Without commenting on your situation in particular....unfortunately, this is the reality of most of our situations. I don't think we can overestimate the importance of doing Due Diligence on Pool Builders and their various subcontractors prior to signing on the dotted line. It's all too easy to get enamored with a given PB's design or get too hung up on pricing. Elsewhere on this site there is some guidance on How to Pick a Pool Builder, but in my opinion, it's not specific enough to help people avoid your situation. With the collective knowledge on this forum, I think it should be possible to devote a section to "best practices" and "worst practices" and even get some cycle time data on how long it takes various PBs to finish construction. Just my $0.02...
New pool build in North Texas! A long and skinny pool....
- Thread starter cchopkins
- Start date
Without commenting on your situation in particular....unfortunately, this is the reality of most of our situations. I don't think we can overestimate the importance of doing Due Diligence on Pool Builders and their various subcontractors prior to signing on the dotted line. It's all too easy to get enamored with a given PB's design or get too hung up on pricing. Elsewhere on this site there is some guidance on How to Pick a Pool Builder, but in my opinion, it's not specific enough to help people avoid your situation. With the collective knowledge on this forum, I think it should be possible to devote a section to "best practices" and "worst practices" and even get some cycle time data on how long it takes various PBs to finish construction. Just my $0.02...
Thank goodness that we are only contracted them to do the first phase..... It was a lot for us to commit at the beginning and we could jot afford to do everything in the master plan. After the pool is done, I will have no business with this company anymore.
It was my fault not to do my research at the beginning. I had not idea what building the pool takes. The lady's architects firm has great reviews on Houzz and her design was really what works the best for our yard. We really had a good relationships until the pool building no gone South. She is very picky as you all can see them quality of work from my build. However, everything is So so expensive with this company. Everything is an up charge, and there is no discount pricing at all with them. They can not even tell me why things took so long for this build. They just said it was hard to get all the sub out to do the works. My husband is a good old Texas boy that is courteous to the max with everyone and he is never the one for making demends.
So, after the phase one and basically wipe out our saving.... We will do little bit at the time to get the other phases done by ourself.....
It was my fault not to do my research at the beginning. I had not idea what building the pool takes. The lady's architects firm has great reviews on Houzz and her design was really what works the best for our yard. We really had a good relationships until the pool building no gone South. She is very picky as you all can see them quality of work from my build. However, everything is So so expensive with this company. Everything is an up charge, and there is no discount pricing at all with them. They can not even tell me why things took so long for this build. They just said it was hard to get all the sub out to do the works. My husband is a good old Texas boy that is courteous to the max with everyone and he is never the one for making demends.
So, after the phase one and basically wipe out our saving.... We will do little bit at the time to get the other phases done by ourself.....
I would take this further to say, even if you did your due diligence, and you checked references, and you sourced several builders and you put together a locked down contract with delay clauses and specifics on deliverables and a robust payment schedule - you can still end up in a situation you planned never to be in. First, as in any business, the PB's situation can change from the time you met and completed the due diligence, in many different ways from the number of people they employed, to the subcontractors they normally work with, to personal medical situations that throw things at them that they weren't expecting and Second, yes - you may have a solid contract to take the PB to court and you may be able to deduct amounts from payments due to delays and you may have absolute great documentation that will pretty much lean to your favor but that still doesn't guaranty your job getting done exactly how you expected it to get done in the timeframe you thought. It's a big decision to decide to go to court and spend the extra money and time to go that route (while thinking the same time and hassle can be employed getting the PB to finish it out) because you will still have an unfinished job in your yard and you have to find someone else to complete it - which means you will have to go through the due diligence and contract process again and spend more money and possibly deal with the same frustrations because you thought you did everything lock solid the first time.
I'm not suggesting to pick either sticking it out or going to court over the other because every one has their individual tolerance limit - but when I read on here[ here being on this forum not necessarily this thread] when people say " 'you didn't do your due diligence', or 'I wouldn't have signed a contract like that' or 'take them to court' " - it really isn't that simple. It is important to have done the necessary steps so that if you do decide to go to court, you can be successful but taking somebody to court is really the last play you have with that PB and there's a lot of thought that needs to go into that. -Karen
I would be careful and make sure that you get it in clear writing that when you have paid them off for the work done you get clear documentation of this to prevent any legal issues that could come from any confusion as I would hate to see the PB put a lien on your property.
