Hi Marta. Long time no see. Remember we were building at the same time and had similar designs IIRC.

We just paid $400 to have ours opened last week. "$400!," I screamed when my husband told me how much it would cost, "that is robbery."

Then I watched 10 guys, work together like a well-oiled machine for about an hour and fifteen minutes - and then it was clear why they charged so much.

Sure I could have done it myself (no way, man. It would have taken me DAYS) or had another company do it - the others ranged in price from $275 - $375. But this is my pool builder who, as long as they're doing the opening and closing, they will fix any issues - free of charge - if something were to go wrong.

For $400, here's what they did:
-Removed the safety cover
-Used 2 pumps to remove the dirty water that was sitting on top of the visqueen cover which was underneath the safety cover
-2 guys were skimming as the other 8 carefully peeled back the visqueen once all the water was off
-Vacuumed
-Brushed, with some chemical, where the waterline had been all winter. Around the entire pool
-Soft-Scrubbed the interior of both skimmers
-Power washed my coping
-Did what ever they do in the pool filter house
-Got the bubblers and deck jets going
-Started filling with my hoses
-Disposed of the visqueen
-Cleaned my safety cover and took it to their warehouse to store for the winter
-Came back the next day to add salt and whatever chemicals they use, hang some conditioner bags in the water and to make sure everything was running properly.

Oh, and one of the co-owners said I looked like I'd lost weight since last summer. LOL

Worth every penny.

Here's a pic of them removing the visqueen. This seemed like the hardest part. They were stationed all around the perimeter of the pool to make sure none of the stinky, slimy mess went into the pool.

A couple more pics just to show how clean the pool was when they opened. There's no way we could've done this so efficiently and cleanly. Without a divorce.

Wow! Can they come to Boston? No vacuuming or cleaning the waterline tile - that is clear. I know they put an additional $81 worth of chemicals in. And of course removed our cover and hooked up the pool. But sounds like perhaps we need to have a conversation about expectations! I need to do my due diligence about what other companies around here do. Thanks so much Banana_Fana, your pool looks AMAZING!!!!

Thanks. Looking forward to planting some flowers, dragging out the furniture, etc.

One other thing the guys did that went above and beyond was: Ya know the grommet thingies that are in the pavers that you attach the safety cover to? Over the winter it was glaringly obvious that the tension of several of them lifted the pavers up. Somehow the guys fixed that. I didn't see them do it but after they left I noticed they were all flat again. I figured I'd either have to level them out myself or call the paver guy.