Yes, that's correct. We were recommended to stay away from PebbleTec though: the rougher aspect and feel of it is just too rough on the children skin especially. The second thing to consider is because of its aspect, it's harder to clean with a sweeper. Thus Pebblesheen would be finer and better.
We have chosen WetEdge (www.wet-edge.com). They also have three different kinds of grain and many more colors to choose from!
Good luck.

We are in San Diego too. In our area, everyone seems to be using Gemstone. Almost all of our neighbors have it. It is like Pebble Sheen and feels very soft and looks gorgeous. From what I hear, they also are willing to mix in some other color pebble, making it more unique and individual. I love the Tiger Eye.

PT in our area is quoted as almost $5000 more than the equivalent Gemstone. Since we have swam in mostly Gemstone made pools and the owners (and we) love it, we are going with Gemstone. Can't tell you about wet edge as we weren't offered that choice.

One thing: don't get the pebble to the waterline. It voids the warranty no matter what they tell you. And, there is that ugly white line that forms and is almost impossible to get off pebble. :)

Do you know who you will use as your PB yet? I'd love to compare notes (we are in Del Mar area).

Katherine

as someone who has PebbleTec i totally disagree with it being too hard on the feet. one of the biggest myths out there. we have teenagers and pre-teens, and lots of neighbors of all ages and shapes and sizes, and no one has complained of foot issues after many hours of horseplay in our pool. your feet get more "scuffed" on the pool deck than in the pool. in the pool you have the buoyancy of the water which holds your weight from hitting the bottom heavily, and the pebbles are tumbled, not ragged. to find out for yourself, stand in a pebbletec pool (with water) for yourself (if you go to see a color, a ptec owner will let you do that probably, just stand on the second or third step). and standing on it in water it completely different than standing on a tile dry on the ground, pressing all your weight into one little tile.

also, there is an aesthetic component to pebbletec, it looks more rustic and natural. i thought we wre going with pebblesheen, but when i saw a pebbletec pool in real life, the decision was done.

We are getting ready to remodel our plaster pool (in Del Mar, CA) and wondering if you would update your comments with how you feel about the pool finish, now that you have had it a while. We are trying to decide a pool builder and between PebbleTec, WetEdge and Gemstone as well. Thanks.

Our former pool was designed by myself and I chose PebbleTec. I wanted the color of the beach in the shallow tanning shelf, and the aqua of the Mediterranean in the deep parts. They blended the pebbles perfectly, and the result was amazing! We moved from there to a 30 year old pool that has PebbleTec. No difference. Same gorgeousness! It does NOT hurt your feet.