Hi! Just stumbled across this site the other day! Came in a little late to make changes to our plan as the gunite just went in on Wednesday and rock work starts Monday but I figured I would fish for some opinions anyway as well as share our experience through the quote process.
First was the quote process, we started shopping for a PB in mid-September last year. We live in a town just outside of Winston-Salem in NC called Advance. Both me and my wife grew up with PebbleTech pools so we knew we wanted that finish for our own. Let me tell you it is incredibly hard to find a builder that will install a PebbleTech (or any plaster/pebble finish) in this area. All of the local builders either want to do Fiberglass or Vinyl. I ended up finding one builder that would install Wet Edge in Winston, three that would do PebbleTech in the Greensboro area, and multiple PebbleTech builders in the Charlotte area. In an effort to do complete due diligence I ended up calling about 14 different PB's. It was incredibly difficult to get anyone to call back. In the end, our house was too far away for three PB's to travel to, two were already booked completely until August of this year, five wouldn't even return my call (after trying two times each), and four ended up calling back and came out to look at our project. Out of those four only two ended up finding the time to actually give us a quote. The first quote we got back came in right around an outrageous $240k and we weren't in love with the design, discouraging us and almost causing us to scrap the project entirely. The second quote though came in just a bit over our budget and the design couldn't have been a more perfect representation of the vision we had in our heads. The company (one of the Charlotte, NC based PB's) was very responsive and made some quick changes to get us right within our budget ($150k). I very highly recommend the designer we worked with.
After the long drawn out quote process and design revisions we ended up signing the contract for the build the week before Christmas (12/21 or 12/22 I think), with the plan to start within a month. Anybody in the Southeast knows all of January and half of February was pretty much a monsoon with non stop rain. We finally met back up with the PB on 2/21 to mark out the pool and approve the final layout. Once that was done the dig was scheduled for 3/12. The dig went really quick, however even though our utilities were marked, they managed to take out our power and cable, that was a but frustrating. Rebar and stub out went in the 16th and then we had to wait a few days for a county inspection. After the inspection they went pretty silent on us which was again frustrating, especially we have been making payments since the contract was signed in December and we are anxious to be swimming at the start of summer, especially since it looks like we will still be on somewhat of a lockdown well into the summer. After multiple calls the gunite shoot was finally done on 4/1. They told me it will start moving quicker now, and rock work and plumbing starts Monday, but we will see. Although the PB was amazing through the design and contract process, once we got handed off to the Superintendent they have not been the most proactive in communication, and it feels like nothing gets done until I ask multiple times about it. Hoping that trend does not continue.
Below are the specs of our build and some pics are attached.
First was the quote process, we started shopping for a PB in mid-September last year. We live in a town just outside of Winston-Salem in NC called Advance. Both me and my wife grew up with PebbleTech pools so we knew we wanted that finish for our own. Let me tell you it is incredibly hard to find a builder that will install a PebbleTech (or any plaster/pebble finish) in this area. All of the local builders either want to do Fiberglass or Vinyl. I ended up finding one builder that would install Wet Edge in Winston, three that would do PebbleTech in the Greensboro area, and multiple PebbleTech builders in the Charlotte area. In an effort to do complete due diligence I ended up calling about 14 different PB's. It was incredibly difficult to get anyone to call back. In the end, our house was too far away for three PB's to travel to, two were already booked completely until August of this year, five wouldn't even return my call (after trying two times each), and four ended up calling back and came out to look at our project. Out of those four only two ended up finding the time to actually give us a quote. The first quote we got back came in right around an outrageous $240k and we weren't in love with the design, discouraging us and almost causing us to scrap the project entirely. The second quote though came in just a bit over our budget and the design couldn't have been a more perfect representation of the vision we had in our heads. The company (one of the Charlotte, NC based PB's) was very responsive and made some quick changes to get us right within our budget ($150k). I very highly recommend the designer we worked with.
