Contemporary Pools

Regret...

REGRET.  I've hated these last 5 months delaying with the pool construction!  I can't tell you how different it would be have with another company but here is my experience: 
Started in January. The pool was dug up, panels set up, piping, and walls.  The dig went well.  One of the new guys bolted a panel bracket backwards but wasn't noticeable until the pool was filled as the pressure made the wall warp inward.  In order to fix this, they had to re-dig around the pool wall and fix the bracket.    The pool construction went fairly well.  There were weather delays and many times he said he would come to do the work and won't show up.  At this time of year, it was cold and we actually had snow.  He hired out Big John to do the sand concrete bottom. It looked nice. The liner went in.  Our pool size is 18 x 43.   The pool was completed in Feb with all the pipes installed and pump running.  

Mountains of MUD left in yard for 4 months!
I was left with MOUNTAINS OF MUD in my yard!! My neighbors called it Mount Trashmore!  There was about 13 dump trucks worth of dirt.   Nobody came in March and they had left the pump screw loose and water leaked out for an entire month.  The pool water dropped below the skimmer box and air was making a loud sound.  The pool has lost lots of water which took 2 days to top off.  Which created more of a MUD to my already muddy yard.  We had a wet spring and my shady muddy yard made it hard to work with.  The MOUNTAINS of MUD remained in my yard until the end of APRIL!!!   He made a mistake by keeping that dirt here and not removing it right way.  The plan was to keep SOME dirt to backfill and level off the yard to make the water run away from the pool.  He's tried several time to grade our yard but not doing a good job.  

POOL LEAKING
Beside that one time the pool leaked due to the lose screw/ value.  The pool leaks!!  when its CLEAN, it will lose 1/2 inch a day.  When there is sand/mud/ dirt in the pool,  it leaks at a slower rate. Brad thought there was and hired a leak detection company to double check his piping.  The pressure held.  Therefore we continued with the concrete pouring.  The pool water was too cold for the company to go in the water but Brad double checked all the fixtures and drains inside the pool.  Nothing was detected.  The hole can be small but everybody that owns a pool or the pool supply store and other people in the pool store ALL say i have a leak.  Brad says its only evaporation.  You can tell, I annoy him when I tell him, the water level dropped  1/4 or 1/2 inch.  Its spring, so its NOT very hot and we are getting lots of rain.   Ahh... i still have to figure out if pool is leaking!  I'm doing the bucket test again.  I have to remark the items because they just cleaned the pool and backwashed it.   WOW!! Hole was found and Brad patched it. If wouldn’t have kept complaining, he would have left it. He kept rolling his eyes when I would say, none of my friends pool lose this much water from “evaporation”.

Concrete: 
One of the reasons we hired him is because he did his own concrete.  In April, he poured about 1/2 of area.  We were not only doing the section of the pool but an additional 1,300 feet of concrete. A few thousand dollars worth of a job. We needed the yard to dry out and harden before laying concrete.  Finally in April, after a couple of no show dates, he poured 1/2 the concrete.  He had said, tomorrow, he was going to finish. 1 week later, nothing. I called him to be FLOORED about his answer.  I asked him "when are you going to finish the concrete?" .  He said he NO LONGER does concrete!  I couldn't believe it.  He had employee issues and decided to quit doing concrete. He had sub out the concrete job to another person.  It looks the same and the you can't notice.  There was a small delay but no an issue. 

Argues and raises his voice to the wife: 
I've hired many men to do repair jobs around the house.  I always get along with the workers.  This has been the biggest remodel / construction job we have done.  This is a 27K  job.   Brad has been the ONLY hired contractor / worker that has RAISED HIS VOICE and argued with me - the WIFE!!  I can not excuse that behavior.  I would hear excuses on why he didn't show up, employee issues, money issues.   And the newest one - I am blamed for his mistakes.  He says he was trying to please me but regrets it.  

BROKEN ITEMS:
With his machinery, he broke my child's swing set.  He said he would fix it but hasn't done so in a month.  I wanted a deduction in the final bill for his damages.  Brad raised his voice at me and yelled at me.    I told him, he demolished sprinkler value and it was going to cost money to repair it and I wanted to deduct from the total bill.   Again, Brad raised his voice at me and yelled at me.   We have parts of the driveway that completely broken and we have cracks throughout.  BEFORE hiring Brad, we discussed how we don't want our driveway broken.  Unfortunately, this was the only way to the back yard.  We have over 10K of damages to the driveway.   He claims part of the issues was because he was trying to save our driveway.   The same BIG dump truck went UP and DOWN our driveway.  He took away 7-10 truck loads of dirt. 

I can't change one thing. Our yard is very muddy.   Many parts of Chesapeake are muddy.  He will say, this has been one of the worst yard to work with.  He claims he lost $ in my job.  

He's been fast to charge you but slow to come through.  

I DON'T recommend Brad / Contemporary pools to any of my friends.

Our friends used them that live down the street; they didn't have any of issues.  No mountains of mud in his yard! No yelling at the wife!   
I have NEVER put a bad review about a company.  I think these issues are worth spreading the word.  I certainly don't recommend nor I wish any of my friends to go through what I have with Brad.    I told my hairdresser about some of this.  She said, OH - you don't want to hear about my pool building experience!  She used The pool guyz - its was done in 8 days!!!  NOTHING LIKE MINE!!!  more expensive but after this - its worth it!!! 

Price wise - all other quotes were right there with others in the area.  He wasn't a bargin price!  If i would have saved $10K + , then I would deal with this. (Edited July 16, 2013)