Architectural Pools & Spas, Inc.

Awful.  They threat lawsuits if we even contact them.  I called their bluff and did contact them - wishing they would go to law with me.  They lied again.

I am not going to go through every step of this fiasco. We were told it would take 10 days and it took 41/2 months. I have acted as general contractor on numerous jobs over the past 18 years. The quality of Demetre's work was so pathetic, the only option was to fire him and completely demo everything he and his crew did,  Short of removing the pool from the ground (which was installed unlevel fore to aft 31/4" and side to side 11/2" and they used a laser level???), every single component either he or his helpers touched was incorrect., substandard, or broken.  I essentially paid to install the pool twice because all work performed had to be redone. .Not to add insult to injury, but the owner Demetre,  is a nice guy but seems to think substandard/incredibly poor craftsmanship is OK?? I would not recommend this company to anyone.

We contacted Demetri in May 2011 (email dated 5/10/2011)  and sent pictures of cracks in the tile coping around the pool.  Large chunks of the tile had come loose and fallen into the pool. (Pictures are below)  They did not respond.  I have emails dated July 27, 2011 and August 3, 2011 where we are respectfully requesting that they come and look at the damage.  Finally in late August, Demetri himself came to inspect the pool.  He looked at the breaks and cracks  in the tiles and admitted that his company had bought and installed faulty product. He said that the tile was defective.  He said that he had had trouble with this particular tile.  It was from Australia and had not performed as he had expected.  He said he needed to think about what to do because if he replaced someof the tiles it would cause stress in other places and crack those.  He did not get back to us.  We contacted him several times with no response.  Finally in the Spring of 2012 He sent one of his men to reinspect the tile.  There were numerous other stress fractures in the tile and other chunks had fallen off into the pool because the cracks were parallel to the pool edge.  The man said he would get back to us.  We called several more times and finally got a response that was essentially we were not to bother him because it was not his responsibility, because the contract has fine print that legally excludes him from having to do anything.  A concrete expert looked at the work around the pool and said that it looked to him that the concrete deck was not right and was in fact not actually finished correctly which stressed the coping.
I have tried to work with Architectural Pools and have I asked them with kindness and courtesy many times to make their work good.   I also provided many pictures so Demetre could see the progression of the disaster they built.  I'M GOING TO TRY TO ATTACH PICTURES TO THIS SO YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN JUDGMENT.
I may not be able to LEGALLY get Architectural Pools to stand by what they build ,but the public needs to know about this.  It does not seem right that defective materials can be used in making a product and then the contractor is not liable because the defect shows up after a short warranty period.  One should expect that a swimming pool receiving normal use should not have its edge cracking off and falling into the pool after only a couple of years.  If this is what Demetri is saying should be expected of his pools, then you will want to know this before you contract him to build yours.  We have been respectful and kind in our asking him to make good his work, and have been rebuffed and lately received an email in which he declares that we are not his customer (as if he did not do the work) and threatens us with a lawsuit  if we do not stop telling people this is his work.  (He copied the email to his lawyer!)  Sadly, it is his work.  We are willing to make all of these documents available as needed.

