We got quotes from 3 pool companies -
1. Aqua Pool & Spa,
http://www.aquapoolandspa.com/This was the first company that we worked with. We went over all kinds of wish-list items with the sales person, and he scribbled his notes furiously on the outside of his manila folder which I assume was the container for our "file". All in all, we thought we'd had a pretty good first meeting with him, and were excited to see his pool design and bid.
He came back in less than a week, and we were impressed with how quickly he was ready to talk again. Well, it showed. His design was merely sketched in pencil on a large piece of drafting paper, and lacked attention to detail. He forgot to include some MAJOR elements in the quote, like the aluminum patio, the artificial lawn, and the baby gate. Doh! Strike 1. When I looked at the design, it was less-than-inspired. Being an inexperienced consumer, I thought to myself, "ok, maybe this is the standard product that you get at this point of the sales process..." If you haven't signed with them, why would they put in a ton of effort? But deep down, I knew this was, to put it bluntly - a half-assed effort. Strike 2. I thanked him and told him we'd get back to him soon. He said he'd check in with us in about a week to see if we had any questions. He didn't. Strike 3 - you're out!
2. Jim Courage Pools,
http://www.couragepools.com/We met with a really nice guy from Courage Pools, and were excited to hear his ideas. We've heard glowing reviews from friends who've had Courage put in their pools, and knew that we were dealing with a quality company, especially after meeting with Shane.
The thing I liked about Courage was that their sales guy also becomes your project manager, overseeing the entire phase of pool construction based on the initial design vision you collaborate on. The concept and quote he came back with kicked ass over what Aqua did. Very thorough and detail-oriented.
One hang-up with them was that they had fundamental issues with in-floor cleaner systems. The way the owner (Jim) explained to us - there's so much pipe that is installed under the pool surface, that if there's ever a problem with the system, you could have to crunch up the pool to repair it. They were willing to install it for us since it was such an important item on our priority list, but their pricing ended up being pretty high compared to the competition. We also had concerns that they might not do it right, since their crews don't usually install these systems.
Also, the overall concept that he showed us seemed to be missing something. Couldn't really put our fingers on it, but it didn't really give us a concept for the entire backyard, which was something we were looking for. We want the pool to be a cohesive part of the overall landscape, not something that's just plunked into the existing area that outshines everything else.
We still had some open questions about what stone-work to choose for our retaining wall, and were excited to visit their design showroom. It wasn't really a showroom, at least the kind that we were hoping for. They didn't have any sample pools, so we couldn't envision how a wall would look if it was faced with flagstone, tile, or stacked stone. They had samples of tiles, flag, and other stuff, but all in single units up on some shelves (and some pieces of flag just on the floor). So really hard to picture anything unless they took you to one of the pools they'd built in the past, or currently under construction. We left the showroom feeling a bit deflated.
Bottom line, we didn't go with Courage because of the above points. But I think that if you know exactly what you're looking for, and have an overall design landscape already defined - you can't go wrong with Courage. They will deliver a quality product with quality people - plus they are just really nice.
3. Premier Pools and Spas,
http://www.premierpoolsandspas.com/We met with a very helpful salesperson, who had a lot of input and ideas that he offered up while we were talking. We were cautiously optimistic that he'd come back with a concept that really nailed what we were looking for, and were in fact impressed with his recommendations. He actually defined a concept in a pool design software, and shared it with us from his laptop. It not only incorporated the type of pool we were looking for, but we also liked his suggestions for what to do with the decking (concrete) and everything else in the yard. We signed a contract with them on Sunday, 7/22/08 (yes, he was working on the weekend), and he submitted the construction plans to Placer County (we live in Roseville) yesterday. He estimates it'll take 2-3 weeks for the permits to be approved, at which point they should be able to begin immediately (no backlog with current projects).
