Hello, out of lurk mode.

 

Maybe someone can help or I can get some guidance from opinions.

 

I am in the process of pricing a fiberglass pool in central Jersey and it seems that most companies have a ton of complaints, some seem to refer or share websites. As of know it seem that Anthony Sylvan was the most respected, but I found countless complaints as well.

 

Has anyone recently have a fiberglass pool installed? Who did you use? What was your experience?

 

Any opinions on installers, companies, etc.

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Alex

Alex,

 

A former client of mine was a pool installation company. I can give you their contact info if you want. They seemed to be doing a descent job. They are located in Bordentown, NJ.

I have had customers (I'm not in the pool business) who had serious problems with Anthony Sylvan and ended up suing them. I would avoid them, I unfortunately cannot give you a good recommendation on fiberglass pools, if you want a concrete pool PM me and I can refer you there.

Fiberglass pools are at the mercy of the ground and ground prep at the site of instalation. That best thing I can recomend is to get prices from the people closest to you as they are the most familiar with ground conditions in your area. Having excavated much of new jersey at one point or another I can tell you the conditions vary greatly! My neighbor had one installed by windsor pool and they did an excelelent job. I dont have (and wont have!) a pool since I wont cut down the trees nescessary to do it.

Best of Luck

Ken

About 2 years go, my neighbor had a fiberglass pool put in around the same time i had my traditional pool put in. Theirs went in waaaay faster than mine.. They dug the hole, had a crane come drop the pool in, made some connections and the next day a water tanker came, filled it, and they were swimming, all in about 5 days.

 

my concerns with fiberglass pools(their pool, as I don't have experience with others). NJKen's advice is prefect..

 

~ water table. if your in an area where the water table fluctuates, or has a possibility of rising, you could have the pool pop out of the ground. This could also happen in the winter as well. and you can say hello to some costly repairs and concrete work, again..

~ No main drain at the bottom.

~ no liner. when the color fades, and it will over time, you need to get the whole pool refinished. (no different than me having to replace my liner down the road, but I assume the liner job is a lot less)

~ Cost. I priced out doing fiberglass when I put mine in and it was about 8-10k more expensive.

 

While the quick install was nice, I have concerns with ground settling and the limited amount of time it had to do so.

 

The pool business is tough, having a few friends in the business, I can tell you that you want to find a place that doesn't sub out most of the work. Many companies sub out the excavating, install, liners, plumbing, etc.. concrete I can understand. Like homedepot and lowes, they find the least expensive guy to get the job done and thats who you get.. You'll find rave reviews and pissed off people about every company out there, my advice, go with someone that has been in business for a long time (my place was 30+ years). It's not a hard task, so everyone that installs for a few years thinks they can start their own company and make all the money.. it's not that easy and many go tits up during a job. I know of 2 people that this happened too..

 

Whatever quote you get, you'll notice most places are pretty close to each other in price, maybe a few thousand here or there. When you get a quote, add about 8-10k on top of that to ensure you have money for extra B.S. Fence, retaining wall, landscaping, extra concrete, electrician, plumbing extras (read your contract, even tho electric and plumbing are usually included, they are typically only included up to a certain length, like the electric might only include 75' from the breaker panel, will you need more? same with plumbing. Lawn/yard repairs. How are they getting to the back yard? thru the front? that area will be trashed, they will typically re level, but what about the grass? that will need to be fixed.

 

Do you currently have in ground sprinklers? they will need to be moved/changed. the backhoe don't care about your sprinklers.

 

lastly, salt filter!! get this, not chlorine. I spend close to nothing in chemicals to operate my pool, no chlorine, no burning eyes, no buying. The "salt chlorine" mimics the ocean in a way, you ad salt in the beginning of the year, then the system generates it's own "chlorine" and your pool is crystal clear, clean and you can't taste, smell or feel the salt, and it should not cost any more for the equipment than traditional chlorine stuff.

