MIRAGE CUSTOM POOLS

Jeff and Mirage Custom Pools are true professionals and very thorough ! They are local to DFW and know their industry well! 5 STARS

Sharing my POOL LEAK experience in dealing with Mirage Custom Pools. I built my pool with Mirage about 10 years ago. Few years after pool completion, I started to suspect that my pool was leaking water. Wondering why my water bill was much higher than my neighbors and friends with pools. Wondering why I was filling my pool multiple times a week. So a month ago I tried the water bucket pool leak test I learned about. Basically you set a 5 gallon bucket of water with same level of the pool in the pool steps and see if the water level drops around it. Sure enough, I was dropping about a good 1 inch a day. So I searched for a good company that specialises in pool leak detection and repair company in the DFW area. I found Superior Pool Services which has been doing this type of work for over 30 years. During this time I only suspected my water leaks was just due to some bad luck in plumbing somewhere. Superior came and did their leak detection service. They were very thorough using scuba gear and dye testing to look for all the possible leaks. I just have to say wow. They found that I had leaks at 3 of my 6 pool drains and one of my skimmers. I expected a leak somewhere but at 50% of my drains and skimmers? So they proposed a repair job to fix the leaks for about $3k. To properly repair the drains and skimmers they had to break away the material around these objects. What they found was most shocking. They showed me that there was definitely a lack of concrete material used around the drains. The skimmers were almost hollow when tapping around it when it should be solid concrete all around it. The drains clearly only had about an inch of concrete existing when pool experts I spoke to said there should have been closer to 8 inches or more deep of solid concrete all around the drains. The Superior person onsite felt these were the main causes for all my water leaks. I asked another pool company owner, and they agreed. So once I heard this, I contacted Mirage. Their first answer was their warranty only covered leaks for 1 year. I told them this is wrong as I have findings that it was Mirage’s construction flaws that caused the leaks. Tom Hauk the owner then returned my messages and came to my home for a visit. In summary it’s been over a month since. I have had lots of back and forth emailing from Tom at Mirage. They are not taking any ownership for the leaks. I was led to believe from Tom and Mirage that having this many leaks at my main pool water-exit areas is a total natural occurrence. I am still in disbelief on how Mirage handled this. I originally built a $70K pool with Mirage. Looking back I also lost several thousand of dollars and gallons of wasted water and pool chemicals. Mirage chose to deny any fault to this matter. Mirage accepts that having leaks at drains and both skimmers are acceptable Mirage standards! If I knew this is how Mirage handles and takes responsibility for their mistakes, I would have run from them long time ago. My lesson learned. I HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND Mirage Custom Pools to anyone looking for a swimming pool. I believe in working with companies that stand by their work and back it up with doing right when there is wrong for its customers.

Thank you Mirage for taking care of me even though my problems are not related to you. Truly a stand up company!

Troy

They were the worst company I have ever worked with.

The problems began the first day when the supervisor ( who left the company early in the construction process) staked out a design that was much smaller than what I had designed / purchased.  After a few hours of him on the phone and reviewing the plans, he admitted his make mistake and adjusted the frames (to begin the excavation process).  As you can imagine, I did not feel very good at this point.  To be honest, I still don't think the pool has the dimensions that I paid for.  

At the time, the construction process seemed to progress according to plan.  Not having any previous experience in putting in a new pool, I had to rely on the owner's assessment of the work.  The first issue I noticed was the the fire pit I purchased was not round!  It was some crooked-oval shape.  When I asked the owner about this, he said it was a tear-drop shape.  Yet, in all the fire pit pictures he shared with me (including the one in his house) ALL of them were round!  I'll get back to the fire pit in a bit.  The second issue was that the stone they used - I later found out - was of a cheaper quality and has a tendency to flake off.  To this date, I still have stone fragments falling into my pool.  The stone was not as smooth as what I have seen used by larger, more experienced pool companies.  The third issue was that the concrete work on the deck - which was contracted to another company - was horrible.  I even brought the owner of that company to the house to see for himself.  His comment was that "I paid for cheap work and that is what I got."  I thought I paid a premium (which I did when compared to what any of the larger pool companies would have charged) for a higher quality job.  I was fooled.

While the finished product overall looked good, the quality was very poor.  Starting ONE year after it was built, stones started to come loose.  Mirage sent someone to fix them and they used a mortar that was a different color.  The sub-par quality has now cost me several thousand dollars to have a reputable pool company redo all of the stonework and reconstruct the fire  pit.  Much to my disgust, when they started working on the spa and fire pit, they uncovered that instead of using cement to construct the sides, Mirage simply filled them with the scraps of stone that were removed during the construction process.  Unbelievable.  They also have told me that the cement that was used was not the "standard" for the industry and does not  hold very well.  Hence, all the loose stones.  Mirage even managed to screw up the sealant that they put between the coping and the concrete deck.  

It would not surprise me if Mirage has been out of business for several years.  However, I am so upset by the confirmation that their work was poor and it has cost me lots of money to repair that I want people to know to stay away.  When I tried to get Mirage out to respond to these issues, they were simply unresponsive.  I have had numerous issues with the plumbing and have had to basically redo most of the plumbing.  Overall, it was a big mistake.  I thought going with a smaller pool company would provide a higher quality product and service than larger companies that build hundreds of pools a year.  Big mistake.  Go with the companies that know what they are doing...and are cheaper!  I understand that the owner's father/brother also have a pool company in the metroplex.  I do not know anything about that company, but I'm willing to bet that in this case the apple fell really far from the tree!  Stay away from Mirage Custom Pools, or any pool company owned / managed by Tom Hauk.

Design and contract stage went smoothly. Construction phase was extremely slow and arduous. Took many, many months to build our pool when it should have taken just a few weeks.

They keep my in-ground pool very clean. They are here every week. They vacuumed and chlorinate so it is always clean. I pay $125 a month which is really reasonable for this. I have never had any trouble with them.

Project was poorly run and the ownership is unprofessional and unresponsive. Not sure if their lack of project management skill is due to inexperience or lack of professionalism. We were provided a design, then signed a contract in August 2006. Excavation did not begin until November 2006 because it took several months for Mirage to obtain a construction permit. The permit took so long to acquire because Mirage's pool design did not meet code. Mirage clearly did not understand pool building codes in our City. Excavation began in mid November, construction moved very slowly, and several changes had to be made along the way because of Mirage's mistakes and lack of understanding of local building codes. It is now mid April 2007 and the job is still not completed. The project has not passed final inspection with the City. Our punch list items have not been addressed, including items that were communicated both verbally and in writing as early as December 2006.