Newbie here...need help with startup

[Ready2swim]

Has the entire contract price been paid?

No, I still owe them about $5K but they have been smart enough not to ask for it yet. When they do ask for it I plan to hold it back until they are done. I just spoke with our house keeper and she said the decking crew was at the house as we speak. Evidently she went out there and chewed some A$$.

I also received an e-mail this morning from the PB with another sorry excuse as to why things are behind. They say that they were shut down yesterday because of rain...unfortunately for them a freind of mine is having his pool built by the same company and the same decking crew did his SunDeck yesterday afternoon. By the way he just started his project 4 weeks ago and he is already past our stage...this is the SAME COMPANY!

I am at a loss, I dont know what recourse I have but the list of incompetence is LONG! I actually took the time to write a diary of the daily activities once I noticed we were having trouble. Maybe my attorney can do something with it?

[pcgeek]

I can't speak from experience as I'm 1 week away from filling my pool (PebbleTek gets put in on Thursday) but the start-up plan from our PB has them coming out to do an "acid startup" right after we fill it and we need to brush it for 7-10 days (after 5 days they want us to start bringing the PH up). The part that struck me as being the oddest is that they will not start the equipment until after the wash is complete.

Don't know if it's a valid concern or if it's even the correct procedure (or could just be because it's a pebble finish) but I don't know if starting the equipment was a good idea or not.

[Ready2swim]

I can't speak from experience as I'm 1 week away from filling my pool (PebbleTek gets put in on Thursday) but the start-up plan from our PB has them coming out to do an "acid startup" right after we fill it and we need to brush it for 7-10 days (after 5 days they want us to start bringing the PH up). The part that struck me as being the oddest is that they will not start the equipment until after the wash is complete.

Don't know if it's a valid concern or if it's even the correct procedure (or could just be because it's a pebble finish) but I don't know if starting the equipment was a good idea or not.

The main difference here is we arent doing PebbleTek, therefore we will not do an acid wash. I am not concerned about starting the equipment, actually the only thing that made me relax over the weekend was the fact that I had my pumps running through the filter so at least I was filtering my water.

[eljefe281]

One thing I noticed that I dont understand is the jets in the spa are missing...does anyone know when they are normally installed?

Do you mean that there is nothing coming through the gunite wall where the jets should be?

Or that the appropriate wall fittings are not yet in place?

[Simmons99]

If the jets you are refering to are really the eyelets - mine were installed the week after the pool was filled. Our start-up went like this

8/18: finish applied and started filling
8/19: completed filling - electrical came out to connect the pump - ran out of materials & left.
8/20: Nothing
8/21: Electrical came back and got the pump on-line and started. PB came to install lights in spa and pool. Found a broken conduit.
8/22: PB came back - fixed conduit - got the lights installed. Found SWCG was plumbed wrong. Installed eyelets.
8/23-24: Nothing
8/25: Got pool school - they added the rest of the chemicals and we got our brush/test kit/warranty info and we paid final payment. Items still not completed at this point were (1) the SWCG was still not started (2) some pavers were the wrong color (3) the covered area leaks by the house (4) the screen door on one side hits the pavers and is very difficult to close (5) paint overspray on tiles.
8/28 - fixed overspray on tiles
8/31 - started SWCG - added salt
9/08 - installed alarms on windows/doors
9/19 - final inspection. Still outstanding items.

This is normal punch-list type stuff. They are talking to me - I never call angery - no one wants to call someone back that is going to yell at them - so I only am a b**ch when I have tried everything else.

Take a deep breath - your scenario doesn't sound nearly as bad as some others I have heard (14 + months from dig to fill). Although it is never good business practices to lie to a customer - will get you in trouble everytime.

[SeanB.]

Simonn's that is kind of what I was thinking. I know pools are a pretty expensive proposition, and to tell the truth, very few people seem to be getting the kind of customer service you'd expect with that sort of expenditure.

However, it all seems very similar to the home building process, which we just finished. Despite spending many times the cost of the pool, we ran into the same sort of issues - things getting done slowly, sometimes wrong, but eventually all was made right.

In both cases, the builders are relying very heavily on contracted labor who in most cases (in this part of the country) are illegal and most barely speak English. I can see why communication and timeliness are big issues. However, the work ethic of these people seems to be fantastic. Once they start on a job, they are usually very skilled and do well.

Just as an example of how delays happen, we wanted to save some money on putting our fence back up, so I approached a laborer building a house next to us (lots of construction still going on) and asked him if he could repair my fence - about 15 foot or so. This would have cost me several hundred thought the builder and he agreed to do it for $75. The funny part is he didn't wait until the end of the day to come over, he came and started right then and did the job - took him about an hour. Now, I was glad to get my fence done, but I couldn't help but think that he was probably being paid to do another job at that same time. A job that was now delayed because of me and my fence. Now the builder certainly couldn't account for that sort of thing, but the guy buying that home is going to hold the builder accountable for those delays.

I guess, after my own experiences and reading about enough other builds, I was prepared for delays, so I'm able to just take them in stride as part of the process. Not to negate anyone's aggravation, because there is absolutely room for improvement across this whole industry.

[Ready2swim]

OK guys,

Here is my dilemma,

The test Kit that my PB provided with my "package" only measures CL and PH and it only does it with a color chart that is weak at best. I will have to run down and pick something up for now that will give me some true data.

Everything else seems to be going well, we are expecting final clean up tomorrow and that should be that.

[SeanB.]

How's about an updated picture? How are things running now?