 

sorry for the novel, but it's a lot of money, so spend it wisely. oh, and try and pick a place with a brick and mortar store, so IF you ever have a problem, you can go there, and not wait around for a phone call back if need be. Also, when you almost done negotiating, and settled on a price, ask them to include closing/opening for the first year as well. It's a soft cost, so you'll most likely get that in there. If your a do it yourself'er, use these 2 times to learn how to do it.

 

When you get a quote, add about 8-10k on top of that to ensure you have money for extra B.S. Fence, retaining wall, landscaping, extra concrete,

 

Landscaping could easily cost as much or more than the pool itself unless you do it yourself

 

 

 

lastly, salt filter!! get this, not chlorine. I spend close to nothing in chemicals to operate my pool, no chlorine, no burning eyes, no buying. The "salt chlorine" mimics the ocean in a way, you ad salt in the beginning of the year, then the system generates it's own "chlorine" and your pool is crystal clear, clean and you can't taste, smell or feel the salt, and it should not cost any more for the equipment than traditional chlorine stuff.

 

I would second that, everyone I know that has a saltwater pool says they are the best way to go!

About 2 years go, my neighbor had a fiberglass pool put in around the same time i had my traditional pool put in. Theirs went in waaaay faster than mine.. They dug the hole, had a crane come drop the pool in, made some connections and the next day a water tanker came, filled it, and they were swimming, all in about 5 days.

 

my concerns with fiberglass pools(their pool, as I don't have experience with others). NJKen's advice is prefect..

 

~ water table. if your in an area where the water table fluctuates, or has a possibility of rising, you could have the pool pop out of the ground. This could also happen in the winter as well. and you can say hello to some costly repairs and concrete work, again..

~ No main drain at the bottom.

~ no liner. when the color fades, and it will over time, you need to get the whole pool refinished. (no different than me having to replace my liner down the road, but I assume the liner job is a lot less)

~ Cost. I priced out doing fiberglass when I put mine in and it was about 8-10k more expensive.

 

While the quick install was nice, I have concerns with ground settling and the limited amount of time it had to do so.

 

The pool business is tough, having a few friends in the business, I can tell you that you want to find a place that doesn't sub out most of the work. Many companies sub out the excavating, install, liners, plumbing, etc.. concrete I can understand. Like homedepot and lowes, they find the least expensive guy to get the job done and thats who you get.. You'll find rave reviews and pissed off people about every company out there, my advice, go with someone that has been in business for a long time (my place was 30+ years). It's not a hard task, so everyone that installs for a few years thinks they can start their own company and make all the money.. it's not that easy and many go tits up during a job. I know of 2 people that this happened too..

 

Whatever quote you get, you'll notice most places are pretty close to each other in price, maybe a few thousand here or there. When you get a quote, add about 8-10k on top of that to ensure you have money for extra B.S. Fence, retaining wall, landscaping, extra concrete, electrician, plumbing extras (read your contract, even tho electric and plumbing are usually included, they are typically only included up to a certain length, like the electric might only include 75' from the breaker panel, will you need more? same with plumbing. Lawn/yard repairs. How are they getting to the back yard? thru the front? that area will be trashed, they will typically re level, but what about the grass? that will need to be fixed.

 

Do you currently have in ground sprinklers? they will need to be moved/changed. the backhoe don't care about your sprinklers.

 

lastly, salt filter!! get this, not chlorine. I spend close to nothing in chemicals to operate my pool, no chlorine, no burning eyes, no buying. The "salt chlorine" mimics the ocean in a way, you ad salt in the beginning of the year, then the system generates it's own "chlorine" and your pool is crystal clear, clean and you can't taste, smell or feel the salt, and it should not cost any more for the equipment than traditional chlorine stuff.

 

sorry for the novel, but it's a lot of money, so spend it wisely. oh, and try and pick a place with a brick and mortar store, so IF you ever have a problem, you can go there, and not wait around for a phone call back if need be. Also, when you almost done negotiating, and settled on a price, ask them to include closing/opening for the first year as well. It's a soft cost, so you'll most likely get that in there. If your a do it yourself'er, use these 2 times to learn how to do it.

Thats a great addition to my little piece! I have never been one to type too much!

Ken