Frustrated

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zethacat

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Sep 23, 2013
810
Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, TX
I'm having a lot of difficulty selecting a builder.

The first one that came to my home came in at a very low price, and told me there was no pressure but then wrote up a contract and told me if I sign today he would throw in freebies. Then I looked them up on google and found a lot of complaints. :grrrr:

The second one told me he would work up the design at the office and would call me to come in and discuss when it was ready. He never called me back and doesn't respond to calls or e-mails. :hammer:

The third one is actually responsive to my questions, but one of those people where you send an e-mail with specific questions and receive a vague or incomplete answer several times before you get the answer you're looking for. :blah:

The fourth one set up an appointment to come to my home, and then didn't show up or even have the courtesy to call and cancel. :rant:

So basically I have one person to choose from right now.

Sorry for the rant. I don't know how people stay in business when they treat people like this.
 
Location, location, location.. Need to know yours to give/get good advice. I had the same experience here in Kansas so I built my own. Not easy by any means but saved a bundle. So if you have time, skill and will power DIY. If not then don't just settle, get what you want.
 
I feel your frustration. We started our project September 2012 and just got everything up and running in August 2013. Never in my life have I seen an industry so full of incompetence. My wife must have said 100 times what you said in your post. How do these guys stay in business? We just made sure everything was spelled out in writing and my wife never left the side of ANYONE working on the project. If she turned her back for a minute something would get screwed up. It's unfortunate but this industry (at least where I live) is like nothing I've ever seen. Good luck to you.
 
Hopefully some of our crew will have some references for you shortly.

Check them all, go with the one your gut says is right, take your time. Your pool if done right will be the center piece of your yard, If done wrong it will be a hole in the ground you throw money into.
 
Here are my $.02. My pool builder quit my job after getting most of my money and leaving about $12k worth of work to be done.

If you can DIY it, great. I finished my pool by myself (after the pool was stub plumbed and gunited and the tile and coping were installed) and it can be done.

If you can't DIY it, get a pool builder who has been around for a long time with a proven track record. My PB was just a guy and when he quit (with most of my money) there was nothing for me to go after. Many PBs are just guys with a pick up truck and pool plans.

Finally, make sure to spread the payments out so that your payments are due AFTER he's done the work. You want to owe him money for the work performed and not him owing you to complete the work. Make sure he's not using your money to finish another job--as in my case.
 
Look on Google for pools near you. With the address, you can usually get the owners' name. Drop a card in the mail and ask who built their pool.
 
HouTex, you hired "just a guy"? Did he have a BBB listing? So far I've been trying to limit myself to PBs with a clean BBB record who have been in business for at least 15 years, with a decent web site. Believe it or not, the 2 PB's that didn't call me back , and even the one that stood me up last night , meet those criteria. It's disconcerting!
 
There are several construction threads on here for pools that have been built over the past year in the Dallas area - look for those and PM those individuals to see who they used and if they are happy. I've seen threads of north Dallas (Allen area) and south of Dallas so you should be able to find something. If I were you, I would cross all of those builders off of your list. If they are that difficult to work with before the contract is signed, then they can only get worse afterwards.

We went through 5-6 pool builders here in Missouri City (south of Houston). A few of them I just got a bad feel for off of the initial conversation and never went any further with them. One large pool company gave us a drawing, we went to the design center and picked out tile, coping, and extra features and only had a few simple questions for them to answer before we signed a contract with them - we didn't want to sign anything that day until our questions about where we could locate our equipment were answered. The salesman was going to look into it and get back to us - we never heard from him again, even after calling and emailing to follow up.

We ended up going through a local (to Houston) pool company that had put in a few pools for neighbors and got the best customer service I think we could in a project like this. It's been a year since our build and I still can text the builder and he responds within 5-10 minutes if I have any questions regarding the equipment or operation of the pool.
 

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zethacat said:
HouTex, you hired "just a guy"? Did he have a BBB listing? So far I've been trying to limit myself to PBs with a clean BBB record who have been in business for at least 15 years, with a decent web site. Believe it or not, the 2 PB's that didn't call me back , and even the one that stood me up last night , meet those criteria. It's disconcerting!
Click to expand...

Basically, yes. He was incorporated and he was recommended by a neighbor. But being incorporated doesn't mean you have assets. So he basically was just a guy with a pickup truck, a computer, and a cell phone. I trusted him and it was a huge mistake on my part.

My guess is that the established PBs in your area (it's probably the case here in Houston as well) are busy with the booming local economy and they are too busy to call you back. Keep trying.
 
When someone doesn't call me back or respond to my e-mails... and especially if someone makes an appointment with me to come to my home and then doesn't show up without a courtesy call or anything... that person gets crossed off my list. It just sucks that the first guys I'm crossing off are the ones that have been in business the longest, with the least number of complaints. If you don't have the time, at least have the courtesy to say it. It only takes a split second to respond to an e-mail with a "Sorry, we're too busy right now. Try again in a month." or "Sorry, I got caught up at another job and can't make it to your home tonight."
 
zethacat said:
When someone doesn't call me back or respond to my e-mails... and especially if someone makes an appointment with me to come to my home and then doesn't show up without a courtesy call or anything... that person gets crossed off my list. It just sucks that the first guys I'm crossing off are the ones that have been in business the longest, with the least number of complaints. If you don't have the time, at least have the courtesy to say it. It only takes a split second to respond to an e-mail with a "Sorry, we're too busy right now. Try again in a month." or "Sorry, I got caught up at another job and can't make it to your home tonight."
Click to expand...

Agreed. It does suck. In this (Texas) economy it can be difficult to find a good builder. Probably the same for a home builder.
 
I am also in the DFW area and second those recommendations as well as Hauk Pools in Celina. All are highly rated on BBB website. We've talked to all of them about a pool. I understand your frustration, had the same issue trying to get fence people out, probably called 25 - 30 companies and had 4 actually show up to give an estimate. I guess business is so good they don't care.
 

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