Bought a 36" diameter Academy pit. Once it started rusting out, I took the legs off and half buried it in a decomposed granite patio I was building. Built a rim around it in bricks and it is great.

It already had a grill top so it is perfect for lighting up some mesquite lump charcoal for a t-bone or rib-eye.

Doc, my buddies (they are brothers) built one like you posted. Took two weekends and came out really nice. Said it took some planning, since they hadn’t done anything like that before, but said it wasn’t hard.

We had a fireplace and outdoor kitchen (lueter counter top, grill space and big green egg platform plus a fireplace and two cubby holes) built a couple years ago. It was about twice what you’re quoting, plus they put stucco on it. We had a mason do it and it turned out great. We love it.

I only have a dark picture of it, but it will give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

The reason it is so expensive is because the gas plumber has to run a gas line from the meter...163 feet so that is $2400 of the cost. He is saying he needs 1.25" line to get enough gas to run the pit which he says is 325,000 BTU's. We have a stub out 3/4" line on the back of the house but he says that wont put out enough gas to run the pit. I don't know enough about it to know if that is correct or not.

The actual fire pit is $2000.

Those look great. Our biggest problem is this....we would likely use it more to roast marshmallows than sitting around drinking in cold weather and we definitely wouldn't grill on it. So I'm thinking gas with a nice glass filler will get ruined by the kiddos dropping burning marshmallows in the fire, Lol.

A wood burner seems to make more sense for what we would use and saves $2400 with no gas line. But the gas sure is nice to turn it on and have a fire.

That looks awesome!

Just thinking. Don’t judge me.

Maybe you could make the fire feature a bit larger, and hide a bbq grill style propane tank in the feature. To help start and maintain the fire.

Or just build an outdoor fireplace. It directs the heat on cold night.

I will take a picture of mine tomorrow.

Thanks. We didn’t have gas run. It’s a wood fireplace. Makes sense why your cost is what it is.

Stone and firebricks is what the guys used on ours.

Wine pee is extra-corrosive, you should've just used water to put it out...

The killer for metal pits is the ashes left in them. I can go thicker upon request but the weight and the cost goes up

Truth!

I use propane in my fireplace. Works fine. You won't use it that much.

On the other hand buy what you like. My wife spent that much on a painting on a school teachers pay.

Sounds like a fun project! If you are looking to get heat on a cool night from it, then I’d kind of lean towards a fireplace as well. Then if marshmallows fall in, it’s no big thing... we’ve lost several in ours lol. I also like having a gas line to get the wood going. But if you are going to run the line, then make sure to leave a spot so you can tie in with a gas grill in the future, should you decide to. If you plan to run power to it, then run plenty of boxes to it the first time. Much less expensive to add them up front than to try and add after the job is done. Another thing to think about is that stone fireplaces are real heavy. You would want the pool company to go real deep with a foundation for it to sit on when they spray the gunite for your pool... don’t want that sucker to start to lean on you after a couple years. Good luck and post pics

This one I made my grandsons build before they could go hunting. We just laid the stone on one another with no cement. Still working 2 years and 20 campfires later. Cost was $70 and bricks from Home Depot. What I liked was the 9 year old's could build it.

I just built one like that with the metal ring inside

Take the kids to your property for cookout, marsh mallows and campout and spend the money on something else. Kids grow up way to fast and will have the better memories at your place. Just go with $19.99 grill from wally world each season or so for the patio for marshmallows. I have a #2 washtub that we keep behind the pool equip fence. When kids wanted to hang out/swim or walk to our house after Friday night lights; they would pull out #2, throw in some kindle, light and add wood; roast Somore's, etc and just hang out. Their other friends had the gas/glass pits but they wanted to hang out at my house because it was real wood and much more "cool". And I live in a strict homeowner association neighborhood pretty close to your car wash that I frequent. Now no one use pool (kids gone), backyard hacienda and I'm so thankful I did not spend the coin on built in gas fire pit or stand alone fireplace that I was seriously having piers dug for and planned. But it's starting to cool off and I can again start working on the patio and watching outdoor tv games

Thanks everyone for the advice...actually I was off on the cost. It is $5400 not $4400 as quoted. Gas line is $3400 from the meter. So I did some research and running around today. I went to a place in Arlington that does custom fire-pits and outdoor kitchens. They build them off site and then deliver to your house. They can make me a custom firepit that uses propane tanks for about $2500, so less than half price. I'm gonna go that route instead and use the savings to put towards an outdoor kitchen. . Here's some pics of what they offer....they can do any color tile and have a bunch of choices for the stone work or stucco.

Wow. 3400 bucks is a lot for gas line.

You could bury a 250 gallon tank for much less. And use the buried tank for the outdoor kitchen and the fire pit.

No joke. Seems crazy to me, but I like the option of propane tanks better as well.

Those look real nice!

How's that grout going to hold up? Definitely cheaper but sometimes those plumbing quotes are just or overkill for what you want. I tapped my main for gas grill and a plumber told me I had to run off meter and bigger pipe. He was smoking something.

We build them all the time.

Our pool builder said he does them but does not recommend them & won't warranty them. Says the concrete cracks often & I didn't want my pool surround cracking. I'm going to buy a kit of a thick trough type pit & weld it myself.

Also most of the crap they sell you won’t last.
We build ours with fire brick and fire clay.