New pool build in North Texas! A long and skinny pool....
- Thread starter cchopkins
- Start date
Unfortunately for him she may not give him any more work in the future. It can be considered uncool to hire her guys on jobs she gave them no matter how big or small.
She has no right to yell at either of you but at the risk of being unpopular, she actually does have a point.
Honest mistake. Nothing to worry about. You didn't know.
Looks great though!
She has no right to yell at either of you but at the risk of being unpopular, she actually does have a point.
Honest mistake. Nothing to worry about. You didn't know.
Looks great though!
I guess there are always a different point of view on everything. So I appreciate that. I think the sub will be fine because the lady really like his work, and it is no easy to find a good subcontractor. I agree that she has the right to be unhappy about but she has no right to act all crazy and mean, especially when a build had been taking so long and so many delays. I could had been yelling at her every single day for her inability to get the job done in a timely manner. We are in our 8 months of the build already. If I gave her the courtesy to treat her and the rest of her team like a human being and always with a smile and say thank you, she should take all that into consideration and behave properly when she is upset.
n240sxguy
Well-known member
Light her up next time there is even the smallest delay. Ask her how she likes it. I'm sure the guy was glad to get a little extra work since he's been sitting there twiddling his thumbs waiting for his turn to work. 8 months! I would be burning bridges after 8 weeks. That is ridiculous! 8 months to put a decorated hole in the ground. Now I need to calm down.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My PB actually encouraged me to use his subs for other things, and I did. He had no problems with it whatsoever. Makes no sense that someone would yell at a client spending so much money with them. How disrespectful!
n240sxguy
Well-known member
It is kinda weird. That would kinda endear you to the PB because you were getting something for "free". They're getting paid to be there anyway. Might as well be busy.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I know.... It is all very weird..... The patio is about 80 sf, and the kitchen painting is not that a big job.... So why she was so upset was beyond me. The sub was here on his free time, not on her time..... Now she does not even want me to text her nor long email.... Just a bit of over react I would say.
If it were pool related, I could totally see the irritation. Unrelated to pool building, I would want to tell her where she can stick her complaint. (I probably wouldn't actually do it, but I would plan it all out on my head, lol.) Sounds like all she has is $$ signs in her eyes. If she continues to be rude, I would politely remind her who is paying Who!!
I would think about talking to the owner of the company about her behavior. It is VERY unprofessional and puts the company in a bad light.
She does not want you to text or email? How are you to contact her? Is there anyone else you can work with?
I am so on your side with all of this. What is left to do? Do you still owe them a good amount of money? Any way you can pay them off on what they have done and get another company to finish?
Kim
She does not want you to text or email? How are you to contact her? Is there anyone else you can work with?
I am so on your side with all of this. What is left to do? Do you still owe them a good amount of money? Any way you can pay them off on what they have done and get another company to finish?
Kim
Glock
0
I agree. Next time she is even late showing up I would light her up like central park. Heck for as long as you have been waiting she would get an irate call from me on a daily basis. I do hope she did not come on your property and berate you like that.
Corleone
0
I've seriously had it with your pool builder, can you please cuss her out and put it on youtube for my enjoyment?
n240sxguy
Well-known member
I am not sure even where to go from here. There is not much left on the build to finish. Once the guys finish the decking on Monday, then they will clean up and do the bed prep around the pool and put down gravel along the fence, then they will do plaster. The lady is actual owner of the architecture design firm that I hired to do the master plan....so it is not likely to she is going to disappear from this project. It is really bad business for her to be so mad about stupid stuff and behave so horribly....It is not like I did not spent a lot of money on the pool build, and she is not making money on this pool build. Through out the build, she charges me every single change orders, and upgrade. They even wanted to charge me extra for the abalone shell that came with the Tropics Blue mini pebble Stonescape. I asked them if the abalone shells did not come with the plaster, then why the sample of Tropics Blue has shells in there. PB said maybe it is the best one to show case the shells and it will cost us $350 to add the shells just to make the plaster looks like the sample......So, I called NPT myself and asked if the original Tropics Blue minipebble stonescape came with abalone shells. The customer representative said "yes". It is the only Stonescape plaster that has abalone shells in. She does not even know why PB wanted to charge extra for having the shells in the mix because it came with the shells. So I told the PB that I am not paying a single penny more to add the abalone shells because the original formula for the plaster does call for abalone shells, and they better make sure that my Minipebble Stonescape Tropics Blue plaster looks like the sample board. I guess they (GC, PB, and construction manager) were not happy about that run in already.
