Leisure Pools of San Antonio & New Braunfels

Great! Amazing family to work with.

unknown

Made initial contact in Oct 2013 at the home and garden show. Spoke with the owner's wife over the next month who was the one who came up with our contract and plan. Were told that the installation process would take approx. 3-4 wks (much faster than a traditional gunnite pool). Had some communication issues that resulted in our pool shell being fabricated after we had put a hold on it due to issues with financing (it ended up being a special order due to having to make a change so that the fastlane unit could sit flush against the side of the pool). Fortunately we were able to get things straightened out with the financing and signed the pool loan paperwork right after the first of the year. Then we started having problems. We had had utilities marked in the yard several times previously but when the pool designer came out to mark the yard they realized that there would be electrical lines in the way. We then had to go through the process of figuring out how to go about getting the lines moved which  involved CPS and another $800 out of our pocket. It took us a couple of weeks to make our way through the red tape to get on the calendar to have the lines moved and then it took several weeks for them to actually do the job. Utllity lines were remarked and  pool planner came back to finalize location and design. Finally we were ready in March. Then the delays started. They couldn't start our job because of other jobs (including stuff that was contracted for after ours). They had equipment malfunction and employee issues. They scheduled a start day and had to reschedule multiple times. When they did start (mid April) work would get done in spurts. They dug the hole and placed the pool and then there were issues with the contract and how our payments were divided up. They wanted large chunks of the total cost for not a lot of work in our eyes and by then we were wary of trusting them after having things not happen and words not kept. We paid anyways because we were told work would stop if we didn't. Communication issues got worse (if that was possible). Phone calls/texts weren't returned or we were able to speak with the office staff but they didn't know anything and would have to pass the msg on to Chris (Bradford, the owner). This was an issue the whole time. The plumbing and electrical  happened but wasn't able to be finished due to not having the equipment. Then the equipment came and then we were waiting again for the concrete and so on. This has continued until this point . We have gone for over 2 months without them doing any work twice during this process. Our pool still isn't done!!!!! We have the decking done and the pool is swimmable but our pump has a leak that they kept saying they would fix and they haven't, we don't have a pool cover and we don't have a fastlane unit. Those 2 items alone are approx. $12,000 of our contract (with installation). We still owe a small amount of that due to how the contract was written. It didn't factor in these high price items that they aren't used to working with (they had never installed a fastlane; ours was to be their first) so we have no leverage at this point to make them finish our job.

We have continued to try to contact the owner since Aug (which was when the last work was done) to get this project finished. We have heard from him once and he said he would come to measure for our cover (which we thought had already been done) and he never showed.

 We have seen many employees leave during this process and have heard stories from others. The people we have had do the work have been good for the most part but that doesn't make up for the other issues. We found out before they started digging that Chris and his wife were divorcing and that was given as an excuse, as was Chris's back issues/surgeries, along with the trouble finding good reliable workers here in San Antonio. While we are sympathetic about all these things we thought a long time before going into this project and not only could we not use our pool as we had intended during this time (my husband does triathlons and was going to use our pool with the fastlane to practice) but every time we look in the yard we are reminded of our folly and our frustrations. As much as we probably need others to sign up for a pool with Leisure/Chris Bradford to be able to get our job finished I cannot recommend them to anyone. No one should have to go through this.

unknown

It's gone awful read my last I can't even get Chris to respond

Additionally, when the concrete guys showed up they informed us leisure pools refused to honor our contracted extra decking. Because the concrete guys are in the process of "chasing down their money" and haven't been paid for several jobs from leisure pools, he was not willing to do the job without being paid up front. We had to pay 2500 out of pocket to have the concrete completed as it was written in our contract. We called a lawyer to find out what we could do about this terrible situation and the first words out of his mouth were "tell me this isn't leisure pools." It's pretty bad when the lawyer knows who you're talking about because so many cilia toners are having issues.   Hopefully we can get all of this resolved but will probably have to involve legal to get it done. Oh, and we still don't have the plumbing completed. We have a pool full of stagnant water in our yard that is quickly becoming a cesspool for insects. We haven't seen the pool contractors on a week.   Stay away from Leisure Pools!!! 

I did some research and you have three choices of pools: Fiberglass, Cement, and Vinyl.  Vinyl was not in my equation.  I understand that cement may need resurfacing, but with any product it is all about what you are willing to spend now.
I will say that cement has endless possibilities in designs, fiberglass your limited to the cookie cutter molds. 
I had a budget of $45K, I went to the Basic Companies, Keith Zar, Cody Pools, Blue Haven, Pool Concepts and Leisure Pools.
Fiberglass was my preferred choice because of the low maintenance and the paver decking, just like the look.  Leisure Pools was the first Company I contacted but they were the last to provide a quote (verbally not written).  I figured fiberglass would be the less expensive, not true.
When it came down to negotiation on the price, it didn't come down only the type of product they wanted to give me.  They wanted to give me a color and pool not really in our thoughts.  Chris was willing to finance the difference I would owe him, but the budget was not in the cards.
I have made a choice with a cement company, because I kept it in our budget.

