If you have made the decision to install an in-ground pool, it is important to find the right contractor. There are many poolcontractors in Austin, but you will want to find one that you can build a relationship of trust with. After all, you will be working very closely with your contractor over an extended period of time, so you will want to avoid any foreseeable difficulties or conflict.
One of the ways that you can sift through all of the choices in contractors is through recommendations of friends and family. Most contractors will supply you with references, but hopefully they wouldn’t give you the name of someone who is going to say negative things about their work, so it’s best if you are able to talk with less biased references. If someone that you trust has had a bad experience with a particular contractor, ask for details. Was the contractor unreliable in terms of promised completion dates for the pool or did hidden costs suddenly arise out of nowhere? These are things you will want to know about the various contractors you are considering.
You also want your contractor to be someone with whom you feel comfortable communicating. Do the contractors that you are interviewing listen to your ideas and try to incorporate them into the overall design of the pool, or are they more intent on pushing you into the sale that they want to make? Do any of the contractors talk down to you or make you feel in any way uncomfortable? If these issues are coming up now, before a contract has even been signed, what is it going to be like when the contractor no longer feels the need to impress in order to make a sale?
If any of the contractors do provide you with a list of references, make sure that you contact someone in the Austin area whose pool was completed at least a few years ago. Not only will you want to know how the construction process went, but you will also want to ask about how the pool has held up over time. Another good question to ask former customers of particular contractors is whether or not they would hire that contractor again. The answer to this is key as to whether or not this is the builder that you want for your pool.
Do not let contractors overwhelm you or try to pressure you into anything that you are not sure of. This is your pool, and it is going to be one of the largest investments that you ever make. You have the right to ask questions and to demand quality.
