How Not to Select a Pool Builder (in 10 Easy Steps)

Following these rules won’t guarantee a bad experience or a bad result, but it will improve your odds of getting both considerably.

1. Don’t educate yourself about pool construction or pool systems. Do not read any books on the subject. Do not visit any discussion forums such as poolforum.com or Gardenweb’s pool forum or TroublefreePool.com. Do not visit equipment manufacturer’s websites. Do not visit poolplaza.com or any other site that explains pool equipment selection and operation in an easy-to-understand manner.

2. Friends and neighbors who have had pools built in the last few years should be avoided at all cost during the builder selection process. Instead, ask your brother-in-law, father-in-law, the husband of your sister-in-law’s cousin twice removed, and anyone else who might have an opinion, no matter how ill-informed, especially if he or she has never had a pool built, for his or her recommendation.

3. Don’t talk to more than one builder (two at the very most). They’re all the same, right? Besides that, the salesman seems like a really nice fellow and you’re sure you can trust him, right?

4. Pick a builder you know almost nothing about. Pick one at random from the yellow pages or the one who has the “Basic In-ground Pool Special” for $21,995 in the weekly glossy ad supplemental. Another source for a pool builder you know nothing about is the first one you see when you walk into your local home expo. They’ve got a big binder full of nice pictures of beautiful pools and landscapes so they must know what they’re doing, right?

5. If you insist on talking to more than one builder, always pick the one who gives you the lowest price. There can’t be that much difference in quality can there?

6. Don’t concern yourself with the scant detail in the contract the smarmy salesman wants you to sign right now (“I can’t guarantee this price if you don’t lock it in today”). Take his word for it that “this is the way it’s done” and “nobody else has ever had a problem with our contracts”. Also take him at his word that the contract includes things that aren’t written anywhere in it. Examples include the specific size and model of filter and pumps, the precise amount and type of pool decking, the size and location of the solar panels, the size of piping to be used in the plumbing system, that really cool color changing light you talked with the salesman about a couple of weeks ago, the number of returns and skimmers, etc. If you’ve failed to follow steps 3 and 4 pick the builder whose proposal has the least detail; it will be easier to understand.

7. Do not even ask for any references let alone check on any that the builder provides. Do not visit any pools that the builder has completed recently. Especially do not check on 10-20 references randomly selected from the list of at least 100 that the builder has completed in the past 5 years. Also do not check out the builder with the Better Business Bureau; what do those guys know about pools anyway?

8. Do not be concerned about the reliability of builders who don’t return your phone calls promptly or who miss appointments or cancel them at the last minute. Getting your money in hand will fix those problems, right?

9. Pick the builder who just started. Hey, someone has to be the Guinea Pig and if you don’t give this guy a chance, who will?

10. Pick the builder who specializes in another kind of pool than you want. For example, if you want a concrete pool, pick the company that builds 90% vinyl pools and just a few concrete pools every year. If you want a lagoon-type, free-form pool with lots of natural looking rocks, pick the guy who builds lots of formal pools. After all, a pool is a pool.

This list is not all-inclusive but if followed closely it will probably give you the nightmare experience you’ve been dreaming of.