Interviewing a combo landscape arch and pool contractor. What basic questions to ask for first interview

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jdsaengine

jdsaengine

Well-known member
Oct 2, 2018
86
Indy Area, Indiana
so we tried this all the way back in 2018 and decided to hold off, then pandemic. We had a contractor talk to us back then and I shared with you guys the equipment list. Just now thinking of trying again to get a pool built. Just to brush me up on the right questions to ask for a first interview contractually. We never got to that discussion with the first guy.

I've lurked here for couple of years and have a newbee handle on what I want. More like what are typical warranties, typical startup and maintenance they should provide, payments during construction, retainage to finish the job etc. What are the basics we should be looking for? Seems like its a 50/50 chance the pool gets built without the owner/contractor getting sideways with each other.

As far as what we want built
8000 gal approx, 12x26 gunite, 4-5ft deep with a lounging ledge. We have a pretty small back yard. We started out wanting fiberglass, but seems like they are hard to get these days and a few told us gunite might not be that much more $$ for our pool size.
Salt water, variable drive pump, cartridge filter (or Sand filter, not sure which might be better for us)
Gas heater, although a previous company suggested heat pump might be more eff. ( I know, HP is slower heating and we have gas meter just feet away)
Auto Pool cover

So what are the typical horror stories of construction to be aware of?
Thanks

Jim S.
 
thanks, lot of good info on the contract side. The last guy we talked to almost 3yr ago wanted 50% deposit ($30K) and he was not going to start for almost 18 mo. Needless to say, we did not hire him. Thats a long time to hold a deposit & hope he would still be in business.
 
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We just finished a build where the landscaper was the GC and subbed out the pool (they do a lot of that). The GC spent a lot of time getting the elevation of the pool right relative to the house and the plans for the backyard/patios etc. It resulted in more discussion with them than we ever thought about as yards are never flat

If they are a PB doing landscaping ask if they do it themselves or sub out - if subbed make sure to meet landscape designer too and get their references. And vice versa… at least in our area we didn’t find solid companies that did both … we found landscapers that subbed out pools and pools that either subbed out plants or did very cursory planting. You want to know who else this person is going to use as pool and landscape often don’t coordinate the interfaces well but live in their own worlds (at least what we found)

Fwiw
 
The pool contractor is bringing his outside landscape arch to the table. Then I understand the LA will be the one getting the subs to do the yard work, drainage, any retaining walls etc. We met both of them at a model show home last summer where they had put in a pool and got a good feeling about them. Our back yard will be a bit of a trick between it not being level, with various drainage swails and a tight fit. After our meeting they may tell me its too tight to even bother with a pool. Almost 3yr ago we had a fiberglass PC tell us "no problem", but I don't think he got very far with how our backyard would work . BTW I did post a little of the basics we want in the first post.
 
BDY said:
The GC spent a lot of time getting the elevation of the pool right relative to the house and the plans for the backyard/patios etc.
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This is significant and often overlooked. We ended up with the highest bidder on our pool because of the attention to elevation and flooding. Prior to building our pool, it had taken years to get the drainage correct so that our yard wouldn’t flood. Most homes our our cul-de-sac have a pool and ours is the only one that has never flooded.

Other than making sure pool elevation gets its due attention, my general recommendation is to make sure you have as much decking as you can get. Having lots of space for seating, eating, grilling, etc. is often overlooked because of so much focus on the pool and equipment. We spent a year mapping out our yard, path of the sun, shade areas, etc. before construction began.
 
In cases where you have significant slopes, I think using a combo firm can be beneficial. IF the firm has the arrangement well setup. Ours was such a case. We interviewed a handful of PB's. One was an LD that built pools as a GC. The contract and warranty was all with the LD. The PB was actually just one guy who oversaw the pool aspects. All of the pool design and technical details were discussed with the LD. He was an engineer and understood pool construction so that worked very well.

The piece that sealed the deal for me was when the other PB's discussed the elevation and walls, they were not fully versed themselves in the details of the walls that were needed which was red flag for me. Not that they couldn't have done it, but I liked the seamless integration of the two very important issues on our build.

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Well, I guess the pool will not be happening anytime soon. Our meeting with the PC and the landscape architect did not go well. For one, the PC failed to show up, did not answer phone or text messages (5 days later still ghosting us). The LA spent an hour with us and determined our backyard was too much elevation change that would require $100K in site work/retaining walls before even digging a hole. That and he opinioned that a 6000-8000 gal. gunite pool would be another $100K. $200K is a little out of our budget. And the PC we liked, if he can't come to a meeting, probably would not finish a pool without issues anyway.

Thanks guys for the above comments. Maybe next time
 
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Do you need an in ground pool? Did he opinion if you could stabilize land enough for an above ground?
 
Can you show us your backyard? Mine is 100’ wide and 50’ deep from the house, with slope from back to front. I sat out there for an entire summer with stakes and twine marking out prospective locations, and it ends up with my patio being two tiers, the shallow end lower than the pool deck, and I managed to keep a decent amount of backyard.

Would be curious to see how crazy of a topographic situation you have
 
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