Yes..... After the GC lady threw her tantrum about the sub painted my kitchen and 2 weeks of silent war, she came around, not all nice and warm as before, but she knows that she has to complete the job regardless what happened. I basically just pretend nothing had happened, and wanted to have them done soon. So, they finished the decking, and past the pre plaster inspection and last two days they worked on repairing all the damages from the build to the front yard, sod the zoyzia grass, and bed prepped, and lay the gravel, installed the planters. they are planing on plaster on Monday. So.... I should have some updates and pics soon.....
That is a good amount of work done. Here is to plaster on Monday for the pool AND pool owner! LOL
Kim
Kim
Tropics Blue Mini Pebble Stones Cape by NPT. It is a bit of grey but not too dark. I picked it because it has ablone shells in the mix to give just a bit of Sparkle. What do you think of that choice? You think it looks good?
I have the same product and color. It looks great and gives the water a nice turquoise color in the sun
Hi Jamcha, thanks for sharing the picture of the plaster finish. I see that there are quite a few abalone shells sparkling. Do you have to pay extra to pay more to get more shells put in or is that the normal amount they out in the mix?
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Thank you Karen, we are excited too. The only thing is that we have trees around the pool and now the leaves are falling. I kind of want to postpone the plastering until the leaves done falling but the PB refuse to stop with plastering, because he said that is not a reason for stop plastering.....what to do? Or am I just worry about too much?
Cheers to all the pool owners and the upcoming ones top....
Yes, I can barely what to do some planting around the pool. I got many nices azalea, my favorite flowers, on sale. I am such a picky Gardner, and I do not trust others to plant for me......anyhow, will be a great Thanksgiving holiday project for me...
Well, the picture just show how much leaves that are fallen in one overnight......it is basically like falling like rain fall, and I am afraid that when they plaster and the leaves keep coming down.... How can they do a good job with all the leaves get stuck with the plaster while the plaster is being set? Maybe I am wrong on this. If anyone knows about this and maybe you guys can keep my mind at ease.
That is a LOT of leaves! I can see why you worry.
I have never had to deal with this so I am no help BUT I have worked with concrete so......................I am not sure how much of a cross over there is between plaster and concrete. IF there is any crossover it should be fine as the leaves are so light and the concrete sets very fast. It was only 15 mins. before I could put my dog's pawprint in our equipment pad. After that it was too set to take his print.
It should be up to YOU as to when the plaster is done. You are the boss.
IF they do press you to do it now I wonder if you could use the cheap bird netting to make a tent of sorts over the plaster. You could use small PVC poles to prop it up or pin it to your fence and house in some way. Just an idea.
Kim
I have never had to deal with this so I am no help BUT I have worked with concrete so......................I am not sure how much of a cross over there is between plaster and concrete. IF there is any crossover it should be fine as the leaves are so light and the concrete sets very fast. It was only 15 mins. before I could put my dog's pawprint in our equipment pad. After that it was too set to take his print.
It should be up to YOU as to when the plaster is done. You are the boss.
IF they do press you to do it now I wonder if you could use the cheap bird netting to make a tent of sorts over the plaster. You could use small PVC poles to prop it up or pin it to your fence and house in some way. Just an idea.
Kim
Pre plastering pics! I guess it is THE day that everyone is waiting for..... My children are excited, but they are sad it is in the winter to have this pool completed instead of summer. For me, it is exciting that my life may somehow get back to normal instead of dealing with the PB and GC lady. I hope this day go smoothly and everyone is happy in the end and trouble free..... Getting the test kit right now and leaf net too..
It will be a while before I get all the planting down around the pool and patio. I went plant shopping crazy this weekend at Calloway Nursery. It was great to buy plants this time of the year, most of them were marked down 50% or 30%! This will be my project during Thanksgiving break on top of decoding for Christmas!
It will be a while before I get all the planting down around the pool and patio. I went plant shopping crazy this weekend at Calloway Nursery. It was great to buy plants this time of the year, most of them were marked down 50% or 30%! This will be my project during Thanksgiving break on top of decoding for Christmas!