long, so I’d want a similar length for any pool that I build. Next step in my research, how much does a shipping container cost? I had no idea, but now I do: I found a company named Eveon, which bills itself as “… the leading online provider of used shipping containers for building, shipping and storage solutions.” Look at this: I could get a 40 foot container for $1,399 in the Newark area! Of course there would be extra costs for delivery and customizing the interior to make it a functioning swimming pool, but $1,399 is a long way from the idea of a $100,000 pool! Maybe I’m on to something here, more investigations coming soon …