Riverbend Sandler Pools

Find yourself a different pool company. The DFW area has many to choose from. The sales guy (Matt) was very smooth and said all the right things. However, now that there’s a problem, he passes the buck to construction and construction passes it back to him. There is no ownership of the problem and they hope you just get exhausted from the run-around so you won’t continue to find a solution. My problem is with our stone around the pool. The sample in their office was WAY OFF compared to what was used. I even got their sample stone wet to make sure it didn’t change color or show a lot of veins. However, the stone that was installed looks like zebra stripes and some are brown instead of gray. There answer “pay us and we’ll replace the brown stones”. What?! That’s like spending a $100,000 on a car, ordering black leather interior and it arriving with brown cloth. You wouldn’t be happy and you’d ask for it to be fixed. This company will not stand behind their work and will mislead you in their showroom.

Do not use this company!!! We started talking to them in July of 2023, and contracted with them in August of 2023 to build our pool and patio. The salesman Lee was fairly decent at the beginning, but is really not meant to be a salesperson. He provided a lackluster design that I personally altered and modified to come up with something we could tolerate. This should’ve been my first hint at how things were going to go!! They started in September of 2023 and told us they’d try to be done by the end of the year, what a joke that was! The salesperson slowly became less and less responsive while the project manager kind of took over while they destroyed our front yard, cut our internet cable and went into the neighbors yard. By the end of October they had made a good amount of progress and seemed to be on track. Then came months of barely any progress at all! Good luck getting ahold of anyone there or getting any kind of notice as to what they’re doing! The end of the year came and went and still nothing was done, the only communication I got was asking for more money!! They finally put some water in the pool in March! They took 6 months to get to that point, but wait it didn’t matter! We had no appliances, and the pool had a leak!! After days of continuing to fill it they finally sent someone to check it out and realized the pool had a leak! Can you imagine how frustrated we were??? A few weeks later and they drained the pool to fix the leak after I asked several times what was going on! They finally put the appliances in, but do you think they actually fully put them in? Of course not! The leak was fixed and we had to fill the pool all over again! So do you think they treated the pool and put chlorine in it afterwards?? Of course not! They let it grow algae and get so dirty that it smells!! But don’t worry the salesman reached out to me…..to try and sell me some service contract! What a joke!!! You’ve taken 7+ months to sort of complete my pool, allowed algae to grow in it, provided terrible communication and expect me to purchase your stupid service contract as if you’ll do a good job???? So here we are almost in May, still haven’t passed city inspection, have frogs living in our algae infested pool and all they care about is their money!! Do not use this terrible company!!! I wish I could get my month and time back!

RBS did a good job of building our pool; it was on time and on budget. Our weekly service technician has also been polite and timely. Service for your investment/expense is where they fall WAAAAAAY short. Below is a note I just sent to RBS: I just got off the phone with you "service coordinator"; sorry, I didn't catch her name. As an organization, you have put her in an untenable position of having to tell customers "no" with no option available to her to remedy the situation. I am writing to communicate my absolute frustration and disappointment with Riverbend Sandler (RBS). We called in June for a service call on our Jandy heater (installed by RBS as part of our new pool construction in the summer of 2017). At the time, we were told that it would be 4-6 weeks before a technician could come out to look at it. After 12 weeks and no work from RBS, we reached back out and were told that y'all are still behind on such calls and you would not commit to ANY timeframe to make the call. I understand that you may have more work than you can handle but treating your customer who, in the past 36 months, has paid you upwards of $100,000 between construction and ongoing weekly maintenance, this way should be considered wholly unacceptable by your organization. We went with your company for construction because of your responsiveness in the sales process. That was apparently a bait and switch; love us before you commit then become unresponsive when needed later. I have given instruction to cancel our maintenance contract but to retain the service call. Our heater should be under warranty if based on the initial service call in June as our build wasn't completed until September 2017; less than three years before the service call.

