We Built a Custom In-Ground Pool by Ourselves 

'I'm just the dummy on the sticks'. I love Matt's modesty.

Hey Matt. My soon to be 4 year old gets so excited when there’s a new Diesel Creek video. We both sit on the couch, with coffee and milk, and enjoy whatever project you’re working on. It’s really getting him excited about heavy equipment, building, etc. I look forward to it every time. Thanks Matt!

04 23 2024 5:05pm my husband watches your show all the time. He really enjoys it. Thank you.

a real dirt artist truly impressed

"If you're new to the channel, my name is Matt. Coincidentally, if you're not new to the channel, my name is still Matt. Let's go pick my dirty hoe, up." Ffs Matt, you crack me up, mate. 🤣😂 Greetings from the UK.

Ah a pool, just in time for winter🍻

When I was 18 I built and maintained swimming pools on Fire Island, the barrier islands along the south shore of Long Island, NY. There was no heavy equipment...we dug all the pools (beach sand) by hand. Put up 42" steel walls and wet shaped the sand before putting in a liner and quickly filling it with water. All our materials came over by barge, then hauled by hand to the job site which was often a mile or so away. All the steel sides, gussets, hardware, filter, pump, 100 Lb. bags of Portland cement, pressure treated lumber for the cap. Would usually take a week to move the materials themselves. Very interesting construction...the minor concrete work I've done really makes me appreciate the work that an experienced concrete contractor does. Can't wait to see the finished project!

Having a pool is nice. Keeping and maintaining one is a lot of work and costs a LOT of money. Now you need a nice big fence and expensive systems and chemicals and constant cleaning.

Pool on hillsides/slopes take an extra level of planning. All that water now wants to go two ways..straight down and downhill. Thanks for taking us along!

Back donkey's years' ago, I used to turn a dime by digging custom pools. The rage then was free-form "natural shape" pools with "natural entries"--and given these were often out in the countryside, having a way for wildlife or livestock to get out of the pool after getting in was a good idea. This was decades (early 80s) before smaller excavators were around or affordable, so I was the schmo on the backhoe. Which was handy since I could work with the plumbers to cut sumps, machinery vaults and the like. They were all gunite--dry mix--pools. They tended, since it was the fashion, to dark marble plaster, although I did one near Austin in granite plaster. Had a client who had the pool go around an existing tree--got in a tree surgeon to verify how close to get, and how much irrigation to plumb for--and that wound was in all ebony black marble plaster. Looked like a 'natural' "water hole" when we were done. Great client, too--paid the ills, in full, and on time, and no griping. So, based on my, small, pool experience, you did a great job, Matt. Congratulations. (Oh, and I know just what that rain water smelled like, too :-) )

My cat loves your videos. He is a big fan of anything diesel.

I didn't get tired or sweaty at all watching those guys work! Nice video.

I learned a lot about construction when we put in a pool when I was about 9 back in the late 60's. Dad hired a local guy to dig the hole and trenches for City Water, which we were also hooking up to at the time. Dad got one of those steel wall vinyl lined pool kits. The whole family pitched in and did the rest of the work, the electrical, plumbing, landscaping, and the concrete deck, I remember tamping backfill, helping to set the liner, and running loads of dirt and sand using a wheelbarrow. Pool turned out nice, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

I appreciate the teasers at the end.

You are one mighty fine operator, Matt

Was not an exclusive pool excavator in my time but every pool I dug had a square (6X6 or 4X4) usually 6-8 deep bottom and all walls tapered to that square. After I learned how to dig this it was not bad! Dug one kidney in my day and that was enough! Like many others I appreciate your videos very much and like so many others I too would like to see progress with the church, motor grader, truck, jeep. I do remember more than I could accomplish, don't weaken and I don't believe you need that advice! Thanks

Next video “abandoned in ground pool, will it start”?

This must've been filmed before you got your new track loader, it's good to see old trusty out there earning it's keep

I have done NO concrete this century, but my first pool was shot with a hand shovel (no concrete pumper) All the pools I did where rebar, 6" wire mesh, and chicken wire... that made the concrete stay in place better. My last pool had regular concrete forms, with the bottom already poured. The one end had a metal gate on one end, so that the guy's race horses could be lead in and out. an awesome horsey hot tub :)- ... most of the water would be pumped out into a holding tank... lots of water filters :)-

We need more people like Matt around, he is one of life's great problem solvers. Certainly a good guy to have around if you need to work out how to do something and then do it! It also cracks me up how he always has a job on the go (you remind me of a hyperactive bee), it must irritate the hell out of your wife sometimes, however, it would irritate her far far more if you were lazy!

