I looked at Dream Pools and a couple of other bigger pool companies in town. The prices were pretty…read morecomparable for what we were after (a relatively standard pool with a hot tub - nothing massively fancy), and Dream Pools was a hair more expensive - maybe $1,000 or so.
However, the other company's main pitch was "we're the biggest pool company in town so that's why you should choose us - how do you know if the other guys will still be in business in 10 years?" First, Walmart is the biggest retailer, but that doesn't mean that it's the best. Second, Toys R Us could have said the same thing 10 years ago, and look where they are now. Third, I don't recall that the other guys offered a 10 year warranty anyway, so what does it matter.
Dream Pools, on the other hand gave me a feeling that they'd offer a more personal service, which when you are spending a lot of money on a major project offers quite a bit of peace of mind. In addition, they committed to it being finished in six weeks, which when you have three kids on summer vacation and you don't start until early June, is a big benefit.
Throughout the process, Carlos and Sylvia (the company owners) came out 2-3 times each week to check in on things. He offered helpful suggestions, and also worked with us on things that we wanted. His crew was polite, efficient and tidy. Because we wanted to do a few other things as well (new fence, paving around the pool, new sod), I simply went through Carlos to get these done. Any savings that I could have made by finding my own contractors (and these guys were still surprisingly affordable) was offset by not having to deal with them individually to schedule things - Carlos did all that for us.
The work was of the highest craftsmanship and quality. The team broke ground on June 7 and I was in the pool on July 17. The pool and the entire garden looks beyond what I could have hoped for. I can't recommend Dream Pools highly enough.