Help Selecting Pool In Michigan

[JJMakowski]

New to the forum and thanks in advance for any feedback that people can provide. I am looking to have a fiberglass pool installed and I am getting bids from three contractors. Aquamarine Pools is quoting a CPC pool, Midwest Pools is coming out tomorrow to give me a quote on a Viking, and I have a quote on a San Juan from Mr. Mike's.

Does anyone have any information about who makes the best pools? Someone told me that the CPC pools are not true fiberglass because the pools have carbon fiber and thus are less desirable. I have also heard that Aquamarine is closing up shop here in Michigan due to the poor economy and is going to exclusively do business in Texas after this year.

As I said, any guidance people could provide would be appreciated.

[swimdog]

I am also new to the site, as a matter of fact I wasn't going to register until I saw your post and I wanted to reply since I had a pool installed by Midwest.

I don't want to bad mouth a company but I will tell you what happened with my install. Everything went well (naturally) up until the excavation day. Two guys showed up and seemed to know nothing about my install. We had limited access to the backyard due to trees and the house. The salesman measured everything and said it would be fine. The excavation guys gave me a lot of grief about it, but finally went ahead and found that they could get through with the pool but due to the complaining on their part it delayed their work. Well everything is timed out pretty well with other workers showing up based on when the hole and pool should be ready (all in one day). This caused the excavation guys to hurry and I ended up with a pool that was NOT level end to end which was noticiable when filled with water since at one end I had 4" of pool wall showing and the other end had noticibly less. Maybe this doesn't sound like a big deal but when you are standing there with your friends as your first pool party and you just spent $40,000+ and one of your buddy's says "Hey it doesn't look level", it makes you feel like you got ripped off.

We bought a rectangular pool, I thought that this would be the simplest to install but these guys proved me wrong. The long edges of the pool ended up being wavy, by ~ +/-2 inches, they assured me that the concrete guys would make it look right. WRONG! I'll get back to this in a minute.

I also made the mistake of paying extra to get a cantilevered coping. Apparently they don't do too many of these although the sales guy would never tell you that. The way they form the overhanging edge of the cantilever is by taping foam forms to the pool edge, then poor the concrete. Well with a wavy edge you get a wavy coping. It looked terrible. I complained to the concrete sub contractor who said that, they don't do too many of these and that it was one of their better jobs! By the way the concrete sub contractor didn't know he was doing a cantilevered edge until he showed up. I called Midwest, they sent out a rep who after a long converstation didn't actually agree that it looked terrible and was incorrect but said they would re-do it. I suggested he get a new subcontractor but he wouldn't do that and assured me that these were some of his best guys. He even said he would be there for the new pour. Well it took a week or two for them to come back out and tear out the concrete and then another week or so to get them to re-do the pour. The rep was true to his word, he was present at the re-pour but it also had a wavy edge to it, although it was an improvement. When I complained he basically stonewalled me and said that was as good as it was going to get. So the excavation guys really set the whole problem up by rushing to keep up with the timeframe that was set for them.

The rest of the workmanship was somewhat below average. The equipment pad was not level, the PVC pipes at the equipment pad were run at anything but level and plumb angles (apparently they don't own a level), the control box for the pool light was installed in a really awkward location, in the middle of no where relative to the rest of the pool equipment.

They didn't do a very good job cleaning up the street where you end up with a lot of dirt and mud. I ended up out there with a hose and broom.

Long story short, there has to be a better company to work with for the kind of money you will be spending.

As far as the pool itself, we enjoyed it. There were a couple of blemishes that looked like they had been repaired on the fiberglass that you cant see until the pool is sitting in the hole and then its pretty much too late. They were never an issue but again it made me feel like I got a re-furbished pool rather than a pristine new one.

We also went with a colored concrete around the pool (the cantilevered concrete appron), it was a shade of red. The concrete guys recommended that we NOT seal the concrete appron around the pool (not sure why). For the first year or two I battled a weird stain in the pool that I could only get out with the vitamin C stain remover (3-4 times per season). Finally I sealed the concrete appron and the problem went away.

