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Review content:
Great Pool, Lousy Project Management & Follow Through on Final Inspection\r
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We are giving this company a thumbs down, but the subcontractors actually built us a very attractive, sound pool & spa all on their own, in spite of Mr. Fielder’s dismal management & poor business practices. In our opinion, the major failing of this business is the owner/contractor & his girlfriend’s inexperience in the pool business, which he has recently hired to run operations.\r
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After completing a major home remodel with a wonderful general contractor, the addition of a pool & spa seemed like it should have been a cake-walk. The experience with Mr. Fielder was anything but.\r
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Aside from the fact that he reneged on completing the project through final inspection with the City of Austin (this will most likely be dealt with in small claims court at a later date), the other main complaints center around:\r
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- Little to no communication throughout the process regarding project progress unless we repeatedly asked for updates. And, he was not present for even a moment during the gunite pour or application of the pebble finish inside the pool.\r
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- Job estimated in writing to complete 40 to 45 days, Time between first dig & filling of pool = 60 days with no weather delays involved.\r
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- Verbatim email from Mr. Fielder at day 134(!) of the project as a response to our request for a status on the final inspection (we had already failed at 2 tries) and after 8 days with absolutely no form of communications from him or his operations manager: ""Sorry, we don't have time for updates. We are still trying to run a business and are not sitting at a computer all day to report nothing to you. If there's nothing to report, there's nothing to report. That doesn't mean we are not working on it"".\r
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- Clean up of job site required multiple requests in order to get it done.\r
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Examples of discontent:\r
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- At one point we counted only 5 days of work performed in a 4 week period with no explanation as to why and there were no weather delays. Later learned that the entire project was held up for over 2 weeks due to apparently the only plumber he uses (unlicensed, by the way – he apparently didn’t want to call his “licensed” plumber to do the job) was having a family emergency.\r
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- Allowed him to leave his trailer in front of our house over a weekend, then it turned into 8 more days, he said he “didn’t have time” to come and get it. Neighbors not exactly happy.\r
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- Valve assembly dripped for 6 weeks! We were told it was “out of his hands” because he already told the plumber to fix it. \r
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- A month after the pool was filled and being used by us and family members (2 month old Grandbaby!), we discovered:\r
o Mr. Fielder never fired up the pool heater & it was wired incorrectly, we had to read the install instructions and do it ourselves\r
o Mr. Fielder never started up the pool purification system, we had to read the install instructions and do it ourselves\r
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We hope that this input will not only warn consumers to steer clear of this company, but at the very least make sure you get every possible concern spelled out in a binding contract. In our case, we feel Fielder Custom Pools was completely inept at dealing with and complying with the City of Austin.\r
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Additionally, note that Mr. Fielder asks for the last payment before the job is completed and before final inspection has passed. We made the big mistake of paying him according to his 40%-30%-20%-10% draw schedule and trusting he would complete the job through final inspection. \r
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Instead, we felt that the attention to our project declined in correlation with the size of the payments he received and in the end, we are stuck paying even more money out of our pocket to get the project finaled with the City of Austin on our own. \r
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Again, great pool work by the subcontractors, but we think you should be ready to manage the project yourself and be ready to repeatedly demand follow through!
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