Deceptive Sales Practices, Terrible Project Management, Poor Quality
Cannot recommend Blue Haven Pools. $100K+ project marked by verbal promises that vanished from the contract, horrific project management, substandard work quality, and post-project abandonment.
**The Bait-and-Switch:**
Salesperson Juan G. verbally promised sod replacement after construction, electrical for backyard lighting, and an autofill port. When I questioned why these weren't in the contract, he assured me they were "included" or standard practice.
Post-construction, Blue Haven initially refused to honor these commitments, citing clauses stating "no oral representations were made."
**The electrical and autofill were eventually installed - but only after I sent a complaint email threatening to terminate the contract and hire another company to finish.** Construction Manager Mike C. agreed to cover electrical at their expense and split autofill costs (I paid half).
**If these were truly "included" as Juan said, why did it take threats of termination to get them installed?** They weren't included - they were damage control to prevent me from walking.
Sod replacement? Same verbal promise, same salesperson, complete refusal. The difference? Pool was done and they had final payment. No leverage left.
Reactions from multiple Blue Haven employees when I raised this suggested this salesperson has done this before with other customers.
**Project Management Nightmare:**
- Original PM fired mid-project, replacement MIA for a month
- Missed every single timeline milestone except dig date
- Weeks/months of no work, zero communication
- French drain destroyed and encased in concrete
- House foundation exposed during rainy season (hired specialist for water damage assessment)
- Hit mystery 4" pipe, only "verified" it wasn't sewer by having me flush toilet, then just capped it without calling the city
- Permitting took 90+ days with multiple resubmissions
**Quality Control? What Quality Control?**
- Tile work is incredibly sloppy - still cleaning excess grout months later
- Pavers completely torn up and relaid once (still cracked/damaged throughout)
- Saw marks/scratches in coping noted three separate times by different people, never fixed
- Pock marks in plaster appeared after curing
- No acid wash before plaster (told it was "fine")
- Pavers laid with no base material or polymeric sand - sand already gone
- Their own pool startup specialist documented multiple issues that were never corrected
**I'm Literally Paying Twice Rather Than Use Their Warranty:**
I've hired other contractors to fix the pavers and coping rather than let Blue Haven touch them again. After this experience, I don't trust them to do quality work. I'd rather pay a second time than risk them making it worse.
When I emailed about the plaster pock marks and to buy additional pavers to fix the broken ones, they've ignored both requests. Warranty is worthless if they won't respond once they have your money.
**The Three Saving Graces:**
Construction Manager Mike C. tried to help after I threatened to walk. Screen enclosure contractor (Shawn) did amazing work. Pool startup specialist (Dave) was great and clearly disappointed with installation quality. These three are literally the only reason I didn't fire Blue Haven.
**Hard Lessons Learned:**
- Get EVERYTHING in writing, no matter what the salesperson says
- Read every contract word, especially sections about oral representations
- Don't ignore bad reviews
- Demand recent customer references and actually call them
- If it's not written in the contract, it doesn't exist
**Reality Check:**
Pool eventually got done but I'm worried about skipped acid wash causing future plaster issues. The deceptive practices, awful project management, poor quality, and post-project ghosting make this an easy "do not recommend."
My mistakes: Trusted verbal promises. Didn't read contract carefully enough. Ignored warning signs. I own that. But sharing this so you don't make the same $100,000 mistake.
**Bottom line:** Plenty of honest, quality pool builders in Florida. Blue Haven isn't one of them. When you'd rather pay twice than use their warranty, that says everything. read more