Finding the Right Professional | Swimming Pools

Finding the Right Professional to Build Your Pool

There are a variety of professionals who can help you plan and build your pool and plan your outdoor poolscape. Take some time to think through your needs, and be sure to ask lots of questions all along the process. Here are some of the professionals that can help you create the entertainment and recreation area of your dreams.

Architects and landscape architects

Many homeowners retain an architect or landscape architect for projects involving a pool and the surrounding environment. These professionals are state licensed and trained to create designs that are structurally sound, functional and aesthetically pleasing. In addition, they are familiar with construction methods and materials, understand the mechanics of estimating, and they can negotiate with and supervise the contractor, ensuring that your work is done in compliance with specifications.

Landscape designers

Landscape designers usually have the education and training of landscape architects but are not state licensed. Some landscape designers are licensed contractors, however, and can both design the landscaping for your pool and actually build it.

Soils and structural engineers

If you are planning a pool on an unstable or steep lot, in an earthquake zone, or where drainage, groundwater, fill, or clay may pose problems, your building department may require that you consult with soils and structural engineers and obtain engineering reports.

Soils engineers: Evaluate soil conditions on a proposed site and establish design specifications for foundations that can resist whatever stresses unstable soil exerts.

Structural engineers: Often working with the site evaluation and calculations provided by a soils engineer, design pools and foundations for other structures. They may recommend soil modifications.

Pool and landscape contractors

Pool contractors specialize in pool construction, while landscape contractors are involved in garden construction. Both are state licensed. Some also have design skills and experience; their fees for designing usually are included in the price bid for performing the work.

Pool and landscape contractors are responsible for hiring workers or subcontractors, ordering materials, scheduling work, obtaining permits, scheduling inspections, and seeing that the job is completed according to the contract.

Choosing the Right Professional

The best way to choose a professional is to collect recommendations from pool owners and inspect the person's work. Though some excellent professionals have no professional affiliation, ask if they may belong to:

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
The American Institute of Architects (AIA)
The International Association of Aquatic Consultants (OAAC)
The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP)
Other organizations

To locate members in your area, contact a nearby office. It's important to check out all prospective builders. These are the principal ways to evaluate them.

Visit their showrooms and offices: If you're working with a landscape architect, ask for the names of several pool builders. Ask the companies you're considering for names and phone numbers of their customers. Ten or so should give you a good sampling.

Check for membership in a trade association: Call the Better Business Bureau. The quality of the information you receive varies; it can range from an evaluation of the builder's reputation to only an acknowledgment that the company is a member. Some building departments sell lists of pool permits issued for the year with the names and addresses of owners and builders. Ask owners about their experiences.

Check the records in the county clerk's or recorder's office for legal actions filed against companies you're considering. Several actions filed in a short period, or a continuous history of law suits, warrant further investigation.

Verify that the salesperson who calls on you actually works for the company he or she represents.

The company must be licensed by the state to build swimming pools. You may be able to check with the contractors' licensing board for specific information about the company.

Find out whether the company uses its own men and equipment or hires subcontractors to do some or all of the work. Don't eliminate companies that subcontract much of their work for that reason alone; many small companies operate very efficiently this way.

Pick Some Finalists

Once you've considered all the information you've obtained, select three or four companies and ask them to submit bids on the pool you want. Unless you are certain what kind of pool you want, choose the companies that will bid on your pool based on their reputations, rather than on the type of pool they build.

Have each builder you're considering bid on the exact same package you and your consultants have prepared. If the companies are equally proficient, you can make a final choice on the basis of the bids they submit and the convenience of their construction schedules. But take your time, particularly if the bids vary widely.

If, on the other hand, the proposals don't include all the same elements, you'll have to take the differences into account when comparing bids. Neither automatically accept nor reject a bid that is unusually low. Instead, find out why. If the bidder forgot you had mentioned boulders at the pool site, and you signed the contract knowing this, he or she could probably recover the added costs in court if you did not pay.

Without a signed contract, you'll have nothing but trouble. A contract is an agreement between two parties covering the performance of certain work for a certain amount of money. A good contract -- whether it's the standard contract used by the builder or one prepared by your attorney -- protects both your interests and the builder's. It must be tightly written, describing everything to be done and by whom, as well as everything not to be done. Don't sign it until you read and understand all of it.

Contract Considerations

A well-written contract should contain all of the following information.

Plans and specifications: These must be in sufficient detail so as to allow no question about what is to be built. A plan drawn to scale and attached to the contract should show the location of the pool on your property; the pool's shape, size, and dimensions; and the location of the support system, including filter and pump, solar panels (if any), heater, return lines, and main drains with pipe sizes, skimmers, and accessories.

Contracts for air-sprayed mortar (gunite) pools should contain a tolerance provision with a financial consideration for undersized and oversized dimensions. If a dimension comes out smaller than what you contracted for, you get a rebate. If larger, you pay an additional fee. The tolerances for a well-designed and well-built pool should be within 1/8 inch.

Performance: The contract should specify all the work to be done, materials to be used, equipment to be installed (including manufacturer and model number), and any optional features to be considered. The date work will start and end should be stated (unless local weather conditions don't allow it), as well as any penalties for late work. It should also note the time when the owner will become responsible for the maintenance of the pool.

In addition, the contract should lay down conditions for suspension, arbitration, and termination (under federal law, you are allowed three business days after signing the contract to change your mind).

Excavation and grading: The contract should state the costs of gaining access to the site, relocating utilities, and excavation of any unknown underground hazards whether man-made or natural. It should also assign responsibility for final grading and for the removal of building debris and surplus earth and rock.

Costs and payment: Outlined in the contract should be the cost of the specified work and any options, the payment schedule (a series of payments based on work completed), and the question of ownership in the case of bankruptcy.

Consider the payment schedule carefully. On the one hand, to ensure that you won't have paid in full for an uncompleted pool, you may want to make partial payments as different stages of the work are completed. The builder, on the other hand, would prefer to be paid before the work is completed, in order to be paid in full by the time the job is finished.

Legal conditions: Legal provisions in the contract should include the validity period for the agreed upon price, responsibility for permits and zoning compliance, and provisions for mechanic's lien releases as the labor and materials used are paid for (these come from the contractor and any subcontractors and material suppliers involved).

These releases are necessary because even though you've paid the contractor, if he or she has not paid those who have done work or supplied material on your property, you can be liable for the amount owed. In addition to requiring lien releases every time you make a payment, you can request that the pool builder post a bond assuring payment to subcontractors.

Liability for damages and personal injury and guarantee provisions for the contractor's work and any equipment installed should also be written into the contract. Under federal law, you must be advised that equipment warranties are available, and you must be given the chance to examine them.

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