It has been a terrible experience.
We contacted the supplied references (spoke with approx 10 previous customers) no one had any negative comments.  Most said when there were issues with the pools the owner was responsive and quick to fix the problem to their satisfaction.
The installation of the pool took double the time estimated and once they began the install the workers would show up sporadically and we could not get a firm commitment on the new finish date.  The workers left the backyard a diaster zone every night with trash, tools, equipment, etc. strewn around.  The surrounding yard, side and front yard theywent thru were completely destroyed with grass dug up & deep trenches in the ground from equipment.  We did not request a hand rail to be installed by the pool steps but the concrete person installed the receptacles for the rail anyway.  When we complained they tried to cut off the metal cups and cover with concrete leaving an obvious different looking area.  They attempted to install the pump and heater units right in front of the bedroom windows instead of moving them to the side.  When we complained they tried to convince us it was ok, but we insisted that they were an eyesore and had to be moved.  Eventually they complied.  The owner/supervisors were never at the installation and didn't even come occassionally to check the progress.  Approximately 8 months after the installation the concrete over the handrail receptacles cracked & hunks of concrete came out.  The pool edges cracked and the paint on the deck flaked.  It took the owner over 4 months (and a threat to report him to the Better Business Bureau) to come to the house to inspect the problems and 2 more months to fix the problems.  When they repainted the deck they painted over all the sticks, pine needles etc that were on it at the time. 6 months later the concrete at the same location is cracked and chipped, the deck paint is again chipped and now the tiles at the water line have begun to buckle and fall off.  There are also cracks in the concrete above the water line tiles.  The owner has yet to respond to our newest complaints or request for him to fix his shoddy work int he month since we emailed him.  He is always unavailable by phone and does not respond to messages left.  Find another pool installer and save yourself the headaches and problems associated with using this contractor.   

We first talked to Demetre a couple of years ago when we bought our house in Savannah, even though we told him it would be a considerable amount of time before we would be installing the pool.  We were initially impressed with his willingness to spend time with us, and his apparent knowledge of the industry.  We were interested in a fiberglass pool, although we also investigated the gunite option, which proved to be considerably more expensive.  In July 2011, we finally moved into the house and contacted Demetre again.  He provided us with updated information and a quote. He advised that his quote was "all inclusive" and included items, such as disposing of the extra dirt, etc, that other companies would charge extra for.  We also got quotes from other installers of fiberglass pools, and it turned out that Demetre was correct.  We felt confident that he was the guy to go with, so we signed the contract and made our color selections, etc., with installation to begin in August.  The first warning was when the wrong color fiberglass pool was delivered and would have been installed if my husbandI had not been there.  Demetre wasn't happy about having to take away the wrong pool and get us the correct one, because of the cost to him of hiring the crane again.  However, he did it.    We had a rainstorm after the hole was dug and the pool set in place (altho the dirt had not been backfilled.) This was bad timing, and resulted in, we think, a lot of the loosened dirt being washed into the hole.  We suspect that this may be the reason the pool ultimately turn out to be uneven - that is, it was not installed level.  We don't think the workers double checked at this point to make sure the pool was still level.  If this wasn't the reason that the pool is off level, then it comes down to plain incompetence in the installation.Once the hole was dug, it was like pulling teeth to get Demetre to haul away the extra dirt.  Instead, he spend considerable time just moving the dirt around the back yard, raising the level of the yard above the original grade and resulting in the lowest steps to the back deck being less of a rise than built, and which we have had to correct for.  The pool also was built higher in the ground than it should have been, and we had to correct this, at some expense, when we had the stonework done to finish off the yard and pool deck.    He finally hauled off some dirt, but left a lot of debris in the back alley, which we had to pay to get hauled away (we waited several months for Demetre to take care of it, as agreed, but this never happened.)  After the major payments were made to Demetre,  there were constant no-shows or minimum work done, and only after repeated calls asking when the work would continue.  Demetre made requests for payment for work not yet done or for us to make direct payment to a subcontractor. Repeated requests had to be made to correct items left undone or make some progress, Demetre's usual reply was " I thought that was done". In the end the pool was installed unevenly to the point that it is an unsightly major indicator of lack of skill. An attempt to jack up a corner of the pool failed due to lack of equipment, and resulted in damage to the pool coping.  They also had to break through the concrete that is holding the pool in place in order to try to jack up the pool and make it level....only time will tell if this will prove to be a major problem.  The company has displayed a complete lack of business management skills, project management skills, technical skills, and supervision skills. If you intend to use this company my advice is: buyer beware.

They were great.  A friend recommended them to us.  They were cheaper than another quote I had.  I don’t remember how much I paid them.  They were really good.  I did not have any trouble with them.  I just called them and they came.  I rate them high overall.

dimitre and his crew did exactly what they said they would, when they said they would and how they said they would. good folks.