Can anyone recommend a swimming pool contractor?

[Willy Leadwell]

Be really really careful when it comes to heating it... You can read about my epic saga with the gas company in the "So get this..." thread.

Here is the pool that Tony from Ridgewater built for us about 2 years ago...

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I see your thread. That sucks, but they caused then then allowed it to snowball. They're going to try to get you to pay, but they should settle with you. It's the ethical thing to do. They essentially tricked you into buying more of their pridcut than you would have. Intentional or not, that's unethical. I wouldn't just pay it without some hard attempts to have them at least meet you in the middle.

Out here inLoganville, they sub the gas service to the city of Lawrenceville. It's been 4 months chasing my tail with them and all I have to show for it is a line running from the street sticking out of the ground by the house and a line running to the heater, but no meter to hook them to. Just getting gas service at my house is an epic saga. City of Lawrenceville does not answer the phone nor do they return calls or emails. If you go down there and tell them what you are trying to do they tell you that you're in the wrong place and send you back to the place you just came from. One lady tried to send me to city hall. When I said "that's where I just came from and they sent me here" She argued with me, telling me that I was in the wrong place. She tried to tell me that I was at the Gwinnett county building and that I needed to go to Lawrenceville city hall. I told her I just came from the brick building she described that has "CITY HALL" in great big letters above the doors and she refused to believe me. Basically called me a liar. I got infuriated, said a few choice words and haven't been back since. But now the pool is done and I need gas, so I guess I gotta go back and try again...

 

[Willy Leadwell]

swimming pools......let me tell you this. when that fellow comes over and sits down with you and your wife and yall end up with a number, after he leaves, take that number and triple it! bought one last summer and it started off right at 20 grand. by the time we put in a small poolhouse, fence, pump, pool cleaner, chemicals, grassn seed where they shreadeed our yard....we were in it right at 60 grand. so yeah, TRIPLE it.

I wouldn't allow that to happen. When someone gives you a price in a written contract, they can't just triple it. They can let you know about unforeseen expenses, but if someone tried to do me like that, they wouldn't get away with it.

White's gave me a price with all the equipment and service itemized on the contract. Also included a payment schedule. $xxx due upon completion of excavation, $xxx due upon completion of shotcrete shell, $xxx due upon completion of concrete decking, $xxx due when we turn the equipment on, and $xxx due when we come out and teach you how to run it all.

I'm smart enough to know that my yard is going to get shredded by a huge excavator, and if I didn't they made it very clear in their contract that no landscaping was included. They did do a pretty good rough grade when they cleaned up after themselves. I could probably lay sod the way it is, but we're gonna fine tune it a little more first. Up front he told me the ONLY thing that would cost more than the contract price was if they ran into rock so large they couldn't simply remove it with the excavator. He only said this because there were large rocks in my yard and he was afraid that they may have come from the digging of the basement and that he might find more. It ended up being fine and they said my red clay soil was extremely stable. They built a pool for my neighbor 12 years ago and he spoke very highly of them. They also have a well established retail storefront, which was a huge plus for me. Many of the contractors I met with were difficult to get in touch with during the sales process. I can't imagine how they'd be after completion and I have a problem.

 

[SirBannedAlot]

I wouldn't allow that to happen. When someone gives you a price in a written contract, they can't just triple it. They can let you know about unforeseen expenses, but if someone tried to do me like that, they wouldn't get away with it.

White's gave me a price with all the equipment and service itemized on the contract. Also included a payment schedule. $xxx due upon completion of excavation, $xxx due upon completion of shotcrete shell, $xxx due upon completion of concrete decking, $xxx due when we turn the equipment on, and $xxx due when we come out and teach you how to run it all.

I'm smart enough to know that my yard is going to get shredded by a huge excavator, and if I didn't they made it very clear in their contract that no landscaping was included. They did do a pretty good rough grade when they cleaned up after themselves. I could probably lay sod the way it is, but we're gonna fine tune it a little more first. Up front he told me the ONLY thing that would cost more than the contract price was if they ran into rock so large they couldn't simply remove it with the excavator. He only said this because there were large rocks in my yard and he was afraid that they may have come from the digging of the basement and that he might find more. It ended up being fine and they said my red clay soil was extremely stable. They built a pool for my neighbor 12 years ago and he spoke very highly of them. They also have a well established retail storefront, which was a huge plus for me. Many of the contractors I met with were difficult to get in touch with during the sales process. I can't imagine how they'd be after completion and I have a problem.

My pool company busted up my side parking pad... half of the concrete is in little pieces from the dump trucks and cement trucks rolling over it repeatedly... I asked if they were gonna fix it, and they said they would have to charge me... That if I was expecting them to come in with heavy equipment and cement trucks, that it could crack the driveway and parking pad...

I will probably have to pay someone to come out, haul off the busted parts and re-pour concrete this spring... I imagine that will be a few thousand...

