Pool Newbie With Newbie Questions

[Chris71Mach1]

Well the wife and I finally scored the right house, and being from the New England area, the wife thinks she's about to melt in the killer Texas heat. The solution, a swimming pool! We've now had 5 companies out to give us bids (if you don't include Venture Pools, whose sales person basically came to my house specifically to tell me to f*** off and he didn't need my business), and we're down to 2 builders. There is Puryear Pools, and Accent Pools, Inc. Both drew up gorgeous designs for us, both look fantastic, both seem to have strong build standards, both use Jandy pump equipment, and from the research I've done on the web so far, both look to be top notch builders with VERY few (if any) complaints against them.

This is where you folks come in, if you would please. I am basically looking for anybody who has any experience with either of these 2 builders, or any good solid opinion on which one of these 2 is the better company to undertake such a big project/investment.

In a way, I'm glad it's come down to a difficult decision like this, as I think it's fantastic that there would be not one, but TWO builders in the DFW area that seem to be so highly regarded by their past customers.

So I'm hoping the good folks on this forum have some quality input about either or both of these builders, cause I'm just torn in half over deciding which one of these builders might be better than the other!

Thanks, and swim safe!

[ataDude]

Well the wife and I finally scored the right house, and being from the New England area, the wife thinks she's about to melt in the killer Texas heat. The solution, a swimming pool! We've now had 5 companies out to give us bids (if you don't include Venture Pools, whose sales person basically came to my house specifically to tell me to f*** off and he didn't need my business), and we're down to 2 builders. There is Puryear Pools, and Accent Pools, Inc. Both drew up gorgeous designs for us, both look fantastic, both seem to have strong build standards, both use Jandy pump equipment, and from the research I've done on the web so far, both look to be top notch builders with VERY few (if any) complaints against them.

This is where you folks come in, if you would please. I am basically looking for anybody who has any experience with either of these 2 builders, or any good solid opinion on which one of these 2 is the better company to undertake such a big project/investment.

In a way, I'm glad it's come down to a difficult decision like this, as I think it's fantastic that there would be not one, but TWO builders in the DFW area that seem to be so highly regarded by their past customers.

So I'm hoping the good folks on this forum have some quality input about either or both of these builders, cause I'm just torn in half over deciding which one of these builders might be better than the other!

Thanks, and swim safe!

My advice? Join Angie's List (angieslist.com) and review potentials from there. I have used it for roofing, concrete/rock work, electrical, detistry, etc. and have not been let down yet.

.

[reb3336]

What was your decision? How has it worked out for you? We are in the same boat. Like them both thus far.

Well the wife and I finally scored the right house, and being from the New England area, the wife thinks she's about to melt in the killer Texas heat. The solution, a swimming pool! We've now had 5 companies out to give us bids (if you don't include Venture Pools, whose sales person basically came to my house specifically to tell me to f*** off and he didn't need my business), and we're down to 2 builders. There is Puryear Pools, and Accent Pools, Inc. Both drew up gorgeous designs for us, both look fantastic, both seem to have strong build standards, both use Jandy pump equipment, and from the research I've done on the web so far, both look to be top notch builders with VERY few (if any) complaints against them.

This is where you folks come in, if you would please. I am basically looking for anybody who has any experience with either of these 2 builders, or any good solid opinion on which one of these 2 is the better company to undertake such a big project/investment.

In a way, I'm glad it's come down to a difficult decision like this, as I think it's fantastic that there would be not one, but TWO builders in the DFW area that seem to be so highly regarded by their past customers.

So I'm hoping the good folks on this forum have some quality input about either or both of these builders, cause I'm just torn in half over deciding which one of these builders might be better than the other!

Thanks, and swim safe!

[Chris71Mach1]

What was your decision? How has it worked out for you? We are in the same boat. Like them both thus far.

After having nearly 10 different builders come to our home in the bidding process, the basic conclusions are:

(1) all the builders tend to be around the same price. Sure, it will fluctuate a little, but if you make sure to use the same standards with all your bids against all builders, its all pretty close together. what I ended up looking at the closest was the quality of company and the quality of build I'd get

(2) having a hot tub on your pool is, in the long run, the cheaper and better way to go, but MAN are they expensive.

(3) Venture Custom pools... F*** Venture. seriously. I was blown off THREE TIMES by these clowns, only for their sales-idiot to come into MY HOME and tell me, in not so many words, where I can cram my pool. Not to mention that after lots of research, they use sub-standard equipment as well. They dont deserve my business, my money, nor to stay in business as far as I care.

(4) Always as what pumping equipment that the builder will install. this does make a difference.

(5) If you have to finance anything at all, don't expect to build a pool within the first year of purchasing a home. Apparently banks tie in existing equity to what they're willing to loan you for a project like this.

(6) when you narrow things down to a few companies, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. you might be surprised at what you can dig up. I sure was.

What I finally decided on was Accent Custom Pools seems to have the best bang for the buck. The company is family owned, family operated, and the salesman that came out to speak with us was actually one of the managers/owners. To me, this says that the people doing the work have a huge stake in the quality of the work that gets done, so they should be more apt to make sure it gets done right, and gets done right the first time.