It was easy to keep clean and I always liked the look and feel of the pool (ignoring the above mentioned problems).

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

New to the forum and thanks in advance for any feedback that people can provide. I am looking to have a fiberglass pool installed and I am getting bids from three contractors. Aquamarine Pools is quoting a CPC pool, Midwest Pools is coming out tomorrow to give me a quote on a Viking, and I have a quote on a San Juan from Mr. Mike's.

Does anyone have any information about who makes the best pools? Someone told me that the CPC pools are not true fiberglass because the pools have carbon fiber and thus are less desirable. I have also heard that Aquamarine is closing up shop here in Michigan due to the poor economy and is going to exclusively do business in Texas after this year.

As I said, any guidance people could provide would be appreciated.

[michiganmom]

I have bought a pool from Midwest and am waiting on install now. I'll update on this thread as soon as they start the dig to let everyone know my dealings with the company.

As of right now I would give them a C- . It took them a week longer than they stated to even get the permits to the building dept. and once they got reviewed it turns out they still needed to apply for a seperate fence permit. In my opinion they should have had this covered in the 3 weeks it's been.

I am hoping that this delay is not a precursor for what's to come. I have my fingers crossed.

Update: The salesman called immediately after getting the permit, it was nice to get a fast response after the delay. They will start digging on Monday. Will update soon.

[rx1rules]

I am also new to the site, as a matter of fact I wasn't going to register until I saw your post and I wanted to reply since I had a pool installed by Midwest.

I don't want to bad mouth a company but I will tell you what happened with my install. Everything went well (naturally) up until the excavation day. Two guys showed up and seemed to know nothing about my install. We had limited access to the backyard due to trees and the house. The salesman measured everything and said it would be fine. The excavation guys gave me a lot of grief about it, but finally went ahead and found that they could get through with the pool but due to the complaining on their part it delayed their work. Well everything is timed out pretty well with other workers showing up based on when the hole and pool should be ready (all in one day). This caused the excavation guys to hurry and I ended up with a pool that was NOT level end to end which was noticiable when filled with water since at one end I had 4" of pool wall showing and the other end had noticibly less. Maybe this doesn't sound like a big deal but when you are standing there with your friends as your first pool party and you just spent $40,000+ and one of your buddy's says "Hey it doesn't look level", it makes you feel like you got ripped off.

We bought a rectangular pool, I thought that this would be the simplest to install but these guys proved me wrong. The long edges of the pool ended up being wavy, by ~ +/-2 inches, they assured me that the concrete guys would make it look right. WRONG! I'll get back to this in a minute.

I also made the mistake of paying extra to get a cantilevered coping. Apparently they don't do too many of these although the sales guy would never tell you that. The way they form the overhanging edge of the cantilever is by taping foam forms to the pool edge, then poor the concrete. Well with a wavy edge you get a wavy coping. It looked terrible. I complained to the concrete sub contractor who said that, they don't do too many of these and that it was one of their better jobs! By the way the concrete sub contractor didn't know he was doing a cantilevered edge until he showed up. I called Midwest, they sent out a rep who after a long converstation didn't actually agree that it looked terrible and was incorrect but said they would re-do it. I suggested he get a new subcontractor but he wouldn't do that and assured me that these were some of his best guys. He even said he would be there for the new pour. Well it took a week or two for them to come back out and tear out the concrete and then another week or so to get them to re-do the pour. The rep was true to his word, he was present at the re-pour but it also had a wavy edge to it, although it was an improvement. When I complained he basically stonewalled me and said that was as good as it was going to get. So the excavation guys really set the whole problem up by rushing to keep up with the timeframe that was set for them.

