Scott, We have chosen a builder and they did the excavation yesterday. Today they are laying the rebar. We are supposed to get a storm here in NJ over the weekend into next week and I was wondering what your thoughts were on what kind of damage can happen to pool if there is a lot of rain and wind. I was told it would be ok but am still nervous. Thank you

Mission Pools - Stay away Our familyÂs personal experience - I called into Mission Pools back in April this year to request a repair as part of my tile on the right face of my Mission Pools spa was falling off. I explained this exact sort of thing had happened some time ago (2005) on the left half of the Spa and was repaired after my initial call as a warranty issue in 2005. Now they refuse to repair the exact same of problem under warranty on the right half of the spa and have e-mailed me an excessively high quote for repair of $5,000! This has now become a health and Safety issue as tile is unstable and a hazard to children and adults alike and a liability to our family and Mission Pools as Mr. Dunn (Owner) and their service department are aware of the situation. I have been down this road once before at the time of the construction with Mission Pools. The Spa needed to be completely rebuilt (jack hammered out and completely reformed) due to a poor workmanship, structural issues and irregular forming. I had to go to war with them then and apparently I do now. Bruce Dunn wonÂt give you the time of day until you file a complaint with the California contract licensing board  Stay away!!

Met with Jeff of Caribbean Blue Pools tonight. The meeting lasted about an hour. He surprised me with photos that he had taken of my backyard earlier in the day before our meeting started, while it was still daylight outside. He also had a notepad with grade shots(?)that were made with his laser (what's a laser?)... He said he couldn't give a quote on our project unless he knew the lay of our land first. My husband was eating all of this up, Jeff was so prepared for us! Anyway, he answered all of our questions in detail and said that within 1 week I would have a design and detailed estimate presented to us in our living room. As he packed up, he jokingly said that he would make it very hard for us to say no... After seeing his portfolio and listening to him talk about good design and all, I believed him. We both felt like we were in good hands while he answered our many questions. He gave us a range of cost, which seemed reasonable, but my husband couldn't get him to be any more specific, despite many tries. Jeff just said that he needed some time to pull together the design, before a price could be known. So we backed off.. He also deflected any talk about other PB's He wouldn't say anything pro or con about anybody but Caribbean Blue Pools. We liked that and are anxious to see what he comes up with. I'll keep posting with updates. Moocat... Can you please tell me which A&S office is building your pool? If they are not the same one that my neighbor used, I'm inclined to give them a shot at my job, as I can see from your posts that they've been treating you pretty good. I want to get 3 estimates before I make any decisions. Did they give you a landscape plan too? Stret0026... was Jeff the guy from Caribbean you met with? Have you made any decisions on your project yet?

"The weather is hot, but not super humid. So long as you have a big tree, a swimming pool and working A/C, you'll be fine." Oh, my gosh, I so disagree with this comment. I think Texas is unbearably hot and humid in the summers. I live in Iowa, where we typically experience very hot and humid summers, and Texas, IMHO, is 10 times worst. I made the mistake one summer of visiting my brother--who used to live in Grapevine and is now in Bedford with plans to move to Fort Worth shortly--in July. It was terrible! I vowed never to go back to TX in July and I never have. We went from A/C'ed house to A/C'ed car to A/C'ed store. We were only ever briefly out of the A/C. Of course...all this said...I LOVE going to Texas during an Iowa winter. Nothing like being able to go outside in nothing but shorts and a T-shirt in the middle of December when everyone else back home is shivering in their heavy coats!