First meeting with PB this week -- any advice?

[Plazaglass]

We've chosen a PB and will meet with him Thursday. We'll be going over what we want, then he'll come back later with a detailed contract. (We already have the initial estimate.) Any words of wisdom for this first meeting? Anything you wish you'd asked right off the bat?

I'm also attaching a rough sketch of what we're thinking. Tiny yard, tiny pool

 

[Plazaglass]

Signature revised to reflect latest plan.

 

[Mr Bruce]

I would be most interested in number of skimmers and returns. In a tiny pool it's not as big of a deal, but I would prefer at least 2 returns and one skimmer. Skimmer on the down-wind side.

 

[Plazaglass]

Three returns and one skimmer.

Winds are usually from east (we're three blocks from the beach, so normally blowing in from the ocean), so we should have the skimmer on the west, correct?

 

[Mr Bruce]

Sounds perfect. Post pictures!

 

[bmoreswim]

Does he know you've chosen him? I would normally recommend giving requirements/specs to each builder to have them give you detailed quotes so they might be somewhat comparable. Then you tend to have more bargaining ability.
Have all equipment that you want picked out so he can give you exactly what you want. Same for as many other details as you can think of. Some would be waterline depths, exact dimensions on everything, per square foot charge for increased decking (MANY people increase from original plan and then is not he time to negotiate a rate), how many lights, what kind (you can specify), etc.

 

[philboyj]

If you have not already done this - draw out the pool on your yard to get an idea of the size and shape to make adjustments. Size can affect price.

Also get pricing for any and all options that you may even be slightly considering. Like an upgraded paver material or plaster - iron out the pricing for those things right at the begining. Once project starts, PB's tend to be able to quote a higher margin since we are a captive customer already.

Good luck!!

And yes - like Mr. Bruce said - we love pictures!!

 

[Plazaglass]

We've talked to six companies over the last six months, and got estimates from three. The estimates were as apples-to-apples as we could get them at this early stage. One PB was eliminated because the salesperson suddenly went dark on us for 17 days, so we took that as a very bad sign. The other one we eliminated had a price about 30 percent higher than the others, which was enough of an increase that we'd have to omit a few things. The one we're going with (and he does know we've chosen him) had the lowest price (but not crazy low), but more importantly, we liked him, saw that he understood us, and we've been to see his work. I've also contacted his references, and they seemed to be honest since they told me what went wrong and what to watch out for while they still recommended him.

Hubby removed an old deck and our hot tub, and once the concrete pad it was on is gone, we'll be marking out everything on the ground.

The PB's price also included pavers and wall labor and materials, but we're probably going with less square footage on the pavers than he had in his estimate, so we should be good there unless we ultimately pick some overly snazzy kind

One thing to be decided is the Premix Marbletite or the Pebble Tec finish, as noted in my sig.

Thanks everybody! I'll take all of the thoughts/opinions I can get.

 

[bmoreswim]

Sounds like you had a good process to work through the bids. If you have less S.F. of pavers, how will you know what credit you are due? I recommend an agreed upon rate for an increase or decrease per SF.

 

[Plazaglass]

That's a good question, bmoreswim! The PB does not yet know that we're thinking about less paving, so I'll find out in the meeting what the price per square is first. Thanks for the advice.