PULLIAM POOLS
About us
Inground Swimming Pool Installation, Pool Renovations Service and Repairs
Business highlights
Services we offer
Fireplaces and Fire pits, Outdoor Kitchens, Pool Covers, Pool Installations, Pool Renovations
Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
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91% | ||
6% | ||
0% | ||
0% | ||
3% |
"Thank you for your review. Pulliam Pools strives to provide excellent customer service and we value all feedback. Please contact us for any need you may have. We want you to be completely satisfied. God bless. Debra Smith, President"
"Thank you for your review."
"Thank you for the positive review. We appreciate the positive words of our service. Enjoy your pool."
I worked with Andrew Fluty at Pulliam Pools and he was a great help. He was very transparent about their timing and availability up front, and the fact that they only do quality work, won't cut corners, etc. I was impressed at every step. From everything we saw, they obviously do quality work at reasonable prices. Due to the timing, and other things we had going on with summer vacations, etc. we were not able to use Pulliam. Andrew did offer to assist with whomever we selected. I later took him up on the offer and he was incredibly helpful with suggestions and input. He ever created a CAD drawing to help illustrate one of his suggestions!
I have to believe that with great service like this even though they didn't get the contract, it would be outstanding to be their customer. They are obviously a class act, and I highly recommend them!
Her staff arrived at the appointment on time and was fully prepared. He answered all of our questions and helped explain the elevation differences and all of our options. They even made an additional trip to determine the exact layout of our pool before we were ready to begin. That was extremely helpful to me because I'm not a visual person.
We were on a budget with our pool so we were never up-sold anything and they kept us informed of all of the potential expenses that may occur. We hit rock immediately when they started to dig our pool; it added time and expense to the pool (which they explained). I was relieved when we saw the additional charge; we were still within our planned budget.
I received several phone calls through the process keeping me up to date with the schedule and when to expect the next phase of the job. The work was always done when they said it would be. The site manager came each phase and explained what was taking place and why and what to expect next. I ask a lot of questions...
My pool was completed in less than 4 weeks and we had our "pool school" to make sure we understood how to maintain our beautiful pool. It is the BEST investment to our home and more importantly for our family to enjoy together.
I know the upstanding character of Debra Smith and that she takes her responsibility very seriously to make sure that her employees are current with their training and certifications. I know that they stand by their warranty and for a company that is 97 years old...that speaks volumes. I like to see that Pulliam Pools have been rated in the top 10 with Pool & Spa News for the last 2 years and several years before that in the top 50. That is impressive.
This is the ONLY pool company I would recommend.
The sales process was wonderful and our pool was beautifully designed. But that's where it all stopped. I ended up being the contractor/project manager of the build. There are VERY few pool builders in DFW that don't sub-contract. I had no issues with the work being done by subs. But a Pulliam representative was RARELY on site. When he was there, it was for 15 minutes. In-out and gone. It was also hit-or-miss having at least one English speaking worker on site to answer questions and translate when needed.
Issues we encountered:
- The arbor was to be built with the upright posts 12" in from each corner of the existing our concrete patio. Evidently the main beams delivered were a little shorter than need to span the width of the deck. Before checking with us he set the beams shorting the arbor size by nearly two feet. The sub made this decision without checking with anyone. By the time I was able to make it to the house over lunch it was too late the poles were set concrete had been drilled in to.
- The pool plans showed the patio drain running from the pool patio to the front of the house. When I arrived they were running the lines to the rear of the house. When asked the project manager said that the "never run the deck drains to the main drain in the front of the house". My question was if they "never" do that, how come it was drawn up that way and we were charged and extra $150 to run it to the front? And we signed the plans. If there was change why weren't we consulted? ...No answer. We did get the $150 refunded.
- The Jandy PDA controller delivered to the house was wrong. Upon me opening the box and seeing a PDA-4 vs the PDA-6 we paid for I asked the the project manager. He said, oh no. You if you got the PDA 4 that's what you need. The PDA4 was a couple hundred cheaper and seemed to be the same to me. A change order and refund was processed. Well when the electrician came, the 4 was the wrong controller. Our project manger spent 45 minutes on the phone trying to figure out what the differences were in the controllers. I've since learned via my friend Google that the PD4, PD6, and PDA8 are the basically same...except the # represents how many items can be controlled in the pool. How a project manager that has been in the pool business for over 20 years doesn't know that is beyond comprehension.
- I assumed the pool deck would be be flush with the yard. A Upon pouring the deck there was a 12" - 18" drop off of the patio. I paid to have extra dirt brought in and back filled around the deck. They put the dirt in place, but evidently made no effort pack it. After the first rain the dirt settled leaving a 6" - 12" drop behind the deck. After much arguing Pulliam agreed to bring in more dirt at their expense to correct the problem.
- We paid Pulliam to re-connect the sprinkler system and re-run lines as needed. Based on past life experinces, I was VERY clear with Pulliam in the sales and design phase that the sprinklers between the pool and rear fence were to be places along the wooden fence spraying toward the pool, not near the pool facing the fence. The way I requested required hand digging the the trench because a ditch witch won't get close enough to the fence. To save time and money the sub took the short cut and pointed the sprinklers at the fence, only to have to comeback and correct his issue later.
- The waterfall was supposed to be made large chunky, roundish "boulders". We provided about 1/2 a dozen example pictures that were in our file. The rock waterfall we have is made up relatively very flat square rocks. I gave up this battle because this was one of the last features and we had been battling so many other issues in the previous weeks, I gave up from sheer exhaustion.
- The mortar in the waterfall was supposed to be gray. It said gray in the work order and the salesmen push gray because it would "make the rocks pop". Upon coming home to see the completed waterfall they used brown mortar. According to Pulliam they stopped using gray years ago because when it splatters on the rocks during building making it hard to clean and looked bad if any was left behind. The brown blended into the rocks. I actually really liked the brown and was ultimately happy with it. But why was a salesmen of 10 years pushing a product they didn't use? And, why when a work order and contract that I signed specified gray was I not consulted?
- When the gunite (pool concrete) was being blown in one of the underwater steps/benches looked short to me. I called the contractor over to look at it. He ASSURED me it was built to the plans. I asked him to measure it. It said no, he'd been doing this for dozens of years and it was right. I asked him to please measure it...what would it hurt? He said no. I said either you measure it with the tape on your belt or I go get mine and I'll measure it. A little ticked off, he measured it. It was OVER A FOOT SHORT!!!
There were about 5 more samples of the above, but I think you get the idea. We ended up with a beautiful pool that WE designed and I assure you I spent at least 3x more time managing our build than Pulliam. I have pictures and change orders to support every claim here.
In closing I'll say my wife and I are do not have unreasonable expectations. If something can't be done or needs to be done a different way, we're fine with that. But when both parties sign plans and contracts in a dozen places specifying that nothing can be changed without approvals in writing then NEITHER side gets to change things in writing. We pay attention to the details and what is agreed to. Would the majority of Pulliam Customers even notice half of our issues? That's debatable. But when the project was all said and done we ended up with a few thousand dollars in refunds from issues from design to build.
Our pool build was a few years ago (as of 2013) but Angie's list was not a big thing then. Have they fixed their problems? Based on Debra's defensiveness, lack of accountability, lack of responsiveness, and lack of managerial experience I have no choice to assume that things are probably about the same today.
"Pulliam did its utmost to provide quality service to Mr. & Mrs. (member name removed). We have complete records showing the multitude of time spent on this job. Given that, we do not wish to be involved in a long "He Said-She Said" disagreement with a client. We wish them the best."
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