It's a bit deceiving when taking pictures. If the camera or phone would be closer to the underside of the coping the opening would look much smaller. Here the angle in the skimmer mouth makes it look huge. Counting the tile rows and looking at the skimmer box they both end in the same tile row. The only difference I can see would be the coping was not abutted with another stone or whatever will come in that spot.
18x36 Inground pool build in Maryland
- Thread starter Mr47930
- Start date
I’ll try to take another pic tomorrow at a similar angle. Since it’s the 7ft deep end it’s kind of hard to get a good angle. Is there not a concern that there’s a huge gap at the top of the skimmer?
Take the picture either with a ladder or from ontop of the coping with camera hanging over the edge.
I assume that’s a wrap on the pool construction for a bit. 65° yesterday and 10” of snow today. Sometimes MD weather just doesn’t make any sense.
We’re back in business after a long winter break! Concrete guy showed up to go over our planned decking layout. Below is what we agreed on. ~2,200 sq/ft will hopefully be plenty of space for chairs, umbrellas, deck boxes, etc.
Pools are expensive right?
You’d think with the prices we’re paying you wouldn’t have to constantly reach out to try and get a status of where you stand! It’s especially annoying when they say “we’ll reach out tomorrow and let you know” and then a week goes by with no communication. I’ve been pretty relaxed and have gone with the flow but that doesn’t seem to be working, is it time to get stern?
You’d think with the prices we’re paying you wouldn’t have to constantly reach out to try and get a status of where you stand! It’s especially annoying when they say “we’ll reach out tomorrow and let you know” and then a week goes by with no communication. I’ve been pretty relaxed and have gone with the flow but that doesn’t seem to be working, is it time to get stern?
TampaKathy
Gold Supporter
You have to stay on top of them unfortunately. I just have a few items outstanding so I sent a list of what was still open on 1/21 and decided to not contact them at all and see how long it took for stuff to get done without prompting...well on 3/28 I got an email that they considered themselves done and did I agree? Bahahaha, no. Refer to open item list from 1/21. Ridiculous.
It’s crazy! And on top of it the guy who was our “project manager” was fired, although I only heard from/saw him once so not a huge deal (probably why he was fired). So now I’m dealing with the secretary who I feel bad for because she’s just a middle-man now, but come on.
- Jul 18, 2019
- 561
- Pool Size
- 33780
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I have found in my experience there is nothing that works. The laid back approach, stern approach, bribery...nothing gets the PB (at least my PB) to do anything until they want to do it (apparently which is never). Forget proactive communication too. If you're not being proactive, nobody is. There are PB's out there that are phenomenal. I know some. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford them or just bad judgement on my part. Have faith in your build. At least it's started, you're actually making progress now. Can't blame the winter for holding things up.
Yea I’m just frustrated with the constant “I’ll let you know a date and time tomorrow” and then here we are 5 days later and nothing. Then I emailed them this morning and received a response in 5 minutes letting me know the deck forming is happening Monday. Like why did it take a week and then me having to inquire to find that out?
It seems like a company who builds a quality product AND has good communication would make a killing in the trades.
- Jun 7, 2017
- 9,177
- Pool Size
- 29000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
They all make a killing. It is supply and demand. Pools have made a resurgence in popularity like never before. Everyone wants them and not enough builders for the demand. This unfortunately has a negative impact on quality of service.
I’m so ready to just be done. I’m tired of emailing, calling, wondering, worrying about this project.
- Jul 18, 2019
- 561
- Pool Size
- 33780
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I can commiserate with you. Just think of all the days of enjoyment you'll have when it's done, and all these little headaches will be forgotten.
On my 18 month build (which actually hasn't even started yet), I have the same feelings. Got permit memo back from building department on March 21st (I don't even want to get into why it takes 18 months to submit for the permit when the build was scheduled for July 2021). Minor revisions needed. Would take approximately 30 minutes to sketch out/detail (I know because I talked to the building commissioner on what he wanted to see). No idea when PB resubmitted the revisions, I followed up yesterday, got an answer back today they submitted the revisions (when, probably today, who knows). Building department said they needed the fence permit turned in (which was approved in 2021, expired, reapproved in January 2022). When was my PB going to inform me or the fence contractor. I can only imagine if I had not followed up, sometime in May/June (or never) my PB would've contacted me and asked when the fence permit was going to be submitted so they could get started. You just can't make some of this stuff up.
100% agree. I’m in the late stages, almost finished.. but I’ve totally given up on comms and let them do their thing regardless of time (1 year in). If something doesn’t meet quality standards, I bring it up when they ask for payment on the next stage to be completed. Usually their communication is the 11th hour the day before they want to do work, so they respond quickly. If they aren’t reasonable, that’s where I’d have a demand letter sent, but so far they have been reasonable.
Grading and half of the forming was done today. Progress! Unfortunately it’s supposed to rain the rest of the week so doubt we’ll get the rest of the forms put up until next week.
The weather held off and they were able to finish forming everything up today. The rest of the week is definitely a washout so not sure where we are in the concrete schedule.
- Jul 18, 2019
- 561
- Pool Size
- 33780
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Gotta love it when a plan comes together! That deck will be so spacious!
All ready for concrete next Thursday, weather dependent.
Unfortunately I went out to walk around and noticed the grout between a few coping stones was cracked. I got down and gave a few stones a good thump with my fist and it’s like they’re not seated to the bond beam correctly. The Builder is stopping by Monday to take a look.
Should I tell them to hold off on pouring the decking u til after the coping is fixed? I do t want to get out on the back of the decking list but I also don’t want to pour $30,000 worth of concrete and have the masons come back and potentially mess it up.
If yo go back in this thread where I posted about the tile/coping crew getting started you’ll notice it was below freezing temperatures. I assume that has a LOT to do with the situation I’m currently in. At least I hope that’s what it was and not just shoddy work.
Unfortunately I went out to walk around and noticed the grout between a few coping stones was cracked. I got down and gave a few stones a good thump with my fist and it’s like they’re not seated to the bond beam correctly. The Builder is stopping by Monday to take a look.
Should I tell them to hold off on pouring the decking u til after the coping is fixed? I do t want to get out on the back of the decking list but I also don’t want to pour $30,000 worth of concrete and have the masons come back and potentially mess it up.
If yo go back in this thread where I posted about the tile/coping crew getting started you’ll notice it was below freezing temperatures. I assume that has a LOT to do with the situation I’m currently in. At least I hope that’s what it was and not just shoddy work.
They brought in their expert mason who confirmed that around 10 of the coping stones aren’t properly “seated” on top of the pool (not sure what the correct terminology is). They want to go ahead with the deck pour this week and fix the coping afterward. They assured me there would be no negative effects so we’ll see.