Is there a preferred time of year to remodel?

[dravenone]

I'm wondering if the price can vary based on the time of year the work is done. Is there a time when contractors tend to be busier? Like HVAC folks seem to busiest during the summer and usually more expensive.

If it matters, I am considering Pebble Tec, tile and coping. I know Pebble limits my list of installers to select from.

Thanks

 

[jblizzle]

I would suggest doing it when you do not want to be swimming ... assuming the winter weather is not too bad where you are located.

Not sure if the price varies though.

Pebble greatly reduces your choices ... try to find out the licensed installers and go to them directly. In Tucson there is one 1 company and all the other pool companies have to subcontract to them ... so you may pay more by not going direct.

 

[techguy]

In SoCal, I assume the "off-season" is pretty short. You might ask the contractors if they will give you a discount if you do it during the "slow" season.

If I were to guess, most people would not want their yards destroyed during the winter holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Good suggestion on checking who are the "authorized" installers and who contract it. I would guess the market is too big in the LA region for there to only be one company... but I have been known to be wrong.

 

[jblizzle]

I just check the Pebble website out of curiosity ... in Tucson there are 3 "installers" listed ... 2 have plaster in their name (one of them I used) and one is a pool company ... I am pretty sure the pool company subcontracts to the plaster companies ... at least that is what I heard 2 years ago.

FYI, there are 3 "installer" companies listed in LA county ... I would start getting quotes from them and verifying they do not sub-contract.

 

[dravenone]

Thanks for the responses. Everyone I called has plaster in their name, but I will still make sure they do not subcontract. A member local to me put pebble in their pool earlier this year and was very happy, unfortunately for me their installer is now focused on commercial installs. All those I called came from the Pebble Tec site.

 

[elwood58]

I would agree with the advise of doing it when you would not otherwise be swimming. We started our remodel this year by signing a contract on May 3rd, and they started work a week later. The refinishing and re-plumbing work took about a month. We were traveling for part of the time, but really missed having the pool for Memorial Day. Not to mention that the weather was very hot the whole time.

Some of the delays we encountered were due to the impact of heat on their installers. This was a big issue in Arizona that might not be such an impact in other areas.

If we had it to do over again, we may have chosen the off-season to get all of the work done. We also found ourselves making some choices to minimize downtime that we might not have made if it was not the swimming season. I also think the schedule pressure would not be so great on the pool company, so maybe a little higher quality of workmanship. That said, we are very happy with the results.