Buda is a small town in Hays county Texas that is just a few miles south of Austin (where "Keep Austin Weird" is the slogan). Well, Buda is "just south of Weird" and we have just started the process of building a new pool. I will try to document the process and our experience without going into too much detail because my intent is to inform and not to put you to sleep.
Selecting Our Contractor:
Steps:
1. We started with the Better Business Bureau and selected only those pool contractors that had an A+ rating.
2. We then went to Yelp and read reviews on all of the contractors that we could find that we identified in Step 1.
3. We searched the web to see if there were any additional complaints that we could find on those contractors
4. We looked carefully at the web pages of pool builders and noted if their web site was functioning well or if had broken links or appeared to be poorly designed. The idea was that if a pool builder did not maintain their web site, there were chances that other aspects of their business was also neglected.
5. When we called to ask for bids, if the pool builder did not call us back within one week we would reject that builder because we believed that any builder that does not respond to bid requests was neglecting his or her business.
6. Of those remaining, we ranked the contractors from least to most complaints and selected the top 4 (with the least complaints) for bids.
7. We interviewed and allowed each contractor to give us a drawing and sales pitch and a bid.
8. We asked for references
9. We weighed feedback from references against price
We were fortunate in that the contractor with the lowest price also had built two pools in our neighborhood and so we were able to contact our neighbors and received glowing references. We actually viewed a pool that had been recently completed and were quite impressed. With good references - not across the central Texas area but right here in our own subdivision - we felt that we had a winner.
Contracting:
One of the things that impressed us about our contractor was that he told us "no matter who you pick, don't pay them any money up front and hold back 10% until the job is completed to your satisfaction". We already knew that, but still it was nice to have the contractor proactively state that.
We very carefully read the contract through two times and took notes about things that made us less than comfortable. We discussed each of these items with the contractor and found him to be flexible and he made the changes that we requested. This proved to be much less of a hassle than we thought it might be. Glad we didn't have to reject our best bid but we would have done so rather than sign a contract that made us less than comfortable.
We told our contractor that we would need to check on permits before we signed.
Permits:
While our mailing address is Buda, TX - we actually don't live in the city limits but are on two acres about halfway between Buda and Driftwood TX. Being "out in the county" we were not certain if we needed a permit. So I called Hays County Development services and - sure enough - we do have to have a permit. So is that a big hassle? Actually it was not too bad. There were a few glitches in the application process that cost us a few days of time and $50 bucks but from there it was easy. I had to draw a site plan and provide tax receipts and some other info to the county. The staff at Hays County Development services (Mary and April) were both very nice and super helpful. The process required by the county was really just related to FEMA requirements pertaining to flood plains and placement of the pool with regard to our septic system. It was a paper review with no on-site visit. So we got our permit last week.
Contracted!
After clearing the permit hurdle, we signed the contract on November 3rd.
Quick Start!
I had to take down some small trees, trim a lot of limbs, and remove 3 sections of fence over the weekend (November 4th. and 5th.) to provide access for the equipment.
The morning of the 6th. the excavation crew came out.
They came with a small dump truck and a Cat!
(well they brought the backhoe, the other cat is ours). Construction photos coming soon!
Selecting Our Contractor:
Steps:
1. We started with the Better Business Bureau and selected only those pool contractors that had an A+ rating.
2. We then went to Yelp and read reviews on all of the contractors that we could find that we identified in Step 1.
3. We searched the web to see if there were any additional complaints that we could find on those contractors
4. We looked carefully at the web pages of pool builders and noted if their web site was functioning well or if had broken links or appeared to be poorly designed. The idea was that if a pool builder did not maintain their web site, there were chances that other aspects of their business was also neglected.
5. When we called to ask for bids, if the pool builder did not call us back within one week we would reject that builder because we believed that any builder that does not respond to bid requests was neglecting his or her business.
6. Of those remaining, we ranked the contractors from least to most complaints and selected the top 4 (with the least complaints) for bids.
7. We interviewed and allowed each contractor to give us a drawing and sales pitch and a bid.
8. We asked for references
9. We weighed feedback from references against price
We were fortunate in that the contractor with the lowest price also had built two pools in our neighborhood and so we were able to contact our neighbors and received glowing references. We actually viewed a pool that had been recently completed and were quite impressed. With good references - not across the central Texas area but right here in our own subdivision - we felt that we had a winner.
Contracting:
One of the things that impressed us about our contractor was that he told us "no matter who you pick, don't pay them any money up front and hold back 10% until the job is completed to your satisfaction". We already knew that, but still it was nice to have the contractor proactively state that.
We very carefully read the contract through two times and took notes about things that made us less than comfortable. We discussed each of these items with the contractor and found him to be flexible and he made the changes that we requested. This proved to be much less of a hassle than we thought it might be. Glad we didn't have to reject our best bid but we would have done so rather than sign a contract that made us less than comfortable.
We told our contractor that we would need to check on permits before we signed.
Permits:
While our mailing address is Buda, TX - we actually don't live in the city limits but are on two acres about halfway between Buda and Driftwood TX. Being "out in the county" we were not certain if we needed a permit. So I called Hays County Development services and - sure enough - we do have to have a permit. So is that a big hassle? Actually it was not too bad. There were a few glitches in the application process that cost us a few days of time and $50 bucks but from there it was easy. I had to draw a site plan and provide tax receipts and some other info to the county. The staff at Hays County Development services (Mary and April) were both very nice and super helpful. The process required by the county was really just related to FEMA requirements pertaining to flood plains and placement of the pool with regard to our septic system. It was a paper review with no on-site visit. So we got our permit last week.
Contracted!
After clearing the permit hurdle, we signed the contract on November 3rd.
Quick Start!
I had to take down some small trees, trim a lot of limbs, and remove 3 sections of fence over the weekend (November 4th. and 5th.) to provide access for the equipment.
The morning of the 6th. the excavation crew came out.
They came with a small dump truck and a Cat!
(well they brought the backhoe, the other cat is ours). Construction photos coming soon!
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I would love to see them.
The PO was there and noticed it right away. They were able to fix it right then and there without tearing anything out.
