I am having a 105 ft pool/spa built by McKinney Custom Pools in Pearland Texas, with the builder's "select blend flagstone" for coping. While the builder encouraged this coping, especially with our moss rock waterfall and weeping wall, he did say I will need to seal it and the other natural stone every 5 years.

I checked up on 4 references using his "select blend flagstone", and I (and more importantly my wife) liked the look.

Coping work began Friday while I was at work, and when I got home I was horrified. The flagstone looks mostly white, with a few rust stains here and there, and only a few pieces that look like the tan/brown-ish color I had seen before. Of the 10 or so pools with flagstone I looked at over the last few months, from various builders, I haven't seen any flagstone this ugly! I will try to post a few pics soon.

My big question: what are my options now? Can I force the builder to get better flagstone before proceeding? The builder returns from vacation tomorrow and I have not been able to contact him about the flagstone yet. When his contractors come early in the morning, should I turn them away (they don't speak English, so I can't explain much to them).

BTW, after google'ing a bit .... I checked, and the flagstone is "Oklahoma". The hammer test shows more of a dull sound than a ping, but I'm not too sure about my judgment.

Thanks for any advice.