Most areas of the country have many in ground pool contractors from which to choose. You can search the yellow pages, local papers or the internet and easily find contractors in your area.
One of the best ways to find in ground pool builders in your area who are active is to check with the local building departments in your town and surrounding towns to find the names of builders issued permits . Getting names from the building departments accomplishes two goals at the same time: You get the names of the “active” builders in your area More importantly, you get the names of people in your area you can call to check the builder out. Sourcing out your own references rather than using the builder’s references will give you a true and balanced set of opinions. Of course the pool builder will only give you the glowing ones, otherwise they wouldn’t give you the names to begin with.
Note: If you can go back a couple of years and get some names since many major problems will happen within a year or two of installation. How a builder handles major problems gives a true profile of the builder. Every builder has had some major problems in the past or they would not be human . It is how they handle them that is the key.
When talking to pool owners try to over look petty complaints. What you need are names of builders with out MAJOR problems.
Cost of in ground swimming pools. Quotes: Whether it is a gunite, vinyl or fiberglass pool, have the builder submit the quote on their contract form! This way I can read all the fine points. Remember, the contract is the legal document between you and the builder.
If there any problems, this is the operative document. Many swimming pool contractors will rough out many things on a quote sheet that never make it to the final contract. And certainly the contract will contain a great deal more legal language than any quote sheet.
Don’t be fooled by signing a quote sheet and thinking you have a signed deal. Unless it is in the contract it doesn’t mean a thing. So please have only one document – have the builder quote on his contract form!
Extra Changes: It should be clearly spelled out how much time for excavation is included in the contract. (Example – 8 hours, 2 men, dump truck, machine time etc..) If they go over the allotted time, how much is the cost for additional time. What are the costs for: extra truck excavation machine time if a ledge is encountered stone needed to stabilize soil conditions. Granted,a swimming pool contractor cannot tell you ahead of time what they will find once they start digging, but you should know ahead of time what it will cost you on an hourly basis if they encounter problems. You must be careful here because this is THE area where builders or their subcontractors will try to make extra money on your job. And many times it can be a significant sum. Once I know more about your site I will be in a better position to advise you.
