Benchmark Pools & Spas

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It was excellent. They were efficient. I would recommend them. They did everything they said. They did just what they were supposed to do. We were very happy.

We had some issues with an outdoor kitchen and fire pit that we had installed a few years ago and I needed someone to repair cracked stonework and other cosmetic issues. I got Manny's number from a contractor doing other work for me. I took the fact that another contractor would recommend him as a good sign that he would do a good job. He responded quickly to my message and came out within a few days to look at our outdoor kitchen. He gave me several options on how he could make the repairs and answered all of my questions. When we called to schedule the work he got us on the schedule quickly and they were right on time to do the repairs. Manny was very professional from the first call through the completion of the work. He let me know what was happening at every stage and answered all of my questions. The results look great and we are very happy with how everything turned out. I would certainly hire Benchmark Pools again.

We were extremely satisfied with Benchmark pools for our major pool renovation. They completely remade our spa/pool spillover wall, completely re-plastered and re-tiled. Our pool looked absolutely phenomenal when they were through! I recommend them highly!

I bought a home with a pool late 2010. Never owned a pool, had no interest in learning how to maintain one so hit Angie's List and chose this company. I met with the owner of the company to discuss services and price. He was late for the initial meeting, but did call. He was professional and apparently knowledgeable. He claimed that his company provided comprehensive, weekly maintenance to include chemical maintenance, routine cleaning, and pump maintenance. The quoted price, $150.00/month seemed rather high, but since his company had good reviews on Angie's List (or, lack of bad reporting which is now a lesson learned) I figured he was worth it. During the initial consultation he noticed that my pump did not have a freeze guard. He highly recommended it, and based on his explanation of the risks/benefits I elected to have one installed ($500+ parts and labor). He also recommended that I have the pool resurfaced soon to avoid potential leaks (quoted a price of around $5K). I opted to just begin the maintenance contract and get the pool in shape for the upcoming pool season and defer other things until absolutely critical. The first few weeks, I was home when the techs came to do the maintenance. I left them alone, but noticed them through my windows. They were busily scrubbing the walls of the pool, dipping chemical analysis tools into the water, and generally appeared to be knocking it out of the park in terms of providing service. After a few weeks of this, I felt pretty confident that the pool was one less worry I had as a new homeowner. One evening I noticed an odd sound outside, and saw water furiously swirling around on the sides of the pool. I went outside to examine the pump which was obviously malfunctioning. I turned it off and called Benchmark. I got a return phone call well over 24 hours later. He informed me that the water level was probably low. I told him that the pump had been running continuously, 24 hours a day every day for two months. He sounded surprised and claimed that he told me to install a pump timer at some point in the past few months. Problems with this: 1. I distinctly recall him telling me, during our initial meeting that the pump should just remain running; 2. If his company were actually performing comprehensive maintenance, this situation should have been brought to my attention again if it was of importance which obviously it was; 3. I made it clear on the initial consultation that I had never owned a pool, had no interest in learning pool maintenance, and was assigning (via a contract) ALL pool maintenance to his company for this reason. I believed that paying a high monthly maintenance fee, and unequivocally explaining from the outset that I wanted a worry-free pool maintenance experience for the price (which includes not having to learn or even worry about knowing about pumps, pump timers, installing timers, proper chemical balance, etc.) should have and ldquo;bought meand rdquo; a little peace of mind. The proverbial "straw" was verifying (via undeniable, rock solid evidence) that his company on more than one occasion skipped weekly maintenance, just never showed up. When I presented him with this evidence, the owner did not deny it, but offered a flimsy, unacceptable effort at explaining why this may have happened. I fired him on the basis of breach of contract and fraudulent billing practices. Paying for weekly maintenance, means getting weekly maintenance...period! There was no argument, no subsequent discussions although he did offer to "do whatever it took to make it right" including refund of a month's maintenance fee. I elected to part with a "no thank you, virtual handshake" over the phone. In retrospect it appeared that Benchmark was more interested in recommending as many costly repairs, upgrades, or additional services as possible and less about providing honest, dependable and no-hassle maintenance service. I do accept some responsibility in all of this, of course. Retrospectively, there are things I could have, and now know to do differently. Overall, I was obviously disappointed in my experience with this company and could certainly not recommend it with good conscience. I paid for "pool school" offered by another well-known pool service company, and do all my own pool maintenance.

I had been trying to take care of my pool myself. I had the pool in terrible shape. It took them three days to get the pool in excellent condition. The tech was knowledgable. He explained to me what he had to do and he let me watch what he was doing.

Mark Leon, and quot;operations manager,and quot; responded promptly to our request for an estimate for service, and he arrived on schedule after the work had been commissioned. He noted that the heater was too large to pass through the opening in a fence that we had installed around the equipment area after the heater had been installed. HIs solution, which evidenced both experience and know-how, was simply to remove a section of the fence and to replace it after the heater had been removed. (We paid a fee for that service.)

Mark noticed that the mastic around the pool deck was separating from its mooring, and he warned that such gaps could undermine the construction down the road. He showed me clear signs of the separation and some indication that erosion of the deck had already begun. He noted that the specifications for installation of mastic had obviously not been met in the original installation, and he explained the details of his installation procedure. When I asked about the need for other repairs to the stamped concrete deck itself, he did not use that as an opportunity to upsell, but noted that the deck was in top condition and did not need work

His work conformed precisely to his promised specs, and even though the time and materials exceeded his estimated cost, he honored the original estimate.
Without asking and without charging, he repaired the hardware installation on our fence gate and he cleaned out and spruced up the equipment area from which he had removed the heater..

We had asked several contractors about installing a ceiling fan in the outdoor patio area, and all agreed that the project was possible but costly and that the cosmetic result would be unacceptable. Mark immediately saw a simple, inexpensive, cosmetically immaculate way to solve the problem. We have not yet commissioned that project, but we noted, again, evidence of his experience and know-how in construcitioni and remodeling.

It went fine. He took the time to explain our pool to us. I would use them again.

I am a first-time pool owner. Not wanting to learn from scratch how to maintain a pool, I used Angie's list to locate this vendor. The owner met me at my home, arrived punctually, answered all my questions, and detailed the prospective scope of services offered. I elected to install a freeze pump, based on his recommendations, to avoid potential costs due to frozen pipes which he reported was a big problem for many clients last season. He offered a discount in the installation based on the prospect of using his monthly maintenance service. I did elect to have monthly maintenance, and from my limited knowledge and experience would say that his service so far has been pretty good, albeit priced higher than the average.