I wanted to post an update. We are still having issues with our PB and issues from the build.
1. When PB installed the diving board back in October of 2012, he noticed some of the surface scraped off. At that point, he said, "We need to get you a new diving board. This one is messed up." We have placed at least three calls to his office and sent at least 10 texts and emails about the diving board (which continues to have additional surface issues) and still have not received a definitive conclusion on this.
2. I mentioned our grout issues a few times during the build. We have cracks between our coping stones and large chunks of grout falling out between the coping stones and the liner (found out later that this area is not normally grouted). To be fair, the PB did not make us pay the remaining $2500 that we owed him and instead we will put that money toward a professional mason's work to regrout between the coping stones and do whatever is necessary between the coping and the liner. I am just now getting estimates on this work, so hopefully it's not super expensive to have this done.
3. We realized early this summer that the two sets of steps they installed were 6' steps, not 8' steps, as defined in the contract. Too late to fix this, but every time I see someone jump on an inflatable and it rolls and they almost hit their head on the corner of the coping I curse the PB. The steps should've been wider.
4. The rubber gasket between our steps and our liner is coming out. I am not sure if this is a normal problem or not. I made another post on this with pictures and someone mentioned that I should razor out the part that is hanging. We have done that.
5. The concrete decking is cracked in three places. The PB documented in his contract that he would fix this if it were to happen within one year of the build. At this point, I don't want the PB touching my pool, so I am going to live with it. If this is a lesson to anyone, having the documentation in the contract doesn't always protect you. Especially once you start to physically feel sick when you think of your PB.
6. We have tons of footprints and what appear to be rocks under our liner bottom. My husband is able to smash out the "rocks" with the tip of a baseball bat (although there are hundreds of them), but the footprints are there for life. When our pool lights are on, it looks so bad.
Anyway, that's where we are currently. Please trust your gut when it comes to choosing a PB. I had a bad/shaky feeling about these guys from the beginning, but my husband talked me into it. They were also $10k cheaper than the other guy (we got more than two bids, but filtered it down to two). References were so/so. We saw issues with their pools when we looked at them, but they promised us that those issues had been fixed since those pools were built. I just read a recent review on Angie's List where the guy had the exact same issues we did. Oh, how I wish that review were there last summer. Our pool cost as much as our first house. This is a major investment, you don't want to choose wrong.
