Pool renovation can be a daunting task. It’s extremely expensive and it comes with certain risks that are next to impossible to avoid. Ensuring that everything goes as planned requires a careful choice of contractors. You’ll need someone who’s experienced and has access to quality tools and resources, which can be harder to find than you might think.
In this short guide, we’ll try to help you choose the best contractor to renovate your pool and ensure you get what you’ve envisioned in the first place.
So, without any further ado, let’s get right to the bottom of it!
1. Check their insurance and licenses
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Before you even start considering a contractor, you’ll need to check for relevant licenses and insurance. If a contractor can’t provide you with these, don’t even think about considering them, even if everyone around you has only praise for their work.
You can probably find these on their respective websites, or if not, you can always contact them to seek additional info. Again, never hire a contractor before you’ve confirmed they’re properly licensed and insured. Otherwise, you’re putting yourself and your property at risk. While things may have worked out for someone else, it doesn’t mean it will go as smoothly for your renovation project too.
2. Keep a list of potential candidates
Keeping a list of potential candidates can help you narrow down your choices in a substantial way. While it might seem like a waste of time at first, it will greatly simplify the process helping you choose the best possible solution for your project. This especially goes if you’re considering a large number of contractors, as you can quickly forget small details about them that initially caught your eye.
Make sure you update your lists as you interview each candidate, and don’t forget to describe all of their cons and pros while you’re at it. Having a simple visual representation of the data you found during your research can help you make a better decision later on.
3. Get your priorities straight
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Now, as we’ve mentioned before, your number one priority when choosing a pool renovator should be their licenses and insurance. After checking for those, feel free to prioritize your personal needs and preferences. Do you care more about the costs or the timing of the project? How big is your project, and is your budget sufficient to support it? What can you do to reduce the costs? Do you have any specific design needs that need a higher level of expertise?
All of these questions need to be answered before you start searching for a contractor. Knowing your priorities will help you make the optimal choice in the end, so make sure you’ve considered them carefully beforehand.
4. References, references, references!
Once you contact the pool builders, ask them to provide relevant and checkable references. Seek additional information from their previous clients, and ensure they’re recent enough. Pool building technology advances quickly, so just because someone was delivering quality results in the past, doesn’t mean they’re trusted today.
One of the best questions you can ask their clients is whether they would hire the same company today or not. Besides, remember to ask about any issues or negative experiences with the contractor. These can be very telling, as they can help you determine if the contractor can fulfill your expectations and leave you satisfied with your new pool or not.
Overall, never hesitate to ask for references when choosing a pool renovation contractor. It can help you narrow your list down even further, making the entire process much quicker and simpler to go through.
5. Get written bids
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Ask for a written bid before you decide on a contractor. This will let you compare different offers and choose the most optimal solution between them. Most pool builders such as capitalcountrypools.com.au offer a free way to get a quote for your renovation project, so don’t forget to make use of that as well!
Again, asking for a written bid before you decide on a contractor can help you choose the best possible option available since it provides you with crucial (and comparable) information on their pricing.
6. Read available reviews and ratings online
You can find an online review on almost any business today, which can be extremely helpful once you start your search for the best available pool builder in your area.
Of course, make sure you don’t trust everything you read online, as some companies pay bloggers and digital marketers to promote them by positively reviewing them on their platforms. Look for average ratings, as these tend to be the most objective of them all.
If you can’t find any reviews on a specific contractor, you can always join an online pool-owner community to look for relevant advice and experiences instead.
7. Call them before you hire them
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Always phone the contractor before deciding to hire them. In this way, you’ll be able to clear up any “leftover” dilemmas and ensure you’re making the right choice. Remember to prepare all of your questions in advance, and don’t hesitate to change your mind if their answers aren’t good enough for you.
8. Talk to your friends and family
If your friends or family members happen to have a pool, you could always ask them to provide you with a recommendation or two. You’re likely to get some trustworthy advice there, so don’t forget to ask.
Even if they’re not pool owners, perhaps they’ll know someone who is, so it’s always worth a try to simply call them and ask for their advice.
The bottom line
Finding the right pool builders for your renovation project can be a bit tricky at the beginning. You’ll need to make some lists and ask a lot of questions, all while balancing your priorities and setting a proper budget. Still, with some effort, time, and research, you’ll undoubtedly find what you’ve been looking for, so keep on searching.
We hope our short guide helped you narrow down your list of candidates, and we wish you good luck with your project and all future endeavors!
