Mirage Pools

Do not use this company. They took our $64,000 and left us with a muddy concrete hole. Did not inspect steel basket prior to pouring concrete. The most horrific experience of my life. Do extensive research into who you are getting to build your pool and stay far away from anyone who has worked with these people.

Very poor. They never showed up on time and would not show up for weeks at a time. They would tell you sorry, but changed nothing. Took over 16 months to get my pool finished and that was only because I threatened a lawsuit.

Mirage put in my pool summer of 2015. Rust spots keep popping up on the sides and bottom of the pool because of bits of metal in the pebble product are rusting. Mirage uses C.L. Industries for their pebble. I was told by Mirage I wasn't the only one this had happened to. Neither C.L. Industries or Mirage seems apologetic surprisingly. The rust stains are an ongoing problem I will have to deal with in the future. At the end of the 2 week pebble curing process brown lines appeared on the bottom of the pool that looked to be dirt that cured in. (I had my water tested and it's not a problem with metals in my water.) Mirage told me they would chemically burn the pool to remove the stains. They finally burned the pool at the end of 2016, but didn't get all the stain out. Because they didn't want to reroute the water bypassing the heater again to burn the pool, they decided to use dry acid to remove the remaining stain, saying it wouldn't damage the heater. But, after leaving the dry acid in the pool water for days, the dry acid left a worse stain than what they were trying to remove. I also have 4 unsightly cracks in the concrete decking of the pool that appeared after 2 weeks of the concrete being poured. Mirage came out and "patched" the cracks using a charcoal/black mixture that looks awful against the light gray concrete. The patches also didn't work. Cracks resurfaced. Mirage has promised for over a year to cover the unsightly mess with a Kool Deck application. So, I have a cracked deck, horrendous pool stains, and reoccuring rust spots in the pool. It is May 1, 2017 and I'm still waiting for them to correct their damage. I am not the only person who has had a bad experience with Mirage as you will see in their online reviews, in addition to the Atlanta WSBTV news report on April 20, 2017. [*** Link removed ***]

Mandy is the single rudest, most unprofessional individual I have encountered in my life. Very shady and unethical business practices and zero customer service.

Contract was signed that pool would be built in 45 days after initial hole was dug; four months into the process the pool is only half done. Also, Mirage Pools has failed to pay the concrete vendor and owes the vendor over $5 thousand dollars. The vendor has placed a lien on my property after after notification, Mirage Pools has still not paid the bill. Mirage already was paid by me.

It went amazingly well.  When you are ready to spend this much money on a pool, you want to be sure it is done and done correctly.  I have never been more impressed with one contractor as I have been with Mirage Pools.  Our salesman was very patient with us as we were deciding on what kind of pool we wanted, the design, and color selection.  The project manager was extremely communicative with us throughout the entire process.  I work from home and the workers were very respectful of noise.  I can't say enough good things about this company.

Mirage built my pool as promised in 30 days (their standard guarantee).  Problems arose when they did not compact the soil they had to bring in for this one section of the pool.  My pool deck (field stone)began to sink in the section of the decking.  Mirage would not stand behind their work, stating that is was not part of the pool structure.  The contract stated they guarantee the pool structure for as long as I live at the property, and with the subsequent owner.  They argue that it is not part of the pool structure, although it is all connected.  I certainly paid them for the work, it was documented in the contract, and part of the agreement.  They began to ignore any of my attempts to contact them...I had to go to their office find them and have a conversation.
Due to the lack of soil compaction in this one area, the pool deck continued to sink and crack along a 20 ft line.  I had another company come in an pump concrete under the deck to stabilize it (a $700 bill), which still did not fix the issue, due to a pipe leak that developed due to the sinking section, as described below.  Although the pool was built several years ago, this issue has been ongoing, since the pool was built.  
I then began to get huge water bills.  Apparently the sinking deck cause a return pipe under the deck at the crack line to break, causing a large water leak.  Mirage refused to fix anything.  I just spent approximately $6000 repairing the pool (leak detection, tearing out 30 square feet, fixing the leak, reinforcing the and re-compacting the earth beneath the deck, and re-installing the deck).
I was able to get them to come out last year to rework some of the piping at the pump that was not done correctly initially. Of course, I got a bill from them for this.  One of the joints at the pool pump is now not threaded correctly and is allowing air into the system,as well as causing a small water leak....I have to repair that now as well...in addition, the blue joint compound was smeared all over the pipes...just a big mess.
It is too difficult and expensive to go to court with them.  The contract with them has an arbitration clause in it, making it very difficult and too expensive to pursue any action in court.
Other issues with the initial installation and/or have developed:
1.  Installed the water supply directly over the septic tank.2.  Did not install an overflow in the pool when installed. Now repaired.3.  Field stone side walk to the pool was not installed correctly, which hasa now tilted and cracked.  I will now spend another $1000 repairing this.  They had connected this to my deck stairs, so when the sidewalk began to tilt, it warp the whole staircase.  I had to have this rebuilt at a costs of approx. $1500. 4.  Four foot  crack in the pool, allowing water to leak as well.  Mirage will not repair this (refused to), and have only tried to patch it....this has not worked.
The quality of their work is so poor, it is not advisable to have them attempt to fix anything that was done incorrectly up front.  It is just better to find some other company to repair the issues correctly.

