Premier Pools and Spas

Horrible experience with Houston Premier Pools & Spas. If you are looking for a reputable pool builder, RUN FAR & FAR AWAY from this one! Throughout the entire project, communication was absolutely lacking. Poor/no coordination with subcontractors. Project manager was rarely on site. We basically overseeing the work & subcontractors ourselves. Just a complete nightmare! Contract signed on June 26, 2021, which stated 14-20 weeks. More than a year later, the project is still not 100% completed. We're having trouble getting them to come back to correct problems & finish remaining items. Wrong grout was used on the waterline tile. After the pool is filled, the grout rapidly deteriorated within days, got soften & washed out by water. The owner of Houston Premier Pools & Spas insisted it's OK and refused to even come out to look at it. He now intimidated us with lawyer because we are with withholding the one last payment until these problems are addressed. So if you plan to build a pool with "Houston Premier Pools & Spas", you better lawyer up...BEFORE, DURING and AFTER. We should have trusted our instinct and go with a different pool builder.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! My husband could've been killed and seriously injured when the firepits exploded during initial operation! And my kids were swimming when 2 coping pieces fell off in the pool! Contract signed in May 2021, pool was finally operable in November 2021, but pool is still not completed as of April 2022. We paid in cash ovet $125k for the pool and project is not completed!! Steve, Tim, Mat, and Dora are horrible business professionals!! Poor integrity, non-responsive, lack of professional, at the very least! I would've paid more to have less of a headache. I've reported them to the Better Business Bureau and will be proceeding with legal action. Maybe hitting their pockets will make them handle business better in the future! Totally unacceptable and don't let them fool you with the COVID excuses. Professionalism and integrity has nothing to do with COVID!

Run for the Hills. Unless that is you want to be the superintendent on your own project, have to drive across town and pick up your materials bc they didn't order enough. They didn't even design my pool...I gave them another companies design that I liked. I chose them bc Steven Garcia sold me on him being the buffer and me having a dedicated supervisor on the site at every major step. FYI our supervisor had 28 pools at a time he was working on. How can you give good service like that? They also have rude subs that talk down to you after you call them out for poor quality. My project was supposed to be done in 60/80 workable days. We're now in September and not only is the deck and tile not complete, their sales rep Steven Garcia told me to not contact him anymore that he did his best. FYI he's the owners son in law. The owner is another story altogether. Bill Unger could care less if you're happy. Instead he defends his employees and insults you when you try to complain. I mean I did pay them over 120k according the contract. But they have taken my money and are in breach of contract. So with so many pool builders out there, choose one that actually has good reviews. I should have gone with my gut and believed the reviews. Instead I am sitting here 7.5 months later and don't have the entire thing done. Every project has bumps. But when the owner gas lights you and tells you that you're rude for complaining...that is where it starts and stops. Never ever ever use this company.

They built a pool and spa that didn’t match the drawings - had to start over. Circa 2016

I am hopeful that this review saves anyone else from what we experienced with PPAS Houston. The lack of communication and professionalism is remarkable. The superintendent, Gary, literally had a screaming match in the backyard with my landscaper right in front of me. I was fed many lies. The company has all of our money, and yet things are still not completed. Don’t even try to go to Bill Unger, the president. His defensive nature means that everything you have to say falls on deaf ears. I urge you to read the other negative reviews....they are all true. Although the pool turned out beautifully, it was not worth what it took to get there. I will never, ever use PPAS again in the future. Please do your research, and find a company that prioritizes the customer.

