Opinions on this Gunite Pool Quote?

[GutierrezPlastering]

My opinion is the quote represents the quality of work you are going to get. A quote that is too low will only be a pool that will take forever to build and have problems as aposed to a quote that is high. It will be worked on at a consistent time. So its basically all about how much you are willing to pay, and if the company has a good reputation.

[Ready2swim]

I agree that cheap isnt always better...that is one of the reasons that made me choose the company with the highest price for my area. Dont get me wrong I didnt just want to spend more money but they were the ones that had the best reputation and seemed to know what they were talking about.

[pcgeek]

Where are you building? We're building a slightly larger (20x40) gunite in the DC area and all of our quotes come back somewhat higher (pools are rediculously expensive in this area). The retaining wall cost is going to depend on the size of the wall. The cheapest we saw for a brushed concrete (not even stained) pool deck was $7.60 per sf and all of the PebbleTec prices we saw were a LOT more than that (ours is costing something like 8900 for the Tahoe Blue). I almost want to move to Florida, Arizona or Texas just to get the chear pool construction.

[clayinatl]

Where are you building?

Sorry, Atlanta area.

I've gotten 2 quotes so far, and both of these are from 2 of the better builders in the area (no complaints on BBB, friend recommendations, etc.).

We have the 2 big National companies coming out in the next 2 days - Anthony and Sylvan & Blue Haven - we'll see how they are.

[pcgeek]

FWIW we talked to both Anthony & Sylvan and Blue Haven as well (didn't go with either, we ended up going with a large local firm).

Anthony and Sylvan was a little more expensive and was probably a fallback but we weren't thrilled that the sales guy had only been with the company for a few months and completely missed the fact that we'd have to build a retaining wall (which affected both the price and layout). They did give him good training and he had the highest tech tools out of everyone who came. They were clean in my area for BBB and other than general building hassles the people I know who used them locally to DC were happy. They were the only other company besides the one we went with that offered an in-floor cleaning system.

Blue Haven was downright scary. They did come in the cheapest but thhe sales guy who came out had also been working with them only for a couple of months, also missed the retaining wall and his only training was the fact that he owned a pool. They are usually a franchise shop so make sure you find out the specifics on your local franchise (ours was horrible with the BBB).

The builder we finally ended up going with was somewhat old fashioned (used an architectural scale and pencil for all of his drawings) but he was the construction manager previously for the same company and had been there for 20 years. He was the only one to shoot elevations of the yard and figure out that we had to drop 5' from the patio to the pool deck in a pretty short distance. They also had the in floor cleaning syetem and were willing to do everything else we wanted (though he still gives me major grief about my insistance they put in a pool pilot total control instead of the mineral springs system they try to push) - at least he's willing to do it even though he's way over charging me for it. They were clean on the BBB and were the largest builder in the area behind the nationals (they also did the commercial pools in my current and past neighborhood).

Just make sure when you're comparing prices you try to do an apples to apples on the individual items (flooring sf price, PebbleTec price, etc) since the quotes usually have very different things in them. I swear this is worse than the construction process when we bought our house - and I thought I was done with the hassles ;-)

[eljefe281]

...his only training was the fact that he owned a pool.

What else do you need?

[pcgeek]

Guess I should mention that he owned a "basic" pool and had no idea what a SWG was and was confused on the whole PebbleTec thing. He also didn't get why we wanted a pool heater and it's not like we're in the tropics up here (except for right now when I'm wishing we already had the pool). I know most people say not to pick a builder based on the salesperson but I think that needs to be taken into account only when comparing competent sales people since they are the ones that work with you on the design and contract (and any options you might be getting).