Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences in the past - I've learned enough to be somewhat intelligent when talking to Pool Builder Salespeople...
My favorite human (wife) and I have gone through nearly 3 month process of choosing a pool builder - from what I have read here, the fun is just beginning.
Experience so far - My wife could not get a pool builder to call her back to schedule a sales visit. She called 4 companies and none called her back. She passed the torch to me and I altered the initial conversation a little:
"Hello, you build pools, right? Ok good. I have a problem...I just bought a house without a pool, I have cash to spend right now and I'm either getting a new kitchen or a pool...how soon can you have your sales person meet with me?"
That same week I had 2 designers show up, and the next week 3 more.
Here we learned the first lesson: If you know what you want, don't let the designer draw up whatever THEY want. It took a week to start getting quotes, but when we did they were very very different. Different shapes and sizes - we were comparing apples to oranges.
It was time to adjust the method a little.. My favorite human is a Landscape Designer and is intimately familiar with CAD - so she drafted the pool she wants and submitted back to all pool companies for a quote.
Soon we were getting apples to apples to compare - but only from 2 companies. What happened to the other three?? To the day I firmly believe that they went on a permanent vacation, even though their office/phone answering service stated otherwise. I suppose they are simply THAT busy.
Not being 100% satisfied with only the two quotes, landscape designer wife decided to use her job to connect with customers who were having pools installed at the same time as their landscape quotes... new companies to call and give the opportunity to earn my cash.
Two more companies called, both interested initially and then one dropped off the face of the planet. The other one, however, was not only VERY responsive - but also quickly became my #1 choice.
You might think that the price had something to do with that...no...they are not cheap(er). Through ALL of my research on the companies, I came to realize that bad reviews of the pool build were ALWAYS due to some shoddy work by the sub-contractor. This one pool builder has been in business over 40 years and have their own in-house build team. The only things they sub contract is the Pebbletec finish (because Pebbletech does not allow pool builders to do this unless they want to buy a franchise) and the paver (coping/deck) install. They have a nearly 20 year relationship with the only paver company they use and warranty the install the same as all other parts of the pool.
In the end, we narrowed it down to two companies and that in-house build team was the deciding factor. We signed the contract Saturday.
My favorite human (wife) and I have gone through nearly 3 month process of choosing a pool builder - from what I have read here, the fun is just beginning.
Experience so far - My wife could not get a pool builder to call her back to schedule a sales visit. She called 4 companies and none called her back. She passed the torch to me and I altered the initial conversation a little:
"Hello, you build pools, right? Ok good. I have a problem...I just bought a house without a pool, I have cash to spend right now and I'm either getting a new kitchen or a pool...how soon can you have your sales person meet with me?"
That same week I had 2 designers show up, and the next week 3 more.
Here we learned the first lesson: If you know what you want, don't let the designer draw up whatever THEY want. It took a week to start getting quotes, but when we did they were very very different. Different shapes and sizes - we were comparing apples to oranges.
It was time to adjust the method a little.. My favorite human is a Landscape Designer and is intimately familiar with CAD - so she drafted the pool she wants and submitted back to all pool companies for a quote.
Soon we were getting apples to apples to compare - but only from 2 companies. What happened to the other three?? To the day I firmly believe that they went on a permanent vacation, even though their office/phone answering service stated otherwise. I suppose they are simply THAT busy.
Not being 100% satisfied with only the two quotes, landscape designer wife decided to use her job to connect with customers who were having pools installed at the same time as their landscape quotes... new companies to call and give the opportunity to earn my cash.
Two more companies called, both interested initially and then one dropped off the face of the planet. The other one, however, was not only VERY responsive - but also quickly became my #1 choice.
You might think that the price had something to do with that...no...they are not cheap(er). Through ALL of my research on the companies, I came to realize that bad reviews of the pool build were ALWAYS due to some shoddy work by the sub-contractor. This one pool builder has been in business over 40 years and have their own in-house build team. The only things they sub contract is the Pebbletec finish (because Pebbletech does not allow pool builders to do this unless they want to buy a franchise) and the paver (coping/deck) install. They have a nearly 20 year relationship with the only paver company they use and warranty the install the same as all other parts of the pool.
In the end, we narrowed it down to two companies and that in-house build team was the deciding factor. We signed the contract Saturday.
