Hard Dig!!!!

We selected California Pools for our pool project.  David was Johnny on the spot with every question or change that we had.  His design was great and he educated us during the bid process. We are still under construction so I will start from the beginning.  After sending all of my attachments including a sketch that my husband did on 06/27/11 he had a conceptual back the same day. During the process we upgraded and changed things such as making the waterfall higher, adding a Baja pool entry, and enlarging the putting green for starters.  David upgraded the conceptual immediately with every change. We continued back and forth making changes until we closed on the house which was 07/22/11.  We continued changing and upgrading the design with all of the companies that participated.  Finally at the end of September we decided to go with California Pools.  Then we needed to figure out how to pay for it.  Refinancing on a home is Arizona we were required to wait 6 months before we could pull out equity.  We decided to just pay cash for the project and refinance after the 6 months.  We signed all of the contracts and excavation started 10/10/11 with the first payment of $24,705.30.  We were then called the next day letting us know that they had encountered a hard dig which would require additional money to dig the hole.  Just as you might of imagined we were not happy with the start.  David understood our frustration and sent pictures of the hole.  California Pools did bid out the hard dig for the best bid.  It was $2,523 and we were warned that it could run from $1,500 to $3,000.  We paid the check for the hard dig day one and not too happy.  David was assuring us that this was unusual and at the end we would be completely satisfied.  We apprehensively calmed down and moved forward with the project. 

Cameo Pools

Cameo Pools

Dale was a great guy and apparently lives in the same subdivision.  This company was very responsive to all of my questions.  We exchanged tons of emails back and forth.  It really came down to the conceptual drawings and my overall gut with this company and California Pools.  I liked that Dale lived in the community but I liked the California pool design much more. 

Rondo Pools

Rondo Pools

This was another short lived relationship.  I received an email from Bryan on 06/25/11 saying that he would be helping me.  On 7/3/11 I sent him an email asking about the status of conceptual drawing. On 7/19/11 I received an email back from him saying that he’s sorry he’s been in and out of town lately. He tried to contact me by phone and wanted to talk but it was really just too late for me.   I live in Oregon and trying to micromanage a major project was not going to work for me.  I never received a conceptual drawing so no pictures.  

Paddock Pools and Spas

Paddock Pools and Spas

On 6/16/11 I received an email back from Tammy apologizing for not responding sooner something with the phone system. On 6/20/11 I received an email from Russ saying that he received my email and will be answering my questions.  We sent emails back and forth.  I received Russ’s conceptual drawings. 

Several issues:

1. No putting green
2. I did not want a fire place I wanted a fire pit because of the golf course view.
3. We wanted decking all the way up to the patio and on the patio
4. We did not want any trees it obstructs the view.

I requested that Russ make all of these changes which were on my original email with a drawing that my husband did. Russ was accommodating and got back to me immediately however we have several revisions.  Then I noticed that he left out the BBQ. 

My thoughts about Paddock:

Very nice people and they respond immediately my main issue was that they were not getting what we wanted.  I thought that we communicated our needs in the original email so I could not understand why they were putting a spin on the plan.  The last thing I wanted was a fire place to obstruct the view.  The plan was just different and did not match our taste.  I know that they are one of the larger companies in AZ but I really wanted to work with a company that understood what we wanted. 

 

Dolphin Pools

Dolphin Pools

On 6/20/11 I sent Adam the bid solicitation.  Then I received an email back from Chris on 6/28/11 saying that Adam had pursued another opportunity and he would be handing the project.  On 7/3/11 I sent an email to Chris following up. 7/3/11 Chris emailed me back and said that he was sorry that he had a medical situation and was in the office.  He said that he is working on two other projects and that we were after that. On 7/16/11 Chris emailed me the 2D drawing and bid and said that he had sent the conceptual drawings earlier.  I could not find any drawings in my email. Chris continued to send me emails following up. On 9/6/11 Chris sent conceptual drawings. 9/23/11 Chris sent an email wanting to talk about the project. 12/1/11 Chris sent an email saying that he had seen the construction going on and was confused. Please see my response to Chris:

Hi Chris,

We changed the parameters during the process. Both my husband and I have an extensive purchasing background and we bid out the pool to 10 pool providers in AZ.  The company we selected was based on the following criteria.

1) Responsiveness

2) Depth of detail

3) Design

4) Price

5) Feedback and research on the internet

We planned on spending $100K that was our budget to do the yard.  We were not in AZ until just recently moving my father so communication was key.  The company we selected was XXXXXXX and so far we have not been disappointed in the project. 

I really appreciate your effort and your time in providing a bid and design.  You were the runner up on our project out of the 10 providers. I will be doing a website and discussing purchasing a home in AZ and my pool project.

Thank you,

Melissa

We did not go with Dolphin Pools because again I lost interest between the time delays.  I had already accomplished so much with the other companies before I received the conceptual drawings from Chris.  He seemed very nice however if the service was the same as the construction it would take months to get the backyard done. 