Matt, "The Surgeon General" brings life back to any equipment. Another great job, Matt, thank you.

Did your friend get the pool finished? It was interesting to see how they formed everything and finished the shotcrete. It's a pretty small pool but an interesting design and sure to look great, especially with lights and the waterfall.

Omg the squeak from those metal treads!!!!

This is where your big loader would come in handy.

Just remember this: If the pool starts filling itself while you're digging. Something may have gotten more expensive lol.

I've seen channels with similar content that have only 80/90k subs, and they get 1000 to 2000 thumbs-up in just a few hours, Matt's video quality is better than most of them, he explains stuff really well, and he has tons of very interesting things going on, I can't help but wonder, what's the big difference?

Watching that shot-crete go on is amazing, thanks for this one.

I basically just play with myself wile I watch that’s how much I like it.

This was super interesting. Been following for a few months now, first time commenting. I always wondered how they built these things when I used to live in Florida. More often you see a fiberglass pool going down the highway, or one of my friends had a "drop in" pool, basically a hole in the ground that they put a liner into and then pour a patio around. It even had tile around the lip, you would never know it wasn't poured, until it gets a hole in it! Those don't last forever.

Was just thinking I needed a diesel creek video... brightens my day

God who else would love to see diesel creek bloopers?

Gotta love putting a pool in the Appalachian mountains, that's the only flat spot for miles! Looks good!

Matt I have to say your a mad scientist with heavy equipment you have talent my friend

Looks great. As a young man living in San Antonio I was a foreman for a large pool company and did around 200 pools a year, mostly gunite with with plaster finish. Also did a few grotto pools for Blue Haven pools, like the one at the Play Boy Mansion. Aaaa the good old days. Never swam in one except to fix, but did get pushed in one from a frisky house wife of a traveling salesman and said to slip into something more comfy with she dried my cloths.

I appreciate watching all your videos, thanks

i dug a pond for my goldfishes during the lockdown, A: the dirt were i live is horrible B: this was in the front of my home, WHERE THERE IS MOST UNDERGROUND PIPING IN ALL OF MY PROPERTY. C: i did it by hand, and the best tool for the job was a crowbar (idk what's it called), i probably dug about 2 meters cube of dirt from that pit. D: since there was a whole lot of piping, i was able to pass a cable up to the pond to power the filter to have nice clear water.

Thanks again Matt. I've never had the opportunity to see how a pool of this type is done. Nice work.

When I was younger we had a pool put in, not a whole lot different than this one. The most memorable part of the process was the full cement truck lying on it's side in the yard, a wrecker up to it's frame in mud, a second wrecker also stuck in the mud. The Gradall that did the excavation of the pool pulled all 3 out of the mud in one pull. Fun times swimming in the pool as a kid.

I'm astounded by how shallow that hole looks.

Looking good Matt! The video & editing is well done! Hope you’ll have time to show Christine some love before the show flies!

I build pools for a living, and you did a great job digging it! The only two things that bug me is the way they “chaired” the steel, and the fact the pool wasn’t formed and instead was shot to dirt. All in all hopefully it lasts for him.

I watched this months ago but came back to give a big thumbs up

An interesting way of building a pool. The only time I've seen concrete sprayed in my area of rural Portugal was when the local authorities repaired used it to stabilize a collapsed roadside bank.

Hello Matt. That was pretty interesting watching how they make a pool. Lots of work for sure. That guy operating the excavator looked like he knew what he was doing. LOL. Great job. Can't wait to see the finished product. Thanks for bringing us along. Take care.

Hey Matt that is some good looking top soil take it to your farm

Big thanks to your customer for allowing the vidio. They don't have to.

You don't want lights in the pool,put them up high shining on the pool. The bugs at night go towards the light, if on poles the stay away from the pool, otherwise they fill the pool with bugs

i've just realised something .. the squeaky tracks are a safety feature , the other guy will have known exactly where the machine is at all times

Good video , when are we going to get a church update video it’s been ages since we have had one.

Typical concrete pools get "Gunite" sprayed over the concrete below water line, usually ceramic tile at water line up to the deck edge. Gunite is a sand and cement mix similar to mortar.

This is where all of these machines you have will come in handy and make you money, i heard the boss say that he liked your machine you can really sell your self for more jobs for you have the the equipment to do the job., this is great.

You are very talented with your equipment. You make it look easy and this was the first time digging a pool. Pretty awesome.

Meanwhile, Tony Beets just got a machine that would dig this pool in four scoops, lol.

Hello Matt. That was pretty interesting. can't wait for the follow up. take care.

BUILD YOUR OWN MATT!...Good job Matt... thanks 4 video. be kind.

