Sometimes you read about the "bad job" and hope you never end-up in that nightmare. Well, I am officially in that movie.
I will try to make this brief, and still hit all the major points, but it is LONG. I am in limbo with plaster contractor and am at the end of my rope. I would appreciate some feedback on how to survive this! (Reply or PM is fine) I will not say who it is yet. I am not sure how this nightmare will end.
It all starts with the need to replaster our pool, I am afraid of ending up with a rough pebble finish, so I get bids for polished finishes. I decide I want to go with NPT's Polishedscapes in Skipping Rock. This finish is a Polished Aggregate product. The manufacture has guides on its installation. If interested see here: https://testmarketingassets.blob.core.windows.net/$web/dealer-portal/spec-sheets/psc_productspecificationsheet_0118 rb notes aug 2020 .pdf
This is a multi-day process.
Just so happens my neighbor was also getting his pool replastered (NPT mini-pebble, it is rough) and the contractor who did their pool (to their satisfaction) gave me a fair quote. I of course asked him if he had ever done this finish before and he answered emphatically “Yes.” In fact, they had just finished one recently all is great! This contractor used to work for a big plaster company in Texas; in fact, this other company helped the manufacture produce their installation video. Side note: I tried to contact this other company multiple times but never could get them to come out for a bid.
They have good reviews and all that jazz. I decided to move forward with him.
I will skip over the many delays and other ‘smaller’ issues and get right into the meat of the problems. I am going to try and type this quickly, so there may be some minor errors/discrepancies, but generally correct.
It was a full demo (full chip out). I wanted to full chip out even if it was not necessary. I wanted piece-of-mind and to start fresh. I plan to live here a long time.
Plaster Day has finally arrived! (Again, there were some things not done upto this point like I was told, but we were over 3 months into this job at this point, and I needed it done)
Pic from manufacture NPT install instructions (exposed aggregate)
I finally speak to him. I tell him everything: wrong color, different colors, damage of color and obvious seams from delay (wrong color anyway). This is on top of they didn’t “install” the product correctly to begin with! He texts me that he is sorry, and they messed up (At least he is not trying to say ‘everything is fine!’).
Wrong Color (above)
Delay Damage
Seam where they restarted work (lighting/angle was not good for photo)
Cold Seam
I will try to make this brief, and still hit all the major points, but it is LONG. I am in limbo with plaster contractor and am at the end of my rope. I would appreciate some feedback on how to survive this! (Reply or PM is fine) I will not say who it is yet. I am not sure how this nightmare will end.
It all starts with the need to replaster our pool, I am afraid of ending up with a rough pebble finish, so I get bids for polished finishes. I decide I want to go with NPT's Polishedscapes in Skipping Rock. This finish is a Polished Aggregate product. The manufacture has guides on its installation. If interested see here: https://testmarketingassets.blob.core.windows.net/$web/dealer-portal/spec-sheets/psc_productspecificationsheet_0118 rb notes aug 2020 .pdf
This is a multi-day process.
Just so happens my neighbor was also getting his pool replastered (NPT mini-pebble, it is rough) and the contractor who did their pool (to their satisfaction) gave me a fair quote. I of course asked him if he had ever done this finish before and he answered emphatically “Yes.” In fact, they had just finished one recently all is great! This contractor used to work for a big plaster company in Texas; in fact, this other company helped the manufacture produce their installation video. Side note: I tried to contact this other company multiple times but never could get them to come out for a bid.
They have good reviews and all that jazz. I decided to move forward with him.
I will skip over the many delays and other ‘smaller’ issues and get right into the meat of the problems. I am going to try and type this quickly, so there may be some minor errors/discrepancies, but generally correct.
It was a full demo (full chip out). I wanted to full chip out even if it was not necessary. I wanted piece-of-mind and to start fresh. I plan to live here a long time.
Plaster Day has finally arrived! (Again, there were some things not done upto this point like I was told, but we were over 3 months into this job at this point, and I needed it done)
- I confirm with the contractor that he has the right materials and pigment. I was pretty clear with my concern about the pigment because apparently the NPT pigment for Polishedscapes can come from a bottle that lists a different color for NPT’s Quartzscapes (he even called NPT on speaker to confirm the mixture infront on me).
- They put a thin-coat of Quartzscapes on the walls (cheaper product). I had no prior knowledge of this, and he tells me that is just the “scratch coat.” Not happy, but not sure if that matters, and what am I going to do in that moment? Well, I wish I had stopped them!
- They begin to plaster The Polishedscapes and they have a problem with their machine/pump and it stops the work at about 12-18% into the job! I am unfamiliar with how long a plastering delay can occur before it is too late to recover the job, but even in my ignorance I was getting very uncomfortable. I have it all on security camera footage and the problems caused a delay of over 1 hour. This is also on a day that will hit at least 100 degrees.