The rest of the workmanship was somewhat below average. The equipment pad was not level, the PVC pipes at the equipment pad were run at anything but level and plumb angles (apparently they don't own a level), the control box for the pool light was installed in a really awkward location, in the middle of no where relative to the rest of the pool equipment.

They didn't do a very good job cleaning up the street where you end up with a lot of dirt and mud. I ended up out there with a hose and broom.

Long story short, there has to be a better company to work with for the kind of money you will be spending.

As far as the pool itself, we enjoyed it. There were a couple of blemishes that looked like they had been repaired on the fiberglass that you cant see until the pool is sitting in the hole and then its pretty much too late. They were never an issue but again it made me feel like I got a re-furbished pool rather than a pristine new one.

We also went with a colored concrete around the pool (the cantilevered concrete appron), it was a shade of red. The concrete guys recommended that we NOT seal the concrete appron around the pool (not sure why). For the first year or two I battled a weird stain in the pool that I could only get out with the vitamin C stain remover (3-4 times per season). Finally I sealed the concrete appron and the problem went away.

It was easy to keep clean and I always liked the look and feel of the pool (ignoring the above mentioned problems).

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

Swimdog, I am sorry your pool experience was not as pleasurable as you expected. As the owner of Midwest Pools Inc. in Grand Blanc MI I am very sorry you feel you were ripped off, even though Midwest Pools Inc. of Grand Blanc was not the company that installed your pool it sounds like your pool company did their best to remedy the problems you made them aware of at the time. Did you mention any of the other issues to them because unlevel piping is a very small problem to correct, also cantilevered concrete edging is used on over 90% of all fibeglass pools and spas and yes they are styrofoam forms which are used one time and disposed of after use. Slightly wavy edging on a straight wall pool is definetely more common because with flexible forms there is always the chance that they can move slightely while pouring the cement border, the only sure way to get straight edging is either an aluminum form used when a power cover is installed on a straight wall pool or a premanufactured coping such a brick pool coping or blue stone cut by machine which costs much more to install but gives a true edge. Also I am not sure which light box you have but fiber optic lighting is somewhat limited by the length of the fiber optic cables to the location options and it does seem out of place in some instances. Also do you have border tile on your new pool, sometimes that helps with a slightely with an unlevel pool, maybe your dealer could help you with that option. Please try and work out the issues with your pool company because I am sure they want all of their customers to enjoy their new pools! And please if your going to post a comment whether its good or bad please try and resolve the problems with your dealer and let them know all of your concerns no matter what they are because most issues can be resolved very easily. And no we are not perfect but we do are best to make our customers happy pool owners. Also I will mention that we are now manufacturing fiberglass pool built specifically for our climate right in Grand Blanc MI which we are very proud of in these tough times, they have much more support than a normal fiberglass pool so they can flex with our lovely winters and ground frost we have in the North. Hope this info helps. Thank you

New to the forum and thanks in advance for any feedback that people can provide. I am looking to have a fiberglass pool installed and I am getting bids from three contractors. Aquamarine Pools is quoting a CPC pool, Midwest Pools is coming out tomorrow to give me a quote on a Viking, and I have a quote on a San Juan from Mr. Mike's.

Does anyone have any information about who makes the best pools? Someone told me that the CPC pools are not true fiberglass because the pools have carbon fiber and thus are less desirable. I have also heard that Aquamarine is closing up shop here in Michigan due to the poor economy and is going to exclusively do business in Texas after this year.

As I said, any guidance people could provide would be appreciated.

[michiganmom]

I've upgraded their C- to a high B.

We had the pool installed, great job by Midwests installation crew! They were very polite, on time, thorough and FAST. They arrived at 7 am and by 9 pm had the hole dug, leveled, pool dropped, backfilled and water added. They cleaned up the yard and street as well as I could've possibly hoped for with 50 yards of gravel and the tons of dirt and clay they removed. The pool, at this point, is perfectly level; I think I was most nervous about this part of the install. The equiptment pad is level and all the hook ups look professional. The next morning the electrician and gas man were here; also extremely polite.