BEWARE. As a buyer's agent and a homeowner, I have worked with several pool companies over the last 20 years. This has been by far the WORST experience I have ever had. They told me they would begin digging in May and have the pool completed by the middle of July. They didn't actually start until June 21 and that's only because I called and hounded them and threatened to walk away if they didn't complete. That was only the beginning of the worst customer service experience of my life. Since then, I have had to fight tooth and nail to get ANY work completed. My backyard is in complete disarray, with trash littered all over the yard. Every week I have to send my kids out to fetch soggy cardboard boxes from the deck jets, stray nails, and wood splinters, and empty bottles and wrappers that the crew left out just so so we can let our dogs in the backyard to go to the bathroom. When they finally started on our tile, I noticed chips and cracks on nearly every piece. I asked the project supervisor about it, and he promised that the polymer sand would fill in the chips and cracks, seal it, and leave it looking seamless. It looks horrible. They used brown sand in my white tile, and despite their assurances that they would replace any chipped tiles I had pointed out, have ignored my complaints. I wrote an email to the president of the company, Bill Unger, and he told me "Being the owner of the company, you better care about what I think." In our correspondence since, he has taken the same unprofessional tone of superiority and indifference. DO NOT waste your time or money because you will regret it.

This company is a joke! I had to sue Bill Unger, Aka William Unger, Will Unger, And any other names he's used to get my money back. I wouldn't use them to bury my animals because he's NOT trustworthy.... google his name, he's associated with several different pool companies also.

Can't seem to get a quote - taken over a month since initial guy came out said he'd be back to measure. Then told he'd pass us along to another guy they sub to for their smaller jobs. No call. I emphasized this was the week we were trying to decide to be able to schedule the work within the next month. Not impressed - the name seems like it would be top of the line but smaller companies much more responsive to try to earn our business and educate us on options.

This is the second pool Premier Pools has build for me. The first pools was great, I had no issues with any of the equipment and we enjoyed our pool for 4 years. At my new house I decided to go with Premier Pools because I was happy with the job they did on my last pool. Everything was good with the second build until the plaster was sprayed. The plaster was sprayed during a thunderstorm and completed in about an hour. When I inspected the plaster a few days after it was sprayed I noticed that it was all over the grey grout and on the coping. There was also discoloration and divots all over the plaster. At that point I wanted the Plaster knocked out and resprayed. Premier Pools insured me that they could fix it. They came out and sanded it down and tried to remove most of the overspray but it still exist today. A month layer, (before I officially took ownership of the pool) I noticed small holes in the plaster. Again Premier Pools came and patch the holes. 6 months have passed and more holes and discoloration have formed on the plaster. I contacted the warranty department and they came out with the plaster applier and the plaster company and immediately tested the water with two separate sets of testers. The water was in near perfect balance so they then asked for weekly water quality logs. Water quality test were taken by the pool maintenance company I hired and done on a weekly basis. All of the test show that the water has been within normal range during the 6 months I have owned the pool. At that point Premier Pools determined that the water quality must have deteriorated in between weekly services. I have documented pictures of the issues from when the plaster was sprayed that also includes email correspondence to Premier Pools and also an email from Premier Pools admitting that there was an issue with the plaster. I maintained the first pool bought from Premier Pools for years without issue. If you have an issue with the Plaster, don’t expect Premier Pools to fix it.

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By far the worst possible experience we could have imagined. After cutting a sewer line, they continued to expose their workers and my family to raw sewage. We had to get the city involved and shut down the job until they remedied the situation. When we tried to expressed the concern to the owner he was rude, dismissive and told us to find another contractor. The foreman working our job was so angry with the company that he quit mid project. They destroyed the yard and all stone work that was already installed. The yard had to be completely re leveled and our fence repaired due to their damage. The only saving grace was their scheduler Dora who was nice enough to help out where she could. Everyone else we dealt with at premier pools have no idea what they're doing and honestly should not be in business.

He was actually really nice. It's family owned. The guy that came out was the owner of the company. It was a smaller pool company. If I was to have someone come out to look at the current house we live in, I would invite him back.

After interviewing a few other pool companies, my husband and I decided to go with Premier after they gave us a great deal on the type of pool we wanted. Everything went well. My only complaint was that we had to wait for them to return from a trip to have our gas hooked up so we could use our heater...the pool was completed in the winter time. I do have to warn those that are having a pool put in...please make sure your neighbor is ok with the pool. We had issues with our neighbor because of sprinkler system destruction...that was the crew's fault, and fence probs that was really no one's fault. Also, be prepared to have a whole new sprinkler system installed after the pool is in because your existing system will be destroyed by the backhoe.

