I can only imagine how frustrating that is. We're still waiting on odds and ends, but we were lucky.

I don't know anything about River Rok. Is that not an option for you?

thanks smb, I only know the colors are very limited...I only see 6 on the palate. I can't seem to find many pool pictures with river rok or many comments on the forum. I also do not know how it measures up as a product, warranty, etc. It does not seem you have to be certified to apply it like pebble.

Sigh, oh well, back to sitting by the empty hole in the ground.

There is a lady on here who just recently finished her pool. Maybe around a month ago. I remember her, because she lives in Katy, which like where I live, is a suburb of Houston.

She got River Rok (it was the first time I'd ever heard of it) and her water looks a lot like my Tahoe Blue.

I'll try to find her pool build thread.

Found it! Search is my friend, although I always forget it's there!

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pools/msg0401282623558.html

The photos of it pre-water, look just like my Tahoe Blue. Her water color looks deeper though.

Hope this helps some.

Hang in there Cd. We COMPLETELY understand your frustrations. Although we did not go with a PB. Our subcons that we did use showed when they showed. We finally had to sit down and tell them we also had a party planned, invites had been mailed out and can they please get it done???!!! Would it help if you expressed this to the owner? It may seem petty, but puts it in a more urgent light to the owner... I would be on the phone with the owner Monday morning! Here hoping that next week brings much more progress....

Thanks smb, you have been a great help, really nice of you to find me that link. The color is quite striking. Something to consider.
Thanks again.

Susanna, thanks for the support. I actually did speak my pb company owner....he is at a loss as to what to say, I told them all about the already once rescheduled party. I tried speaking to the owners of the plaster co and was told, they would call me back late next week....hoping next week brings better fortune. Thanks again.

cdavmd-
Just saw your post.
Oh boy, you KNOW I have sympathy for you!!
You are my "twin" on here, we like a lot of the same things, we're on the same frustrating schedule with our pools, and we both want that deep blue color. Look, I know that nothing is going to ease your mind much until the dang thing is done. But, it WILL get done. It will. This is incredibly frustrating, I understand. The link, though, to that River Rok pool is amazing, isn't it? That water color is simply stunning - much deeper than even the Ocean Blue. As a matter of fact, I'm considering calling our interior finish people to see if they can match it. We're set to go with the Ocean Blue pebblesheen right now. The color on the link above, however, looks even more rich.
Maybe this setback is meant to be, yes? Maybe your ideal color is really in the River Rok, and not the Pebblesheen. Not sure if it helps or not, but the many subs that we had out here bidding on our pool in the last few weeks told me that the finishes with the rocks are all the same materials - regardless of what they call it. Pebblesheen, River Rok, Superior Stone, are all made of the same rocks. If you are determined to have the Pebbletec, then wait. Frustrating, but it may be worth it. On the other hand, there are many other finishes that are just as, if not more, beautiful. I know what you mean about the parties being delayed. We missed out on our Thanksgiving gathering, our Christmas party, my oldest son's farewell party to the Marine Corp, my daughter's High School graduation, and now we are hoping for the fourth of July.
Everything is going to be alright, you can still get your pool done this week. The choice will probably come down to if you want to wait for the Pebbletec or not. Maybe on Monday you can call the River Rok people and find out more about their product. How long is their warranty? You might feel a lot better about it after you get some more information. You have been treated unfairly by a salesperson, and now you are having to pretty much act as your own contractor in order to get things done. Go ahead and scream, you deserve it! Then when you're done - jump on that saddle first thing Monday morning, make your phone calls, and then make an informed decision. My guess is that we're still going to get the interiors done to our pools at the same time! Next weekend, you and I will have a TOTALLY different outlook. Hang in there, I'm really rooting for you. I'm sorry you're going through this, but it will not change the fact that your pool is going to be gorgeous, and it's going to get done within just a few days. You're almost there, you're almost there.
Your friend,

cdavmd-

Your scream has unnerved me. We are also in Massachusetts, refubishing an existing pool, and nearly ready to have Tahoe blue pebble-tec installed. It hasn't been scheduled yet. I didn't know there was only one certified installer. We have a big July 4th party planned and now I am wondering if we will be able to pull this off.

On a separate note, I noticed in your pics that you don't seem to have deck foam between your coping and your pavers. Our pool guy insists that we need 1/2" deck foam between the coping and the pavers. However, our pool deck installer says he has never used deck foam, it is not aesthetically pleasing, and he hasn't had any problems with the winter freeze causing the pavers to heave into the coping causing damage to the coping.

