My first contact with Ricky was over the phone and he was very professional. He took the time to explain several aspects of pool leaks with me and even gave me some pointers to help try to find the leak myself. When I was unsuccessful, he quoted me $325 and said he would dive the pool to close off drains and make sure there were not multiple leaks. He said the whole process would take between 2 and 4 hours depending on the number of water features and other things he might encounter. When he showed up on the scheduled day, he found the leak within one hour and left. He only checked the return lines and when he found the leak he stopped. I probably should have said something but I was relieved that the leak was found and just wanted to get it repaired. He provided me with an estimate of between $225 and $600 to repair the leak. When I questioned the big gap in the estimate, he told me that since he can't see the leak until it is uncovered, he wasn't sure what he was getting into. Fair enough. I decided to dig a little myself to see if this was something I could tackle on my own. After a few minutes of digging, I found the cracked pipe and determined I was probably not going to be able to take care of it. I snapped a few pictures and sent them to Ricky and asked if they provided enough detail for him to provide a more specific quote. He responded and told me it would be $225 and looked relatively simple. I told him to go ahead and get it fixed as soon as possible and also asked him to let me know what day he would be there so I could make sure I was there. I decided to take the next day off work just in case they showed up. Sure enough, they arrived at about 10:15 without letting me know. They got to work quickly and came up with a plan for getting the leak repaired. The "head" guy was very popular that day and received several phone calls and was probably on the phone for 10 or 15 minutes. This didn't bother me too much as I had been quoted a firm price and they appeared to be making progress. I watched as they chipped out a little bit of the gunite to get better access to the fitting. After about 10 minutes of chipping, he had good access to the pipe and was able to start cutting and fitting the replacement pipe. He got it all glued up and they pressure tested it to make sure it was holding. From the time they showed up to the time they left, they were there about an hour and 15 minutes. I received a call from Ricky and he informed me that he would need an extra $75 since they had to chip into the gunite. Since I saw the whole process, I was furious. $75 for an extra 10 minutes of work is ridiculous. Besides, his laborer could have told me as soon as he arrived that it was going to require additional labor before he continued. When I protested, Ricky complained that I was an hour away from his shop and he had to cover fuel and insurance and whatever other excuse he had. The bottom line is that he should have told me before the work started that he was going to need more money to repair the pipe. Since I had already uncovered the pipe, his laborer knew exactly what he was getting into as soon as he arrived.
Trying to get more money AFTER the job is complete a is unprofessional in my opinion.
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