Pool Builder Temporarily Shut Down

[zman]

I just heard that my pool builder (largest in Texas - Riverbend Sandler) was shut down by the county constable yesterday. Apparently there is a 7 year old lawsuit they lost and are appealing. The judge issued an emergency order shutting them down until the pay (I heard $1.4M judgement). I am a couple of weeks away from finishing the pool build. I'm a little concerned because I didn't hear from the PB. First I heard is from the news guy.

Anybody else currently building with Riverbend Sandler???

 

[TresW]

WOW!!! That is stunning news, they are one of the big PBs around here. I did a Google and found this article:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 76905.html

Sounds like they are going to try and reopen as soon as they can. I wouldn't be too worried just yet.

 

[ibobi]

WFAA (Channel 8) here in Dallas will supposedly tell the "other side of the story" tonight at 10pm. Im sure it will be on their website shortly afterwards.

 

[TresW]

I just watched it. Basically they are running their business out of a hotel right now. Most of their equipment was siezed, but they had some equipment that was already mobilized and they are continuing to use that equipment (which may be illegal). They are appealing the judgement against them (not sure why they waited 7 years!) They claim that they are going to continue to operate and that no one should worry. Why would anyone worry.... just because their office is a hotel room and 90% of their construction equipment has been siezed? Incredibly they showed a house on the news where they just started a dig today. If that had been me I would have told them to pack up and go somewhere else! If the pool was half built then sure I would have them continue to work, but there is no way I'd start a new project with those guys until they can put this issue to rest.

 

[257WbyMag]

Interesting report, although they didn't really go into the details on exactly what the judgment against them was for. I'm really curious as to how a pool leak destroyed the foundation of their home. How could that happen? I would like to see the engineering report.

 

[zman]

Here is a link to the updated story Video from WFAA TV.

I'm wondering how much money they are spending on these temporary measures and attorneys to appeal the judgment. They may be doing it to protect their reputation but at some point the costs and disruptions to business exceed the monetary judgment.

 

[TresW]

Interesting report, although they didn't really go into the details on exactly what the judgment against them was for. I'm really curious as to how a pool leak destroyed the foundation of their home. How could that happen? I would like to see the engineering report.

It would indeed be interesting to read the engineering report. The description says that the pool cracked and the water leaked out and under the house causing the damage. This is possible, although it would be really tough to prove that the pool was the exclusive reason for the house damage. If the pool cracked that bad it would seem to indicate that there was some kind of severe subsurface movement present, and THAT would be more likely to have caused the house damage too. If the house is built on highly expansive clays and the entire contents of the pool somehow got into the clay under the house then it could cause some extreme swelling that could buckle the slab though. It would be interesting to hear more about it.

 

[zman]

BTW, the area where the lady lives is notorious for foundation problems. We looked in that area before moving to Frisco and everybody warned us away.

Also, I wonder if they contact the PB about the leak in a timely manner? Or, did they just keep putting water in ignoring the problem?

 

[TresW]

BTW, the area where the lady lives is notorious for foundation problems. We looked in that area before moving to Frisco and everybody warned us away.

Also, I wonder if they contact the PB about the leak in a timely manner? Or, did they just keep putting water in ignoring the problem?

She wouldn't happen to be in Las Colinas would she? If so, I've got personal experience with commercial projects there and can reasonably say that if that's where she lives then the pool was probably not the reason for their problems. If the PB lost a court case involving a Las Colinas project it can only be because they didn't show up to court! There should be a 20' high barbed wire fence around that whole place, NOTHING should be built there!

 

[ibobi]

The part of town ZMAN is talking about is Castle Hills right on the Carrollton/Lewisville boarder just south of 121 & Main St of The Colony.

The story I received from someone I know that works at Riverbend is this....7 years ago these people had foundation problems and pool problems. Which one came first is part of the argument. 6 companies were sued and when the people won the case 5 went bankrupt and left Riverbend holding the bag. My question is (if this is true???) why didn't WFAA mention any of this? I know they don't have time to do a Dateline expose on this, but try to do a little more history of the case, instead stating the obvious that a pool company has been shut down. I was surprised that they did a follow up and really didn't dig a little deeper or get more facts on the actual case.

 

[tagprod]

The part of town ZMAN is talking about is Castle Hills right on the Carrollton/Lewisville boarder just south of 121 & Main St of The Colony.

The story I received from someone I know that works at Riverbend is this....7 years ago these people had foundation problems and pool problems. Which one came first is part of the argument. 6 companies were sued and when the people won the case 5 went bankrupt and left Riverbend holding the bag. My question is (if this is true???) why didn't WFAA mention any of this? I know they don't have time to do a Dateline expose on this, but try to do a little more history of the case, instead stating the obvious that a pool company has been shut down. I was surprised that they did a follow up and really didn't dig a little deeper or get more facts on the actual case.

you don't seriously think the local news is in business to provide you all the unbiased facts do you?