Diamond Quality Pools

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• By Arlo M.

  June 30, 2023

  replace coping, tile, and plaster on pool

  $95,000

  Tile, coping, and re-plastering was supposed to take 3-4 weeks. After 5 months, during which they only arrived to work for a few days at a time in short spurts, very little progress had been made. Along the way we identified numerous workmanship defects that they were incapable of fixing or tried to blame others for.

  They were supplied with specifications for a pool cover box. The box they built didn't come close to meeting the specifications, it was too shallow by over an inch, which means the pool cover wouldn't even fit. They didn't make their concrete forms correctly and one of them collapsed, leaving one wall of the box wavy and with bits of plywood embedded in it. They chipped this out and tried to level the surfaces with partial success. Nevertheless, they'd built the whole pool box out of alignment with the pool. - it is 1 1/2 inches closer on the motor side than on the non motor side. This will cause the pool cover to run askew, likely making it jam up or at a minimum wear prematurely. We had the pool cover installer come out and examine the work several times. He gave Diamond Quality Pools a clear outline of the problems that needed to be fixed, however even after 3 attempts they still couldn't get it right.

  We spent about 2 months trying to resolve this issue. Since then, we had the pool cover box demolished by an experienced concrete contractor who rebuilt the cover box to match the specifications perfectly within about 2 days. So, yes, it can be done correctly by someone else.

  In a letter from their lawyer, they are trying to say that "All issues related to the pool cover alignment are solely the fault of your clients, who provided the measurements to Diamond, or the company that created the pool cover." So apparently, the reason why they can't build a pool cover box that meets specifications is my fault or the fault of the company that created the pool cover?

  When they installed the coping stones, they left mortar dripping down onto the pool encapsulation track inside the pool as well as down the outside of the pool where there needs to be an expansion joint. This could have easily been prevented by removing the excess mortar before it hardened. However, when asked to remove it Diamond Quality Pools said that the cement contractor building the pool deck was responsible for cleaning up their mortar so that the expansion joint could be properly made.

  We live on a mountain and are on a well with a low flow rate. Because of this, filling the pool when it was finished would take 7-10 days. The plaster manufacturer says filling needs to be completed in 24-36 hours. After several lengthy discussions, Diamond Quality Pools agreed to fill the pool by water truck and filling the pool is included as a line item in the contract. 2-3 months into the project they started telling me that, no, they weren't going to fill the pool and that it was my responsibility.

  We had them wall off a set of side entry steps and rebuild new steps in the pool. Although the contract specifies covering the old steps, Diamond Quality Pools said that it was not part of their scope to remove the old steps to that concrete could be poured over the old steps as part of the new pool deck.

  We had them install a new autofill system. However, they said that plumbing it was not part of their scope.

  They replaced the plumbing lines running to the pool. They asked if I wanted them to leave the trenches open for awhile so that we could use the same trenches to run conduit. Great idea, so we did it. They bedded most of their water lines, but said that it was no longer their responsibility to bed the portion that now also included conduit.

  They "repaired" several cracks in the pool which are already showing significant areas of rust and several of which have already started to fail.

  They insist that if I'd just allowed them to get in there quickly and cover everything in plaster that it would all look fine.

  We got tired of them saying that it was someone else's job to fix their mistakes and got tired of asking when they were going to show up to actually work. So, we had a pool builder review the work performed so far. Some of the construction methods they were using were 20 years out of date and others, such as their method of patching, were well-known to be ineffective. Learning this, we sent Diamond Quality Pools a Stop Work order before they caused irreparable damage to our pool. We don't yet have an estimate for what it will cost to fix the damage they have caused and to complete the job, but it will likely cost more to fix their work than what their work was expected to cost.

  Meanwhile, Diamond Quality Pools is demanding payment for the full project, claiming their work is 90% complete, despite not having installed any tile, not having laid plaster, having not actually fully completed anything, and with a growing list of problems that I will need to hire others to fix.

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