Did you (or anyone on this forum) have any experience or comments on the consequence of not using deck foam between coping and pavers in New England or in areas that have cold winters? The pavers are on a packed gravel with sand between the paver blocks. Thanks!

Birdbath, Thank you-THANK YOU! you are so awesome. I have no right to complain in contrast to what you have been through. My little bumps in the road are minor. I feel so bad that you went through all those important events still waiting for your pool. You are right we like similar designs, must be that AZ influence. I am so happy you are on schedule for your pebble. I actually started looking into river rok yesterday. There are not many pictures online, but you are right, the pool on the link is gorgeous. My wife says she does not care at this point, just get it done in time for our sons birthday. I am going to call the river rok folks tomorrow, see what I can find out. I don't want my PB to know yet, as they will predictably give up completely on pushing for our pebble.
Thank you and everyone for the support, I do feel better. :)

The pebble tec thing is a real pain. I can't believe they did not disclose the issue...ok, I can believe it! We wanted pebble in our new pool but there is only one installer in NC and they are 3 hours away from us. It would have been an extra 13K...not worth it. We are really happy with our dark plaster. I also LOVED the tahoe blue pebble tec we had on our pool in MA. The pool builder we used there had a pebble tec installation crew so it was easy. We never dreamed it would be such an issue to install on another pool. I feel your pain...you just want what was contracted, in the timeframe promised. Why is that so hard for a pool builder to understand??? Hope it all works out for your son's party.
Judy

mcubed3...I had responded to you but now see it never made it ...probably one of those internet black holes.

Sorry I ruined your day too. Perhaps your contractor is on better terms with the Pebble tec installer. There are two in the entire area. One in MA and the other in CT (does some work in MA). Hope you get yours done in time.

Regarding the Pavers, I have been told it is not an issue if installed correctly. My paver sub was fantastic, the workmanship excellent. They have an outstanding reputation around here, confirmed by my personal friend who built my retaining wall ( he builds high end homes and has worked with them many times). I would not sweat it. Good luck- where in MA are you?

My friend's pool was completed 2 weeks ago and they installed River Rok. Like you I hadn't heard of it until I went over there to see their pool It's a beautiful product. The pool water was a deep Carribean blue color. I liked how smooth it felt on my feet.
I don't think you'll be disappointed if you go with the product. Good luck.

Thank Judy, amazing isn't it, they leave out little details just to get the job. No wonder he disappeared on me, he knew better than to show his face around here once things got underway. Who was your builder in MA if I may ask?

Kgolby...thats great to hear, my wife and I have been scouring the internet the last 24 hours, not much out there, but from the little we see, it seems if we blend their two darkest colors you get a very nice rich blue along the lines of Midnight blue pebble tec. So if we don't hear anything by tomorrow night, we may just go with the river rok. Many thanks.

I LOVE my river rok! I have a very dark shade. It's a mixture of the black and blue shades they have! It's still aggregate which helps with it's longevity but it more smooth than pebble tec. More like pebble fina!

cdavmd -

Thanks for the feedback! I'll still do a little more poking around on the deck foam issue but it is good to hear you received advice that deck foam can be avoided.

We're in Sudbury and have been working with a good crew. Our pool contractor does a lot of work with pebble tec and I looked at pools he finished in Wellesley and Weston. However, we'll see if this translates into the timely completion of our pool.

Best wishes on your project.

Thanks Syntagma, we have been looking at your pool all weekend. We love your color. do you know the exact ratio they used....bags of lucayan blue to Emerald black? I know they can mix it 9:1, 8:2, etc. My impression was that river rok was inbetween pebble tec and pebble sheen in size. From my understanding Pebble fina is just a plaster like surface. thanks again for the info, glad to see you like it. We will probably be doing the same as yours...hopefully soon.

mcubed...we are in Sudbury too!! Go figure. Our pavers were put in by Triad. Do you have any pics up on your project?

We put our pool in 9 years ago in Norfolk, MA and used Ferrari Pools. They were great for the build and for service after the fact. We moved to NC last summer in the midst of record high temps and a drought. Thought we wouldn't put a pool in here due to challenges of our lot...but quickly decided to go for it. We are so glad we did. We just spent the weekend relaxing by the pool and we truly felt like we were on vacation. Won't be long until you are enjoying mini vacations every weekend in your own backyard. And really...all the headaches of the build just fade away.
Judy

cdavmd and Syntagma, I'd love to know who your builders are/were. We are getting close to signing a contract and are waffling between Environmental Pools and Andrews. Your woes, cdavmd, would make me avoid whomever you are using... Hang in there.

