We had a pool installed by Splash Away Pool & Spa in the Spring of this year. The owner, Bill has…read more been in the business a long time and has an excellent reputation. I had multiple companies come and look at the site and give us a bid. Bill was the most thorough, making sure we understood what we would need to do to prep the site, in our case rerouting a septic sprinkler and asking good questions about our needs and big picture plan. He took the information I gave him for the design and quickly got back to me with a quote. While there was no fancy YouTube flyover like I'd got from Method, (which was cool) it did come in at slightly lower price and had a few nice features included in the price. We opted for the UV filtration upgrade, and the price also included color changing lights and a high quality robot pool cleaner as standard components. The quote also included clean up with lawn sprinkler repair, but not any landscaping. Also, he was not scheduling out as far as other companies and could get us in his calendar for a June completion. We met for final design details, tile etc, and signed contracts.
Things started off great and they came to cut the hole earlier than anticipated. Immediately the day after, the rebar was in, then came the piping. We looked to be on track for an earlier completion date than expected. I was thrilled and scrambled to transfer funds to cut the checks as milestones were completed.
Then the rain hit. Locals know that the April/May of 2021 was a wet one. And with our lot sitting lower than our neighbors, the pool filled a little sooner than planned. Every time it dried out, the rain started again and the hole filled right back up. This lasted a few weeks and I was beginning to get used to a big muddy hole in my yard. Bill and I had a long conversation and although my husband and I had some impatient moments, there was absolutely nothing to be done. Weather is weather. Bill was certainly weeks behind on his pool schedule and I was worried we might get further delayed due to so many jobs being lined up, however, as soon as the weather let up his crew was back fixing things, spraying gunite and then tile, stone, and FINALLY plaster. The finished product was as lovely as I hoped. It is a dream. After I cut the final check they continued to maintain the pool for a couple weeks until we had "pool school" and they handed maintenance over to us. They did a final cleanup of debris, repaired the sprinklers and smoothed the soil. When a leak in a different area of the sprinklers became apparent Bill sent the sprinklers crew back right away, no argument about who might have caused it, (fence crew, lawn mower) just came out and handled it. I am 100% happy with the finished product. We have had countless compliments.
The only things that could be improved:
1) I didn't always know what was happening or when. A few times a crew would just show up and certain details such as access to property (especially for heavier equipment) and having checks ready, could cause last minute scrambling. I would've loved more advance communication about what to expect.
2) One of the crews early on, decided to use some bricks to support the rebar structure. The bricks were on a pallet left by our builder to be used for a mailbox and other repairs as needed.
3) More than once a crew accessed our property in ways that was frustrating, crossing sprinkler areas, deep mud, lawn. Since we have landscaping but no fence, this was really difficult to control.
Over all though, these problems were minor. We have heard multiple horror stories from others who had pool companies that did shoddy work, disappeared or added charges mid project or went out of business before the warranty period ended. I would definitely use Splash Away again, no doubt about it.
If you are here to find out what a pool costs; short answer is $55k and up. Quotes are free, so get a few. Also plan ahead. Companies can book up months in advance, so if you are thinking about this in March, you may not be swimming until Fall.
