For most of us, building a pool fulfills a bit of a personal dream. We have visions of spending the summer in the backyard with friends and family, cooking hamburgers on the grill, enjoying a few drinks, making long-lasting memories. Unfortunately, that dream can become a nightmare if you don’t choose the right pool builder. To make sure you hire the best pool contractor in Orange County, just follow our C-L-E-A-R checklist below.
CERTIFIED – Is your pool contractor certified with the CPB (Certified Pool Builders) or part of any pool organizations? Certifications are a positive sign that your pool contract has experience and the skills needed to do a great job. Here is a list of a few organizations:
The Pool and Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA) – The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance protects and advances the common interests of the industry by providing education, advocacy, standards development, research, and market growth to increase our members’ professionalism, knowledge and profitability.
The California Pool & Spa Association (CPSA) – The CPSA is the association that unites all professionals in the swimming pool and spa industry under one umbrella. Together, we promote businesses, protect industry interests at the State level, create swimming pool and spa industry partnerships for success, and provide professionalism-enhancing opportunities for members to grow.
LICENSE/INSURANCE – To protect your investment it is important to check on the status of the contractors license. The California State License Board (CSLB) website is an important resource to check the current and past statues of a contractors license and insurance/bond. This is of huge importance. Your pool contractor must be licensed and insured.
EXAMPLES – Review examples of work the pool contractor has completed. As the saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words. While making your considerations, be sure that your prospective pool contractor has completed:
- Similar hardscape projects – This might be a pool with artificial rock, a barbeque, fire pit, diving rocks, or maybe a vanishing edge. Whatever you are looking to do, ideally you want your contractor to have done comparable projects previously.
- Large projects – A good pool contractor’s portfolio should include advanced, complicated, and expensive projects that demonstrate their skillset and abilities. This shows that they can handle the big, small, and any project in between.
- Creative projects – Design challenges, CC&R limitations, or unforeseen events happen. An qualified pool contractor will have experience dealing with these problems and providing innovative solutions.
- High end materials and finishes – make sure your pool contractor is experienced in working with all materials. Mistakes made with expensive materials are costly and add time to the project. If your contractor has extensive experience in using top quality materials like the team at Dreamscapes does, you are working with the right builder.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN & ENGINEERING – Make sure you project is designed by a Licensed Architect or experienced pool designer. It is important for the scaled drawings to be accurate as this information is used to obtain the proper engineering for the pool/spa and necessary structures. A great design that is artistic and accurate is the foundation of a successful project.
REFERENCES – Ask the pool builder for a list of customer references or to see pools they have built. Contact those people and ask them how they felt about the entire pool building process, before and after the sale. Another great question to ask is how many pools they’ve built in the past year. Some of those referrals should be from brand new pool owners to give you an idea about how the process went for them.
- If you could do it over, would you use the pool builder again?
- What did you enjoy about the experience?
- What was least enjoyable?
- What pool, options, and accessories did you choose?
- What would you do differently?
- How did the pool builder handle challenges and problems when they arose?
With Dreamscapes, you can rest assured that you are working with the best pool contractor in Orange County. Our work is amazing and with over 4.5 stars on both Yelp and Google Business Pages, our customers are happy. If you are looking to work with the best, you’ve found them. Just click here to get started and a member of our team will contact you right away.
In the meantime, check out some of our recent projects below. We look forward to working with you and building the backyard of your dreams!