- I am familiar with cold seems in concrete, so I ask the contractor/owner about the delay, and he tells me anything over ‘20 mins or so’ is a concern (he was not on site during the malfunction, so he didn’t know the delay was longer than that).
- This contractor relies heavily on his Foreman for executing the work and his Foreman's past experience. I realized this the day of plastering and it is also concerning me.
- They resume their work, after the 1+hr delay, and I am keeping an eye on things. The crew waits a bit after the initial plaster application and goes back into the pool to do the final trowel and etc. After the trowel, they quickly pack up and leave… They ran out of time to shoot the SPA, and the Foreman will return in the AM to plaster the attached SPA!?
More on this later! - Anyway, beyond that, Oh Crud!
This is where I know we are in big trouble (and I don’t even know the half of it yet)! We have gone really wrong. They applied the product sort of like a like a quartz finish. They never exposed the aggregate (see NPT picture below)! I immediately tell the owner this and tell him that it is wrong. He tries to assure me that this is how everyone does it (BS). I am sending him instructions/links from NPT that clearly show it is done differently. I ask why does he want to polish through the plaster’s cream to get to the aggregate!? I offer to pay (out of pocket) for an acid wash ASAP so that we can remove as much cream as possible. He contacts the Foreman and then gets back to me; they agree to acid wash it (more on this later).
Pic from manufacture NPT install instructions (exposed aggregate)
- In addition to the acid wash, I realize that they only planned to have one to two guys polishing the next day (basically 1.5 polishers)… There is no way one to two guys could polish this pool enough! They needed to get to the aggregate. I offer to pay directly for extra polishers to come, he agrees to hire a couple more guys (my treat).
- SO, now what? Well, they tell me they won’t have enough diamond polishing disks for the workers! Apparently, they planned to just grab them from Home Depot/Lowes as needed and they are sold out… I order diamond polishing disks to be overnighted-morning delivery (my treat).
- Early the next morning the Foreman shows up with 4 gallons of muriatic acid and his significant-other to acid wash the pool. I assumed it was going to be a substantial acid job; they had a lot of cream to get through! I am not happy, but try to hold it together. You can barely tell anything was done, only in the deeper area where the water pooled showed any exposed aggregate to be polished.
- The polishers show-up and he only hired one extra guy. He told me at least two more were coming and I authorized him to get 3 (remember, I am paying them).
- I ask to see an area of the pool that would be the finished product. They eventually show me a step, and I am not happy (but polite).
The Foreman wants to quit, and the owner offers to take me to the last Polishedscapes pool they did for me to see. We drive straight there together. - Upon leaving this other pool, I tell the contractor: “That is not the product I purchased (NPT Polishedscapes),” that pool was not correct.
- He tells me he will contact a friend at the big company (the one that worked with NPT, the one he used to work for) and we’ll talk about it.
- Soon after that call he comes up to me and says that he will completely repolish my pool (with the supervision of the friend at the larger provider). This person will be available to help in the off season (Oct/Nov). I feel pretty OK about this, and the contractor is trying to fix the problem. The plan would be do a proper treatment, and etc, and repolish. Not perfect, but I am now trying to make lemonade out of bad lemons. He emails me this commitment.
- We are now filling the Spa and then Pool, it will fill overnight.
- Things don’t ‘look’ right, but the spa and pool were plastered about 12 hours+ apart, I am thinking things change quite-a-bit while they are filling/curing.
- The next morning.
Remember when they came back to ‘shoot’ the SPA plaster? OMG, the pool is the wrong color (not even close), the Spa is the correct color, and the pool is showing significant problems from the extended delay (see pictures!). I try to reach the contractor, it is Sunday, so I don’t hear from him for a while. I am astonished. The mixing crewman on the main day obviously miss-mixed the pool, and the Foreman must have followed the 'mix' correctly when he returned later to shoot the spa.
I finally speak to him. I tell him everything: wrong color, different colors, damage of color and obvious seams from delay (wrong color anyway). This is on top of they didn’t “install” the product correctly to begin with! He texts me that he is sorry, and they messed up (At least he is not trying to say ‘everything is fine!’).
Wrong Color (above)
Delay Damage
Seam where they restarted work (lighting/angle was not good for photo)
Cold Seam
- We met next morning. I told him we would have to have everything clearly laid-out before we could move forward. On top of this, I think he is having cash-flow problems.
- We speak about how to move forward, he wants me to sign a new document, but it doesn’t include everything to make me happy. I told him I couldn’t do that and had to make a couple of calls (I spoke with my lawyer). The contractor was supposed to get back to me with what the material cost him (maybe I’d pay for them and have them stored at my house type of thing), and we would discuss options to move forward, but I haven’t heard from him. Anyway, we have not come to an agreement on how this nightmare ends, but I am not sure I want to use him. The entire job has serious problems. I know in my heart I just need to pay my lawyer to end this nightmare, but I really want to avoid that route. It will just cost me more and the contractor even more (believe it or not, I like him as a person).
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