Contractor Messed Up

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Difydesigns

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Mar 24, 2017
8
Jerseyville
I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right area. My apologies if not.
Our pool is almost done. For days, I've commented to my husband that the deep end looked "small." I said we could never have a diving board bc you would dive right into the slope. The owner of the company is never out here, but does texts us a lot. My husband just text him bc he remembered the pool (we haven't measured since the spray paint was put down) and the deep end is 5 feet shorter than its suppose to be. Our pool is filling up as I type. They basically only have the landscaping and some patio work left. I am freaking out. My hasn't extra the guy, who normally replies within minutes, and he's not answering.
Does any one have any suggestions? Not only can we never put a diving board in bc you will be head first into the alopecia, but 5ft difference of liner, panels, concrete.....

I am so stressed now. Do we go for a price change or insist that they fix it (which I assume is too late beings how it's almost full of water).

ALL SUGGESTIONS APPRECIATED!!
 
I'd venture to say the easiest thing is a large discount on the price. Large.

And at the hint of balking, a lawyer is always a good plan so he can review your contract and suggest how to mediate this issue.

Good luck!
 
Wow, this sounds horrible! :roll:

I hope you get a speedy and livable solution. I'm not an attorney, but it seems you have a clear contract issue that could potentially require them to redo the pool. I'd suggest you get your attorney immediately involved.

Good luck!
 
Hopefully you have the dimensions in writing provided by the builder. I'd go with discount and/or serious upgrades on things that are left. Maybe a retaining wall, landscape lighting, etc.
Let him know you're not afraid to lawyer up.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 
I guess the best news is, from the get go he said we didn't have to pay a dine until he was done. The discount he has offered, so far, is $3k off of our $91k bill. We declined it. He came back offering us a free slide or diving rock (instead...not in addition to the $3k). He swears it's safe to dive but I'm not comfortable with it. I've actually had a few nightmares about our kids jumping off of the side and hitting the slope.
He has confirmed that the 42' was on the original plan. He said the engineers sent it back with shorter measurements. We have yet to get an answer about why and why we weren't told. He has also said they were never told and that they missed the changes when they sent him back the blueprints.
 
doobs41378 said:
3k is laughable. I would tell them you want it fixed then. This will cost them a lot of money and perhaps he raises his offer ( by a lot )
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+1

Tell him a 3% discount is ridiculous, and to just fix the pool at his expense if that is all he can discount. That should generate another offer.
 
As you think about his proposals, please understand that there are industry standards for pool size and depth for any diving be it boards, rocks or stationary platforms. It is spelled out in American National Standard for Residential Inground Swimming Pools ANSI/NSPI-5

You can see a select portion of the standard in this documnet - http://www.divingboardsafety.net/Standard-inground-pools.pdf
 

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Difydesigns said:
We did not need a building permit. Country life :)
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If you go forward in it's current configuration please make sure that either the standards are met or the rock/board are not included. If an accident were to happen your homeowners insurance could possibly deny coverage because it was not built to industry standards.

These are the details you need to take into consideration as you finalize any reductions to accept it as is.
 
Difydesigns said:
We did not need a building permit. Country life :)
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Permit or no permit, I think it would be wise to see if your original design meets current safety standards for diving, as listed in the link tim5055 provided.

At that point you can decide what is best for your family's safety, and how to handle the pool builder.
 
domct203 said:
Permit or no permit, I think it would be wise to see if your original design meets current safety standards for diving, as listed in the link tim5055 provided.

At that point you can decide what is best for your family's safety, and how to handle the pool builder.
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He said they send it off to engineers and their program kicks it back if it doesn't meet safety standards. I'm still waiting for the dive specs from them, showing its safe. He said we should have it around 10am CST.

- - - Updated - - -

tim5055 said:
As you think about his proposals, please understand that there are industry standards for pool size and depth for any diving be it boards, rocks or stationary platforms. It is spelled out in American National Standard for Residential Inground Swimming Pools ANSI/NSPI-5

You can see a select portion of the standard in this documnet - http://www.divingboardsafety.net/Standard-inground-pools.pdf
Click to expand...