It went very well. When I told friends and family that I was installing a pool they all said to dig in my heels and get ready for a nightmare experience. It was just the opposite with Premier.

The designer, Sutton, who came to my home to measure and plan out the design was friendly, accessible, and actually LISTENED to what I was saying. I had had three other pool companies come to my home and go through the proposal process before her, and they came back with designs that were not really what I was saying I wanted, and in fact were reminiscent of motel pools from the 50s. Sutton however did a great job designing a pool that complimented my home, my lifestyle, and my neighborhood.

Thurlow was assigned as the job supervisor and he was on top of everything. His knowledge of pool construction just blew me away. Thurlow was also extremely patient with all my questions. Having all this going on in my backyard was like being a kid again, and I was eager to know all the details. Thurlow made the construction fun and stress free from beginning to end.

Even the subcontractors that were brought in along the way seemed to have the positive approach that Premier has towards such a complicated and imposing process.

In the office Dora was like the air traffic controller of the job. Even when I was frustrated with details along the way (like "but why did the rainstorm and lightening shut down the job") she patiently and with good humor talked me through. I honestly don't know how she does it and stay so patient.

May I just say though that the process isn't a walk in the park, it's a huge mess with lots of strangers coming and going, and of course there is the stress of it being such a big ticket installation and the worry that it might not turn out as expected. I'm truly glad that it's over. However the patience, professionalism, and courtesy that I encountered with everyone at Premier Pools made it all worthwhile.

First of all they were quick to get started and do the main pool construction. I was to make payments as certain stages were to commence the final payment being made before the pool was plastered. I was concerned about making a final payment before the work was complete saying I would have no leverage in case the job was not completed. I was assured by several people including the salesman not to worry. My worst fear came true. It has been 3 months and the pool is not complete. The first problem was in tiling the pool - I was told the tiling had to be delayed because the tile is hung up at customs and may take 1+ weeks to be released. My neigbor worked customs at the ship channel and said that everything is computerized and would require 1-2 days at the most. He assumed they just did not order the tile so I picked another one. During construction of the pool, they threw construction debris all over, cups, cigarette butts, etc. I mentioned this to the consruction site manager and he said don't worry if the grass is damaged they would replace it. The pool overflow was not installed during construction nor were the steps to the pool constructed of flagstone (they used pea gravel). They continued construction and I made the final payment. I mentioned my concerns to the salesman that I do not like to pay before completion because I would have no leaverage incase the pool was not finished. Again I was told not to worry - that would never happen but it did. The pool is filled with water but the details like the overflow, yard cleanup, resodding and sprinkler systen repair were not done satisfactorily. They cut a hole in the side of the pool and installed a PVC pipe and called the overflow done. I have been after them for a month and they still aren't done. I work long hours and 6 days a week and informed them that I will have my landscape guy do final cleanup and told them weeks in advanced. Their guy was supposed to come out on a saturday and never showed nor called. I informed the construction manager that my guy can do the sod and he told go ahead and send Premier the bill. They had done damage to the yard in the tone of 6 pallets of sod but now just willing to pay for one saying my contract stated a certain limit ( it stated " resod the yard" and I was told to have it done. No limits were placed on the resodding). Their landscape guy repaired the sprinklers and after 1 week of flooded yard and leaking sprinklers with no one to respond to my complaint, I had another company take care of it. Premier had installed a faulty valve and faulty sprinkler heads as well as cut the wires to a sprinkler zone. It cost me 360.00 to repair their damage and no one from Premier will talk to me. My pool ended up costing more than other estimates. The worse part is they do not keep you informed. If you call wanting to know the next step they ignore you. Since I work most of the time, I told them to just keep me informed about what was done that day and when something else would be done. They always promised but never did.They do not respond to complaints or questions about scheduling. My pool will probably never be completed. I have told them repeatively that I am frustrated to please let me know what is happening and to get issues resolved. They never do/did. I was told that the pool would be completed 2 weeks ago and it still isn't. This was the most stressful experience of my life. This company is after the money and once they have it too bad to the consumer. I don't know if now I have to file a legal complaint

