Re: Neighbors and Pool Installation (LONG)
Neighbors - they come in all kinds.
Here's our pool/ neighbor story (I'll keep it brief):
We decided to build an inground pool in Feb. 2003. The kids were at an age where we hoped to keep them around the house during their teens! Anyway, before we got into it much at all, we approached the neighbors on each side of the house, both of whom we had good relationships with. On the side where all the pool construction equipment would traverse, the neighbor agreed immediately to cooperate (we promised to restore his yard and irrigation after construction). But the other neighbor, whose yard would not be impacted at all, really pushed back. They were childless (but young) and were concerned my kids would have wild pool parties. We shrugged our shoulders since we really did not need their permission.
We proceeded working with the builder and finally on June 3rd we got permits. Two days later we were served a summons - the "bad" neighbor was sueing us and obtained a restraining order! Something about "spoiling the parklike setting of our subdivision". The next 3 months were spent with our lawyer and in court, but in early September, the judge ruled in our favor. Unfortunately in August, the pool builder disappeared with our down payment (and several others too). It was all over the local news. So by this time we had spent $6,000 on legal fees and lost $15,000 in down payment.
The "bad" neighbor put his house up for sale 1 week after the ruling and was gone by November. Good riddence. Our lawyer hooked us up with a repudable pool builder and by Nov, we had a beautiful new pool all ready to close for the winter. We will be paying for it for the rest of our lives, but after what we went through, we were going to have a pool!
We now have a wonderful neighbor in the house that was sold, and I heard they the "bad" neighbors split up and moved to different cities. Sob sob. Moral of my story: watch out for your "bad" neighbor". Some people always have to be right, nothing will make them happy, and they will stop at nothing to get their way.
Good luck with your pool - it will be worth it in the end.
~Rick~
18,000G freeform gunite; PebbleSheen; Sta-Rite System 3 Cartridge; Sta-Rite heater; Polaris AutoClear Cl Generator; Polaris 380 cleaner
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