After the long drawn out quote process and design revisions we ended up signing the contract for the build the week before Christmas (12/21 or 12/22 I think), with the plan to start within a month. Anybody in the Southeast knows all of January and half of February was pretty much a monsoon with non stop rain. We finally met back up with the PB on 2/21 to mark out the pool and approve the final layout. Once that was done the dig was scheduled for 3/12. The dig went really quick, however even though our utilities were marked, they managed to take out our power and cable, that was a but frustrating. Rebar and stub out went in the 16th and then we had to wait a few days for a county inspection. After the inspection they went pretty silent on us which was again frustrating, especially we have been making payments since the contract was signed in December and we are anxious to be swimming at the start of summer, especially since it looks like we will still be on somewhat of a lockdown well into the summer. After multiple calls the gunite shoot was finally done on 4/1. They told me it will start moving quicker now, and rock work and plumbing starts Monday, but we will see. Although the PB was amazing through the design and contract process, once we got handed off to the Superintendent they have not been the most proactive in communication, and it feels like nothing gets done until I ask multiple times about it. Hoping that trend does not continue.
Below are the specs of our build and some pics are attached.
- Pool Size ~ 19’ x 38’
- Shape ~Free Form
- Depth ~ 3’-6” to 6’
- Plans ~ Full set of prints
- Permits ~ All required by Davie county
- Excavation ~ Excess dirt to be [Spread on/ Left on] property
- Frame ~ Rebar all steel with 12” bond beam (Transferrable Lifetime Warranty)
- Shell ~ 100% Gunite (Transferrable Lifetime Warranty)
- Steps ~ One (1) set of 2 oversized custom steps
- Tanning Ledge ~ One (1) Large custom tanning ledge w/ Umbrella Sleeve. (1) Ledge for 30” stone table area. 3’-6” of water depth.
- Main Drains ~ main drains with Anti-vortex covers for child safety
- Skimmer ~ (2) largemouth cover with removable basket
- Returns ~ 2” plumbing lines with four (4) returns
- Coping ~ Flagstone Chiseled Edge
- Deck ~ 1,347 Sq. Ft. of Broom finish concrete with 40 ln. ft. of decco drain
- Tile ~ One row 6” frost-proof waterline (Choice of standard colors)
- Pump ~ Jandy 2.7 HP Variable Speed pump and a Booster Pump for Grotto Water Feature
- Filter ~ Jandy Large Cartridge Filter
- Pool Light ~ 3 Color LED
- Freeze Control ~ Sensor built into system
- Timer ~ 24-hour automatic time clock
- Electrical Run ~ Up to 80’ included
- Gas Run ~ Up to 50’ included
- Chemicals ~ Chlorinator
- Interior Finish ~ Caribbean Blue Pebble Tec
- Startup ~ Balance ALL chemicals
- Pool Cleaner ~ Robotic Pool Cleaner
- Instructions on ALL equipment
- Complete jobsite cleanup
- 1 Swim-up Grotto with Bench
- 1 Bench for Pool Table Area
- 31 L. Ft. of Stone Kitchen area with 13 ln. ft. of bar random flagstone countertops. Ledge for Egg grill. 3 electric plugs. Natural Gas line for grill with hook-ups. 2 Umbrella sleeves in flagstone countertops.
- Buyer to purchase all grills, drawers, cabinets, and sink. Superior pools to install them.
- Spa ~ 7’0” radius interior spa, raised 18” above pool level
- Exterior ~ 9’0” radius w/ Stone Veneer
- Jets ~ Six (6) Therapy Jets
- Blower ~ 2 Horsepower Blower
- Automation ~ Jandy Control System – i-Aqualink
- Heater ~ 400,000 BTU Gas Heater (Natural)
- Light ~ 1 LED Color light
- Lifetime Transferrable Structural Warranty (PB)
- Lifetime Warranty on Pump Housing & 3 Year Motor (Jandy)
- Lifetime Filter Cartridge Housing Warranty (Jandy)
- Lifetime Valves Warranty ~ Leaking, Breaking, & Pressure Loss (Jandy)
- Lifetime Interior Finish Warranty (PebbleTec®)
