Did all my Houstonians disappear?? Here are some names we are looking at...any feedback?
Quest Pools
Down Unda
A Bear
Mirage
Gulf Coast Pool Co
Precision
Fort Bend Custom Pools
Wet Pools
The Pool Guy
Hipp Pools
Best Backyard Pools
Sunset Pools

Thanks..I really, really appreciate any feedback.

I used Best Backyard Pools and have never been happier with a contractor. This is the way to go! I can send you pix if you like. I will tell you they finished my pool in less than a month and all activity was supervised by someone from the company EVERY day. Trades were easy, efficient and we love our pool. You can email me at marketbn@aol.com and I will send you some pictures. We live in Cinco Southwest by the way. Close to 1463 & 1093 Good luck. Making the right decision is critical. I also have a good connection for pergola and outdoor kitchen.

We used Best Backyard Pools. We live northwest of down town Katy. Would absolutely use her, again. I am recommending her to my next door neighbor who is thinking of building a pool this fall. Responsive and right there with the job until finished. Had software that captured our house and showed how the pool would look from different angles. Pretty cool!

Davistx - After an exhaustive search, we chose Gulf Coast Pool Company in Richmond. We are currently in the middle of the build. You can follow it on the new build thread "New Build - Katy TX".

We interviewed about 10 PBs during the process, including some you have listed. We had a previous poor experience with A Bear, so they were eliminated quickly. Precision was ok, but we didn't care for how they presented their pricing structure (no detail). Wet Pools was ok, but they seemed to charge higher prices for the same materials. Sunset Pools had a very arrogant young salesman who didn't answer direct questions and seemed to feel that they were God's gift to pool builders, so we tossed them as well. Mike at Gulf Coast Pools won because he had good creativity in his designs, a lot of flexibility, very good pricing on upgrades, and showed a good product on every pool we went to go see with him before signing. Moreover, we wanted to build a patio covering, landscaping, irrigation, etc. and wanted one builder to manage all of it. Gulf Coast was willing to do that without a massive markup on the cost compared to almost all of the other builders. So far, we have been impressed with their work and their project manager for us, Rick. We will see in the next couple weeks how well they finish the job.

Hope that helps a little. I can detail our search process a lot more if you like.

DocZ

I am so happy for DocZ's experience with Gulf Coast Pools in Richmond. We are still persistently and patiently awaiting our pool to be finished from the contract we signed at the end of July of last year with the same builder. We have been told by the same builder that our pool project is a result of the economic affect on their business. I would not recommend them for a new residential pool build, especially now, towards the same time of the year we signed our contract. Here are some pictures of recent work here.
The first is the large opening between the coping and deck around our pool. After plastering in April, the joint was not filled until 2 weeks ago. Water from splashing in the pool was starting to flow under the decking. It was a constant complaint until finally filled.

This is a picture of our slide that was delivered last week. The slide was included in the contract last year. I did not feel comfortable with this company putting the slide together so my son and I did that. Instead of renting a hammer drill, I thought they would be able to install the bolts. Instead, they used bolts twice as large as the bolts that came with the slide and did not follow the instructions and installed the bolts with the slide in place. Now two of these large bolts are put in at an angle and 2 are broken off level at the deck. We do not know how we are going to get the slide off to redo the bolts. Gulf Coast was scheduled to come yesterday morning to start the repair but did not show and did not call as no shows/no call backs have happened frequently. I will not take anymore of this thread but will start another with ideas of how to tap out/re-do.

These are just 2 examples of recent time consuming problems with this company. If you select Gulf Coast, there is a chance you will be spending extra time emailing and calling to get what was included in your contract actually completed in your build. Feel free to continue to follow our build. Hope to post a completed picture very soon!!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Fun Begins!! Missouri City, TX Pool Build

I AM WARNING YOU - DO NOT USE SUNSET POOLS IN KATY TEXAS

We have had out pool from Sunset for a little under a year, and it has been the worst year of my life.

When we first met with sunset pool company, they promised us a luxury pool with quality workmanship and excellent customer service (which you should get when the pricetag is over 90K), but our pool is the furthest thing from that.

The process of getting it built was pretty horrible, and the problems pretty much started from the get go. The day they dug the pool they asked if we could use our neighbors driveway. We said no, but low and behold, we show up in the afternoon and there is mud and heavy machinery in out neighbors driveway. Luckily, our neighbors are forgiving enough not to do anything about it. Throughout the process, contractors did not show up on days they were scheduled, poor workmanship abounded, and our construction manager Brandon never returned phone calls. Multiple times our construction manager flat out lied to us. When we would call our salesman Tanr and the owner Adam, they were constantly coming up with excuses and telling us something different. They make this sales pitch that they use consistent, quality contracters, but most of these guys didn't even seem to have a relationship with our mangager who was never there (even though we were promised to have excellent oversight of the contracters). I think that they went with whatever day laborers were the cheapest.

When we were nearing completion, it seemded almost impossible to get the things on our punch list done, and they were certainly in no hurry as they already had the vast majority of our money. In the end, we just ended up letting a few of the things go since we were so sick of dealing with them.

The sad thing is that the process of having the pool built has not been the worst part, it has been the quality of the product. We have had a least one thing break every month since we got this pool - leak, filter problems, chlorinator problems, remote problems, cleaner problems, etc. dealing with this company to get the issues fixed is impossible. They give us a date then don't show up, every person there gives us a different story about what will happen, and of course they are unbelievably slow getting anything done as they already have all of our money. The worst part is that Adam, the owner, acts like we are high maintenance because we want things under warranty fixed - as I said before, for over 90K we should be able to demand quick fixes for broken parts and warranty issues. If the first year of pool ownership has been this bad, I can't even imagine what will happen down the line with some of this shotty workmanship.

I am just warning you, don't get tricked by their fancy office (which I now know they can afford because they scrimp so much on their workmanship) and their designs (which admittedly are quite good) - they are not a luxury pool builder. You will get below average workmanship and way below average customer service.

Please heed my warning

There is a guy on www.troublefreepool.com who just started a build a few weeks ago in Richmond, TX. He is using Pulliman Pools in Katy, TX. He seems very pleased with the process so far. I recommend checking out the site and reading his thread. His thread is under New Construction, labeled New Build in Richmond, TX. He has lots of pics of the different phases he has done so far. Just thought I would pass that along if it helps you make a decision. I have also heard people on this site speak well of Hipp Pools too. Good luck. We just had our excavation start lat Thursday and am waiting for the rain to come and go tomorrow and hopefully the rebar on Thursday!