Add a few mowers and you've got Matts basement 😲🍻

Hey Matt, thanks for the video! I never fully realized you actually make a living with your big toys here. I wonder though, how bad does inefficiency kick in, when you're competing with other companies that have state of the art machinery? I mean, just from this video, I was thinking that a bigger shovel and a larger truck would have done the job in half the time. Not even speaking of no GPS control etc. On the other had, you pay like nothing for the machines, as you own them and they weren't expensive. If you want to, you could talk about this in on of your next videos. Would love to hear more about your calculation and business plan behind this.

Thank you for sharing. More please

Great video. Where I live we call pools hockey rinks. Lol

Woop! Let’s face it, you have enough machinery to build a theme park!! 😉

It will look nice when completed. Contractors are like mechanics, too busy doing everyones elses stuff and there own gets put on the back burner till its Absolutely the last possible time too get it completed .LOL...HAHA..Great Video...

That pet cemetery into gets me every time

I worked with the GUNITE crew when we built the 18 hole Golf Course ponds at the Southampton Princess in BERMUDA in the middle '70s. Ya looking good !

My first thought..." that is some nice looking dirt". Good job, Matt!

By the look of the trees, I'm thinking this was made back in May, and you schedule this video right before part 2 which will be out next week.... which means, he got his pool just as September began.

I thought that you just went through fire by baptism last week when tractors learned to do dog paddling in a town that looked like the one overseas that they use boats to go everywhere and the city is stores that you take the family USS MINNOW to go shopping for the bacon and eggs or a sweater for grandma. I for the life of me can't think of that name right now so give me a break Matt. First thing to go is the mind and I am 72. I don't look a day of it as my friend stopped by and his kid said: Your still alive??? He just knew that I was close to a hundred or looked it. Really built my self esteem hearing that. Looks good so far. Matt from Demolition Ranch poured a pool last week and I am sure that you watch him too as he's pretty good

@5:07 That's some nice dirt there.

I guess this is before you got the Takeuchi?

Last episode: flooding This episode: someone missed the water and wanted a pool

Thank you Matthew

Man - that is some easy digging - here in the hill country - they had to use a 20k rock hammer non stop for ~8 days to dig out our pool.

I wonder how many time while shooting an intro he has lost cameras by running them over

Matt, looks like it's time to replace some of the Decking boards on that trailer

Yeah, big thumbs up! PLEASE please on the follow up when completed! Fun vid, thx.

Great job on the pool project.

Love watching this channel, but it seems like we never see a finished job or project here.

My father inlaw is a brick Mason and he built a similar inground pool with a bobcat too. Came out amazing like yours. The hardest part he said was the liner.

So cool to watch something different

this video moved you up into position #2 in my most watched channels app #1 Andrew Camarata #2 DIESEL CREEK #3 Heavy d sparks #4 Cole the Cornstar #5 whistlin diesel KEEP IT COMING BUDDY

Teasing us with the Crane Truck getting TLC--Bravo.

"Why Dumpèr Whén u Cán Pumpér" 😁😂😂👍👍

i never saw a pool that was deep in the center and shallow at both ends. most have been 3' deep for one half, then sloping to 10'-12' at the other. i've built wooden decks and fences and laid concrete patios around pools, above and below ground, but never worked on the pool itself. kinda neat to see how it's done. those concrete pumper trucks make easy work of what used to be a not so fun task. i've pushed way too many wheelbarrows full of concrete from the end of a truck chute to the project because a truck couldn't get there when i was starting out to not appreciate how much less work that was.

Great work ! In Australia we dig out the hole first. Then we carry out the form work and conc apron

I'm a mosquito and I want more of this content.

I liked those rebar caps.

Cant wait for the winter swim videos!

All ways look forward to my diesel creek fix 👍👍

You can tell who the boss is. He's the guy leaning on the shovel and the rake. :)

I wish digging a pool here in AustinTx was that easy. Need dynamite, napalm, 3 jackhammers, some rail cars, C4, and a depleted uranium excavator 😂

Wow I remember when you had 50k subs. Congrats on the success!

Good job Matt.

Good job Matty.

Putting the gravel down first thrower me for a loop till I watched the whole video!!!

You really need to get a tilting grading bucket for those kinda jobs :) would be so much faster and easier to dig. Here in Finland almost every exavator has tiltrotator. Maybe get one of those someday ;)

from the Netherlands thanks for the video Matt

Hi Matt, greetings from Kentucky. There's a lot of top soil in that backyard. Take care

I just had one built last year and this was very familiar. Fun to watch Matt

Thanks for finishing something. :-)

Wow...... just Wow

Very nice 👍 videos I like the way you buy old machines and make them run