Pool builder from H**L!

[waterbear]

I really don't want to name my builder but he specialized in fiberglass pools in N. Fl. You can see from my posts that I live in St. Augustine and he is pretty local. I am trying to get as much done by him as I can right now before I take the actions that I have ready. I know once I do that any further repairs will probably stop. My builder supervised very lilttle of the work. That is what caused the problems. He knows the work was not done as the contracts he drew up specified. At this point I am waiting on some parts that have been ordered for my automation system and my spa, and on replacement water features that turned out to be defective. (not his fault but there were plumbed wrong and not as the manufacturer required)...he is supposed to replumb part of the systme once the new water features arrive.

[CUTURHAIR]

Wow, what a nightmare you are experiencing. It is such a shame how you pay for a pool, and then trying to get repairs done are next to impossible. I just had a repair done from my pool company, which, in turn, made the original problem worse. I called and called and emailed pictures as well, to no avail. NO return phone calls or emails for weeks. I finally had enough, and left a voicemail, as the person I needed to speak with was never available when I called. I told her on the voicemail that I would send Five On Your Side out to their store to do a segment on poor customer service and pool repairs gone bad. Five On Your Side is a local segment where a local news channel sends a reporter into the field to investigate situations where people have paid money and not gotten what they paid for and can't get what they want, a refund, or fix the original faulty repair etc. Well, I DID get a call that night! They didn't want those cameras in their store and on the news causing all that bad publicity, and the owner was at my house 2 days later!
So, if you have a news channel that has that service, I would try to threaten them with that as well. Lawyers will definitely scare the pool company, but cameras, and reporters invading your business is something NO company wants to deal with. WAY too much bad publicity for any company, and it will usually get their attention to follow through immediately.

Good luck with your situation.

[Phillbo]

Start documenting all the issues with a camera !!!!!!!! Hire an attorney and tell him you do not want any further repairs performed by your current loser pool builder ( why would you, they are never done right) . Sue the current builder in order to get the money to have a reputable builder perform the repairs.

I was forced to take this approach on a home build a few years back.

[waterbear]

update, builder is supposed to be out next week because some of the ordered parts are supposed to come in. Not holding my breath but I am going to do a bucket leak test and leave it on the swim out so he can see just how much the water is going down still! Maybe that will get him to fix the lousy pvc welds on the valve that is dripping and do a pressure test on the system!

[sstenner]

As someone who has "successfully" sued and "won" a court case against a bad contractor (not a pool builder, however). I can tell you that, even when you win...you lose! We spent almost $20k in legal fees, over two years of time and now, we're trying to collect the $13k in legal fees we were awarded (we were awarded the legal fees we had incurred up until the court trial...the $$ spent afterward, trying to collect the judgement are out of *our* pockets.

Stay OUT of the legal system unless you have NO other alternative. It is NOT a fair and equitable system and is "geared" toward the "defendant".

It's very easy to say "get a lawyer", but, if you have to actually sue, you could spend thousands of dollars and STILL have to pay to have your work completed (which is what happened to us). What we have learned is RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH anyone you hire to do a job for you and cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Best of luck!

Stephanie

[waterbear]

That is why I am trying to get as much done as possible before I take that step!

[waterbear]

Well, much has happened since my last post. My PB had to go before the construction review board in our county (I was at the meeting along with several other of his victims). He was given 30 days to complete all the pools so they pass final inspection (there are 18 of them that are over a year overdue for finals, mine included) and is not allowed to pull any new permits. One of his customers had a meeting at her house with 2 police detectives (I was there too) since several of his customers have had contractor liens placed on their property because he did not pay his subcontractors and because of other problems. The detectives said that they most likely have a case against him after reviewing all the evidence submitted and that they would persue it. He also drove a backhoe into the wall of this lady's NEW house and caused extensive damage. It was accidental but he was not offering to repair the damage from what I understand. Her pool is in much worse shape than mine (not even close to completion) so I am one of the lucky ones by comparision. He is also facing possible criminal charges and the State might pull his contractors license. There was talk that he forged an electrical permit and used someone elses license number and forged their signature. I don't know if this is true or not. I do know that he had a pool that was not properly bonded (he actually had his workers bury the bond wire that was SPLICED so it would look like one continuous wire to pass final...the inspectors went back and dug it up and found it, had his workers cap off the main drain pipe underground so a pool would past a pressure test on final, and a little girl got shocked in the next county because of an improperly bonded pool and they are supposed to be bringing criminal charges against him for that. He closed his place of business and is geting out of pool construction.(He was dropped as a San Juan dealer (Finally! I called and emailed San Juan several times about some of the problems I was having and they NEVER responded to me) and was going to sell Viking but my understanding is the check he wrote them bounced.) He has to have all his pools ready for final inspection by the 24th of this month (august)..today is sunday the 20th and he was at my house today working on things by himself since he has no workers anymore.I am scheduled for final inspection tomorrow. We shall see what happens. He has not completed all the work but said he intends to over the next few weeks. He did bring over the new pool light that he has to install and some other pieces of equipment and plumbing and they are here at my house at least. I suspect that I will have to pay someone to finish the work and fix some of the bad work and damage that he has done to my pool. At this point I will be happy if my lighting works, my water features sort of work, and I have everything that I paid for in terms of equipment.
I will say this to his credit, a week after the hearing at the review board he came over to my house and we sat down and made a list of all the things that still needed to be addresed. He came up with solutions that seem workable and I only had to compromise on one thing....I have to live with a light in my spa that has a cord so short that I will have to dump the spa water into the pool in the event I need to change the bulb. I can live with this minor inconvenience. Now I just have to wait and see if he will be good to his word. I don't know why he went so bad when he was an excellent PB when I did my research. I have some suspicions (At the meeting with the dectectives one person said that he went through their bathroom looking for drugs and asked another person for painkillers on several occasions.) I have heard from a former employee of his that his wife gave him an ultimatum about this. I will give him a chance and see what happens. There really isn't much more I can do now. My lawyer is ready but she already has said that I will probably have to pay someone else to finish the work if he doesn't and then get in line behind all his creditors and try and collect.
This has been a wild ride and I want to get off!

[mbar]

Wow, what a saga for you to have to go through. I hope that everything is finished soon, and you can enjoy your pool. Drugs are horrible - it goes through our society wreaking havoc in ways that people don't even imagine. Hopefully he will get help before he ruins anymore of his life, and anyone elses pool. Sometimes all of the research on finding a good contractor is not enough - luck comes into play too.

[tenax]

tragic story..hit close to home for me after seeing a dateline program last week focused in some california home contractors and some of it was about the very issue of unlicensed unqualified contractors using other contractor licenses. how do the inspectors setting up the stings catch them? they set up a house in need of renos and invite contractors who are suspect to come by and give a quote. their easy way to find out who is potentially a suspect to invite is simply by going through the yellow pages and checking licenses where displayed against a registry and if they don't match...they admit that for all the success they have had in catching frauds, it's just the tip of the iceberg and the penalty in many cases has simply been nothing more than a fine.it's really buyer beware and scary!

[mickey4paws]

I am so sorry for your troubles I wouldn't be surprised if this guy ends up filing a bankruptcy in hopes of discharging all his creditors (and whatever lawsuit judgments people have won against him.) Best of luck to you, and I really hope you can finally get your pool up and running and be able to enjoy it.