Judy...hope you are right....i want them to vanish instantly not fade away...lol. We looked at Ferrari, you probably built your pool in the days when Mr. Ferrari was still involved with the company. Supposedly, there were legal issues between them and he created a new off shoot company. We stayed away when we heard this. Thanks again for your encouragement.

Ron, Where are you in MA, send me an email and we can chat. cdavmd@comcast.net

Well its Tuesday afternoon....tick tock...tick tock....I spoke with the Pebble Tec installer yesterday morning, I explained my situation to them, asked them if they could at least tell me if we would be done by the 27th so as to cancel or keep the party on, especially since I don't want to loose my caterer deposits, etc. They said they would get back to me. Guess what, no one has called, emailed, or made an attempt to get a hold of me. The national Pebble Tec customer service guy that was supposed to call me on Monday....guess what...never called either. My pool builder said that until he heard from them, there was nothing he could do.

We spoke about River rok. He sent some samples to my house today and promised we would be done this week if we go with it. I did a bit more research. So the stone size is slightly bigger than sheen but not as big as tec. You must be a certified installer to install the stuff, it carries a 10 year warranty against failure. My PB also warrants the application for 3 years. You can mix the basic colors to make your own version.

My wife (the real boss) just called me, she was looking the samples over, placing the samples underwater, etc. She likes it, says its nice and smooth and looks very similar to sheen. So we are going with it!

We are going with a similar blend as in Syntagma's awesome pool. Its called Blue Opal, it consists of 8 bags of the Lucayan blue mixed with 2 bags of the Emerald black. We are going to make ours a 7:3 mix so as to get a slightly darker richer blue. I will post some pics of the samples later today so as to get some badly needed info on this product posted and available on the forum.

Keeping our fingers crossed that it turns out how we envisioned.

Thanks everyone for all the support.

Hopefully your last payment is not due until after the plaster is installed.
I think I would aproach the PB and ask for compensation due to his inability to hire the agreed upon subs. You should not be held responsible for his dispute with Pebbletec. Your time and frustration is worth money, especially since he is the one that has defaulted on the contract.
Ask to be reimbursed.

Hi NCReal...I am not sure I would have a legal leg to stand on. My final payment is not due until after plaster, and I actually still waiting for his invoice on the deck, etc. So there is still a significant amount of money in play. My mistake however, was not including a clause as to when the pool had to be finished in the contract. So he could tell me to wait for pebble when the pebble tec company gets around to doing it. Essentially it is our choice to go with river rok so that we can get it done, hence he can't loose. Thanks anyway, the frustration is priceless!!

I'm glad that River Rok worked out for you!

I'm thinking I deserve a finders fee. ;-)

Thanks Smb....i agree completely, you pointed me in the right direction. So name your price ;)

You could pay off my pool loan...

lol...Lol....LOL

cdavmd-

Hi, any news yet on when you can put in your River Rok? It's going to be incredibly beautiful when you're done, it's so great that they can play with the colors like that. Pebblesheen is extremely limited when it comes to creativity. They will not budge on their "set" colors, no playing with the hues or intensities. That's a hard thing for a person like me to swallow. I always want to mess with stuff and get creative. Sigh. Our plaster company doesn't do River Rok, only Pebble. So, we're sticking to the Ocean Blue. The other color I liked on a pool turned out to be Beadcrete and is very, very expensive. SIGH. Leave it to me, champagne taste and a beer budget. Rats. :)
I'm sending good thoughts your way that the pool gets done this week. Remember, it's only a few days until you have beautiful, blue water!

*sigh* It was worth a shot.

My frustration is with our contractor C & D Builders AND Fox Pools. First, we gave our contractor ( a Fox Pool distrubutor ) $2900.00 on 2/13 to set in motion the replacement of our 30yr old pool liner. Then in late March we gave him an additional $2600.00 to replace the pool coping. He never ordered the liner or the coping but DID have us empty the pool to get if ready for the "people" to come and get it started. Of course, No one ever showed up. I have contact Fox Pools several times with phone calls, a written complaint form etc. I have even placed two calls to the president of Fox Pools to please contact me. I cannot believe that a company would allow this practice to go on and not even acknowledge my problem with a return phone call. I know that it is NOT their fault. But thought they would want to know that their only distubutor in the Myrtle Beach, Sc area is giving THEIR company a black eye ! If you are in the Myrtle Beach, SC area you may want to consider another pool liner manufacturer.