Riverbend built our pool in 2018. We have used them for weekly maintenance since then. Todd was the sales rep/ designer. He came by and listened to what we wanted and paid close attention to what we wanted to spend to marry those two in a beautifully designed pool. He did not pressure us at all as it took us a month and half to decide to go forward. He is very knowledgeable about the building process and how pools work. My guess is he'd offer the same level of service designing $1M pool or a $50k pool. Cristian was the construction manager/superintendent. He is super knowledgeable about how to build a pool. I found him to be very pleasant to work with and mostly responsive with questions though he seemed to be super busy with all of the projects under his supervision which can be challenging at times during the build. He did stop by one Saturday on his way home after work to show me something regarding the pool equipment so kudos for that. Daniel is a supervisor I believe who came by during the pre dig measuring and followed up a few times regarding some warranty issues. He was very helpful and knows everything I think about pools. It helps that he is a UNT alum. Shelby I believe is their boss and he was firm but seems to want to make sure Riverbend creates customers for life, and after a few discussions, stood behind that pledge and we really appreciate that. The service department is fantastic with the manager Tom being super helpful and patient with questions and concerns we've had each time we've spoken to him. He treats our pool and our concerns as though it was his pool and his concerns. Manny and Josh work in maintenance and like Tom, they are super helpful and attentive to any questions we have. Because it's such a significant investment, pool maintenance and pool issues can be overwhelming and Tom, Manny, and Josh and their team have helped easy the anxiety level many times. I did not give Riverbend a 5 star rating because during the build, we did have an issue with the concrete sub that installed our decking (concrete stamping). We noted after they completed the initial work, which is a multi step, multi day process, that there were issues noticed immediately with chipped concrete in the forms created by the stamping. They tried to sell us on the concept that the chipping was normal and could be repaired. Also, the idea that concrete steps could never be smooth or without chips throughout which we have neighbors with concrete steps so we knew this to be false. We were skeptical and during the final decking installation process, it was obviously not repairable. Daniel came out and agreed that the rapid drying of the concrete caused failure in the stamping process which were beyond repair and after several discussions, the concrete sub demoed and re-poured a portion of the decking. We did not care for the subcontractor's ambivalence regarding the poor work initially done and when they sealed the concrete after the re-work, they damaged our mastic making it look 10 years old versus its actual age, less than 2 years old. We were exhausted with that sub and did not want them on our property anymore. To be fair, Riverbend management did make sure the work was re-done and even agreed to put stone on the steps based on the sub's falsehood that steps could not be installed without chipping, however, we were surprised that they continued to allow this sub to work for them. We found all of the other subs to be very professional, performing exceptional work, and leaving our yard and pool clean after their work was performed. Would recommend RS and build with them again however would demand to work with one of their other concrete subs.

We thought the design process was good. We thought the price was fair. We thought the work that was done was quality work. The sales/design people and construction/work people do not communicate well. Sales/design people do not return calls very well after the sale. We had to constantly argue with work crew to follow through with what was agreed to in writing with sales/design people. Pretty frustrating.

The designer, Erik and the superintendent, Bert, were both outstanding. The customer service and coordination of efforts was really impressive. Absolutely recommend them.

Awesome! Great service every step of the way.

unknown

Riverbend Sandler built my pool in 2001. They built it exactly how I designed it and it is still beautiful today. I have not had any major issues until my pump motor went out last week. Just the standard things have broken over the last 15 years, mainly involving the Polaris, which is common but easy to fix. Anyway, I have a pool service and originally "thought" they could replace the motor and pump. After talking to my pool service company, it became apparent they were not the best person for this job. They are not licensed electricians, they are not bonded & insured (many pool service companies are not). When dealing with electricity, it is not wise to use unlicensed people, so I called Riverbend. They worked me into the schedule since having a pool "down" is critical and they had me up and running within a few days. Also, by having Riverbend install the new motor and pump, they include a 3 years parts and labor warranty. The price was very close to what my pool service would have charged me for a lesser quality brand of equipment and I would not get the 3 yr warranty. I will always call Riverbend for major repairs going forward and I am even getting a quote for weekly maintenance. I am very happy with not only the quality pool they built for me 15 yrs ago but also very happy with the level of maintenance service I received today. I highly recommend this company and if I were to ever build another pool, I would have Riverbend do it, no question. Hopefully they will be providing the weekly maintenance service for me as well.

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unknown

We used the Plano location.

After going through everything we wanted done with our GC, they assigned someone new,  twice. So each time someone new came in they had no idea what was going on.  

Came home one day to find their electricians drilling holes into the back of the house fireplace, which is a focal point of the backyard.  They were installing a giant electrical box for the switches for the outdoor kitchen and the pool light.

I had specifically stated that we wanted the pool light switch hidden because the existing switch was a bit of an eye sore where it was to begin with.  This was going to make it even worse, and adding additional switches for the kitchen.

They didn't ask where it should go, they just put it there.  So I asked if the switches could go in the kitchen area since that's where they would be used.  "Yeah we could do that."  Absolutely no common sense.

Ruined to ceiling fans that I had specifically bought for the kitchen area.  Could not find them anywhere to replace them. They would not cover the cost.   They ran electrical specifically for these fans.  I can't put any other fans there.

When they moved the pool equipment they asked if I wanted new timers and freeze guard. This is my first pool, I was a pool virgin, so I asked if I needed new timers, we wanted to save some money were ever we could.  He said "NO everything is working fine."

So when they were moved and weren't working, they refused to fix or replace them.  The idiot in the office tried to compare it to a light bulb. "If you take a light bulb that is working from one light and move it to another and it doesn't work, it just happens. Does that mean we're responsible to replace the light bulb?"   HOLY CRAP!!  Absolutely yes, you moved my pool equipment and it was working before you touched it.   These people are idiots.