First of all, I interviewed 3 different pool companies, but had called several more and they either made appointments for consultations with me and never showed up; or they came out, talked to me and did measurements and never bothered to send me a quote; or just never returned my calls. Premier came out, made a great presentation, and their price was the best and they certainly talked the talk, so I decided to go with them. My husband had gone out of the country for several months on June 23, 2013, and they began digging the pool on June 24th. I had no idea they were starting that day, and wasn't given any notice. Time and time again we had asked for a construction schedule so we would know what to expect on which days, and make sure to be home and/or make sure our 3 dogs were inside. They never provided a schedule and most of the time, I never knew what was going to happen next. I couldn't plan to go anywhere or do anything where I had to leave home because I had to leave my dogs inside. (Despite the fact that I put a note on the gate saying I had dogs and they needed to close the gate, they left it open twice). The only good thing about the whole process was I was able to deal with Dora in their office. She was always very professional, always called me back and always answered my questions and concerns - except for giving me a construction schedule. She would get things taken care of for me. I can tell that poor lady must have had to take alot of flack from all the different clients, but she really was the best part of the entire experience.
Throughout the process, one of the crews cut my internet cable, and I had no internet or phone for about 2 months. My cell phone doesn't work inside my house so all this time I had to go outside to talk on the phone in the 100+ degree heat, and I had to get a personal hotspot just to use the internet in order to communicate with my husband. That is a story for a different
time though....Then, another crew blew a breaker to my garage which I didn't know about until I went to get something out of my freezer in the garage and everything in it had defrosted. It was full of meat and frozen items and smelled terrible. It had to be cleaned thoroughly several times and wiped down with Clorox numerous times.
The pool was supposed to have been completed in 6 weeks, but took 12 weeks to complete...and there was no really bad weather to keep them from getting the job done. When they built the waterfall, they had left 2 gaps on either side of it that I didn't like, so I called Dora and she had a guy come back and fill those in. The only problem was that they used my very own rocks from my landscaping to fill in the spots instead of bringing their own rocks! I went out and looked and noticed rocks
missing from my landscaping border behind the rocks and I just couldn't believe it...so again, I called Dora and some guy brought me some more rocks.
Near the end of the project, when they sprayed the quartz inside the pool, (which we chose to be a light grey so the sun would
reflect a deep blue color in the water), that particular crew had come back to finish the job and walked around on the quartz as it was curing. Matt (the owner's son and construction manager) had come out to collect the balance and explained to me that no one should walk on the plaster while it is curing nor while the pool was being filled. I had no reason to go down to the bottom of the pool anyway, and followed his instructions to the T. Now, anyone who works in that industry, or has built a pool knows that when the plaster is curing, you DON'T walk on it. Well, another crew had to come out to fill in some holes or do something and went down and walked on it. Matt had told me that once all the chemicals were added to the water it would go away. Well guess what - 1 year later, Istill have huge men's work-boot shaped footprints in the bottom of my pool which will NEVER go away! I have since spoken to many pool industry personnel, who have told me that it's not ever going to disappear! How lovely....
Then, it came time to fill the pool. The pool was all done and being filled but there was a leak. My yard smelled of stagnant water or sewage, and the pool level got stuck about halfway through the process. It took several different people to come out to investigate to see where the pool was leaking from. First it was leaking from one area that caused the water to remain about halfway full. Once they figured that out, it finally filled to the appropriate level. It was finally completely full, or so I thought....then the water level kept going down several inches. I called Matt several times about this and he would tell me to do this or that and I did as I was instructed. It wouldn't stay full. Finally, they sent an underwater diver/pool repair guy out and he found the problem in the main drain at the bottom of the pool and fixed it. This entire process took about 3 weeks. When
it was all fixed, not only did I have men's giant workboot foot prints permanently etched in the bottom of my brand new pool, but now I had waterline stains as well, which willalso NEVER go away!
In the end, the pool is quite beautiful, (except for the stains in the quartz), they did reimburse me for all the food I lost in my freezer, and for the water that I had to keep re-filling the pool with, but only after constant pestering of poor Dora.
An additional note. Some friends of mine decided to have a pool built shortly after mine was started and decided to also
use Premier. Since I referred them, I was supposed to receive a $500 check from Premier as a referral fee as soon as
their pool was begun. Well, I didn't receive that check until theirs was completed. Every time I called about either check,
it was either 'in the mail', or 'sent for approval', or the 'owners were out of the country and were the only ones who could sign the check' yadda, yadda. It was always something.
I'm SO very glad I don't have to deal with them anymore other than warranty work and repairs, but of course, when I recently called and spoke to Jerry who is the warranty person, his story is always 'that doesn't fall under warranty and you'll have
to call a pool repair person out and pay to fix it'. It figures!
I wouldn't recommend Premier Pools and Spas to my worst enemy. In my first year as a pool owner, I've spoken to many people at the pool store buying chemicals, or just out and about who have all said or heard the same thing about this company. Therefore, my grade for them is a big fat F!

