I wanted to thank Trouble Free Pool forum because I have been reading articles and gleaning much valuable information off of the discussion boards for the past year and a half. Our pool dig started January 10, 2021. It has been a very slow and painful process for us. The first month was great but after the gunite was poured PB disappeared for 4.5 months. Then arranged for concrete cantilever deck edge and pool deck poured by a subcontractor on a very hot mid July red flag heat alert day over 105 degrees over our objections. Needless to say we had 12 large cracks by noon on the pour day and 34 by the end of the week. The concrete supplier did come and said it was a bad batch, but we think temperatures also played a huge part. So another two or three months of back and forth to get deck ripped out. After that experience, I said we will be going with pavers instead and Stepstone concrete coping...not going to go through another concrete pour because it would crack again sooner or later anyways. Pool coping and tile got installed in October 2021.
November 2021 - We hired our own landscape/paver contractor to install the pavers which turned out great. The paver contractor was excellent and was a life saving breathe of air for us. PB was supposed to come back in December 2021 and install all the pool equipment. Once again we got ghosted 6 months. We called repeatedly over winter trying to get him to come and install all the equipment. We started calling weekly in March and April because we wanted him to install the equipment and not have another delay. We kept begging him to come back and install the pool equipment so it would be done, so we could schedule the plaster job with his subcontractor. He scheduled the plaster job for May 11, 2022 and promised he would hook up equipment before that date. The equipment did get delivered in April 2022 but he didn't come back to hook it up. May 11 plaster job got delayed due to weather. PB told us to call and arrange plaster job with his subcontractor directly and he promised to hook up equipment on that day if he had to. The plasterer subcontractor was able to squeeze us in on Saturday May 14, 2022. He called and told PB on Friday May 13th that he would be coming next day. We didn't get any advance warning and woke up to a plaster truck backing into our driveway at 7:30 am. We were thrilled because we had waited 17 long months, but then the PB came and instead of starting to hook up the pool equipment as he had promised us he told us he could not hook up our equipment until Wednesday. He just dropped a bomb on us once again. I was fuming MAD and crying for days. He said he thought he had two more weeks, but I told him he had 6 months and this was supposed to have been installed December of last year. So my very expensive plaster Radiant Fusion Belize Blue that he up-charged us an additional $9,000. after it was installed ended up sitting four days without any pool equipment or chemicals. The plasterer did acid wash it before starting to fill it with water. so we did not notice plaster dust. I felt like the PB has been sabotaging our pool project instead of working with us. We did put two sump pumps in after I read to do so on one of the discussion boards. We put one in spa and one in pool area just to get circulation for two days until they finally came back. They hooked up most but still not all the equipment (today is June 9, 2022). We brushed the pool three times a day for the first week trying to do everything we could to help the plaster. Spa is losing an inch of water a day and has since the first day we filled it with water. The waterfall leaked in front and back ...would not shut off completely when it was on the off position for 5 days after they hooked up the equipment, heater and salt water generator not hooked up still and hoping they come back tomorrow or Monday so we can start that up ...as well as start to address other issues.
Every step of the way has been painful and we met two other homeowners that used same PB having similar issues. We are just trying to get it finished so this pool nightmare can end. We bought our own glass tile, pavers, picked the coping and pool plaster and are very happy with the look of the pool. Thankfully the plaster does still look good and to be on the safe side we have continued to brush it twice a day for the last month.
The combined spa and pool is 31 x 10 with a one foot low wall between them. It has a 6 foot baja shelf and after the two steps down goes from 3'.5"-5'.5" so think total it is 7,500 gallons and is going to be a salt water pool once they get that up and going. Once we complete all the final fixes and get the permit signed off from the city I think I will be able to breathe and relax again. But this has definitely been Mr. Toad's wild ride and feel like we got the 3 stooges building our pool. The PB has said covid has made things crazy which I believe, but think lack of pool project management is more to blame.
We have found Trouble Free Pool site to be a much needed source of information and appreciate that we can type in the various questions or concerns and quickly get good advice. We bought the Taylor kit and that has helped us to get the pool chemistry balance although still learning. Thank you for all the helpful information.
November 2021 - We hired our own landscape/paver contractor to install the pavers which turned out great. The paver contractor was excellent and was a life saving breathe of air for us. PB was supposed to come back in December 2021 and install all the pool equipment. Once again we got ghosted 6 months. We called repeatedly over winter trying to get him to come and install all the equipment. We started calling weekly in March and April because we wanted him to install the equipment and not have another delay. We kept begging him to come back and install the pool equipment so it would be done, so we could schedule the plaster job with his subcontractor. He scheduled the plaster job for May 11, 2022 and promised he would hook up equipment before that date. The equipment did get delivered in April 2022 but he didn't come back to hook it up. May 11 plaster job got delayed due to weather. PB told us to call and arrange plaster job with his subcontractor directly and he promised to hook up equipment on that day if he had to. The plasterer subcontractor was able to squeeze us in on Saturday May 14, 2022. He called and told PB on Friday May 13th that he would be coming next day. We didn't get any advance warning and woke up to a plaster truck backing into our driveway at 7:30 am. We were thrilled because we had waited 17 long months, but then the PB came and instead of starting to hook up the pool equipment as he had promised us he told us he could not hook up our equipment until Wednesday. He just dropped a bomb on us once again. I was fuming MAD and crying for days. He said he thought he had two more weeks, but I told him he had 6 months and this was supposed to have been installed December of last year. So my very expensive plaster Radiant Fusion Belize Blue that he up-charged us an additional $9,000. after it was installed ended up sitting four days without any pool equipment or chemicals. The plasterer did acid wash it before starting to fill it with water. so we did not notice plaster dust. I felt like the PB has been sabotaging our pool project instead of working with us. We did put two sump pumps in after I read to do so on one of the discussion boards. We put one in spa and one in pool area just to get circulation for two days until they finally came back. They hooked up most but still not all the equipment (today is June 9, 2022). We brushed the pool three times a day for the first week trying to do everything we could to help the plaster. Spa is losing an inch of water a day and has since the first day we filled it with water. The waterfall leaked in front and back ...would not shut off completely when it was on the off position for 5 days after they hooked up the equipment, heater and salt water generator not hooked up still and hoping they come back tomorrow or Monday so we can start that up ...as well as start to address other issues.
Every step of the way has been painful and we met two other homeowners that used same PB having similar issues. We are just trying to get it finished so this pool nightmare can end. We bought our own glass tile, pavers, picked the coping and pool plaster and are very happy with the look of the pool. Thankfully the plaster does still look good and to be on the safe side we have continued to brush it twice a day for the last month.
The combined spa and pool is 31 x 10 with a one foot low wall between them. It has a 6 foot baja shelf and after the two steps down goes from 3'.5"-5'.5" so think total it is 7,500 gallons and is going to be a salt water pool once they get that up and going. Once we complete all the final fixes and get the permit signed off from the city I think I will be able to breathe and relax again. But this has definitely been Mr. Toad's wild ride and feel like we got the 3 stooges building our pool. The PB has said covid has made things crazy which I believe, but think lack of pool project management is more to blame.
We have found Trouble Free Pool site to be a much needed source of information and appreciate that we can type in the various questions or concerns and quickly get good advice. We bought the Taylor kit and that has helped us to get the pool chemistry balance although still learning. Thank you for all the helpful information.
