6) Make payments in accordance with the amount of work completed.

I HAVE JUST HAD A POOL BUILT BY PREMIER AND THEY DID A FANTASTIC JOB. I AM A CHIROPRACTOR AND HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK TO A LOT OF PEOPLE IN MY OFFICE. PREMIER WAS THE ONLY NAME THAT CAME UP OVER AND OVER AGAIN WITH POSITIVE REVIEWS. EVERYTHING CAME OUT EXACTLY AS WE HAD HOPED OR EXCEEDED OUR EXPECTATIONS. THE ONLY NEGATIVE REVIEW THAT I HEARD ALSO INVOLVED UNEXPECTED COSTS DUE TO TROUBLE WITH THE DIG. THEY HIT ROCK AND IT COST A LOT TO GET TO AN ACCEPTABLE DEPTH. IT SEEMS LIKE THE REVIEW ABOVE AND THE ONE BAD REVIEW I HEARD WOULD HAVE HAPPENED WITH ANY POOL COMPANY. THE POOL COMPANY CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT EVERYTHING WILL GO SMOOTHLY. IT COSTS MORE TO DEAL WITH PROBLEMS. DON'T EXPECT TO PAY EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE QUOTED. THAT ADVICE GOES FOR ANY CONSTRUCTION. IT WILL ALWAYS COST MORE FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER.

So far I've contacted Geremia Pools, Swan Pools and I have an appointment with Premier Pools next Monday. Geremia claims to have been in business for 80 years, does all their own work. Their salesman is cheesy though and I'm not sure about them. Swan sounds okay, although they do sub out almost all aspects of the job I've been told. Premier, I have no opinion of yet. If anyone has experience with these companies, especially if in Northern California, I would greatly appreciate hearing about your experience with them.

Thanks

i'm sorry you had such a lousy experience. it doesn't surprise me though, considering that they build like 400 or 500 pools a year.
why do y'all always go with those lousy, mass-production pool companies? why not find a smaller contractor who knows his/her stuff and actually enjoys building pools rather than running an assembly line?
by the way, that salesman/designer you signed the contract with....they're nothing but salesmen! they generally know nothing about the product; 6 months ago, he was trying to sell you a car.
phil

We are building our gunite pool right now in Davis, CA using Aqua Pool and Spa. So far, we are very happy with their service and workmanship. Their crews are so good in cleaning after themselves every time. We have interviewed 6 pool/landscape contractors who had completed works for our friends and neighbors. At the end, we picked this Company based on a strong referral from someone whom we considered to be extremely meticulous and details. As for price, since I already drawn up our pool design, I was able to compare them for the same items that we wanted. We found that all their prices quoted to us is about $1,000 different. We thought that it is probably more important to get the right group of people for their work. I've been told by many that the right sales person made the different. I sometime wonder how true that is since some of the designers that came to our house really is not the person that listen well. My rule of thumb, I don't want anyone to work in my home whom I don't feel good about. That includes designers. By the way, I'm an engineer and know a bit about construction. So if anybody tried to lie to me during our interview and I caught them, their bid is out. Good luck on your pool project.

HI, I THINK I'LL TYPE IN ALL CAPS IT MAKES MY MESSAGE SO EASY TO READ. IT'S NOT ANNOYING AT ALL. I AM CHIROPRACTOR AND HAND OUT CROOKED PENS AT THE MALL. DON'T EXPECT TO PAY WHAT I QOUTE YOU. HOW ELSE WILL I PAY MY FOR MY TRIP TO HAWAII.

My wife and I have a question regarding pool decking. Is there a code in Southern California stating that the depth of the pool decking must be uniform? Or can the depth vary from one inch to four???? Any advice please as our pool company wants to pour the decking soon!

There will absolutely be a code for the thickness of the slab. One inch is way to thin. Most have a minimum of 4 inches. Check with your local building code dept. Don't let them pour a one inch think deck. It will be a nightmare.

jb

Also make sure they have a solid 3-4" of gravel base and rebar for support.

Hi:

I hope it works out!

Never use Blue Haven Pools.

What ever you do dont choose Blue Haven Pools, they have a terrible reputation. I can speak from experience, they abandoned a pool that I contracted them to build.

Where do you get info on styrofoam forms for the concrete deck around a pool?

This all reminds me of maui ma and his experience with his pool company. Monica, are you maui ma? I believe his pool Company was Curcie Pools and he had a bad experience also.

We have Premier Pools out of Vacaville and they have turned my dream of building a pool into a nightmare! They didn't read the plans and added an extra bench around our spa spillway in addition to adding steel after the city inspector inspected it. They then had to cut the steel and chisel the gunite bench out. (this process took 2 months)! When they grouted our rock Premier Pools once again did not read the plans and they put in a light grey grout when the plans called for a black dark grout. For all their mistakes they offered us a Pebble Tec upgrade, we do not like the look of feel of Pebble Tec but we do like the Pebble Sheen. Premier Pools said they are not willing to pay for Pebble Sheen and that we would have to pay $2400 out of our pocket for our 437 sq. foot pool. I refuse to pay them any money to cover up or strengthen their mistake! Does anyone know how much Pebble Sheen costs per sq. foot? Today we decided to go to arbitration. When can we wake up from this nightmare?