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We met with the owner of the company and his son in law several times to design/plan our pool. We met the sales person in our home, shared our plans for the house with them. We were very thorough with our expectations and plans. We agreed with the owner and the sales person on a price and signed a contract and gave them a $13,000 check. Shortly thereafter we submitted the plans to our home owners association. Less than a week later (before the plans were approved) the sales person called me demanding additional $750 for permit. I was very confused because the first line in the contract indicated that permits/fees were included. When I questioned him, he told me that the city permit was not included and then asked me to speak to the GM. The GM was incredibly, rude and unhelpful. He told me that in addition to the permit fees there may be additional fees amounting to $5k if the city wants us to do anything else based on inspection. My husband at this point spoke to the owner to ask him about this. The owner told us that he made a mistake and he was not making enough money on the pool and therefore we may have additional money that they will be asking for on and ongoing basis to cover their expenses.

I cannot believe that a company that builds pools does not know what permits to get and what the costs involved are. I think this company is shady and tries to scam people out of money by using excuses.

In addition, the GM is very unprofessional. I would never use this company nor will I recommend them to anyone. The only saving grace is that they gave us our money back.

They were very professional. They have a store front location that customers can go to. You don't have to worry about contractors going to your place to sell their service. They have an excellent website. Before they start with the job, they will give you a schedule and they were on time. There are warranty and guaranty on everything. If something goes wrong, there is a warranty service that comes out and corrects it immediately. They respond quickly to calls and emails. It was an excellent experience which I had for a pool company. They cleaned up after putting the pool and the yard looks absolutely bright. Everything that I ordered and how it was made was of value.

I reviewed the building process of my pool few months back-now it is time to review the warranty. No surprises there - awful as the construction work itself. It took them almost a year to build my pool and only after 2 months I had to call for repairs. My spa started leaking immediately after they finished construction- had to call daily for a month to make sure some one comes to fix it. 3 months later - leaking again. Calling daily - no response. Meanwhile, for the 5 months the pool was done, had to call for repairs 4 times! It takes weeks for them to respond if they ever do. When someone manages to come over - keep in mind they don't call or let you know when the repair will be done, they just show up at your house- they always have no idea what to do and how.
RUN RUN RUN from this company
I am seriously considering a law suit.

I contacted the provider and he showed up on time to provide an estimate. We needed tile/coping, pavers done for our pool and decking. The provider informed us that he will need a few days to provide a quote to us, however, after a week of no response, I gave up. They did show up on time to look at the job.

All as planned and more.