And as in most of the other reviews here, it is almost impossible to get in touch with anyone.

Now the reason for this review, if I wasn't mad enough. 3 years late I'm still finding problems. I am in the process of rewiring  the kitchen for fans. When I had to crawl under the kitchen I found a junction box that was completely uncovered with wires sticking out.  I actually poured water out of the box.  For 3 years I couldn't figure out why the breaker kept tripping.  Oh yeah, it was installed by idiots.

Of course I considered going back and requesting they fix it. But once I finally found someone to talk to they'd probably deny even doing any of the construction.

I wish there was a way to post pictures.

Don't stay away, RUN away

unknown

So much can be said here, since building a pool is such an intimate investment of time, money, personal space, and backyard dreams.  Ultimately, I have to do justice to the experience by stating how incredibly happy we are with the finished product and the fact that we chose Riverbend.  We did a ton of homework and got multiple bids prior to finalizing - there are plenty of pool builders and for all I know there are others that would have done just as well.  I'm happy I don't have to worry about it though since the final product with Riverbend was even better than we had envisioned (and we had been "envisioning" for a long long time).
The highlights for us were the level of QUALITY throughout:
- QUALITY in terms of aesthetics... they touted their stonework throughout the sales person and they weren't kidding.  That crew was there for a long time doing the stonework for the kitchen, spa, flagstone, and water feature and it was a real work of art.  Can't say enough on this point.
- Quality, in terms of construction... We've only had it for a few months, but it came across in watching the build process that they have a great process for the plumbing, steel infrastructure, and the build process in general
- Quality, in terms of the whole process.... from the amazing showroom, through the design consultant (aka salesperson) we ultimately used, through the building process, and then pool/chemical school and startup, this was a high quality experience throughout
The interesting thing is that Riverbend almost didn't even bid.  The first design consultant we used was an hour late for the first mtg at our house and then totally forgot to send us a quote later.  We were about to finalize with another builder but called Riverbend to let them know their loss when they assigned an outstanding person to give us their final quote.  We ended up working with JD which was an absolute delight - he went above and beyond and actually won the business back for Riverbend.  We were also happy with the project management team during construction.
Outside of that initial snafu, we do still have a small list of things that we are waiting to get done to really wrap it up - things that represent about one tenth of one percent of the whole process but items that we are anxious to have closed and finalized in any case.  I'm confident it will get done... in the meantime, we are busy having the time of our lives in our backyard oasis while showing it off to friends and family every sing weekend the past three months.

The sales person Sean, designed a great pool.  He really listened to what I was looking for and designed it with everything I wanted/needed. 

The pool construction stared in October and was completed in February.  The construction lasted about 6 weeks longer than I was expecting; however, with the winter North Texas experienced there were a lot of weather delays (which is a risk if you decide to build a pool in the winter months). 

The end product is fabulous and could not have asked for a better pool.  Any questions that I had were answered in a timely manner. 

After getting several bids for our pool renovation, we decided to go with Riverbend.  They really listened to what we wanted and were able to achieve it.  Everyone was very knowledgable and friendly!   We are so pleased with the outcome of the work!

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it took a lot longer than what we were told, but they did a good job

Every step of the process was performed very well by Riverbend Sandler.  
The sales rep explained all of the options and steps.
The installation manager was very organized and responsive. 
The billing is timely and accurate.
The post-installation coaching (pool school) was very helpful.
We've now started using their weekly maintenance service.
When I hear what neighbors paid for their pools, I definitely was on the high end, but we had a lot of upgrades in ours (in-pool cleaning, Mineralizer, Ozone, Heater, travertine, etc.), and Riverbend has been great to work with.
It took 8 weeks from start to finish....just what they promised.

I am a disgruntled neighbor on the street where Riverbend Sandler is installing a pool.  We have had many pools installed on our street and these guys are by far the most messy, disrespectful, dangerous and longest to complete we have seen.
* One month into the work they are still not close to done with construction.  From the day they started there has been a mess of gravel, dirt, metal pieces (including screws and nails) and wood all across our alley.  This mess has been continuous for the full month so far.  They have never attempted to clean it up. - we live in a nice neighborhood.  It looks sorely out of place.
* On more than one occasion they left the construction site with metal bars hanging out across the alley vertically at 4-foot high across half the width of the alley.  We have to get out of our car to move them to drive without it hitting our windshield.  A person on a bike would have lost an eye.
* They leave the construction site without any protection from someone falling in.  For the first three weeks there was no barrier to keep children or animals from falling in the hole.  On week 4 the fencing contractor added orange mesh.
* The pool quality looks disastrous.  It is the most poorly constructed looking pool I have ever seen.  It really looks terrible.
Beware, if you hire these guys you will make your neighbors very frustrated and the work may look pretty poor.  You may want to increase your liability insurance premiums as well, they are a risk to you!

