Yet another Texas pool build!
- Thread starter ummgood
- Start date
I think 6 tiles have fallen off so far. My girlfriend thinks that it is because he spread out the mastic and then didn't put up the tiles fast enough so it partially dried before the tiles were set. Either way he did a horrendous job. I thought the tile was ok until it started falling off.
LOL Amanda!! Well better for it to fall off now while they are in redo mode and no water.. than to worry about those and have it happen later on. Now it will be even better and you wont be worrying about some of that other subs work in the future!
I am convinced that an anal retentive PB could make a TON of money as it seems that shoddy work is the rule rather than the exception. Pretty disappointing and disheartening to tell the truth.
I have met a couple pool builders like this. Unfortunately larger companies never achieve this because they are either more interested in numbers or the employees have no incentive to do quality work. Or they spread their construction supervisors too thin to really keep an eye on things to the level to achieve this.
The couple companies I met like this were either 1. Way over my price range because their reputation is so good they can pick from the huge, expensive pool jobs that keep them busy for 6 months to a year and they only need 1 or 2 to stay afloat. Or 2. They charge a huge premium for the quality it is difficult to justify it. I had one pool builder said a basic plaster, salt finish 500sq ft deck, basic pool would be over 70k without even coming out to look at my house.
In Austin there are so many huge pools being built right now a lot of the good pool builders won't touch the cheaper ones like mine and I really don't think mine is cheap by any means. In fact I think my pool builder is trying to get out of the sub 100k pools too from what I can tell.
Here are some pictures!
Basically they have the big wall done except for the section for the steps. They have about 1/2 the coping done but there are a couple minor issues I had to tell my girlfriend about. (They didn't cut the pavers around the rocks very well. That means a huge mortar joint which my girlfriend said they would cut around them. And there were several pavers on the pallet that had some cracks and they got mortared onto the pool so I want those replaced but all minor stuff). I am liking how the coping is turning out. To be honest I was a bit nervous because I have never seen a pool with this type of coping before but I really like it. Plus it is all man made so hopefully really durable to salt.
Basically they have the big wall done except for the section for the steps. They have about 1/2 the coping done but there are a couple minor issues I had to tell my girlfriend about. (They didn't cut the pavers around the rocks very well. That means a huge mortar joint which my girlfriend said they would cut around them. And there were several pavers on the pallet that had some cracks and they got mortared onto the pool so I want those replaced but all minor stuff). I am liking how the coping is turning out. To be honest I was a bit nervous because I have never seen a pool with this type of coping before but I really like it. Plus it is all man made so hopefully really durable to salt.
Oh my! I'm finally getting a good idea of how this is all going to look - and that would be fabulous!!! The Belgard pavers and coping look wonderful - you did super choosing those. They really carry out the natural theme you were hoping to get, but were beginning to give up on!!!
I love how the stone on the raised beam is a nice contrast with the coping. It's subtle yet there is a distinction between the two. Wooo Hooo!!!
NOW this is getting exciting! Thanks so much for the pictures. I hope you're sleeping better these days!
Take care,
Suz.
I love how the stone on the raised beam is a nice contrast with the coping. It's subtle yet there is a distinction between the two. Wooo Hooo!!!
NOW this is getting exciting! Thanks so much for the pictures. I hope you're sleeping better these days!
Take care,
Suz.
I know! The new guys on my pool are awesome. All they do for a living is walls and pavers, which is perfect for me because that all that is left of my job. Well except for landscaping and pool finish.
Thanks! We really took a risk with this. It is hard to visualize and I have never seen a pool with this coping before. It really works well I think and it looks very clunky and natural. In a good way!
The coping is Belgard Mega Bergerac.
Thanks Suz! I am pretty darn excited. I was really freaking out about color selection and how everything would look together. Colors are pretty limited in Texas because Belgard doesn't have a huge market here. If you go on their website and enter in a California zip code there are tons of colors for these products like 8 or 10. If you punch in a Texas zip code you get two or three. So I basically picked the lightest color from each color selection. Not overly scientific haha. Then for each material I had them sitting in my driveway. Then when I would pick something I would carry it out to the driveway and see how it looked. The stacked stone on the bond beam was concerning because I picked a stone with a lot of color variation but I think it pulls in the boulders, coping, and deck materials well. It does look pretty natural so I am excited about that. Personally my first thought was my pool was going to have a lot of flagstone and a lot of the designs I got had all flagstone. This one designer that did my pool had the idea to use pavers so I could get my salt pool because I was really concerned about the flagstone with the salt. I am glad I met him because he really changed the direction we headed with the pool. Doing this kind of pool is not very common in Texas and it is difficult to get materials and people who know how to work with it. Everyone here wants to do travertine or flagstone of some kind. They look at you funny if you say you are doing pavers. Even the people at the stone yard who sell the pavers were surprised I was using it for pool coping. It just isn't done.
My pool company is excited because they want different looks to their pools and mine definitely looks different than the standard Texas pool with flagstone and rock everywhere and a salt finished deck.
That's really interesting about the Belgard pavers. Originally, that's what I was going with for the pavers - not the coping. I wanted a more English garden look combining more cobble-ey and finished looks, so I went with the travertine coping. But I never really found the colors I wanted for the deck pavers, so I was going to settle. Then the whole disaster with the paver/landscaper guy happened (which turned out to be a good thing), and I found the new paver/landscapers. He would do the travertine deck for the same price as the Belgard. My son had really been lobbying for a travertine deck, and I do love the look. So Presto Change-o, that's what we did.
I'm glad now I was limited to the few Texas colors, or I might have given in to the first situation.
You're right! You're going to have the very natural look with your selections, and at the same time, it will be different from many other pools. That will be awesome! We all want our pool to reflect us and to be unique - to have 'our stamp' on it. At least that's how I felt.
