Many pool builders are taking longer to get back to their customers in part because we are all swamped with business right now. If they have a design department, they may be backed up on getting designs and pricing out. If they know you are interviewing more than about 3 other builders, they feel (as I do) that the customer just wants the PBs to get into a pricing battle. It is a waste of everyone's time, in my opinion, to get that many people involved.

Of course you think it's a waste of time, as a pool builder your are considering the odds. It's my money and I have plenty of time and don't believe in paying some outrageous price so a pool builder can make huge profits off of me. I guess the pool builders need to start asking how many bids one is getting prior to setting up an appointment. That will go over well but then again there are plenty of fools that like to waste money. It just makes some people feel better to spend an extra $20,00 for the same exact pool. Funny thing is every single pool builder told me they were the best. Fact is it's all sub contracted out and anyone can be a pool builder, no experience or license required. It's not that difficult to build a pool and the important parts of a pool are done by a few companies in Houston. I'm hardly cheap also, far from it, I just choose to spend my money wisely. I decided not to go with Southbeach though I really like the owner and have nothing negative to say about his company at all. Times are great right now for pool builders but that won't last forever. Poor customer service now will affect them later as always. One simple email would suffice if not interested as I could care less if someone takes my $80,000-$90,000 or not as pool builders are a dime a dozen.

By the way, just because one tells a pool builder they are only getting 2-3 estimates doesn't make it so. There are only so many pool diggers and gunite companies and they all work for lots of pool builders. It's not like the so called "pool builder" is building one single portion of the pool. Being "busy" means giving lots of estimates and designs and playing the odds.

Also, referring to your comment about getting the pool builders in a "bidding war", I never once mentioned the price of any of the other builders quotes. That would be pure ignorance on my part and I'm not that stupid. Obviously if I told them what the others were bidding some would come in a thousand or so less when maybe they would have been much less. Of course it could go the other way also. Personally, any homeowner who gets only 2-3 quotes is not very intelligent. I got several quotes for price comparison obviously, but also for design comparison. I had one bid for $97,000 which was the worst design and smallest pool by far. Actually, it was a complete joke to me but evidently there are people dumb enough to pay this much for much less of a pool.

This post was edited by ktm250sx on Sun, May 11, 14 at 11:24

Wow that's a heck of a rant. Here's mine. When you go into Best Buy and pay $6,000.00 for a flat screen T.V. I bet you don't think twice about the fact it only cost Samsung $400.0 to produce that flat screen. You happily pay the money and walk out the front door. If that's what the market is, of course any business owner will get what they think they can get. I'm sure the company you work for does the exact same thing and that's how they can afford to pay you what they do so you can afford such a wonderful back yard.

I think womanowned's point was that by getting 6-7 bids its information overload and it's a huge waste of time for a builder to play those odds. The problem in this industry is we give away designs for free. Our time is just as vauable as yours. Would you go in and work for your boss for 6 hours for free? If we actually charged for our designs we would be happy to bid against 12 people.

I'm one of those builders that is usually $12,000.00 to $18,000.00 above other builders. I'm higher because I build my pools and Hardscape to the most stringent standard and codes so it cost me that much more in labor and materials. If a builder is that much more higher than the next guy down maybe take a closer look at what he is giving you to see if he is in fact giving you a better product. I agree with you in the fact that in a lot of areas the same subs work for all the same builders. My subs also work for other builders but they do things 180 degrees different for me than they do for everyone else. Also check to see if everyone including their subs carry liability insurance and workers comp. That can make a huge difference. I have to bid against companies that don't or underreport payroll and that alone can be a $5,000.00 difference in cost on a average pool/landscape job.

My point is that the guy that charges the most is not always just a greedy contractor. He/she may do things the right way and it just cost them more to do it. Delve into everyone's bid a little deeper to see what they are giving you. A pool is just a pool right? They are all the same. They are not. Most builders will go down to the lowest common denominator. They guy that charges more might just be doing it right.

Whatever

This post was edited by ktm250sx on Mon, May 12, 14 at 7:51