We are having a pool built by Premier Pools and Spas (Rancho Cordova) and we are now four weeks past the contract completion date with new broken promises every day. Premier is a "high volume" builder which they consider a selling point, but in reality it is a real detractor as they tend to prioritize their pools based on location and cost of the pool being built. If you, like most people, just want a regular (40K) pool, prepare to wait a loooong time for it. They will tell you six weeks and write it into the contract but in reality it will be more like twelve or longer. Because they're busy building the 100K pools in four weeks. I would highly recommend writing a performance bond to complete by a certain date or face financial penalty for each day over contract. Also, ask for a construction schedule up front and make them stick to it.

I would not recommend Premier Pools due to their complete disregard for the average customer, their extreme dishonesty, and lack of quality. Our pool is not what we wanted and the concrete decking is awful and needs to be redone.

I had a similar problem with a local pool company. The totally destroyed my neighbors yard, my fence front yard and back yard. I attempted having a meeting with the owner to come to an agreement to pay for the damage. I was willing to pay a third. He told me he was willing to pay a third. I said forget it I will take my chances in court. He threatened that if I did not take his offer then all offers were off the table. I told him my offer was off the table. I sent him a certified demand letter for the payment in full due to the damage caused by negligence his people caused myself and my neighbor. In the letter I told him if I was not paid by a certain date then I would be contacting the state contractors licensing board, the better business bureau and I would be filing in small claims.

They paid me the entire demand.

What makes me mad is you sign a document that your responsible for any damage which you figure there will be some in a construction zone but that does not give these guys cart blanch (spelling?) to do what ever they want without any regard!

The make a mess, cause damage LIE because you signed a little piece of paper. But there is a difference between the minor damage you expect and the destructive damage they cause because they think they can!!!!!!!!

On my first complaint about the excavator the sales man ran over with in 10 minutes to have me sign and addendum that they are not responsible! All I know is that these guys do not want a complaint on their contractors license.

And whoever said get everything in writing, good advice, but guess what this not real estate you can have a verbal contract as I did with the salesman. They think the customers are stupid and ignorant but dont let them get away with it. Even if you dont win in court, at least you will have the satisfaction of making them as miserable as they have made you and hopefully leave a stain on their license as they have left a stain on my pebble tec!

I AM RESEARCHING POOL BUILDERS IN THE DALLAS AREA. HAS ANYONE HAD A GOOD EXPERIECE?\

Avoid Benchmark Pools and Spas- Bob Hess, Manny Rivera.
I would not let them build a sandbox for me. Lied to us from the beginning. I have been treated better by used car salesman.
Thankfully, cancelled them before they dug the hole.
Be careful, go with a reputable builder who has been around awhile.

Premiere Pools and Spas out of Rancho Cordova and Vacaville is GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!!!! Avoid them at all cost. I discovered this when talking to sub-contractors that they are using. I am thinking of putting in a new pool this year and I was told that Paradise Pools Inc. out of Davis is a very good company to deal with. Good luck to all pool shoppers out there and sorry to all those with horror stories.

I want to hear from some body that has had a fiberglass pool installed on their property.I am researching fiberglass verses gunite so please advise. Thanks,Suzanne

After as many as 8 bids, my wife and I, with urging from a friend steve, we picked premier pool and spa. Or experience cannot be better. So far, they have exceed our expectations and I am really hard to please. Our project Managers Michael and Tina Anderson are fantastic. In the being, we almost went with McCauley's and I am so glad we didn't. As promised, we started before the 10/14days, it took the one day to do the excavation, in less than two weeks in we have plumbing, electrical, and rebar in. Tomorrow is going to be the first inspection. The customer service from michael and Tina are great. They paid great attention to details and listen intently to what i want...always stating "I will take care of it" and so far as delivered it. On one occasion, a worker used my wheelbarrow and damaged it. Michael said don't worry, just go pick one out we will reimburse you...that great customer service (making the customer happy). Cannot wait till the pool is done!