But I'm also glad you're going to have some Bling with the luminous beads added to the Blue Surf! Even Mother Nature adds bling to Her landscapes, right?!!!
And speaking of which...... the first pictures coming out with the Blue Surf look amazing! I think it's going to be just what you and your wife were looking for. I'm so excited for you guys!!!
Happy days!
Suz.
I'm glad now I was limited to the few Texas colors, or I might have given in to the first situation.
You're right! You're going to have the very natural look with your selections, and at the same time, it will be different from many other pools. That will be awesome! We all want our pool to reflect us and to be unique - to have 'our stamp' on it. At least that's how I felt.
But I'm also glad you're going to have some Bling with the luminous beads added to the Blue Surf! Even Mother Nature adds bling to Her landscapes, right?!!!
And speaking of which...... the first pictures coming out with the Blue Surf look amazing! I think it's going to be just what you and your wife were looking for. I'm so excited for you guys!!!
Happy days!
Suz.
That's really interesting about the Belgard pavers. Originally, that's what I was going with for the pavers - not the coping. I wanted a more English garden look combining more cobble-ey and finished looks, so I went with the travertine coping. But I never really found the colors I wanted for the deck pavers, so I was going to settle. Then the whole disaster with the paver/landscaper guy happened (which turned out to be a good thing), and I found the new paver/landscapers. He would do the travertine deck for the same price as the Belgard. My son had really been lobbying for a travertine deck, and I do love the look. So Presto Change-o, that's what we did.
I'm glad now I was limited to the few Texas colors, or I might have given in to the first situation.
You're right! You're going to have the very natural look with your selections, and at the same time, it will be different from many other pools. That will be awesome! We all want our pool to reflect us and to be unique - to have 'our stamp' on it. At least that's how I felt.
But I'm also glad you're going to have some Bling with the luminous beads added to the Blue Surf! Even Mother Nature adds bling to Her landscapes, right?!!!
And speaking of which...... the first pictures coming out with the Blue Surf look amazing! I think it's going to be just what you and your wife were looking for. I'm so excited for you guys!!!
Happy days!
Suz.
Wow Suz! I didn't know you were originally doing pavers. I didn't honestly know how expensive they were until my PB was complaining about how my build out was priced incorrectly and the Belgard pavers were way more expensive than I was charged for. At first I just assumed he was pulling my leg to try to get me to feel better but then when I called the stone yard to get the pricing I was a bit shocked. They are almost as much/sqft as my hickory hand scraped floors in my house. It doesn't surprise me you could get travertine for the same price! Honestly my house is pretty rustic looking and I think the travertine would be beautiful but too high class for us
Honestly after finding out how much these pavers are I think they might be too classy for us too haha!
I don't think I posted this but the designer that designed my pool is no longer with my PB. There is a large backstory that I won't post on here but if anyone is interested they can PM me and I'll give the down low.
Coping is almost done they have to replace about 5 pavers that are cracked. They also started on a deck and leveled most of the next area. They need some more materials that are supposed to come on Monday.
Incredible. Well, it seems the new subs are getting things done from the posts I've caught up on, and I'm looking forward to the result.
BTW, I had PM'd you about the builder, thanks for the info. I've started talking to PBs about my pool renovation, and have had one come out so far. When we get further along I'll start a thread.
I liked your patio redesign. That should be good.
How many days has the new sub worked? They have done more in this short time than all of the days put together with the other one! AND they had to remove the bad stuff as well!
Kim
Kim
I love the colors and shapes of the deck pavers! The paver guys are doing a great job. I know they're moving quickly now, but iI wish they'd work even faster!
Suz.
Suz.
I hope you find the right builder to do your renovation. One thing I can say about my pool builder is they haven't really stopped trying to get my pool as awesome as they can. They are definitely trying to go above and beyond in the circumstances. They are having to fix a lot of issues associated with bad subs and a bad salesman but in the end they want to make it right so that says a lot!
They have only worked 1 week. They started on Monday and worked 6 days including part of Saturday. They are really kicking butt! They are definitely hard workers. I can tell they care about their work and are super friendly. This crew is entirely from Honduras. I went to Roatan Honduras in July on our cruise and that is a beautiful country.
Thanks! I am so happy with how fast they are working. To be honest before I regretted looking in my backyard. I always knew I would see things I didn't like or the lack of progress would discourage me. But now I am excited to get home and see what happened. Because I know the work will be good and they will get something done.
Saturday I had another date with my girlfriend. I needed to go to Home Depot to get a drain for my downspout that is where the deck is going so they could install it for me (the PB said they would put it in if I bought the materials). He had to go because he needed to buy my deck drains and some PVC to install my new hose bib and fill line pipes that were on my contract so I rode with him. Then when we returned he left and bought the entire crew lunch because he said they needed to eat in order to work in the heat. He really does care about people and it shows. I can't say enough how impressed I am with my girlfriend. He has been my hope during this whole process. He really wants my pool to come out the best it can. I believe the sales manager is the same from what I have seen so far.
Thanks! My wife is super happy too! She texted me today that she wanted to go out and hug the workers.
One thing is I am probably going to recommend this company backwards and forwards. Yes we all want that perfect company that does everything perfect the first time. To me what really tells me if a company is good is how they deal with the issues when they do come up. I will say that my build probably has had enough tests to prove that this builder will make things right as long as the customer has reasonable expectations.
ummmmmmmmm I have to say I agree with you. They saw a problem and are fixing it!
Kim (I do wish they had found/seen it as a problem earlier but..........at least they did)
Kim (I do wish they had found/seen it as a problem earlier but..........at least they did)