 

Estrella Mountain Pool Companies

I started looking at pool companies and reading tons of information on line in early June.  On June 14^th I found this interesting blog: How to Build My Own Pool 

I then bid out the project to the following companies:

•   Shasta Pools Contact Mike
•   Presidential Pools  Contact Mike
•   Paddock Pools  Contact Russ 
•   Pioneer Pools  Contact Susie  
•   California Pools Contact David 
•   Cameo Pools  Contact Dave 
•   Dolphin Pools  Contact Chris  
•   Rondo Pools  Contact Bryan 

    Why did I bid out the project?  I bid out the project because I was a purchasing manager for many years and spending $100K was a big expense.  Both my husband and I are demanding and detailed oriented and I wanted to deal with a company that could satisfy our requirements.  To bid out the project I called all of the pool companies that I could find and explained that I live in Oregon and we purchased a home in Estrella Goodyear and needed a backyard.  Then I got email addresses and sent the following items:

1)       Property address

2)       Photo’s and measurements of the backyard.

3)       A drawing that my husband made of our dream backyard.

No details about materials I knew that would change the pricing once we traveled down that road in the process.  I wanted to see conceptual drawings first then look at materials.

I would like to talk about each of these companies individually and my experience.  First off I can eliminate two off the bat.  The first one was Shasta Pools Shasta Pools believe it or not.  I actually was disappointed because they were so large and I just figured good. When I sent out the project to the project manager Mike for bid I never heard a response back from Shasta Pools.  After a couple of weeks and going back and forth with the other companies I decided to give the project manager Mike a call and follow up with him.  I asked him if he received my email and why they had not gotten back to me. He informed me that I did not know how it works in regards to a pool project.  He said that I needed to come into the office and go over the project. I explained that we had to do this via email because I lived in Oregon and I could provide him with everything that he needed. To make a long story short it’s a good old boys club and women obviously know nothing.  I thought about our phone conversation and was so irritated by the time I got home that night that I called and left a message for the sales manager and I think it was Steve.  Needless to say I never received a call or email back from either of them. I did not think this was a good start to a long relationship so I immediately deleted them from my bid process.  Later I looked them up through the BBB and heres the link BBB Complaints Rip Off Reports on the Internet and It's clear that I'm not the only one with an issue. From this experience I would not do business with them in the future. The second one was Pioneer Pools because Susie said that Goodyear is out of the service area.  I guess they have an office in Tucson and Estrella is too far. 

Purchasing a Home in Estrella Mountain Goodyear, AZ

I’m using my new blog to help people who are looking to purchase a home in Arizona and put in a backyard. What to say about the world of foreclosures, banks, and finally realtors?  We started looking for a foreclosure in November of 2010 and finally after making an offer on at least 20 to 30 homes we closed in June 2011.  The first recommendation I have to an out of state home buyer is to find a good realtor.  We started out with a guy which I’m not going to mention his name in the blog that was just too slow.  He was very nice however did not match the demands of my personality.  We flew down to learn about the area and where we wanted a home.  We had a very detailed list of requirements down to the way the home faced the evening sun.  Basically we are very high maintenance and living in Oregon trying to find a home in Arizona was our worst nightmare.  I regretfully had to fire the first realtor because he had absolutely no urgency.  We finally found someone that was amazing.  We outlined all of our requirements and she plugged it into her realtor software which my husband spent most of his time watching and bothering her.  My husband looked at homes day and night emailing her bugging her to go take pictures.  Literally my husband was her full time job and I’m surprised that she did not fire us.  Her name is Rachele Funk   If you live out of state like we do you need someone who is diligent, creative, and owns a camera.  Rachele advised us and made us feel very comfortable about purchasing a $350K home without seeing the inside.  Rachele took tons of photo’s of homes that we wanted to look at.  She moved quickly in preparing offers and talking to the agents or banks.  Given the funny business with the banks and backup offers it was a nightmare.  I could not understand how we would go in at a higher price and then lose the home to someone else at a lower offer.  Then the games with the banks waiting until the last minute and then taking the homes to auction.  I’m not sure but I think the reason for auction is so the government will make up the difference in the loss from the original price to help the banks out.  The problems that we noticed are the homes sit vacant for months at a time and then the pigeons move in.  I will say that the housing market in Arizona is just a mess with the foreclosure and shady things going on.  The banks are just a mess as well.  I contribute my husband’s due diligence on the computer all day everyday and Rachele’s quick response to us finally getting a home.  We wanted a TW Lewis home and even my husband started becoming creative by finding the rental homes and having Rachele approach the builders.  I guess TW Lewis has several rentals because they did not want to take a loss on the homes so they rented them.  That did not work because they still wanted more money than we were willing to give. Apparently they did not get the memo about the foreclosure mess.  We visited once and had decided that we wanted to be in Estrella Mountain on the golf course.  After months and tons of offers we pretty much gave up on the golf course and started finding ourselves desperate to just find a home in Estrella Mountain.  Finally my husband noticed early morning a home that just came back into the portal he called Rachele and she jumped on it with a full offer.  She called Bank of American directly and told them we were prequalified and our first mortgage in Oregon is currently with Bank of American.  She submitted our offer that morning with everything completed.  We were in first place with a full offer package.  We found out that they accepted our offer and had multiple back up offers. The other piece of good information I can give you is to have your financials organized and ready to go.  We had everything in one file in an email format.  Remember they need three years of taxes and your last three employment stubs.  I hope this helps.