It was done simultaneously, as they were smoothing things out one of the guys would throw the glass beads. Yes it feel great, smooth for the most part it blends in with the pebble. I have a few rough parts but Im still in the brushing phase. The only thing different I would have done was to be more pushy about the gold being taken out of the mix. My PB never gave me the option to create a custom mix or even took the time to show me other pools with the color plaster I had chosen.
You seem to have a great PB that's there every step of the way. My PB was absent for the majority of the build so I had to fight with the subs to make sure things were done my way. I wish I had your PB he obviously cares about the work product and client happiness. I'm still waiting for my deck jets to be installed, as usual someone else's build appears to be more important than mine. Also waiting on my leaking skimmer to be addressed too. There's other things that just chalk up to poor worksmanship that Im just gonna have to live with and not complain about. (i.e. crooked tile in the spa)
Your feedback has helped greatly. We did decide not to add anything additional to the formula as both the PB and installer said they know me well enough that the inability to control handcasting outcome will likely bother us. We think they are right.
Its funny you mention concept of options & customizing. My awareness of options/customizing came from an education from TFP. I used the PB outline of his pool builds and then read on TFP about each section (hrs & hrs at night & weekends). I learned about water tile and coping contrast/complimentary, unique glass jewel step markers, interior finishes pros & cons, water colors, formulas including add ons and substitutes. Many TFP members elaborated in detail. When I saw a post of 1 stonescapes set of formulas, I then spent time on google, trial and error, till I found all the ones that I had considered. (NPT said they aren't even given to customers!). That's when I knew I could switch dye color on Tropics if I wanted somewhere between midnight & tropics color. Once I saw the midnight, I knew if I removed the green/teal hue, I would be good. I also kind of liked the teal it just wasn't my first desire, so I learned how to remove green. Before I hired my PB, I was introduced to someone who had just completed her lagoon style pool with a lavish rock fountain and the Badu jets. She raved about him. A week later I met the PB and signed right after. She mentioned he is happy to adjust & tweak to make one happy & he confirmed this without me asking. So I knew everyone was an option. Overall, he has been great & beyond. Like everyone, no one is perfect. He is swamped and I did not stay on him, although I had my notes and sent frequently itemizing all things needed to be done yet. He humbly & graciously admits a few places he did not follow through (since overworked) soon enough despite my weekly email reminders. I listed them below for anyone at the earlier stages of pool building. We know shortly after we are swimming our defense mechanism of repression will set in and it will be a part of the past. I did itemize my short list for him, and posting below for any readers on TFP at the early stage of pool building.
Short comings of PB as well as myself, as I am quite capable of being repetitively assertive and at times I went with patience, tolerance, and trust and of course hindsight said I should have stayed more insistent or ordered things my self.
1. We ordered pavers, coping, equipment, water tiles, and Lightstreams shell beach step/bench marker very early as I insisted due to TFP & internet reading. He did not feel the urgency I suggested on the handrails, lights, fittings, Badu Jet fittings thinking that those items would also be impacted by the supply chain and high demand on pool building. Unfortunately, although I periodically did ask, I was distracted, trusting, and did not want to push more. I do regret that. The deck mounted handrails are 50 days back ordered and the exercise rail has not been shipped yet. If it is not here by Thurs he will have to drain pool slightly and add post plaster. He apologized and admitted although it works it is not his first choice. It took is 2 minutes to place the order and we could have do it anytime. Although they say delegating when you hire someone is good; in this case it would have taken less energy to manage ourselves. Pentair also told him lights were on backorder. My husband found them in 5 minutes on the web, while we were talking to the PB and we had them in 4 days! In hindsight, we are more tech savvy & aware of how to locate things in speedy ways. He only informed us about the handrail a few days ago and our faster version is in Florida as it was out of stock with SR smith. PB was shocked but he is learning from us.
2. The plans were designed for 5 cm coping. When our selection only came 3 cm, he said no problem but he did not say it would impact the amount of water tile showing 1-1.5" vs 3" as he built the pool with 5 cm in mind. A simple fix would have been to simply lower the spillway to allow for the auto rail and be sure spa and pool dig deep enough to have the original depth of 4.5 feet and not lose anything. I was trying to give him some space from my detailed style.
3. The pool was dug with enough width but between no paying close inspection to how tight the rebar was or how much shotcrete poured we lost several inches of our 8' wide pool. I won't have an opportunity to ever build another pool but I would tell people who choose a narrow lap pool design to stretch to 9'. We simply would have lost a foot of grass and tightened one tiny section, that I would have gladly sacrificed if I knew I should leave more leeway than we did.
4. Show us multiple pools early in process so to get ideas of colors of tile, interior, and coping vs internet. Saves pool customer lots of time. Recommending he has a of customers willing to do this for him and he can add new offers as new interesting pools are built. I will allow anyone to come see my pool who has an interest in my design, choices of coping, tiles, lap markers, beach shell step marker, water color, equipment etc.
He knows all of these and agreed to improve on these going forward. He is always gracious with apologies, but proactive is my motto rather than too much patience leading to reactive/stressful problem solving mode as we had to be with lights and handrails.
Hope your brushing is making the pool look better by the day! I will have to see how much of that we will have to do. Pool guy will be here daily the first week and then 2 x week after that until we are all settled in the right chemistry etc. Look forward to the day of meeting him. PB had hand selected him for us, so we will give him a try first since he has a stable relationship with PB.
Thank you again, Ellen M