Concrete forming

Here's what we've done so far. We excavated the hole for the pool. I had to do a considerable amount of digging by hand (and still more to come) to get the grade for placing the walls. I then placed the walls with some help from my lovely wife. They went in pretty quickly and smoothly. I then squared, leveled and plumbed up the walls, followed by bracing and staking. 

The next step is to pour concrete around the base of the wall on the outside of the pool. This is called a bond beam which will help hold the steel pool walls in place once backfill and water start pushing against them. I've also formed up a small pad for the pool equipment to sit on, which will eventually be covered by a small shed or "pool house."  This was slightly more complicated by running the plumbing through the slab giving it a clean, organized look. I mocked up the equipment on a piece of cardboard to figure out exactly where each piece of equipment will sit in relation to each other  and how the plumbing will connect to them. I'm hoping this preparation will make the final installation go smoothly.