I saw that pdf last night while scouring the internet last night. I am not sure how to word this, so bare with me. So on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the minimal for safety and 10 being the best bet for safety), I feel like we are at a 1, when we ordered an 8, 9 or even a 10. From the bottom of the slope to the beginning of the wall slope (again I apologize for probably not using correct terms), there's only like 2.5' to maybe 3' at the most of flat deep bottom. It should be more like 7 or 8' foot of flat bottom between the main slop and the wall slop.
We are stuck on what to do. I want the original pool we designed (WITH HIM!) and was quoted on. My husband doesn't think he will do it though. We would still pay the full amount, but unfortunately he would either not make a profit or maybe even be in the red. If we go ahead and stick with the shortened length, I don't feel okay just taking off the cost of the square footage we were shortened. I feel there should be additional compensation bc we will always have what we didn't order. Or is that wrong???....should we just take the cost difference?
My husband wants to dive in a few times this weekend and see if he hits or comes close to the slope. I laughed. I told him he can go first and if he breaks his neck, I'll know it has to be fixed ����.

Is there a pool calculator some where that I can put in our L dimensions and it tell us slope info?
 
Can you describe your pool shape and measurements? I'm wondering if while the end of the pool is too "short" for diving....would a diving rock on the side work? If your diving well is deep enough, is the width of the pool wide enough?

Just a random thought.....

Yippee :flower:
 
Agree on getting the details on whether it meets diving code. However, there is also the primary issue where you were shorted by more than +/- X%, meaning that this is a substantial breach of contract, not something to say is "within tolerance".

In the end, I'd foresee him refusing to build the pool as initially designed (too costly for him - but maybe I'm wrong and he's a stand up guy and will "pay the piper"). But assuming he doesn't rebuild, what you will get, after some serious negotiation (and maybe legal action), is some discount in the $10K range maybe (still less than his cost to rebuild it correctly). Then you will take that $10K and decide if you can be happy enough or bite the bullet and contract for a fix with another PB for maybe ~ $10K additional. Just my objective thoughts with my gut feel numbers (I'm not a PB or pool cost expert by any measure).

The reason I think you may end up on the hook for some (however blatantly unfair it seems) is that you had ample time to identify the issue by measuring yourself. Clearly you shouldn't have to, but I'm a bit jaded to think you'll end up with full restitution.

Sorry my opinion isn't more rosy, but it's just one of many and hopefully wrong.
 
I don't know where you'd find such a calculator, but the dimension minimums should be clearly spelled out in that link Tim provided.

From what you say, it sounds really bad. If you accept a discount, it should be really big. While they were completing my dig, I had a customer who came within a hair's width of being paralyzed after diving into a pool slope. And according to his surgeon, it was a miracle he wasn't. It's very serious business.

I am really sorry this happened, and more so if I add to your anxiety, but this is a really big deal. If you asked and paid for a diving pool that's what you should have gotten.

P.S.

Texas passed a law a couple of years ago stating that even though work was completed, and didn't require inspection in a county, it still had to meet the code applicable to the job, as if it were in the city. NJ may have something like that too.
 
So sorry this happened to you. I wouldn't waste time going back and forth with the builder. Talk to an attorney. Bring with you the original plans (hopefully you signed off on) and the plans they did the build based on. The attorney will know what a reasonable remedy is based on past cases (happens all the time in construction). The builder doesn't have to know you have an attorney but anything short of legal advice given the circumstances is speculation. This is a material/significant breach of the contract. I could be reading it wrong but what you describe in your post doesn't meet the diving standard so please don't test dive. 2 bits of great news: 1) you haven't paid anything yet (the lawyer will be a huge help here regarding how to go about refusing payment, when to pay etc.) and 2) no one got hurt diving into the pool (most important thing). Best of luck.
 

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