Performance Grips
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I'm thinking of building a pool here in Havasu in the next month or so and wanted to get some input on who to use. Thanks in advance.
I'm very interested to see how this thread turns out.
We used Mike Van Roy. He grew up in Havasu and has always done only pools. Straight up no BS awesome expirerience building our pool. He still takes care of our pool after the build. :thumbup:
I had one built by Sand Castle a few years ago and will be building a new one soon. I'll go with Mike VanRooy or Sand Castle.
We used Mike Van Roy. He grew up in Havasu and has always done only pools. Straight up no BS awesome expirerience building our pool. He still takes care of our pool after the build. :thumbup:
Mike did our pool and as stated a stand up no bullshit guy. He is the only one that has never advertised his pools. It is all word of mouth!!!
Why is that a good or bad thing to you?
Why is that a good or bad thing to you?
This^^^He probably means that the fact that he stays busy off of referrals mean there's probably a lot of people happy with his work.
This^^^
If you are busy, you don't waste your cash on pretty ads. You just keep on making people happy.
Why do you figure Coke, Pepsi, Budweiser, Coors, advertise? Anyone not heard of Carls Jr?
Advertising is what keeps you busy, if you don't do it, someone else will and pretty soon you find out your not busy.
RD
From what I've heard VanRooy does most the work himself and is very hands on. His reputation probably has him as busy as he wants to be and there's probably a waiting line. I had very good results with Sand Castle but didn't like that it was all subbed out, I never knew who was in my back yard. VanRooy will be my first pick for the new pool and I'll also get a bid from Sand Castle.
Big business is a different animal than a small construction business.
For most small contractors, advertising is a waste of money. It is better to spend your time making sure your customers are extremely happy than it is to spend your money trying to find new customers.
Your satisfied customers will do all of your advertising for you. And on the flip side of that, your unsatisfied customers will have you working at McD's faster than you can blink!!
Uumm, I thought Sandcastle did it all but gunite????
In my mind, if we are talking about contractors as in owner operators in the construction trades, spending money on advertising is only something you do if you are trying to expand beyond O/O. If you are going to do that, you better be OK with your reputation changing.Coming out of a recession there's lots of small contractors that are out there letting people know they are still in business, showing new products, and reaching out to new customers. You could pretty much look at any of the advertisers on this board that fit that exact description. So in your mind their ads here, and the articles written about their products are a complete waste of time and money?
RD
Thanks for all the input it's been very helpful. The guy that built my walls also recommend Van Roy so I was leaning that way already. Does anyone have his number? Thanks again everyone.
Do an Owner/Builder.
I highly recommend not doing this in Havasu. You get to many cooks in the kitchen and if something goes sideways, there's two many finger pointers to make someone accountable. Have a primary Licensed pool building Contractor do your project. After owning property in Havasu and maybe its my own fault, but I sure have had some people on my property that I just shake my head in amazement of the shit they try and pull. JMO
I'm in the pool builder-repair-service business and when I had my pool built at my house in Havasu 7 years ago, it was cheaper to have a licensed pool building contractor in Havasu build my pool then to send my crew out there to do it.
Dave I have not advertised for 25 years and I can barely keep up with my work demand. In this type of work word of mouth or customer referal is huge.
From what I've heard VanRooy does most the work himself and is very hands on. His reputation probably has him as busy as he wants to be and there's probably a waiting line. I had very good results with Sand Castle but didn't like that it was all subbed out, I never knew who was in my back yard. VanRooy will be my first pick for the new pool and I'll also get a bid from Sand Castle.
Very few pool builders have the resources not to sub out. Not one of us builders here in Santa Barbara nor do I know in the surrounding areas have all machinery not to sub out. Surely not one in Havasu.
I'm apologizing as a fellow pool builder that your pool builder did not inform you of who and when was in your back yard. Good luck on your next build.
Greg, what I meant was I would like for the builder to be present when things are going on. I realize that subs need to be used. On my last pool, the PebbleFina didn't look very good and I asked the sub about it. He said "Oh I was sick that day and they may have not done it right". Really? From what I've heard, VanRooy is on site for everything.
Copy, a cocktail in the near summer months pool side is in our near further my friend, been a while.
We talked to everyone. Ended up going with Steve Bopp, SWB Pools. Been building pools in Havasu for 20 something years. We were completely satisfied with his work. Prices were great. Gave us a schedule and kept it. Completed on time. I would recommend him and use him again in a second.
His support after the build has been excellent as well.
Not when they did mine, about 6 years ago. I believe the son is running the business now and I have not met him, I dealt with his dad Den. Don't get me wrong, I was happy with everything but I'd like someone that was there all the time.