The other side of the coin is this: Trades men today are 'not' as they were in years past. I know this first hand being in the const. industry for 30 yrs. Believe me, the real craftsmen of old are very few and far between.

And truth is you (or even I with with my experience) could not fully qualify such a trade as this. I'm sure you can find a good qualified contractor, but a thing like pool plastering is such a unique service, I doubt you'll find many folks you can speak to directly who have used the same guy/company.

This would be an awful big area to have someone mess up,,which you may not see or realize a year or so after,,,then what? I guess what I'm saying is that it would have to be a 'very reputable 'local' company for me to be comfortable. Which I guarantee, won't be the cheapest estimate you get.

But if cost was not an issue,,,then that's the way I'd go. Mine was in really good shape for being 30 yrs old,,so it didn't seem to make sense to sandblast off the other 98% of good plaster required to prep.

Good luck.