Environmental Pools Inc

Four years ago, when we had our pool redone, I was very pleased with Environmental Pools, but since the install was complete, it’s been nothing but problems with the quality of the work. It all started when we opened the pool the following season. We had calcium bleeding through everywhere. It took a couple of calls but Andy (Sr) ended up coming out and helping us rid the calcium buildups initially. Later that year, we noticed two cracks in the corner of the pool, again few phone calls and Andy (Sr) came out and used a sealer on the cracks. The calcium continued to bleed through and it has never stopped. I’m constantly scraping and scrubbing it off. This season, when the pool was opened, we noticed chipping/holes in multiple spots. Again, after numerous calls, they finally sent someone out. They reported in the notes, “5 or 6 spots where calcium is bleeding through the walls. One chunk about half a golf ball size missing in floor of deep end”. He must have missed the other two holes in the shallow end. For the last three months, we have called and emailed the owner Andrew Everleigh (I believe Sr. retired) to follow up on the visit and how they can make this right. It took over a dozen calls/email to get this response from Andrew… “Jason When the company installed this product for your years ago there were no spots. There is no warranty to wear and tear items or a damaged product that we did not do. I wish there a better answer but this is not a bi-product of any work that was preformed. My team did not drive golf ball holes into your pool floor and whatever caused this must of fell in a with great force. If this was a bi-product of workmanship we had done it would have been an issue immediately not years after.” Incredible how a company like this simply dismisses their customers concerns and puts it back on you. Drive golf ball holes into your pool floor…Really after four years? I would not do business with this company if you are rehabbing an existing pool. All the research I have done points to the plaster not adhering to the substrate. It is clear the quality of this work is very subpar. While I know this probably wasn’t a huge job for Environmental, it was for us, and I feel like they had a quick hit and got out. Awful experience.

When they built our pool, they were like our best friends.
Then the 5 years or so they serviced the pool we were just customers.
They seemed to have a very different crew servicing our pool the summer of 2013, and we experienced
problems with algae on a regular basis that they could not fix and misc other issues that were totally new
for the 2013 season.  We switched pool service companies for 2014 and have had absolutely no algae or
other problems. The pool is once again pristine requiring just minimal service.  Further, 7 evergreens adjacent to the pool area were damaged by improper disposal of pool chemicals and the company did not even make an effort to visit our property to view the
damage.  They responded to letters with obfuscation to avoid any responsibility.  I would avoid the company and choose
another pool company who is more careful with who they hire as employees in the field. 

Entire experience with Environmental was a disappointment - very expensive and quite unresponsive.  When they did finally answer the phone or get back to us and make it to our house, the work was pretty good.  In fact we were pleased with the design and construction of the pool ten years ago.  The ongoing services have not been particularly good though - seems they have people with talent but they need better management/communications, especially in customer services.

Run away from this Company as Fast as you can!! Worst contractor I have ever dealt with.

The project was booked the last week of August 2010 for a total of $79900.00 with a verbal commitment of the sales man (PB) to be completed in the Fall of 2010.The finish total was $95000.00 with all the "extras" not included in the proposal with no upgrades and it was not completed until 28 July 2011!!

Don't trust PB with anything as he willsay anything to get you to sign the contract! Company will pull bait and switch, then drop you like a hot potato to move on to the next client. Negotiate your payment schedule or run the risk of them cashing your check and doing no work for weeks and months at a time!

Project Summary:

The project started off well enough, but soon ran into trouble. Ledge was hit during the pool excavation and I realize that was beyond the scope of the contract. The ledge fracturing and  excavation was extra,( $5000.00 fracturing) ($5752.50 excavation)  which was agreed upon but the ledge was not placed where it was agreed to with the contractor to meet the finish grade in the contract resulting in the requirement to hire another excavation company at an additional $2250.00 in cost to set the correct grade.

 The ledge removal process added 2 weeks to the construction phase, yet the project slipped by 7 months!!
 
Construction stopped the second week of November at the 25 % point when we were told it would be completed in the Fall.  Based on the commitment to have the project completed in the Fall we estimated that an additional 2 weeks would be required in the spring to complete as a result of the 2 week slip due to encountering ledge. In the Spring the company is off chasing other business and provided no priority to complete the job.  There is no urgency on behalf of the contractor to finish the project and during the spring of 2011 weeks passed without any activity.

Contracter can't manage several projects simultaneously and was often lost as to what the next step was resulting in inefficiencies that he expects you to pay for. I believe if they focused on one project at a time the sequence would be much faster without missing steps or doing them incorrectly. The project scheduler runs that operation as if it were the first pool that they built, not 25 years of experience. You need to constantly be calling to make sure the office is aware of the latest staus of your project, and asking what the next step is!

The base contract price is not designed to be able to complete the pool  project without significant extras just to meet what  is in the contract !  The proposal is low and then they hit you with all sorts of up charges to do what was agreed to in the first place. Deck Sub Base material not included, back filling time in contract inadequate to complete the job,  quoted sq. ft. for decking listed on the project print is only an estimate and actual sq. ft. will be  more!

Don't be afraid to get your own quotes for any up charges as we were required to bring in  200 yards of sub base material (not included in contract) that  Environmental Pool was trying to charge 2X what I was actually able to get it for delivered by an external supplier.( $3000.00 saving) Also, the alloted time to back fill the pool in the contract is only 1/4 what was required resulting in additional hourly fee. If they  are in the business of installing pools you would think they could give a more realistic quote in the first place.
  
