Email me at 4 fiddy@gmail.com I may be able to help you out.

Hi Iwannapool!

I love your user name! :) I tried answering your questions below. Hopefully they are helpful.

1. You should have been contacted no later then 24 hours after your inquiry unless it's the weekend. That is my rule of thumb. You are a potential customer and all pool builders should be working hard for your business.

2. This is a huge it depends. Some barely do anything to help you with design and others make mock up 3d images, take pictures and work with you constantly to make sure you have want you want. It seems like each area of the USA is different.

3. Initial consult should consist of them giving you info about their company, what they can offer you as a pool builder and a timeline to get back to you with a design and cost of your pool. They should also provide references.

4. Another hard question!! First and foremost, check the BBB! Nothing lower then a B is acceptable and make sure the builder has been in business for a while. Secondly, check their references, look at pools built by them and ask neighbors who they have used if they have pools. Third, pre-build customer service is very important. This isn't 100%, but if they don't get back to you timely when you aren't they customer, what do you think they will do when you are one!!

I hope this has helped you. I had a lot of these same questions when I first started and after a lot of deliberation I decided to hire a private pool designer. Builders were not giving me the designs I wanted, so I found someone that would. Granted, it cost a little more, but I got what I want and I will be very happy with the pool for a very long time. The designer I used is Chris (sceadu on this board). Although he never meets you in person he does a great job using pictures you send him to design a pool to suit your needs. He will send you 3d images, 2d measurements and even tell you what to look for in your pool builder. He has helped me and one other person on this board and I highly recommend him.

Let me know if you need any other info or pictures of what Chris has done for me! Good Luck! :)

1.) How long did they say it would be before they contacted you? If they gave you no time frame, I might cut them some slack as they're probably trying to get some pools finished up so those customers can catch a swim or two before closing the pools. No, the sales rep/consultant isn't building those pools, but he or she may need to check on some things with the PB before getting back to you.

You'll need to contact more than that one PB anyway, so you may at well make some of those other appointments while you're waiting...just be sure to get them to commit when they'll be getting back to you.

2.) Depends - some do, some don't.

3.) Depends. As you receive more bids, you'll have a better idea of what's customary in your market.

4.) The all-important question!!! Leepoffaith has some good points. It may be possible for you to go to your local permit office and ask for a list of the most recent permits a company has pulled. You could then contact the homeowners for a reference and get a good idea of how things are going right now. I can say from personal experience that a good BBB report and good recommendations don't mean much if the PB has just experienced a change of fortune; that's why a list from the permit office would help.

Hi :)

I know that you were trying to work under a specific budget that they didn't think was necessarily doable. Maybe, because of this, they aren't giving your project the attention it deserves?

We met with four builders and had plans from three of them within a few days of our meeting. Three of the four presented their plans to us in person. One emailed it to us. One took much longer but had a fancy computer program generate images of the pool. We didn't choose either of these builders!

Have you met with any fiberglass builders?

Thanks for your responses! Yes, I think you all are right, if they don't give us a first rate response BEFORE we're customers, they probably won't do anything once we are!

I set up some more appointments with several companies in the area since we were tired of waiting on NVblu.

We decided to up our original budget based on the great feedback I got on here, and told the PB at NVblu that we wanted to see what he could come up with, so I emailed him last night asking what was going on during the two week wait. Turns out he bumped our project because we wanted to break ground for a pool by next spring, but that is because we wanted to take a good, long time working out designs incase we had permit problems. I guess since we are too honest, we got treated as a second tier client! I was annoyed that he didn't contact us to tell us we had been bumped, so NVblu left a bad impression. Wish us luck w/ the next few PBs!

Got ya. I think it's very smart to account for time for permitting because there are just so many new rules. The stuff that gave us the most grief was passed in Dec 08! Had we started building at the end of last summer, we'd have a lot more money in our pockets and we would have been swimming all summer!

Our pool builder is Sandy Huston based in Fairfax. We also met with NVBlu, Town&Country and LewisAquatech. They all come recommended and have built beautiful, quality pools. We did not meet with Pools By Young but I recently found out that they built two pools in our neighborhood and the homeowners were very satisfied.

So, just a few suggestions for you. Hope that you get lots of great ideas!

Please keep in mind that any PB would have a hard time forecasting price or much else if you are contacting them in August for a pool for next spring. Costs change so much that they could shoot themselves in the foot giving you a price on building today based on what it might actually cost them next spring. I will give people ideas, but it is only fair to take care of immediate needs first. They should have communicated that to you, though.

we talked to the owner (peter) of sunrise pools and spa in fairfax last week about the permit stuff. he was attentive, listened to our needs, offered references on the spot, showed us pictures, etc. thanks for the advice! the visit went much more smoothly than w/ nvblu. next, we'll meet with pools by young, and then hopefully huston.

wow, we are having the worst luck with PBs. pools by young was supposed to come over to our place today. they called to say that they were 15 min behind schedule, but never even showed up for our appointment! i guess we'll give town & country and huston a call....if you know of any other places, let me know!

We are looking to build a new pool in Loudoun. We also called Pools by Young since they got goo reviewed from various blogs. But after the initial meeting (which was 3 weeks ago), we haven't heard a thing. The other 2 companies have come back with quotes and design ideas and we are still waiting for Pools By Young to come measure the yard. Maybe timing isn't good since this is middle of the summer and they are busy. But still I think they should have followed up with us in a more timely fashion.

Iwantapoolreallbad, did you build your pool after all, if so, may I ask which builder you decided on? I have posted the details of our initial quote in a separate thread today. Do you mind having a look and let me know which directly you think the prices have gone (up or down)?

Thanks much!

Casades

1. If you are having trouble getting a hold of the PB during the design phase, consider it foreshadowing what your entire build process will be like. I would avoid the builder if he does not even have time for you when he is trying to make a sale.

2. Depends on the designer.

3. It is good to talk to several PB's to get each of their opinions. We talked to four and all had good things to say which helped us make the right decisions about pool design and equipment.

4. Good luck with this one. I did my research - so I thought - and still made the wrong decision. If I did it again I would talk to the last 5 people they built pools for, and make sure I went out to see them in person to talk to the owners. Also ignore the BBB rankings. My PB has an A+ and it means nothing. Trust me. I would avoid any builder that has a poor ranking on the BBB, but don't assume just because they have an A or higher they are any good.

I am still waiting on 2 of my designs and my pool was finished a year ago!

We got 6 bids, did the research and looked at the pools they built and talked to the owners. The 2 companies that got the designs back to us within a week were also the 2 that ranked the highest with their customers. That must tell you something.

It was difficult to decide between the last 2 so it came down to price in the end. We provided solid feedback to all companies that bid so maybe we returned some value vs. just wasting their time.