Are you thinking on building a new pool? Well, do you homework right before sign any contracts. Be careful with "Blue Haven Pools" they said to you that you are contracting and experienced, reputable, dependable and long-standing company and it is false and misleading. Blue haven licenses its brand name to pool contractor without requiring them to construct pools to minimum standards. The truth is that there has never been any single company operating under the name "Blue Haven" in any state since 1954 and that none of the companies operating under the name "Blue Haven" have been in business since 1954, are not "national" companies and do not have 250,000 satisfied customers coast to coast.
Here is a little description of my experience with Blue Haven, hopefully it will open your eyes.
I built a pool with Blue Haven TN. I have problems from the beginning.
They started building on June 07 and finish at the end of November 07. They have to redo the stamped concrete around the pool because the first time was not made right. Blue Haven did not push the subcontractor to do it; it was only done because my husband and I handle the situation with the subcontractor directly.
Then, we noticed that we were loosing water and finally we found a crack on the shell, emptied the pool and fixed it (after long argument with Blue Haven) but we always had problems with the pump making terrible noises that even the neighbors complaint about it. It looses pressure all the time. They changed the Hayward motor and replaced with another one (I found later that they replaced it with something else a cheap brand so Hayward does not cover their warranty now). They also installed the ozonator on the wrong place making the filter fill with air. We still have a lot of problems...to many to describe.
They worst is that the office in Knoxville, TN is close after only one year on business and Blue Haven National do not want to be responsible for the problem. I call the 1-800 customer service and Ms. Ellen which number is 972-316-8662 provided me with the worst customer service I have to deal in my life, treating it me like crap. She said that it is not their problem. She does not want me to call her anymore or give me any number or names or other people in Blue Haven that can help me to solve all these problems. She is not returning any of my calls. I spent $70,000 on my pool to be treated poorly and they washed their hands simple like that. I decided to build with Blue Haven and not with a local company thinking that they will take care of problems like these, for their #1 ranking and their reputation (that's what I thought them).
I know that I can not do anything about it only advise other people about this company and their terrible business model. You can google "blue haven complaints" for a large list of them. Stay away from this company !!!

We live in El Dorado Hills and had our pool built by Aqua Pool & Spa out of Sacrmento. There were a few delays due to the weather, but nothing major. The quality of work is great. Actually my neighbor is a retired concrete contractor and he noticed our deck and asked which concrete company we had do it. We told him was Aqua Pool & Spa our pool compnay that put that deck in since they use all their own construction crews. He was really impressed, and we think it looks great too. The whole pool actually turned out really nice. We had Pebble Fina put in with stamped deck. Our only complaint is the rock has white line on it where the waterline of our pool is. But we asked around and its a normal problem when the rock goes into the water. We looked at some pools that had all these little rocks sitting above the water, but we don't like that look cause it just doesn't seem natural. Oh well I guess you can't have it all. Overall we are just really satisfied the job Aqua Pool & Spa did - oh and their customer service was really great too. We called them more times than they could probably stand while things would be delayed because of the rain to find out if we were back on their schedule yet. Everytime we called they were always just super friendly and polite. In our past experience when we had to work with a contractor for another project they didn't even return our calls, so we were just glad that Aqua Pool & Spa was there to answer our questions when we had them. I'd recommend them if you're looking for a pool builder in the Sacramento area, but just be sure you look at some examples of how the waterline can stain your rock if you want rock to go down into your pool before you decide to go that route. Aqua Pool & Spa in Sacramento is a great company to work with and we get compliments on our pool all the time. Check them out if you're thinking about buying a pool for sure.

Oh one more thing which I meant to ask before... Does anyone know a good way to clean that white line off our rock that sits down in the water? We've been told it will probably keep coming back, but we just want to be able to clean it up a little bit for special occasions. I tried some other recommendations that seemed to work a little bit. There has to be an easier way??? I guess you can't use a water softener or you'll get problems, or at least that's what Aqua Pools told us - can any water experts confirm that please or offer some suggestions. We love our rock, it's a paneled rock that looks nice down underwater, but we just wish somebody would invent a way to clean that line up.

Hey there, I live in upstate South Carolina and wanted to get qoutes for a guinite pool. Can anyone recommend a good builder?

I'm shocked at the experiences of some of the posters here. All I can suggest is to make sure there is a solid contract in place before doing anything, make sure everything is in writing, try paying to milestones to incentivize on-time completion (actually sometimes building in bonuses and penalties works really well), and consider hiring an experienced 3rd party project manager. Hope it works out in the end!

We will be getting bids on a new inground gunite pool for our home in Aug.
I have been doing some research and seem to be leaning towards plaster with aggregate finish and stained,stamped rock salt concrete for the decking. We would also like to have an outdoor kitchen built along with the pool. We have several pavers and flagstone we would like incorporated into the build. Will this help to lower the cost? Any suggestions,builders,or issues you've had in the area would be greatly appreciated?

I am having trouble picking the plaster color. I have samples of QuartzScapes. I would like a clean blue color

I am researching types of pool finish and really like pebble sheen cool blue. Does any one have this in their pool, and are you happy with it? The aqua blue is too much blue, but the white diamonds is not blue enough. I am hoping the cool blue will be just in-between.

Experience taught a lot more things. Whatever discussed between the contractor and you should be written with two parties signs. Its always better to consult experienced ones before doing something.

Great tips! Pool construction costs vary depending on: the size of the pool, the material used; the complexity of the design and the geographic area.

Whenever hiring the share service provider, it isn't far too distinct from hiring any service provider to be effective with your residence: the local plumber, the father as well as landscaper.
1) Get more than one bid.
2) Look out for incentives
3) Ask for testimonials
4) Make sure they are licensed and insured
5) No need to pay cash upfront
6) Set up project milestones
7) Keep all documents and receipts

Premiere pools and spa has the absolute worst planning / customer service I have seen. Stay far away!