The installation began fairly quick, starting in September of 1996, but then came to a halt. We made many calls to the owner of Mirage Pools to find out when they would get back to building the pool. We were told on several occasions that they were held up due weather issues, personnel issues, owner's health issues, and several other issues. Long story short, our swimming pool was completed right at the end of June 1997. This was much longer than what we were told by the owner of Mirage Pools. We were told that the swimming pool would be completed within 3 to 4 months when we signed the contract to build the pool. Much of the delays were caused by poor workmanship. For example, the plaster had to be applied three times. The first two times because of air bubbles under the plaster. The concrete decking had to be corrected because it was not sloped away from the house. A workaround valve had to be installed at the skimmer because they forgot to connect the return pipes from the pool's bottom two drains. When they added this workaround they damaged the skimmer causing it crush the return flap. They declined to fix this saying that we didn't really need the skimmer flap. 

Once the swimming pool was completed, we filled it with water and began using it in July 1997. The first two years of using the pool was nice. There's nothing nicer than coming home from a hard day?s work and getting into the cool water. During the spring of the third year around April 2000, several of the ceramic tiles along the top, right above the plaster line and where they meet the brick coping, started to pop off. We thought that it was normal and simply reattached the tiles with thin set and grout. Things were fine until the next winter, when more tiles started to come loose and fall off. We contacted Mirage Pools (around Feb 2001), and told them about the problem. We were told by the "operations manager" that the Mirage Pools that built my pool was sold to Young Guns, DBA as Mirage Pools, and that they could not help us with this issue since it was not built by the new Mirage Pools (even though the owner Norman Urrutia, who built our pool, was still listed in the Georgia Secretary of State's corporate listing as the CEO of Young Guns, DBA Mirage Pools). We issued a complaint to the BBB. They investigated the matter and concluded that there was nothing they could do to help us. We contacted two well known swimming pool builders in the Atlanta area to find out why we were having tile problems. Both pool builders told us that the pool was not built correctly. Both told us that the bond beam, along the top where the brick copings are set, was not installed properly, and the concrete decking was installed against the brick coping without an expansion joint. They told us that these were the reason for the tiles popping off. The heat during the summer would expand the concrete deck against the bond beam, and in winter the concrete would contract, pulling the bond beam with it. This push pull action over the course of a year is what loosens the tile and causes them to fall off. The two well known pool builders told us the only viable corrective action is to have a concrete specialist saw an edge right where the concrete deck meets the brick molding, and then add mastic type filler to the cut edge. But they told us that this wasn't a permanent fix and that we would continue to have problems with tiles coming off, although at a lesser rate than before. They told us the only true fix is to rebuild the swimming pool! On top of all of this, the Forsyth County inspection office notified us that Mirage Pools had not followed the inspection process. Mirage Pools did not have the deck inspected, did not have the electrical work inspected, and did not get final approval. We don't know what kind of problem this will cause us. We've had this swimming pool for 15-years now, and we've used it. But every spring since 2001, we have to gather the loose tiles and reapply them with thin set and grout. We plan to have the pool demolished and filled in with dirt early next year (we plan to build a flower garden in its place). Prior to this experience, we knew nothing about swimming pools. We are now fairly knowledgeable about building swimming pools, and have helped several friends and neighbors navigate through their swimming pool construction, sparing them from the headaches we encountered with Mirage Pools - which is still owned by the same person that built our swimming pool.

The estimate was fair in price for all the work to be done. The redoing of the pool was done extremely well. I was not really pleased with the redoing of the deck. They were sloppy with the finish that was put on, which was a type of cool deck. I was expecting them to put some type of caulking on between the deck and the coping of the pool. I was told that wasn't part of the bid. This should have been told to me since it looks unfinished. I was told they would get the pool up and running properly but once they replaced the heater I couldn't get the jacuzzi to heat. Quite a few phone calls they finally came out and had to work on a few things to get it running. Overall it took probably 3 months to get everything up and running. The warning would be to get every little detail in writing, don't just take their word that they will do what they say.

They did a good job. We were happy with the pricing. We would recommend them and we were highly pleased with the end product. We were happy overall.

They were great and, I have no complaints whatsoever. They were professional and open to the changes we wanted to make. They stuck to the original estimate. I liked the fact that they do everything themselves, they don't subcontract any work. I don't want to go on record with the price.