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.