The agreed to wall in the contract was " only an estimate"  (always on the low side)  so for what you expect  and what is shown on the project print  there will be an up charge. (In this case they wanted an additional $1400.00)

The contractor will take the easiest route at every step even if it will require you to pay an upcharge and expect you to pay the extras when it could have been avoided with a little planning on their part.

The contractor has a total disregard for your property. The contractor was instructed on access points to the job sight which he blatently disregarded on multiple occasions causing damage to the property which he did not fix! Also he  will hire subs and not supervise them on the requirements and expect you to live with any damage they commit, saying he did not commit the damage "it was the sub". If he is "the General Contractor" he is responsible.

Recomend if you have a well speciifying in the contract that the contractor will supply all required water for all construction steps as he ran my well dry in the process of building the pool, and the whole pool  process takes "allot" of water at  every phase. Gunite phase, decking phase, and plaster phase.  If town water, still make sure contractor provides all water or you will be paying!

Do to pool scheduling of complete date in Fall of 2010 that was not met, I was informed that it was my responsibility to fill the pool during the interim winter (additional $1200 for water) or risk damaging the pool at my expense.

 Contract needs to be clearly defined and every  line item identified in minute detail or you will not get what you think you are getting. Make sure to check and recheck as the Sales man (PB) will pull bait in switch telling you granite steps are included and then listing "steps " included in the contract to which when it is time to install they will say that they are cast steps and granite is an upcharge...

During the construction phase constant supervision needs to be performed  as steps will be skipped, or cut.
 
Contract stated 4 deep heat returns for the pool heater and only 3 installed!

Contract stated 2 deep end seats and only one installed!

Contract states electrical included but electrical trench sand (per Code) is not included and billed for sand at 9 times what you could get the sand delivered for.

Suggest clearly stating a project completion date with penalty payments to be included if not met by the contractor to keep them on schedule or you run the risk of the project being completed at their schedule not yours, and they will bump you to chase a higher payment from another customer at their discretion.

It is to bad the process was bad (so very bad!) as the overall quality is good, but if you go with them plan on paying at least 20% more than the negotiated price or do your homework and clearly list all requirements to the above concerns in the contract!! Don't let sales rush you and clearly get an explanation and detailed description of everything listed on the contract summary.

Avoid Salesman (initials PB) at all cost, he is a Liar!!.

Workmanship is A+, beautiful pool, well built. Subcontractors for paver deck, waterfall is fantastic. The project was a fall-spring build, overall the experience had its ups and downs. The company owner, operations manager, and build foreman are responsive, and do very good work. The salesman/designer is another story. The guy is unreliable, never shows up on time or at all, leaves out a lot of details and basically wants to get the job and moves on to the next sale. He basically abandoned us, resulting in our pool completion being significantly delayed. Overall we are happy with the pool and final product. The process had very painful moments. I recommend them and would use them again, but if you are considering using them and find that initials P.B. is the salesman, call the office and request one of the other salesman or the owner and you will have a much better experience. The bad grades above are mainly due to the sales guy. Everyone else was A+.

THE WORK WAS DONE FAIRLY WELL, BUT THE PROJECT WAS VERY POORLY COORDINATED. LOTS OF FINGER POINTING WITH OTHER CONTRACTORS INVOLVED. CUSTOMER SERVICE AND RESPONSIVENESS WAS VERY POOR. THE PROJECT HAS DRAGGED ON THREE MONTHS LONGER THAN PLANNED, WITH NO REAL END IN SITE. DO NOT COUNT ON THEM TO BE YOUR GENERAL CONTRACTOR ON A POOL PROJECT. THEY WILL SAY THEY CAN DO THIS, BUT THEY DO A POOR JOB. SOME OF THE SUBCONTRACTORS THAT THEY USE ARE ALSO VERY UNRESPONSIVE, WHICH SLOWED DOWN THE ENTIRE JOB. IN ADDITION, THEY DID NOT BUILD THE POOL ACCORDING TO THE PLANS, WHICH CAUSED US TO HAVE TO MOVE THE POOL FENCE IN ORDER TO MEET THE BUILDING CODE. WHEN COMPLAINING TO THE OWNER OF THE COMPANY, HE WAS VERY APATHETIC AND SHOWED NO INTEREST IN RESOLVING MY CONCERNS.

WHAT A COMPLETELY HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. THEY DRAGGED OUT THE PROJECT FOR MONTHS. THEY INSTALLED CHEAP SYSTEMS INSTEAD OF THE EXPENSIVE ONES ON THE CONTRACT -- THEN REFUSED TO REPLACE THEM SAYING WE DON'T NEED THEM (EVEN THOUGH WE PAID FOR THEM). THEY ARE ALWAYS INCORRECT OR INACCURATE ON THE PHONE AND DON'T RETURN CALLS OR FOLLOW-UP WITH ANYTHING. THEY CHARGE FOR THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF EXTRAS THAT WE NEVER ASKED FOR, NEEDED OR WANTED. JUST ABOUT EVERY DETAIL OF THE PROJECT WENT WRONG AND THEY DON'T RESPOND TO ANY REQUESTS FOR HELP. THE TELEPHONE GATEKEEPER IS A NICE PERSON, BUT IS TRAINED TO MAKE SURE CALLS DON'T GET PAST HER OR QUESTIONS ANSWERED GENERICALLY AND INACCURATELY TO KEEP CUSTOMERS IN THE DARK.

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