 

[Willy Leadwell]

My pool company busted up my side parking pad... half of the concrete is in little pieces from the dump trucks and cement trucks rolling over it repeatedly... I asked if they were gonna fix it, and they said they would have to charge me... That if I was expecting them to come in with heavy equipment and cement trucks, that it could crack the driveway and parking pad...

I will probably have to pay someone to come out, haul off the busted parts and re-pour concrete this spring... I imagine that will be a few thousand...

I guess you never know, but I don't think the pool company I used would do that either. If there was a risk, they would have told me up front. They are truly consummate professionals. No messing around, no issues, just getting it done exactly as they say they are going to. After all my research and all I've heard I really couldn't be happier with my decision to use White's. If anyone is looking at getting a pool, I would recommend no one else.

 

[albatros43]

My wife really wants a pool Hell no!

 

[Willy Leadwell]

My wife really wants a pool Hell no!

It's a terrible idea if you: 1) Can't really afford it. 2)Won't use it. 3) Have a problem with taking care of it.

I don't know why people act like they're tons of work, they're really not. I's a hell of a lot less work than say, cutting your own grass. I loathe cutting/trimming the yard, which is why I don't even own a lawnmower any more . Caring for a pool is a breeze compared to yard work. To each his own.

It's also not something you should go into expecting to get your money back out of. You won't. The pool itself doesn't add value to the property. The rock work and landscaping I've done in conjunction with the pool will add some value, but I have no delusions about it being any sort of "investment". Everyone lumps it in the category with owning a boat, which I could say the same thing about. Buy a nice boat and take care of it, they're not that bad either. I don't know what kind of POS boats you pool haters have been around.

 

[SirBannedAlot]

It's a terrible idea if you: 1) Can't really afford it. 2)Won't use it. 3) Have a problem with taking care of it.

I don't know why people act like they're tons of work, they're really not. I's a hell of a lot less work than say, cutting your own grass. I loathe cutting/trimming the yard, which is why I don't even own a lawnmower any more . Caring for a pool is a breeze compared to yard work. To each his own.

It's also not something you should go into expecting to get your money back out of. You won't. The pool itself doesn't add value to the property. The rock work and landscaping I've done in conjunction with the pool will add some value, but I have no delusions about it being any sort of "investment".

Mine has a massive oak tree over the top of it, so in the fall, it is a LOT of work. Unfortunately it isn't my oak tree, so not a lot I can do about it.

 

[Willy Leadwell]

Mine has a massive oak tree over the top of it, so in the fall, it is a LOT of work. Unfortunately it isn't my oak tree, so not a lot I can do about it.

Yeah, I took down 13 oak trees in my backyard. Two of them because they were in the dig zone, 11 because they had leaves...

I left 3. I'm anticipating the likelihood of another call to the tree company about those next fall.

 

[albatros43]

It's a terrible idea if you: 1) Can't really afford it. 2)Won't use it. 3) Have a problem with taking care of it.

I don't know why people act like they're tons of work, they're really not. I's a hell of a lot less work than say, cutting your own grass. I loathe cutting/trimming the yard, which is why I don't even own a lawnmower any more . Caring for a pool is a breeze compared to yard work. To each his own.

It's also not something you should go into expecting to get your money back out of. You won't. The pool itself doesn't add value to the property. The rock work and landscaping I've done in conjunction with the pool will add some value, but I have no delusions about it being any sort of "investment". Everyone lumps it in the category with owning a boat, which I could say the same thing about. Buy a nice boat and take care of it, they're not that bad either. I don't know what kind of POS boats you pool haters have been around.

We had a pool growing up. I distinctly remember my Dad hating it and as we got older it got very little use. After we moved away when we became adults it sat uncovered for years and was essentially a pond. A new neighborhood was put in close to my parent's house so they were forced to put a fence around it. A few years ago they finally bulldozed the thing in.

I don't mean to discourage you and I hope it's everything you wanted and more and you'll love it. That's just not the reality for most people. Get a friend with a pool. Get a friend with a boat. For what it's worth my older sister has a pool so she must not be scarred from it like me

 

[Willy Leadwell]

We had a pool growing up. I distinctly remember my Dad hating it and as we got older it got very little use. After we moved away when we became adults it sat uncovered for years and was essentially a pond. A new neighborhood was put in close to my parent's house so they were forced to put a fence around it. A few years ago they finally bulldozed the thing in.

I don't mean to discourage you and I hope it's everything you wanted and more and you'll love it. That's just not the reality for most people. Get a friend with a pool. Get a friend with a boat. For what it's worth my older sister has a pool so she must not be scarred from it like me

I grew up with a pool too. I don't recall my dad hating it because he didn't have to do anything. I did all the cleaning and water testing. I would stop on the way home from school and grab chlorine from the pool store occasionally, which I don't have to do now with the automated salt chlorine generator system. It's definitely a lot more work if you ever let it get away from you.