Custom Pool Contractors, Inc.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.We were offered no resolution.  We are not the least bit surprised by Mr. [redacted]'s response.  It is this same rhetoric we encountered throughout our project in 2015.  We filed our complaint with the Revdex.com because Custom Pool made it abundantly clear that they were not responsible and would do nothing.  I'm not sure how Mr. [redacted] can say with such certainty that our displeasure was with "a couple of small cosmetic issues" and that when "preparing it (the Pool) for replaster it did not have any visible cracking", when he never visited the job site before, during, or after our project eventhough we requested it.  We do not feel 1/2"-1" gaps in the plaster below the coping are "small cosmetic issues".  The subcontractor tried to correct this which is what resulted in the color problems.  Mr. [redacted] would have been aware of this if he had not relied on his "Personnel" for information about "the job specifics".Since Mr. [redacted] refers to the contract which sets forth "the scope of the work consisted of sandblasting and replastering" and "this is detailed work" and is "cosmetic in nature", we contend he did not honor the contract as we now have a crack in the plaster which cosmetically is unacceptable.  For someone with decades of involvement in the industry we find it suspect that 1 year after Custom Pool replastered our pool that a structural problem would occur.  As [redacted], one of Custom Pools employees stated in front of both my wife and I and that Mr. [redacted] denies, "there is a one in 200 possibility of this happening".  I'm sorry we were the one.In closing, we disagree that our project was completed in a "timely, professional, and workmanlike manner" and are disappointed, but not surprise in Custom Pool and Mr. [redacted]'s lack of responsibility.For someone with decades of involvement in the industry, we find it suspect that one year after Custom Pool
Regards,
[redacted]

I am [redacted], the owner of Custom Pool Contractors, and your letter of 06/24/16 regarding the complaint instituted by Mr. [redacted] has made it to me for review and response. I have conferred with my personnel about the job specifics, and have reviewed my file materials, including our job...

estimates and time records, as well as the photographs of the pool showing the crack of which the [redacted] complain. We submit that the work for which we were retained was completed in a timely, professional, and workmanlike manner, and that the [redacted]' complaints are unfounded. Below I will explain the basis for this opinion.As a first matter, I attach our estimate of February 2015. This sets forth the scope of our work. The scope consisted of sandblasting and replastering an existing pool. This is detailed work, but it is important to note that it is cosmetic in nature. It involves work on the pool's surface, and not on its structure. Custom Pool Contractors did not construct this pool, nor do we have any information about who did. We also do not know the exact age of the pool, although it would appear to be several decades old.One of the issues surrounding colored plasters is the difficulty of matching colors and morphing. We were clear about this up front, and our estimate says on its face that "Dyed plasters are subject to fading, streaking & morphing.” In either event, after we prepared the estimate and the [redacted] accepted, we dispatched both Custom Pool personnel and our plaster subcontractor to the site, and the work was undertaken. The [redacted] registered displeasure with a couple of small cosmetic issues, details re: color matching. We addressed these matters in a timely fashion. We encountered one small delay with our plaster subcontractor, who had both a heart attack and a child (the latter delivered by his wife, and therefore not directly related to the heart attack) and rotator cuff surgery during the same short time period. Even with these unfortunate and unavoidable delays, we were able to dispatch people to fix the problems by early July. They could swim and had use of their pool during the interim. This also occurred during the spring, a time when everyone in our industry is inundated with work, since most pool owners are in the process of opening facilities or readying them to open. After our plaster man completed the work in July, the [redacted] were apparently satisfied, and our work complete. The [redacted] next contacted us in early 2016, when the pool had developed and was exhibiting a crack. The [redacted]' complaint relates to this crack, but this is simply not related to any of the cosmetic work that we were hired to do, and that we did. I am enclosing some pictures showing the large structural crack in the pool. Neither nor any pool contractor can say with any certainty what caused this cracking—or at least not without a scientific inquiry that would involve some demolition to the pool, civil & hydraulic engineering investigations and spending more than it ever cost to install the pool to begin with. I can say with certainty, however, that a crack of the type shown is structural in nature. Our work on this project was superficial and cosmetic in nature, and therefore could not have been the causative event in creating a structural crack.The development of cracks in any pool, regardless of age, can arise from multiple sources. Some pools crack because of faulty soil conditions, some because of unexpected earth movement, some from blasting in the area, some because of poor construction techniques, some because of inferior building materials, some because of freeze damage and some because of improper maintenance, which can leave a pool vulnerable to high hydrostatic pressure in the surrounding earth and others. Custom Pool Contractors was not called to winterize the [redacted] pool in 2015 after the replaster, or open the [redacted]' pool in spring of 2016 and don’t know who was or if it was properly done. The [redacted] may not have left enough water in the pool when or if they (or their designee) closed it 2015, and it is entirely possible that this may have led to the development or the breakthrough of the cracking. As well it was observed in the spring of 2016 when we were called out to investigate the crack that the water level had been lowered into the diving well in order to clean the pool. (If the water table was high the hydrostatic pressure in the ground could have caused their problem). We did not indicate to the customer, as mentioned in their letter, anything about a one in two hundred possibility of this happening and that is not our experience at all. While the crack is unfortunate, it is not related in any way to the work for which our company was contracted, and which we performed in accordance with industry standards.Finally, although it is not entirely clear from Mr. [redacted]'s correspondence to the Revdex.com, it seems that one complaint may be not that our work caused the crack, but instead that Custom Pool Contractors was somehow at fault for failing to see or identify the crack in 2015. Based on my many decades of involvement in this industry, during which I have constructed and supervised the construction & renovation of hundreds of swimming pools, I can tell you for reason mentioned above, a pool of any age may develop and exhibit severe structural problems, from cracks to wall & floor - disintegration but not as a result of replastering. When our people were at this pool in 2015 preparing it for the replaster, it did not have any visible cracking. The crack developed over the winter after the plaster was completed. That is unfortunate, but, as noted above, this is not the fault of Custom Pool Contractors or a result of any deficient work.I hope that this response is satisfactory. If I can be of any further assistance to you in resolving this consumer complaint, I hope that you will call on me to do so.Sincerely,[redacted],