Whether it's a 30-day startup, or long-term care, you cannot rely, shouldn't rely, on pool professionals to know what they're doing. Or at least to do things 100% with your pool's best interest in mind. PBs can be the worst, and we have lots of stories here where PBs displayed a remarkable lack of understanding about pool water. That's not true of all professionals, I'm sure, I just know I haven't met one yet that knew how to properly test and balance pool water, and in fact a lot of my pool's worst, and most expensive-to-fix problems resulted directly from a pool professional's ineptitude.
Get a good kit, test the water yourself, make sure it's right: through the startup and beyond. Don't be shy or intimidated to bring matters of concern to the professional. Let 'em b and moan. So what. It's your pool, your money. That PB and his maintenance crew will be long gone after that 30 days, and you'll be left with the results, good or bad. Demand they perform to your satisfaction. If you need ammo, TFP is a great resource for that. Based on my experience, I would certainly trust the folks here (especially the experts and mods) over anyone that's ever shown up at my pool... The startup process, and the condition of your water during these first few weeks and months, can greatly impact your pool's appearance and longevity. Some things done wrong at this stage might not show up for years (again, long after the PB is gone), so you can't be too careful just now, IMO. Learn what is the proper startup procedure for your pool type, discuss a plan with your PB and get him and you to agree on it, then monitor that plan to make sure it is executed perfectly.
I handled all that by using TFP and doing the startup myself, which worked out great. But some new builds require the PB to do the startup (warranty-wise) and that's when you have to figure out how best to work with the guy. Personally, I wouldn't trust anybody, blindly, to do what's best for my pool, I'd want to monitor the whole process.
