I didn't take either of you guys replies as a dig, and I certainly hope you or makboo didn't mine that way either either. The truth is that I can completely understand an owner/builders mindset. I plumbed and wired thousands of pools over a 15 year window prior to starting my pool construction company. I did at least 100 owner/builder projects. I always quoted them 10 to 15% more than I charged my smaller builders (10-20 annually) This was 20 to 25% more than I charged my larger builders (100+ annually) Rest assured that the other subs did too. Since starting my construction company my only real problem with O/B's was when one called me after their construction to quote on knick knack comeback items. Almost always tile and coping or concrete issues. There's seldomly enough work necessary to warrant me quoting the project. I can make tremendous margin on the repair but it's a small amount of coin compared to doing a new tile and coping or deck job. Last year I did break out over 1000sq/ft of 2 month old concrete and repour a rainbow peagravel deck for an O/B. His work was the worst I'd ever seen. 2 different pours and one of them during rain. I asked why he accepted the work, he told me that the consultant told him he had to pay even if he wasn't happy because they did provide the scope of the contracted services. But, HE WOULD SEE TO IT that they did come back and make it good. Well HE DIDN'T, and the homeowner stopped working with him because he couldn't get the brick guy to come back either. I comped the unlevel tile work, got my full price on demo and repour. When he asked me if I've done PebbleTec I started laughing once I saw his bid. I put my normal markup on it and still came in 800 less than his consultants bid quotation, plus consultation fee, from the same applicator. The applicator, a 25 year business friend, told me that every quote they do for him must reflect 10% more than the actual cost to him, they cut him a cash back check after every job and send him a 1099 at the end of the year. I guess the markup from the homeowner wasn't enough, he needed more. The TRUTH is that your pool purchase will reward the entire industry with your purchase. The only man left standing in the rain is a pool builder who you might have signed with. AS you move along keep a thread going and don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have. You can ask any member here. I'll give you quality advice on any aspect of pool construction. The members of the forums I frequent, from DIY'ers to O/B's, benefit from the replies. I find it satisfying answering the novices questions and am rewarded too. I DON'T intentionally SPAM, but I sell a whole bunch of pools every year from being a contributor. I always call it the way I see it based on a career started in the late 70's of pool construction. Congrats on getting a new pool, you'll soon find out what all the Hoopla about pool ownership is all about. I promise you, IT'S VERY GOOD STUFF!!! See ya, Kelly

We've had our pool for 8 years and used pavers. A big reason for our choice was drainage. They did a great job and we've had no settling issues, there was even a leak that required repairs under part of the decking so that turned out to be a good choice. We did experience some mold in the wetter sections and weeds growing between pavers after a while. We recently hired a highly rated, professional paver company to redo the sand between the pavers which requires a good powerwash cleaning, replacement of the joint sand, machine-tamping it all, and a sealant. Unfortunately after a couple strong rains the sand was partially washed out in some areas. They came back and redid the entire job again only to have the issue repeat itself and now we're discussing next moves.

I am thankful to come upon this site since our pool installer made us feel like this is something they never see and do not want to take any accountability. They told us we need to hire a power washing company. We live in SW Florida and recently had a pool installed and chose Silver Travertine for our decking. We do know travertine is high maintenance but was never warned about the staining that would occur immediately after install. It looks awful and the fact that this was a huge upgrade in our pool build we are regretting going with it. After just a few weeks after install on our covered lanai all of the rust stains and white powder started appearing. Also all of the silver travertine around the pool area in the sun always feels like it has a chalky powder residue on top of it and never feels clean. We paid extra to have cement poured first under the pavers. On top of the cement they put a sand base down before laying the travertine. They claim that this is the proper install. Here are photos of the stone under the covered lanai vs. in the sun around the pool.

Hi @katiasmom! Ugh, I feel your pain!!! We ended up using Daltile’s TREAD porcelain pavers. They have great slip resistance and have not gotten hot (we live near the beach in San Diego but it is not yet summer). They also do not seem to stain. For example, our painter was able to remove some dried paint that had gotten on some when we painted the house. Our landscaper sand set them using polymeric sand in the joints and they do not move or wobble which is great. I am worried about them chipping on the corners though. We had turf strips installed to make a stepper area and the installers chipped one of them while putting it in. My fear is that unlike concrete, we could chip these pavers if sliding heavy furniture where the joints meet. Hoping this is not the case. I do wish that the porcelain paving manufacturers would come out with patterned pavers/designs like Peacock offers. The only ones I have seen to offer this is Tile Tech porcelain pavers.