Then, right before all these upset happened with the sub, I also made a stand on the installation of IntelliPH unit and asked them to do it for me as a courtesy or at cost, because I believed that we deserve some kind of compensation for the build to be taking so long and multiple mistakes happened during the build and delay the progress. If you see my earlier posting, you would see PB wanted to charge me $1750 for the unit and installation (this unit was not in the contract, and I like to add after doing some research about the unit). It is an outrageous number especially the unit itself is only $500 and the labor for installing the unit the most $300 (I called around because I thought the number was too high). The PB said that they would not want other people to install the unit because that would void the plumbing warranty from the plumbing sub, so that does not give me the option of getting other people to install the unit. So, I told PB that then it is important for them to consider my request of giving me this unit and installation as a courtesy or at cost , and that was two weeks ago. Anyhow, after all the stuff happened with the sub doing work for me on the side, I got a series of angry texts yesterday from the GC lady saying that what ever the PB decide to charge me with regarding IntelliPH is the final decision and she is not going to change her mind on that. So, I will find out what they decide on this issue on Monday.
I really hate that there is really not much of protection for the home owners in the pool building business. When we signed the contract, of course, they would not specify how long the build will take. However, I was told 10 to 12 weeks.....now 8 month later we still do not have a pool. how is that fair to me and my family? I have not once lose my cool with them, even through the time period that they totally messed up on the concrete copings, took them three weeks to decide that they should remove them at their cost. However, we then had to pay a premium fee to upgrade to leuder stone copings ($35 a linear feet) if we did not want them to do it again in concrete. So we sucked it up and paid for the upgrade and be done with it, and we do love the stone copings. Then I was worried that the concrete crew will mess up the decking around the pool like they messed up on the copings, we decided to get the leuder stone pavers instead of stamped concrete. Of course, they charged me premium for that at $26 per sf. So, for the GC lady to lose her cool on such a small issue of me using her sub to do a couple of small jobs really upsets me because she made a lot of money off me already why she is mad about a couple of thousands that I did not let her in on......
All I have to say right now is if they have any sense of humanity, I hope that they will get that IntelliPh unit installed for me at cost without mark up ( I do not think they will do it as a courtesy...). Otherwise, I will "lite up" on them....or I will go on Houzz and any review sites to simply state "if you want a project that goes on forever, or a swimming pool build that takes more than 8 months (going on 9), then please choose this company."
Then, right before all these upset happened with the sub, I also made a stand on the installation of IntelliPH unit and asked them to do it for me as a courtesy or at cost, because I believed that we deserve some kind of compensation for the build to be taking so long and multiple mistakes happened during the build and delay the progress. If you see my earlier posting, you would see PB wanted to charge me $1750 for the unit and installation (this unit was not in the contract, and I like to add after doing some research about the unit). It is an outrageous number especially the unit itself is only $500 and the labor for installing the unit the most $300 (I called around because I thought the number was too high). The PB said that they would not want other people to install the unit because that would void the plumbing warranty from the plumbing sub, so that does not give me the option of getting other people to install the unit. So, I told PB that then it is important for them to consider my request of giving me this unit and installation as a courtesy or at cost , and that was two weeks ago. Anyhow, after all the stuff happened with the sub doing work for me on the side, I got a series of angry texts yesterday from the GC lady saying that what ever the PB decide to charge me with regarding IntelliPH is the final decision and she is not going to change her mind on that. So, I will find out what they decide on this issue on Monday.
