Awful, both pool and contractor. The thing most likely to "go away after a while" is the contractor! If you haven't already, stop talking to him on the phone or leaving voice mail. From this point forward communicate everything in writing. Email at least, but wouldn't hurt to throw in a certified letter at some point. Maybe he'll get the hint. You don't have to intimidate (yet), the tone can be friendly/cordial, but you should start your paper trail, including lots of pics. Just some friendly advice, so that if things go south with this guy, you'll be ahead of the game, and there won't be any confusion about was or wasn't said/promised.
Good news:
I had a few blemishes that were of a concern to me in my re-pebble job. They did, in fact, go away on their own.
Good news:
When it comes to solving issues like this, TFP is the place to be.
Bad news:
My pebble crew was adamant that I cease all the work I was doing on my roof, during the pebble shoot, for fear of any nails or other metal debris flying off the roof into the new plaster, which would bury itself if unnoticed, and then reveal itself after a time as rust. Virtually impossible to fix without a remaining blemish.
I hope it's not some sort of metal contaminate in the plaster, and instead maybe just some weirdness growing on top. Once you get your pic's up, the experts here will jump on it for you.
One important bit of caution, before you try any remedy you come up with, from here or anywhere else (if SC is anything like CA that is): you must give the contractor an opportunity to fix the problem. If you don't, and try something on your own, you might inadvertently alleviate him of any ultimate responsibility for a fix. Which might be minor, or might be major. At this point you don't know. So keep up the info gathering, no harm there, just be careful with what you do next. So if it were me...
I'd write him a letter or email expressing the issues. Include your pictures. Ask him to come to see the problem on site, and to make it right. Give him a reasonable deadline (at least two weeks here in CA).
Others here don't appreciate my approach to this type of thing. The gist is that you should be more "friendly" and "respectful" with your contractor and not fire up an unnecessary confrontation. I don't disagree entirely with that point of view. On the other hand, if he's a legitimate business man, he should not hold it against you for following a proper and acceptable course of action, of which putting something in writing is a part (IMO). If he's not, and is the kind of guy that would turn his back on you eventually anyway, then you have nothing to lose by getting a little proactive. If I were the builder, and someone just paid me mid-five-figures for a job, and had a question, let alone a complaint, I'd be johnny-on-the-spot, at your door, looking to make you happy. I'm not hearing from your post that that has happened, and for me, that would be a red flag. If he was a "good guy," worthy of your respect, he'd have already been in your backyard...
My camp: you don't have to be a jerk, but you can be firm, and clear at this point. Soft-shoeing around these guys, giving them the benefit of the doubt, hoping that he'll be a good guy, is only doing them a favor, and likely prolonging the resolution. You shouldn't attempt any correction on your own. If that's not your style, then do your own thing, of course. But IMO, a little prep for worst-case-scenario does not take much effort, and can go along way to getting this fixed at no expense to you...
2¢