ahh....ript off....I'm ah, not sure what your talking about....anyway....

smb....still LMAO...

birdbath....just left your thread....thought you had posted pics of the ocean blue. Well I went to the pool builders office today. We looked at the sample from Ocean blue Pebble sheen and at the Blue Opal mix from river rok. Close but after you change the ration to add more black stones it should look just like it, maybe a bit more darkish blue going by the pics I saw of the basic opal...very similar to syntagma's pool. In terms of texture....the stones are a hair larger than sheen, very smooth....with my eyes closed I could not really tell the difference. So the plan, they are coming out on Sunday to do the river rok and Acid wash and fill on Monday. We are filling with trucked in pre-treated water so that we can possibly get the heater up and running sooner. Either way it looks like "Brandon's Belated Birthday Bash" will happen albeit maybe some chilly water. Here are some pics of the swatches:

another view with different lighting

So basically these are three swatches, Emerald Black, Blue Opal, and Lagoon. The Blue Opal is a 8:2 mixture of Lucayan blue with the Emerald Black. The lagoon is a mixture of 3:2 Calm Sea: Emerald Black (it gives a bluish green hue similar to Tahoe-Blue). So our custom mix 7:3 should be interesting. We'll see on Monday.

The largest sample looks just like my Tahoe Blue!

I'm excited for you! Can't wait to see pictures of water!

cdavmd-
Great choice! I think you're right on track with your custom mix. Your pool is going to be a fantastic shade! I love the darker colors, they are so dramatic. Blending the opal and the black will be almost identical to the oceanblue. Hooray for your Sunday schedule! That is terrific that they'll come out on a weekend. I will watch with baited breath for your post on Sunday morning. Promise me that you'll post pictures as you go (it will be the highlight of my day). Looks like we're going to get water within 24 hours of each other. We have to truck in our water also, as we are on a well. It may take us two days to actually fill it up. Is it Sunday/Monday yet?!?!

Thanks you two! Glad for the encouragement. The largest sample is the Lagoon which looks very much like Tahoe blue in the pool pics I saw at the office. I was shocked that they were coming out Sunday....supposedly they cancelled another job to get us done....I think they are afraid of me...lol One of the office workers said he thought I might show up with a bat!

Anyway we are anxiously awaiting Sunday. Will post pics as soon as they start spraying it on.

The only other new happenings is our fence, most of it went up today, they will finish after the plaster trucks are done with access. We put them as close to the NO BUILD LINE as we dared (conservation police).

New pics our on my build thread.

Thanks again

The office worker(Operations Manager)that said he expected you at the door with a bat by now is also the companys emotional tampon......cdavmd, you deserve much better and i personally hope you get years of happiness with your finished project and hope your sons party goes wonderfully..i do agree that your salesman deserves a punch in the face and that would be letting him off lightly.....i wish this was a one time story but unfortunatley it is not....my "friend" works for your builder and allthough they are the best builder with the best quality they have flaws just like any construction co......i know my "friend" does everything he can to keep the clients happy but how can a client, looking for answers, be happy when he/she is told "i don't know" or " i have no answer for you" or has the project moving at a very good pace then runs into problems with a sub-contractor....hope all works out for you cdavmd

Wow dsf....you figured this all out ;) Yes you are right....I am no fool and the operations manager is clearly, the soft spoken apologetic voice who tries to keep calm. Everyone has a job to do, I honestly can say that my dealings with this company overall have been positive. I am wise to the business, and I can tell when I have had the BS sent my way. I know that there has been a little nickel and diming going on, and one sub really tried to stick it to me. I called him on it and gave him an out...he took it and made everything work out so that the price did not go above what he had already cheated me on.

I just don't feel that getting into arguments, agitated and fighting with them is productive. I have kept my cool within reason and they know it. In the end I have a very nice pool and they made a little extra money. My main gripe is how they can have the sales guy keep doing this to people. He does this repeatedly and I have it from some of the subs that this is a recurrent theme. I was even emailed today by someone in my area who is going through the same exact situation....we both guessed immediately that we had the same sales guy. You know who he is I am sure of it. He may be great at design and sealing the deal, but he really leaves a sour taste in your mouth in the end. That is not good for business. I would recommend this company again, but not this sale rep.

Anyway thanks for the positive wishes, I think everything is going work out and in the end they built us a very beautiful pool.