dapooltec - unfortunately the closest Pebble tec installer that they have on their website is over an hour away and in an area with tons of pools - they are very backed up. I guess the guy who quoted isn't "certified" since he wasn't on their website? How does that work? I know his company does great work - our landlord while we remodel had her pool done - that is what turned us on to pebble tec. She is in real estate and he has done at least 8 other pools for her. He is just very expensive - used to 2-3 million dollar properties with big budgets and we are not quite in that category ;-) tommyw - do you have any names of pool surfacers to avoid? We had another quote today for pebble tec that isn't the pebble tec brand - it is called Wet Edge Satin Matrix. He said it is just as good as Pebble tec. Have you heard of this and is it comparable? With tile replacement the bid was $12,000 - getting closer to our "blind" budget of $10,000 that we were willing to invest in the pool. We also have to replace the automatic pool cover that lasted exactly as long as they said it would - 7 years! DH is going to see if there is any negotiation possible. We will definitely check this firm out - they came highly recommended and seem to have everything in order but you can never do too much checking up.

Make sure you check the BBB and AZ ROC websites. Especially the Registar of Contractors (ROC) website. A better company should have few or no complaints on there. I don't think going with the big guys like Shasta or Paddock is necessarily better. Our new pool will have Stonescapes mini pebble. Another builder we spoke with used Pebble Tec products which would have been a bit more money, but overall we just liked the builder we chose better. Good luck.

I think Jer83 meant Refinish with a dark finish "like" the pictured pool (rather than the pictured pool being his pool). I knew nothing about pools (well, I still mostly no nothing about pools, although I know a heck of a lot more now) before we built ours. I didn't do my research until we were in the middle of building, and at that point, a lot of it was too late (our pool is beautiful, I am not complaining, but there are things I would change if I could start from scratch)...Either way, here is a video of our pool build. I don't have the real-time video of the "plaster" phase (Pebble sheen is plaster and pebbles mixed, so yes, it is re-plastering), but the video will show a little about what is involved (note, my pool was new, so re-finishing the surface is probably even more work than plastering straight to unite). It took a team of people who do it daily several hours. I don't know if the cost is more materials then labor, but there is a reason it costs much more than standard plaster. IMHO, it will be well worth paying a professional (i.e., this is not a part to try and cut costs on, if you can). Note, however, I have River Rok, which is NOT Pebble Tech nor "Pebble Sheen" (which is smaller pebbles, supposedly softer), but it is similar. One other note, however, getting the "right" color is tough. There are a lot of variables in how things look (lighting, trees, water depth, mixture of pebbles, colors, etc), so even with a professional install, it may look different than another pool with the same "color" or different than a brochure. Our pool color varies from a deep blue (not dark, but deep), to a greenish look, depending on the time of day, and the cloud cover.

I understand why you might want to buy and then renovate a house. I've done it with several. Many of us like to have our houses the way we want them, no matter what condition when we purchase. Sometimes you can get a relative bargain by buying a house that needs remodeling. Now that these forums have moved to houzz, it seems like most of the replies are from pros. They have their own spin. My experience is that you can luck out or be sorely disappointed, no matter which way you go. With each renovation project, I've learned more caveats, but the "pros" always find new ways to surprise me. Current contract specifies 55 work days. Oops, forgot to define "day" and whether any week will have a full 5 work days. Into 80-something days now, they way normal people would define it, and no end in sight. Today's day started at around 1:30 pm. Yesterday's started at 9:30 am and lasted until about 1 pm. Every single day has been like this. But that's not why you came here. I've had my best luck with a KD who sold cabinets. So, yes, they have a vested interest in selling you cabinets, but ours carried several lines at different price points and was very thoughtful about design and things to consider that I hadn't thought of. He did not pressure me at all. If you start with this type of KD, he/she might be able to recommend contractors. Ours used to include installation and remodeling, but he got too much aggravation from being in the middle and decided to extract himself. He did recommend someone, who also did his showroom and work at his house, and was willing to work directly with the contractor when warranted. Even if you go with a GC, don't expect that person to carry out all your wishes. You still have to monitor the job. You read all the time that acting as your own GC means you have to coordinate all the subs, implying that hiring a GC will make all that run smoothly. Then the GC says the painter's not available, the plumber had an emergency, the electrician's truck broke down.... I don't know of any other profession that gets away with this. Imagine that you show up at the hospital for surgery and they tell you the anesthesiologist's car broke down, so maybe tomorrow. Or your accountant didn't get your taxes done on time because it snowed. There I go again. Sorry to be so discouraging, but ask lots of questions, get as much as possible in writing, and while you're getting referrals, ask for a good lawyer.