Early next week is the concrete pour. I opted for a cantilever and will update when that is installed.

As of this point we are very happy with the job they've done, even with the delay.

[poolguy2]

Think long and hard before choosing Aquamarine. The owners have left state and moved to Texas. There are only a handfull of people working for that company in Michigan. They have no service department. Check with fox 2 news, the problem solvers and surrounding courts. Once you see the complaints and suits I am sure you will not choose them. I could go on and on but if you check the above you will purchase elsewhere.

[poolguy2]

Another little bit of info. Just so you can see what your dealing with look at the website they have created. Appears they are trying to fool customers with this information. Talk about misleading. Texas has no such group. Well not a honest one anyway, they have a fake one!!!!

www.poolandspaprofessionalsoftexas.com

Once your at the above site click on find a contractor. Notice in the address bar you see aquamarine. So there is your poolandspaprofessionalsoftexas

Here is the who is registry info. But the owner of Aquamarine used his name.

[Querying whois.melbourneit.com]

[whois.melbourneit.com]

Domain Name.......... poolandspaprofessionalsoftexas.com

Creation Date........ 2009-01-25

Registration Date.... 2009-01-25

Expiry Date.......... 2010-01-25

Organisation Name.... Mark Naras

Organisation Address. PO Box 61359

Organisation Address.

Organisation Address. Sunnyvale

Organisation Address. 94088

Organisation Address. CA

Organisation Address. US

Admin Name........... Admin PrivateRegContact

Admin Address........ PO Box 61359

Admin Address........

Admin Address........ Sunnyvale

Admin Address........ 94088

Admin Address........ CA

Admin Address........ US

Admin Email.......... [email protected]

Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002

Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ TECH PrivateRegContact

Tech Address......... PO Box 61359

Tech Address.........

Tech Address......... Sunnyvale

Tech Address......... 94088

Tech Address......... CA

Tech Address......... US

Tech Email........... [email protected]

Tech Phone........... +1.5105952002

Tech Fax.............

Name Server.......... yns1.yahoo.com

Name Server.......... yns2.yahoo.com

[michiganmom]

I've upgraded their C- to a high B.

We had the pool installed, great job by Midwests installation crew! They were very polite, on time, thorough and FAST. They arrived at 7 am and by 9 pm had the hole dug, leveled, pool dropped, backfilled and water added. They cleaned up the yard and street as well as I could've possibly hoped for with 50 yards of gravel and the tons of dirt and clay they removed. The pool, at this point, is perfectly level; I think I was most nervous about this part of the install. The equiptment pad is level and all the hook ups look professional. The next morning the electrician and gas man were here; also extremely polite.

Early next week is the concrete pour. I opted for a cantilever and will update when that is installed.

As of this point we are very happy with the job they've done, even with the delay.

The concrete is done, it was subcontracted to Potoroka Concrete, and we're very please with it, it looks amazing and very well done. The fence guy came out and had it up by the end of the day. John Toureno is the contractor that did the excavating and dropping of the pool.

Midwest is kinda a flop though. I give them a D- . All that warm fuzzy install feeling is fading. The raves I directed at Midwest probably should've went to the subcontracted construction crew. The only things that have went smoothly are the things Midwest has subcontracted out. So really their ' job ' in all of this is to get the shell out of a warehouse along with the pumps filters and hoses, organize all of the subcontractors and open the pool when everyone else is done.

They are way to busy to be taking on new customers, in my opinion. They were going to make me wait a week to get the lights, heater working and teach me how to operate my new expensive pool! Midwest pretty much tried to tell me that yes, everything was done that needed done but we don't have anyone to come out to show you anything so wait another week.... nice huh? Middle of August and it's finally getting hot, but oh well deal with it. After a fuss was made two super nice men came out that night, got the pool lights on and jets rolling, and gave me a lesson on the pool. They did tell me the heater wasn't working and they'd get back to me. A week later and I haven't heard from them. Also the deck jets have a slight leak, which I'm told is a quick repair, but still; a leaks a leak right?

