That is quite the variance, but to fix it would probably mean jackhammering out the entire spa. Might look to get a couple of freebees for that one.

PS. If this is one of my pools, then that is completly normal, the spa is measured from the center of the shotcrete, 7' is just aprox, we can have up to 20% variation per the fine print somewhere in the contract. LOL

I have not seen your spa or your plan, but when guinite pools are built the gunite is free-formed and trimmed by hand, so a variance from the pool plan is common. Tile and the float behind it will also take up space, and the forms can move from the original placement, resulting in a slight variance from the plan. You should also check your contract because most gunite pool builders will have some type of wording to address this. One builder's contract in our market allows for a 10% variance. Doing the math, you are right at that figure. By the way, I am a gunite builder in St. Louis, MO. Enjoy your new spa!

We're not building watches here. That may be true, but I'm glad you guys arenot building houses. 8 inches difference over 7 feet? A Stanley 25' tape measure costs $8. Get one.

ms firstpool,
Most customers would understand if a PB used finished gunite measurements as the finished dimension. This is typical for residential gunite pools.
Your margin of error is unacceptable. If the tile setter has to mud the face of the gunite to make the spa perfectly round or square, you may end with a 6' finish dimension. Sounds more like poor planning and workmanship to me.
It's good to error in favor of the customer. I've never had a complaint about a pool being 2" too long or 2" too deep. Good luck.

Whats the outside measurement? Back of gunite to back of gunite?

uh, yeah, mike, pretty sure that was a joke.

Thanks cascade,
Yeah mike, I was just spewing contractor excuses. Did you miss the LOL.
That much off is a problem.

Golf, I did have one customer complain their pool was 1" too deep at the deep end.

Still wondering about the formed (outside) measurements and wall thickness. Wonder where the mistake was made.

This difference in such a small place is a big deal. You are paying for sq. ftg., and you are not getting it.

Yeah, I didnt read into it as a joke, maybe because I've seen this stuff before. I remember a start up I did for a major pb. The pool was 18" shorter and 6" narrower than the plan. I saw it right away. Iasked the pb, (didnt say a word to the h/o) pb said that was within tolerences. A better answer would have been that I didnt have the final plan. I'm guessing pb hopes h/o does not own one of those Stanley thinamajigs.

Yet another thread where the op never comes back

I am a PB and all you PB's that made these excuses that this is typical must have a bunch of dopes for clients. I swear all my clients own laser levels, tape measures, and measuring wheels! I can tell by the way ms_firstpool worded the post that she is not a discount seeker like many clients. I make a habit of not offering discounts at all! I would rather fix my mistake than offer a discount b/c you give a little discount and then they measure everything to see what other discounts they can get!

I agree with golfgeek 100% and mikethepoolguy... building houses? I am glad these guys arenÂt building bridges or skyscrapers!

Bella-orlando, What thread are you reading? Only 1 response in here suggested that this mistake was acceptable.

I was a bit irritated when I did some measurements of the rebar and estimated the gunite.

However, today the gunite went in and the measurements that I cared most about (distance from the house and the neighbor's fence) were within 1/2 of an inch of being correct. Even items that looked incorrect were right on when I put the tape measure to them.

That being said, there's no substitute for an owner actually laying out a pool with a hose or an extension cord in the planning process.

Hey folks,

Thanks for all the feedback. I pretty much knew the answer when I posted, but just wanted some feedback. The pool is absolutely beautiful... very nice workmanship, very thick flagstone vs what I have seen in other pools, and the spa is very, very nice. That said, I couldn't help but feeling like I wasn't getting what I paid for when I posted this initial thread. I really like the pool builder and have seen much of their work and talked with personal friends before making the selection. Smaller company, not a national or even regional company... local guys.

Followed back up with the PB and that turned out to be a mistake. Won't get into details, but severely offended them and after a very smooth process to this point, including all payments on schedule, they said they won't finish the pool unless I pay everything up front now. I guess concerned that I would short them on the last payment due to the spa issues.

PB said that I am blowing it way out of porportion and nothing is exact. Easily could be 4 inches off on one side and the other and my expecations were totally unrealistic. Needless to say, it has been a rough few days. PB backed off on the statement that they will not finish the pool, and things are progressing back to terms of the contract.

No real resolution other than that... a little disappointing, but as I said, it is a very nice pool and they have really done a great job to this point...except for the obvious.

I guess I am a bit anal on all this... yes, I pulled out my tape measure and measured a number of key things including width, decking (where I found another small problem... 1 foot short in an area... but caught it before poured). Guess I am just a difficult customer. Heck, I measured my LCD when I got it home too... I figure if I am paying mid 5 figures, I have the right... and even the responsibility to get comfortable with what I am paying for. It wasn't anything personal at all... just my nature I guess.

At any rate, at this point, it looks like we will have a fabulous looking and solidly built pool with a beautiful 6' 3" spa rather than a 7'. A little bummed, but I'll get over it.

Thanks for all the posts.

Regards.

Wow. I'm sure your pool and spa will be lovely, but what a jackass of a PB. Hello, customer relations?

I'm lucky my PB erred on the side of bigger & deeper. Although the deeper was my idea on day of dig when I saw how shallow the shallow end was when the dig guys were standing there. So I asked them for an extra 6 inches. I feed them all pretty well so they complied and the PB didn't charge me extra, even though this meant there be more gunite, pebbletech used.

Wow, how many referrals does he think he is going to get by acting like that? You could be out of luck based on the wording in your contract like some of the other post mention. I would ask for them to offset that mistake with a freebee. If I make a mistake (we all do) I either correct the error or offset with a freebee somewhere else.

I had a pool last year that the spa was raised 6" instead of 12"Â we all totally missed it due to the different elevations stepping down from the house. I caught it before the homeowner didÂthe day before Pebble Tec! I called the client and told him about our error. I gave him a choice of a discount or we can take off all the stonework and redo it to match the plan. He actually told me that he likes it better at 6" and did not want the discount. He ended up wanting us to do the landscaping around the pool. I agreed and everyone was happy. He referred us to his neighbor and we built that pool as well.

Sorry for the long story but I donÂt see why this canÂt be handled where everyone ends up happy. Good Luck! Keep us posted.
Jason

My pool 20' x 40 pool dimensions (inside gunite surface to inside gunite surface) measured 20'-1" x 40'-1" after the PB shot the gunite. As for 8'x6' spa, inside gunite surface to inside gunite surface measured 7'-11" x 5'-11"

What do I take away from this? Building a pool within 1" of the agreed upon dimensions can be done.

-G

gorilla x,
Building to within 1" of specs is easily doable for residential pools.
The last High School Pool I built was 75'-1" X 115' and the spec required was less than 3/16". All swim lanes were within 1/16" when measured by the engineer.
Anything is possible. Look at the precision used to build the pyramids with the tools they had!