Ah the rudeness...

[TXFamilyof6]

So, following the lead of past DIYers I decided to call excavators to see if they would be willing to dig the pool hole and haul away the dirt. Either no one answered or they didn't do residential work. I then decided that Craigslist might be a good place to find people! I put an ad up looking for someone to dig the hole, haul the dirt away, and trowel the poolKrete. And these are the responses I got:

'I can't believe you are stupid enough to fall for those DIY pools'

'You couldn't pay me $1000 to show up at your property to even look at it'

Hmmmmmm, Okay....WOW!! I was totally blown away! Is this the response that I going to get while trying to do a DIY pool?!

I will say that a guy wrote and said that he is in the pool business and in desperate need of dirt. He is willing to do the work and keep the dirt as his payment. So, I'm going to have him come out and have a chat with him and let him take a look at our property(which is surrounded by houses on ALL sides).

 

[ssgumby]

'I can't believe you are stupid enough to fall for those DIY pools'

I would love to know what he means. My DIY kit is the same exact thing my local pool builder uses. I know this because ive spoke with the pool builder and he told me. He said they charge $30-$40k for this exact same setup, completely installed. I will have around $20k in it. I got lucky on my excavator as the company doing my new home also happened to be the contractor for this pool builder.

Dont listen to those idiots, do what you need to do to get the job done and then enjoy it!

 

[Samantha Sabrina]

I wouldn't put much stock in what someone like that says, just consider the source.

Just goes to show how it takes all kinds to make the world go round and round, lol.

Glad you did get someone willing to come out and possibly get you started at little to no cost, Congrats!

If this doesn't work out, perhaps look for small contractors that do landscaping, they usually have the means to dig and haul like you want, and some may even be like this guy an dig it just for the dirt.

Good lUck, hoping it all works out for you.

 

[Ohm_Boy]

...it takes all kinds...

It really doesn't TAKE all kinds, we just HAVE all kinds.

 

[kyle11]

Don't let it discourage you. If it was easy everyone would do it this way and save thousands. It takes a whole lot of patients. Some days I would just give up and let it die down for a few days before I would begin to hunt for someone else to do the work. Have you tried calling pool builders also? It took me at least a month before I found the guy that is doing my dig and poolkrete. Allot of these guys do not have offices so it is hard to get in touch with them.I had a guy call me back yesterday that I left a message for 3 weeks ago.

Try backhoe services, call around to your local big equipment dealers and ask who does that kind of work. Call anyone you can think of that would deal with any type of large earth moving equipment. You never know who people know that might do that type of work.




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[Samantha Sabrina]

Green houses and garden supply shops will also know local contractors, also home builders could be a good source, or look under general contractors, excavation, trucking, (dump/dirt/gravel), alot of those guys have digging equipment also,and if they don't you can bet they know everyone around town that does.

 

[gkruske]

Find your local landscaper/hardscaper, and keep calling different ones. We had a local company come out last year to dig a 15'x3' hole in the backyard so we could put a trampoline at ground level. It was an amazing thing to watch.

You've got 2 different kinds of landscapers out there....the ones who want big jobs only, and the ones who want to earn money and a future customer, regardless of the dollar amount.

 

[mcaswell]

Not justifying these types of responses, but in my business, vendors that decide to start selling directly to consumers face a swift and decisive response from their industry customers. So, I wonder if perhaps this is what's going on here... if word gets out that they're excavating for homeowners, builders will blacklist them.

Still, a simple "sorry, I only work with pool contractors" would suffice, instead of being rude and obnoxious like that.

--Michael

 

[DBfan187]

Look for pond builders.