Hauk Custom Pools

We have built pools before, know several pool builders and I've been in the construction industry for 20 years - so we knew what to expect, what the labor and material challenges would be and what we were looking for - most importantly we wanted someone who could execute a "modern" style pool design. We chose Hauk based on the designs and photos we saw on various platforms such as HGTV and review platforms such as this - but we should have taken the time to dig a little deeper.
I will say we are very happy with the design and will eventually have a beautiful backyard, but from day 1 of construction this has been a disappointing nightmare and I would not recommend this company to anyone.
We put down our deposit in November of 2020 and finally got on the schedule for excavation the end of February 2021. A weather delay and we ended up digging the first week of March 2021. It's been downhill from there. Our project manager was basically MIA, not returning calls and not keeping us in the loop on schedule. Steel and gunite came after a reasonable delay but then it would be weeks or even months before someone would show up to work for a day. Finally got tile installed in June, which was the time frame projected for completion (we really wanted to swim last summer) but then the pool sat until August before someone showed up to do decking. Oh - and I should note here - buyer beware of their contract structure - you will have to pay 99% of the price before they will send someone out for the decking. Despite complaints that we were months behind and I wanted to see progress, Hauk insisted that we had to stick to the contract terms and pay before any more work was done, but that we would be finished within the month. Funny they have no interest in holding up their end of the bargain. Decking installed - pool fully paid for and then nothing. Thru the course of the extended delays we had several material failures we asked them to correct. I escalated this to the owner - spoke with him, emailed photos and examples - no response, no site visit - no care at all about completing the job - they already have all our money. That was six months ago - the hole in my yard is having a birthday this week. We've seen workers maybe three days in that span and they are still not complete. Hopefully this review will solicit a response - I'm sure they will have some nice comments and excuses. There are a lot of companies in the market - I recommend you choose another - this one is all sales and no execution.

This is the WORST contractor/pool construction experience I have ever had... in fact, I would argue this experience is among the worst regardless of service or product. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU USE A DIFFERENT POOL CONTRACTOR TO BUILD YOUR POOL! The company and their subcontractors will make countless mistakes and they will need to redo every aspect of their contruction more than once. I can provide countless examples and pictures of their poor craftsmanship. The company and their staff are highly inefficient, lack any accountability and customer service + communication is almost non-existant. I can share communication history of the five different PMs that rarely responded. I had to chase this company down for any/every response. Be warned there is no supervision of subs at your property. Most are inexperienced and have no overall regard for the quality of the project. Oddly, I have never had crews sleep in wheelbarrels before... but there were countless days with or without crews working so it wasn't surprising. Not once did I see a crewmember clean up the site at the end of the day. The worst of the experiences involved my NEW neighbor. I expressly instructed them, and paid extra money, to not disturb/damage my neighbor's property, specifically the fence and yard which had newly installed turf. As came customary with Foley, there was no regard for property or opinion... they stacked tons of dirt against the fence, their excavator bucket hit the fence and dropped material onto the neighbor's new turf. Repeated agreement to pull and repair fence panels and repair turf eventually became lies as they categorized damage as nominal. I eventually and reluctantly told my neighbor that my weeks (months) of attempting to resolve have stalled ( 3 mos. quickly melted into 6 and counting). My neighbor is considering legal recourse against Foley. Feel free to reach out to me for more information and valid reasons to avoid this contractor at all costs!

Have to admit it's disappointing to write such a negative review after such a great construction project. The design and build was awesome and for the first few years everything was great. About a few after constructions was completed there was discoloration to the plaster in the pool and the owner of the company assured us that the manufacturer of the plaster would take care of it. We even had them scheduled at one point to come fix this, but then received a confusing letter saying that they had dissolved the relationship with Hauk Pools and now wouldn't fix our pool because of improper installation.

We immediately went to Hauke and were assured 'we're going to fix this' to 'well the warranty doesn't cover the aesthetic, just if the pool's leaking' - all from the owner of the company. He's even gone as far as to say that they're suing the manufacturer of the product in January 2020 and that'll pay for the re-plastering project, and still nothing's happened. Later, the owner placed blame on the pool maintenance company up to the point that I reminded him that the maintenance company was their recommendation.

In addition to the plaster issue, back in June 2020 (prior to the warranty running out in October 2020), a sag in one of the tables they built for us was identified. People from Hauk have been out half a dozen times to take a look/confirm that there's a sag in the table and still nothing has happened as of September 2021. The lights they installed in the pool have also been identified as having a manufacturer's defect in them. Some have been replaced multiple times during the warranty period, and we've continued to have issues with them to this day. The hopefully new (and no longer defective) replacement lights were delivered and supposed to be installed back in June, and haven't been installed as of today (September 9th). The head of construction has informed us that the owner wants to all 3 issues that we're having, and I've been waiting on a call now for a week.

The worst part of this is that we sent multiple referrals over to the company after the pool was completed. They've sold 7 additional pools through our friends and neighbors and their customer is terrible. The service folks change regularly, and they have not been able to see what was agreed to with service folks that left the company.

We paid a massive premium for the pool, and were unbelievably happy at the start - we were assured and quite honestly at this price point expected exceptional service and we haven't received anything resembling that.

Update 1: want to be fair on this - will continue to update this post as I do or do not get progress with Hauk Custom Pools

I had a big project, pool and attached covered patio.

POOL

First, they are not a pool company, they are a pool design company with great expertise at brokering contractors to build your pool. That's basically all they do, they have the connections and you pay the 30/40% overhead they charge to coordinate the construction of your pool. There is tremendous value in having that ability if it weren't for their utter lack of management.

They do have a couple of people with expertise in building pools, however they only manage the orchestration of contractors and they seem overwhelmed driving all over the Metroplex. I must say they were responsive only if you were loud enough and inspect the unattended contractor's work, but here is where they completely fail.

1. Lack of site management.

2. Inability to inspect site after each critical phase, resulting in work that needed to be redone, work that was blatantly wrong by a cursory review or measurement, example in my case, spa drainage.

3. They rely on the following: if city approves each step, they won't fix anything you may notice is wrong, in my case, distance between iron frame and mud wall, must be 3 inches, but in some cases the frame was touching the mud, 0 inspection by pool company, they come and just take a casual view. Same with plumbing touching the frame.

... and many more little issues. There is a piece of iron stuck in my plaster, staple or nail, as it rusts it stains the plaster... terrible

PATIO

The patio contractor, was very good.. but he didn't do the work, he relied on inexperienced workers that over-sprayed the newly installed travertine tiles, all the brick around the house and the shingles. Not a single inspection from the pool company, I had to manage all that myself.

RECOMMENDATION

I wouldn't recommend them, unless you are willing to babysit each contractor and inspect all significant milestones.

There is zero attention to detail.

Picky clients will be very disappointed.

Busy, or occupied clients will miss the stress of dealing with them and likely be satisfied with end result, unknowingly approving all their shortcomings.

PRICING : Not much different than competition.