Pool Buying Guide
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First, let’s start with the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex and what it has to offer. There are over 400 pool builders in this area. There are no licensing requirements to become a pool builder. A simple $12.00 payment to the Secretary of State and a catchy name is all it takes for someone to call themselves a pool contractor. The pool construction business is known for unscrupulous salesmen and shoddy and or incomplete construction. It is also the only construction business that takes payments up front prior to work being performed. This is a very bad equation for a trusting homeowner and a less than an upstanding company. How do you weed out the bad companies? Listed below are several tips.
1. How many years has the company been in business and have they been in business under any other name?
2. Is the Builder Insured?
3. Is It A Local Swimming Pool Company, a Branch, or Franchise?
4. Is The Pool Builder An Established Company?
5. Ask For References.
6. Pricing Tactics and Tricks.
Do you see advertisements promising pools at very low prices? It is possible to build a pool at a very low price. But most of these “incredible deals” are nothing more than bait and switch tactics to get you to call. You should be aware that to build a pool at a low price, quality would have to be compromised. The cost of the pool may be cheap, but your time and money spent to upkeep the pool could be 4 to 5 times more if the pool was not built right, to begin with.
Why do cost estimates vary when pools seem to be the same size? The price of a pool is determined by much more than size and shape of the pool. A lot of builders do not include some of the most important factors affecting cost in their proposals. Because there are so many factors that go into building a pool, there are a lot of places to cut corners. Here are some of them: Craftsmanship, Quality of Materials (smaller pumps, filters, etc), Design, Underground strength, Ease of Maintenance, Warranties.
Sure the less expensive pool may look the same as the more expensive option as you look at it from your living room window, but what is it made of? You wouldn’t buy a car without looking under the hood, would you? Good work is never cheap, and cheap work is never good! Get every last little item in writing.
7. Payments and Milestones.
8. How Long Will Construction Take?
10. Warranties.
11. Red Light Warnings.
- Bait and switch sales tactics…you are offered one pool on “sale” and then the sales person attempts to convert you to a more costly option.
- Your pool is at a reduced price because it will be a “model” for their company.
- Pressure to sign a contract.
- Requests for significant down payments
- Unprofessional proposals. If a company can’t take the time to type a professional proposal for you, how will they take the time to build you a professional pool?
- If you don’t have it in writing, don’t sign a contract.