Writing this review from the perspective of a neighbor of someone where this company was used to install their pool.
* Started creating loud noise at 6:30am on weekends with no consideration for the neighborhood. When I asked them to stop I just got a shrug of the shoulders.
* They left a mess in the Cul de Sac. Instead of removing muck and dirt they washed it further down the cul de sac with a hose pipe. I asked one of the guys if they were going to clean the mess up after them. He said yes but left it for my neighbor who was having the work done to jet wash the street. That was a couple of months ago. Work has now been completed and the cul de sac is full of muck that they have not cleaned up and is being carried onto my drive when I have to cross it.
I can't comment on the quality of their work but site Project Management seems to be lacking, and these guys obviously have zero concern for the neighbors or neighborhood when they are doing installations. If you are going to use these guys to install your pool you should be aware.

unknown

Very happy with the overall work that has been done so far. (Completion date is expected around May 20.)
Our project manager is great.  Very responsive. Happy to answer questions/concerns.
We made it painfully clear to RiverBend that only a certain (and very reasonable) amount of our lawn was to be driven on. Somewhere along the way the subcontractors didn't get the message and drove ALL OVER my backyard -- messing with about 1/2 acre of grass. RiverBend felt it was quite unfortunate and offered to do some "repair" work. With the amount of money we've spent with them, we would have preferred grass replacement. Our yard will look pretty bad for a couple of months, but HOPEFULLY the grass repair work will get our lawn looking back to normal.
Other than the grass fiasco, we have been extremely happy with the service.

End product is what we expected, but pathway there was tumultuous that
led a 6-8 week project into 16 weeks.  The downfall was communications
between different departments and to us as well.  I expected better attention to detail and customer service.  Problems
were all managed with some pushing but the aggravation factor was higher
than expected.

#1 Drystack Stone for retaining/spa walls.  They have as showroom choice
and was ours.  When the masons came, they mortared the whole thing. We
were told "no one chooses drystack".  They offered a redo, a credit or
additional work for their mistake which we took the extra work.

#2 We picked out deck pavers site unseen. Were told on multiple
occasions samples would be brought to our home early on to make final
choice.  Needless to say samples not show up until 6 weeks into
construction when need to start this step, and unfortunately not what we
expected. So we changed course, picked new travertine stones and
salesman told us were available.  However, had to be ordered and
waited additional 2-3 weeks for those to come in.  On a positive note did
pleasantly end up with multiple size stone (which we were told not
available).  Was easily preventable delay if they had done what they
said they would do. 

#3 Built in Grill was built 6-8 inches too high at eyebrow singeing level so had to be
rebuilt.  Really seems like should have been done right in the first
place.  Was fixed - just aggravating

#4  Infinity edge was installed and not level.  Water was not flowing
over symmetrically so choppy.  When wall checked, we were told
it was leveled so implied not fix.  When you looked at the wall edge to the water line
(the ultimate leveler with gravity - right?), one side was obviously higher.  Had to push harder to get this done but
they did and not perfect but acceptable.

#5 Annoying items - When spa was "ready to use", did not heat up. Needed larger BTU gas meter into our house.  Simple fix but seems like a detail could have been forewarned about.  Also never received pool notebook we were supposed to
get at signing until all completed. (Learned this from Pool School guy after all done.) Also Leuter stone gets calcium deposits with hard water here so look hazy/dirty - would have been nice to know that from salesman.

All being said and done I do like the pool and deck we have but wish the journey was smoother.

Riverbend built my pool in the Spring of 2012.  Their show room in Plano is a great place to touch and feel some of the materials they use, and see some designs/samples.  They have a good support system from top to bottom.  They built a solid pool for me, and I am very happy with the finished product.  They have great communication, and a solid build process.  Pool equipment is top of the line.  The design team, sales team, and construction crews were awesome.
My only complaint is the subsequent repairs that were performed on a few items, that were intially small, but after the repair were magnified.  I had one stone replaced because it was leaching out iron onto the RiverSand (pebblesheen).  The stone that was repalced was nice, but the grout was not the same color (white instead of cream) and the grout lines twice as wide.  Riverbend then attempted to apply muratic acid to the metal stain, and made the stain 3 times as big and much darker.  (Instead of using absorbic acid which would take longer)  They wanted to drain the pool and acid wash the entire pool to match this new dark pebblesheen spot.  Not very funny since I love my plaster color.  Lastly they tried to plug a few spots where the plaster didn't mix all the way, but the plugs do not match and are much bigger than the original white cement spot.
All in all, Ribervend Sandler builds a GREAT pool, but beware of the Repair Department.