I thought I was following along, but can't now figure out what just happened. The heated exchange from the guy at NPC was completely unrelated to the OP's PB, right? Just an inquiry by the OP to the NPC that went south, yes? Nothing to do with the PB?
And the PB is offering a discount on replacing defective plaster with PebbleTec, as his idea of making things right?
My pool was destroyed by a contractor. He tried to blame someone else. I wasn't having it. I gave him two weeks to fix the problem (certified letter, blah, blah) and he did nothing. He did offer a partial settlement, less than half the cost to replace the plaster. I rejected that offer.
After the deadline expired, I had the plaster replaced with a PebbleTec knockoff: full chipout, drain and return work (at no additional cost), retain edge tile but replace step and bench markers ($900 add on) and CH removal from edge tile ($450 add on). Total = $9000 even. My pool is smaller than the OPs, but without the add ons that comes to $7650. If that helps the OP's math.
The cost of replacing the plaster (instead of the pebble) was $2000 less. I didn't seek that 2K from the contractor, just the cost of replacing the plaster he destroyed. But I added water, salt and startup expenses. That's what I ended up settling for: exactly what it would cost to replace the plaster, and "all the fixin's". My out-of-pocket was only the difference between new plaster and new pebble (the $2K). That's all the OP should pay, IMO.
rccarps2, if you want to settle for some amount less, and put this behind you, because you don't want to deal with the stress of a lawsuit (or even just threatening one), that's perfectly understandable. From my experience, that kind of stress is sometimes just not worth it. But in terms of what's right and wrong, I'm of the opinion that you are due the full cost of plaster replacement, and should only pay the difference for the PebbleTec upgrade. And that difference in cost can be confirmed by getting an estimate from one or more plaster contractors (other than your PB). Ask for the cost of plaster with full chipout. Along with the cost of PebbleTec with full chip out. Then you'll have your basis for comparison for what the PB is offering. If you're short on local PebbleTec authorized dealers, then see if you can go farther out. My plasterers were two hours away from my town.
If his offered discount is real, and confirmed by competing bids, then I suppose that is what's at stake if you pursue a legal recourse and lose. Your PB will certainly not honor that discount afterwards.
Just stating the obvious. Tough call. I made a similar one, and won without even going to court. Won it all. So that only means it's possible, not necessarily probable.
My contractor was willing to pony up way less than he should have, fairly early on in the process. Just as your is. That only indicated to me that he knew all along he was in the wrong, and was just seeking the least expensive way out. I didn't bite. But it cost me months of heavy duty stress. So yah, I got my due, eventually (took almost a year) but how many years did that take off my life?
By the way, has it been determined? Do plasterers normally walk around on new plaster after or during the troweling process? In bare feet, no less? I don't remember seeing them do that in my pool redo. They shot it from the top down, troweling as they went. The only stepping I saw was the very last part, at the bottom of the deep end, and he was stepping on cardboard pieces, then got hauled out by rope by his pals. He didn't walk across the new plaster to get out. They might have been on the just-shot plaster, to jockey into position, but not after they troweled it. The next day, when they were polishing and acid washing, they were walking all over it. But they wouldn't be polishing and acid washing plaster the next day, right? So how did the footprints get there? Even if unbalance had not already confirmed it, I just don't see how shoe and barefoot prints in plaster could be considered by anybody to be anything but a defect in workmanship. Even if the argument is made, even proven, that poor water maintenance brought the footprints to the surface (somehow!?!), it doesn't explain why the prints were there in the first place!!
If it were me, I wouldn't settle, and I'd take it to court if threats to do so did not resolve the issue. In CA, the cost of the repair was within small claims court amount. So no lawyers fees. It would have been just me, the contractor and the judge. I had already paid for the repair. It was done long before the contractor settled up. I had nothing to lose by going to court. I had saved large chucks of the plaster chip out, that clearly showed the damage. I was going to haul those in front of the judge. That would have been pretty compelling evidence... And I didn't have nearly the dramatic pictures that rccarps2 does.