Need new AG Pool... rec's appreciated!

[Drea]

Hi, all ~

Been scoping the old poolforum, but happy to find this one (so I can post!)

I currently have a 27' 52" Ovation Palladian, but due to freeze damage, need to replace it. (My best guess is the skimmer froze and the weight caused it to collapse.) Been trying to get help from the local company where the pool was purchased in 2002 by the previous homeowners, and who has opened and closed the pool for us for the past two years we've lived here, but I've decided to replace it without going through them (for lots of reasons, for example, they're trying to sell us a replacement pool for $3,500 -- steel, not aluminum -- pool only, no equipment, no installation!)

Ovation was bought by Vogue; I've confirmed they still make this one, but will only sell to distributers. (I talked to their sales dept. in Canada, but couldn't get them to budge on selling to me directly.) I've tracked down a distributer in this state (CT) and am hoping they'll be able to order a replacement wall... I think this is my best bet, not only from a cost standpoint but to ensure the best fit for the partial decking (The Ovation Pallidian has 8" ledges; 6 1/2" verticals). Assuming they can get it (fairly quickly), the wall will be around $1,000 plus shipping from Canada. However, I'm researching other options in case they can't get it...

So far, I've found one that seems to be close match for the Palladian: the Elite (marketed under Mighty Sun and Asahi names), offered online by Royal Swimming Pools -- anyone familar with this pool? or this online company? Cost for just the pool is $1,672 w/shipping included. This also includes a standard overlap liner, but I can upgrade to a 25g, beaded for $175. (This sounds really good, but not sure of the quality...) Here are the specs:

http://royalswimmingpools.com/HighSierra_Technical.htm


Another local (in-town) company has the Empire by Outback Pools - it has 8" top rails and 6" verticals, so that may be close enough to work with the existing decking. Anyone familiar with this one? Cost for this is $2,250 plus $375 for the upgraded beaded liner. Definitely more $$$ but I'm not sure if the pool is higher quality to warrant it... they can have it delivered quickly, tho. (Can't find any online prices for this model for comparison.)

Found an installer, who can fit this in the end of July/early August so I'll need to order something soon. (For reference, installation for a new one is $2,200 (ack!); rebuilding would be $1,300 -- another compelling reason to hope we can get the wall from Vogue!)

Any insights would be appreciated. TIA!!

 

[mpatrick14]

I just bought a pool from Royal Swimming Pools. I tried to get the Elite, but they didnt have my size in stock so I went with the midland. It just arrived today, and have not seen or installed it yet, but I can tell you that Scott, the owner, is a great guy.

He has answered every question I have had very quickly (and I asked a ton of questions). I was also dealing with another company when I was trying to find someone that had the Elite in my size, and that company had a very slimy owner, and the difference between my dealings with the two of them was like night and day.

I will post back on the quality of the Mighty Sun Midland pool once I get it set up (assuming I find the help I was looking for on my previous post!)

As for the company, the owner, and the customer service - 100% recommend!!!

 

[mpatrick14]

Also - I did a TON of research on these pools and the comparison shopping when I first learned that I could not get the Elite I wanted from royalswimmingpools.com

I found 4 other online dealers selling these pools, and Royal Swimming Pools/Ledford Pools (they are the same company) had BY FAR the lowest prices on the entire Mighty Sun/Asahi lineup. They also have the most user firendly site, the most options, and on and on. On average, they were selling the same exact pools for about 2/3 of the price of the competition.

I promise you I am not affiliated with them in any way. I am just trying to save you a little time. I spent at least 60 hours over the last 2 months doing research and talking to these different companies - and for this line of pool - nobody was even remotely close to Royal/Ledford.

I will tell you though, there is another line of pools offered by Artesian that I really liked. The lowest prices I found on those was at www.sunenterprises.com. The high end model looks to be a little nicer than the Elite, but the prices are about 25 - 30% higher, and you cannot customize them as easily. One example - I didnt want the pump/filter or ladder that was prepackages with these pools. Royal Swimming Pools lets you remove these online, and you end up with a 450.00 credit for it. Sun Enterprises you have to call and talk to an agent, and they only give you a 200.00 credit. Also, Sun Enterprises never returned a single email of mine, and I sent at least 5 of them. With Royal, the owner answered my emails usually within 24 hours and aoften within just a few hours. They also have a cool online chat option that I used a couple of times with great results.

 

[Drea]

Thanks for the quick response and insights, Mike. Good to hear positive things about Royal. I also like the customization option on their website since I already have all the equipment. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think once you have it installed.

I liked some of the Artesians, too, but if memory serves, they didn't have one that met the specs I need. The Elite seems to be an almost perfect match spec-wise to my current Ovation Palladian, so it should hopefully work with the existing deck.

I'm still waiting to hear if the local distributer can get a replacement Ovation (and how long it will take) ... but the cost may play out to be pretty close if I buy the Elite by the time I factor in the better pricing on the liner w/ Royal. I'm not getting the sense that Vogue is too easy to deal with -- he's been trying to nail down the replacement info all week, and still nothing definitive... Makes me a little leary of going that route, even if he thinks he can get it. Might be better off to start fresh (even though the installation costs will be higher.) Looks like Royal ships pretty quickly to my area, too -- which is a plus. (Maybe we'll get a couple weeks use out of the pool this season afterall, altho, I've resigned myself to a "pool opening" and "closing" party on the same day :?)

Thanks again for the insights. I'm a little nervous buying online, but your comments ease my mind a lot!

Good luck with your install!

 

[mpatrick14]

FYI, the pool came within a week, very neatly packaged one a single pallet, the shipping company brought it in a truck with a lift gate (it was an option you could pay for on the website, and I chose not to pay for it, the truck ended up having one anyway) The delivery guy even helped me push the think up my very steep driveway into my garage.

The pool looks great, very high quality from what I can tell (1300 lbs) I havent started building it yet, but it looks like everything is there, plus they threw in a free 3 tier fountain that I didnt even order.

All in all, I am really happy so far with the service and quality of the product from Royal. I'll let you know if I ever get the thing set up!