If you can handle dealing with delays and headaches go for it. My pool looks really really nice. The kids love it and we love it. When the jet line is fixed and the heater works and I don't have to deal with their cruddy customer service I will be a happy pool owner.

[michiganpoolsandspas]

New to the forum and thanks in advance for any feedback that people can provide. I am looking to have a fiberglass pool installed and I am getting bids from three contractors. Aquamarine Pools is quoting a CPC pool, Midwest Pools is coming out tomorrow to give me a quote on a Viking, and I have a quote on a San Juan from Mr. Mike's.

Does anyone have any information about who makes the best pools? Someone told me that the CPC pools are not true fiberglass because the pools have carbon fiber and thus are less desirable. I have also heard that Aquamarine is closing up shop here in Michigan due to the poor economy and is going to exclusively do business in Texas after this year.

As I said, any guidance people could provide would be appreciated.

Check with Leisure Pools USA they manufacture the best warrantied pool in the industry!

[michiganpoolsandspas]

New to the forum and thanks in advance for any feedback that people can provide. I am looking to have a fiberglass pool installed and I am getting bids from three contractors. Aquamarine Pools is quoting a CPC pool, Midwest Pools is coming out tomorrow to give me a quote on a Viking, and I have a quote on a San Juan from Mr. Mike's.

Does anyone have any information about who makes the best pools? Someone told me that the CPC pools are not true fiberglass because the pools have carbon fiber and thus are less desirable. I have also heard that Aquamarine is closing up shop here in Michigan due to the poor economy and is going to exclusively do business in Texas after this year.

As I said, any guidance people could provide would be appreciated.

Check with Leisure Pools USA they manufacture the best warrantied pool in the industry!

Sorry, the address is www.leisurepoolsusa.com

[TheAquaGroup]

Another little bit of info. Just so you can see what your dealing with look at the website they have created. Appears they are trying to fool customers with this information. Talk about misleading. Texas has no such group. Well not a honest one anyway, they have a fake one!!!!

www.poolandspaprofessionalsoftexas.com

Once your at the above site click on find a contractor. Notice in the address bar you see aquamarine. So there is your poolandspaprofessionalsoftexas

Here is the who is registry info. But the owner of Aquamarine used his name.

[Querying whois.melbourneit.com]

[whois.melbourneit.com]

Domain Name.......... poolandspaprofessionalsoftexas.com

Creation Date........ 2009-01-25

Registration Date.... 2009-01-25

Expiry Date.......... 2010-01-25

Organisation Name.... Mark Naras

Organisation Address. PO Box 61359

Organisation Address.

Organisation Address. Sunnyvale

Organisation Address. 94088

Organisation Address. CA

Organisation Address. US

Admin Name........... Admin PrivateRegContact

Admin Address........ PO Box 61359

Admin Address........

Admin Address........ Sunnyvale

Admin Address........ 94088

Admin Address........ CA

Admin Address........ US

Admin Email.......... [email protected]

Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002

Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ TECH PrivateRegContact

Tech Address......... PO Box 61359

Tech Address.........

Tech Address......... Sunnyvale

Tech Address......... 94088

Tech Address......... CA

Tech Address......... US

Tech Email........... [email protected]

Tech Phone........... +1.5105952002

Tech Fax.............

Name Server.......... yns1.yahoo.com

Name Server.......... yns2.yahoo.com

Sorry to bring up a dead thread, but I just want to say that we have since fired the website designer that was doing this. We had no idea this was going on until somebody pointed it out to us; all references to these bogus organizations have since been removed.

Mark Naras

CEO

The Aqua Group

[kingz1032]

i'm also looking for Swimming Pools in indianapolis, which is not to far from michigan. found some help, but was looking for any in northern indiana by the michigan border? thanks, very much appreciated!