This review will document the entire process of dealing with Leisure to negotiate the contract and do the pool install.  The initial posting is prior to having any work done.  The sections below will document the various stages of the process:
Background
I started the process of looking for a pool vendor back in July.  Back then, I was looking at four vendors, Anthony Sylvan, Blue Haven, Bobby Allen Pools, and Keith Zars.  I ended up selecting Keith Zars, because they were able to stay close to my target price of $30K and I felt comfortable that they were a well respected vendor who would use good materials and back up their product well.  However, that deal ran into a snag when a couple gas and electrical lines were found in my back yard that were not marked on the survey.  Basically, they were not able to move forward and there was no good resolution proposed so the deal fell through.
A few months later in January, I started looking again, because I knew that my wife was still very interested in getting a pool.  I somehow came across the idea of a fiberglass pool and started investigating that.  Originally, I was thinking that it might be a less expensive option, but eventually, I started to get really intrigued by the possibility that it might be a lower maintenance option.  I contacted three fiberglass pool vendors, Lonestar Pools, Ace Fiberglass Pools (a San Juan dealer), and Leisure Pools. 
Research and Evaluation
I did a ton of research on fiberglass pools and pools in general and discovered that there were three main options for inground pools which are gunnite (concrete), vinyl, and fiberglass.  Some of the web sites that I relied on the most were http://www.troublefreepool.com, http://www.poolandspanews.com, and http://www.riverpoolsandspas.com/blog.  In my research, I determined that fiberglass was the best option due to the non reactivity and durability of the fiberglass materials.  Unlike gunnite which would need to be resurfaced every 10 years or so or vinyl which would require a new liner every 7 years or so, the fiberglass was designed to not need large scale habitual maintenance of that sort.  Also, it seems that fiberglass pools use less chemicals and that if I wanted a salt system, fiberglass would be better than gunnite which is pourous and will degrade even faster due to the salt exposure.  I decided to focus on fiberglass and called up the three vendors mentioned above.  One thing that became very clear in my research is that the key to a good fiberglass pool experience was the installation.  Because they are relatively easy to put in the ground, lots of places have popped up trying to do it, but doing the install RIGHT is the key to avoiding future problems.  The guy from Lonestar talked my ear off and also used a high pressure sales tactic trying to get me to commit before the prices went up on Feb 1st.  He was also very derogatory towards all of the other vendors.  The guy from Ace, Brian, seemed to have a wealth of experience and seemed to be very credible.  He gave a good design at the best prices and also gave me the key idea which enabled me to even have a pool which is that I could reconfigure the steps on the deck to exit to the side instead of the back of the yard.  This opened up the middle of the yard to be able to fit the pool in and avoid the buried lines.  Brian was also able to take me to the homes of folks who he had installed a pool for so that I could see them in person and he had great references.  The concern with Brian is that he was a small Mom and Pop operation plus I had to decide whether I felt more comfortable with San Juan pools shells or Leisure.  I dealt with Chris Bradford from Leisure Pools and he was extremely knowledgeable, professional, and had a ton of experience.  His price was more, but it became very clear that he was very interested in quality and long term viability of the entire project so he was not willing to skimp on lower cost materials or equipment.  I also became convinced that Leisure had the best pool shell and that his crew would be able to do a top notch install.
Contract Negotiation
The guy from Lonestar never actually came out to the house so there was never an estimate given.  Brian from Ace got back to me very quickly with a proposal.  Chris from Leisure invited us down to their headquarters in New Braunfels to view the materials and refine the 3D model and there we agreed on the basic contract details.  He had come down a couple of thousand dollars when I was able to show him an estimate that was for a better price plus so we had the framework of a deal, but he wanted to come out to the house again with a pool template that he could lay on the ground before finalizing things.  My yard has a deceptively large grade and once he came out with a laser leveling tool, he realized that it would be better to have a retaining wall on the side of the pool nearest the house instead of towards the back fence, because that would allow the entire pool level to be lower in the yard and more private as opposed to it being elevated so that I would be looking right over the privacy fence to my neighbors yard.  I loved this idea and the design was beautiful.  This of course raised the price, but in my mind, it was something that was necessary for the aesthetics and I couldn't imagine it being done properly any other way.  I negotiated some key terms into the contract:  1) No extra charge for rock dig, 2) Construction must start no more than 2 weeks after HOA approval, 3) Construction must complete within a month.  I also confirmed the warranty details which is that the pool shell and gel coat both came with a lifetime warranty as well as the pavers.  Also, the paver installation came with a 2 year warranty.  Construction is sced