Rumors spread or verified facts?
I have builders on open accounts in Phoenix.

ken

Ken,
Fact, and lots of subs holding the bag.
Add Diamond pools to that list as well.
The big one is still coming soon.

Is it a big one like Presidential?

Ive heard about this big one as well. Should be very interesting.

and just-a-pb....I finally figured you out! took me long enough.

I'd like to know who the other builder is also, we're looking to get bids early spring.

Ahh,
Natural, guess I can't hide forever.
I gave you enough clues.

C brown,
I will let you know when I know it is confirmed. I dont want to spread rumors.

No offense but this is an annoying thread. So you know something that could potentially impact people with hundreds and thousands of dollars but you are not going to tell people who in the same thread. Yet others confirm this is going to happen and find it "interesting?"

Come on, guys. It's like high school all over again. How about posting when it happens or not at all.

K

So what is going on that so many builders are going belly-up in Phoenix? Has the economic downturn hit worse there than elsewhere in the country?

Can't be any worse there than here in Las Vegas. We hear about construction businesses closing by the week. Even the casinos are circling the wagons, and thats not rumor, thats fact.
In NV the pool and spa builders pay into their own restitution fund in addition to the general fund because of so much corruption 15 years ago, looks like that fund is going to get used a whole lot in the next year.

sdkath,
With all due respect, since you're quoting my use of the word interesting, I feel as though I should elaborate.
By interesting I mean it is going to be "intersting" to see exactly how they go about it, as there are several options they are considering.

Speaking for just-a-pb and myself, we have enugh respect to only truly share a company name if it is confirmed. Sorry if bringing it up without a name is frustrating...just understand that there are some legal factors that come into play when something has not gone public, yet alone if it has not happened yet...especially on a public forum over the world wide web. Again, it is not confirmed so its not worth more than mentioning, like you are saying.

Ditto

"Can't be any worse there than here in Las Vegas. We hear about construction businesses closing by the week. Even the casinos are circling the wagons, and thats not rumor, thats fact."

Wow! We usually weather economic downturns better here in Texas and I guess that's the case this time as well. My firm has a bunch of commercial projects going on and I talk a lot to the GC's involved in these projects, while they are slower than they'd like to be they're all doing just fine. But that's commercial work, with the loan crisis and depressed home values PBs are probably more susceptible this time around. It's hard for people to get home improvement loans right now and even harder to get home equity loans since equity has evaporated with the housing downturn.

I think you can finally stick a fork in Riviera,
There are notices on the doors of every location, for nonpayment of rents, and a security guard watching their warehouse, so nobody tries to remove anything.

Bye bye Riviera Ron.

Respect the fact that with no one should mention a name of a builder that could be going out of business on rumour only. For the PB's on this thread from Phoenix they know the town has always been gossip central on everything. Pool people in PHX never let the facts get in the way of good story !!

As far as the next few months on PB's in both PHX and LV there will be plenty going out of business. The PHX permit pool report used to be 6-7 pages of pulled permits now it is almost half that.

First of all the homebuilding is gone but even in the best of times there were just too many builders in those towns barely making any money on pools.

Most builders in PHX are virtually supported by mfg. rebates. Those rebates are going to dry up quick as the PHX volumes are off 70% from 2 years ago. Mfg. can finally get away from all the free stuff the PB's received for using their products. Not complaining as Mfg's started this with PB's but mfg's will also be the ones ending it and quick.
Deek

OK, then, who is still open and not in jeopardy of going under? In other words, if you were considering building a pool in the Phoenix area in the next 3-6 months, which builders would you consider? Really scary to think you could go with a pool builder and then have go out of business during your job/construction. Is it too risky to even consider in the current financial climate?

Rivera is oficially closed - Police came in today and padlocked the doors and took over all equipment, trucks,cars etc... They did about 350 pool this year
This is good for the pool building business in PHX.

azdreamhome - it is a scary decision and i do not have any insight to financials of the pool builders.

So for you distinguished PB, what happened? Too many PB in Phoenix? Quality issues? Deek said there were a lot less permits pulled, so people just aren't buying now? I did trade shows the last 2 weekends and the only people interested in spending are those who moved here recently and got great deals on their homes and want to put their own personal touches on them. Your insight will be appreciated. Barb

Deeker,
Yes, the stories in phx are grand, but what I was stating was fact, as you later saw.

Riviera's failure was due to rediculous spending and overhead. He was a mom and pop shop that had an infusion of millions, with no common sense. Trying to capture market share from companies that have been here for decades, when the market is collapsing. Not a good recipie.

AZdream,
There are many, many good companies out there with solid reps, do your homework.

I have actually seen Riviera's commercials on t.v. the last few weeks. They also have so many ads in those throw away fliers you get in the mail. I am always leary of companies that advertise that heavily.

I agree with just a pb, overhead and spending without sanity will kill you in a bad market like this. We downsized warehouse and stopped print ads last Dec. Almost all our jobs now are for newly transplanted folks who came with $ from elsewhere. My suppliers are getting more aggressive with pricing to get our business and we are passing that on to clients as well. I'd rather make less money than none in this economy.

pb is right on about the overhead and spending. The old saying a fool and his money are soon departed is what happened with Rivera. Issue is always the damage done to the pool industry, subs and all other good pb's in the market.
There are good pbs in PHX. - keep looking and you will find them. Length of years in business is usually a pretty good indicator. PHX has a couple of large pb's who have been around for quite sometime. There are others who build in the 40-80 pools a year, mainly custom work. They may not be the cheapest but they build a very good pool.
Deek