I really hate that there is really not much of protection for the home owners in the pool building business. When we signed the contract, of course, they would not specify how long the build will take. However, I was told 10 to 12 weeks.....now 8 month later we still do not have a pool. how is that fair to me and my family? I have not once lose my cool with them, even through the time period that they totally messed up on the concrete copings, took them three weeks to decide that they should remove them at their cost. However, we then had to pay a premium fee to upgrade to leuder stone copings ($35 a linear feet) if we did not want them to do it again in concrete. So we sucked it up and paid for the upgrade and be done with it, and we do love the stone copings. Then I was worried that the concrete crew will mess up the decking around the pool like they messed up on the copings, we decided to get the leuder stone pavers instead of stamped concrete. Of course, they charged me premium for that at $26 per sf. So, for the GC lady to lose her cool on such a small issue of me using her sub to do a couple of small jobs really upsets me because she made a lot of money off me already why she is mad about a couple of thousands that I did not let her in on......
All I have to say right now is if they have any sense of humanity, I hope that they will get that IntelliPh unit installed for me at cost without mark up ( I do not think they will do it as a courtesy...). Otherwise, I will "lite up" on them....or I will go on Houzz and any review sites to simply state "if you want a project that goes on forever, or a swimming pool build that takes more than 8 months (going on 9), then please choose this company."
This, totally this. She doesn't want a text or email. Ha Ha Ha. I'm sure you don't want to have to text or email her either, but since she can't get her act together and act like a professional, I would be doubly sure to contact her via text or email - because it is IN WRITING. Verbal conversations are not admissible as evidence in a court of law. That is considered hearsay. And even if your builder wasn't completely crazy, you don't contract for a project in the tens of thousands of dollars without making sure your butt is covered from A to Z by having everything in writing. She doesn't want a paper trail following her, and you know what I'd make it real clear you are making sure there is one.
Is there any way you can fire her? Seriously, it sounds like you are dealing with a crazy lunatic.
But hey, the deck looks great - and the patio also looks fantastic.
Edit - just read your post above - Can you lodge a complaint with the BBB? Or perhaps seriously think about taking your contract to a lawyer for advice - especially regarding the master plan part. Do you really want to work with this person for a good amount of time in the foreseeable future?
Change orders and upgrades always cost more. That is where they make their money. Of course they show you the best plaster, coping and tile...they want you to love it. When was the last time Chevrolet advertised the base model sedan on TV and showed the price? Nope, they show the 60K sedan and give you the basic model price.
I would talk to the plumber sub about the warranty issue if someone else does the work on the panel. That sounds like he is trying to make sure he gets the overpriced job.
I bet Eva started the truth in why your crazy lady does not want texts and emails-paper trail=proof!
HUGS! One day it will be done. Hopefully you still have hair when it is.
Kim
I bet Eva started the truth in why your crazy lady does not want texts and emails-paper trail=proof!
HUGS! One day it will be done. Hopefully you still have hair when it is.
Kim
This was not my experience at all. This is why you need to interview a lot more than 3 or 4 builders before you go through with something like this and have everything in writing.
All kinds of construction pay their bills on "up charges" and change orders. This is common practice. Just about any change to the original plan can be an opportunity for more money.
I can also tell you that it is not always possible to find more that 5 to ASK to come give a bid. IF you are lucky 3 or 4 will show up. When we needed a new roof on our house I called 8 roofing companies to ask for bids. 5 showed up. 3 were on time. 2 listened to what I wanted. 1 could/would do it within my time period.
A GOOD business owner will work with the customer to make sure things are done right the first time and on time. THIS person they are dealing with is NOT a good business owner!
Kim
I can also tell you that it is not always possible to find more that 5 to ASK to come give a bid. IF you are lucky 3 or 4 will show up. When we needed a new roof on our house I called 8 roofing companies to ask for bids. 5 showed up. 3 were on time. 2 listened to what I wanted. 1 could/would do it within my time period.
A GOOD business owner will work with the customer to make sure things are done right the first time and on time. THIS person they are dealing with is NOT a good business owner!
Kim