Building a pool is one of the most expensive purchases a home owner can make. As the price of goods as gone up over the last several years, the cost to build a pool and usable outdoor space has increased dramatically.
Choosing a contractor to work with is the first step perspective home owners have to make and this choice can positively or negatively impact the entire project. This is especially true in Texas where contractors are not regulated like they are in other states. Anyone with a business license, or in some cases without one, can say they are a contractor and offer their services whether they are qualified or not.
We moved to Texas from Arizona in October 2022 and began researching pool builders in May 2023. As a result of that research, we selected A Oasis Pools and Outdoor Living in Ellis County, TX to build our pool and other backyard features. We created this page because there are a lot of details throughout the pool building process and normal review sites would not allow us to go into the level of detail we felt necessary for prospective home owners to be able to make an informed decision.
This page is a description of our experience with A Oasis Pools.
Being new to Texas and leery of the "anyone can be a contractor" stories we had read online it was important to us to find an established pool builder. Additionally we wanted to support a business in Ellis County rather than working with a builder from Dallas or Tarrant counties as we live in the same community and always try to support local businesses.
Using Google, it became evident that there were many pool builders in the DFW area. After identifying several in Ellis County, we researched each one individually. Right off the bat, some prospective contractors were eliminated because they either didn't have a website or their website was not professional. In 2023, in my eyes it is critical for any business that wants to be taken seriously to invest in their website as it is often where customers will first encounter their business. Some others we submitted our information through their contact form and they never contacted us back. Finally after looking at several possibilities we narrowed it down to three potential builders.
We scheduled consultations with each of the three.
The first builder to come to our house, Venture Custom Pools, sent an amazing pool designer, Gregg. He was extremely knowledgeable and very patient in answering every question we had. He was probably at our house for almost two hours. We set up an appointment to visit them in their Waxahachie office in a week to review his design and talk about costs.
The second builder was A Oasis and a designer named Kelly came to our home. She was also fantastic and knowledgeable. She also spoke very highly of their company and explained their ties to Ellis County. She was at our house for at least an hour and a half. We set up an appointment to visit their Midlothian design center a week later to review her design and talk about costs.
The third builder, whose name I cannot even remember, sent a young man out to our house who measured our yard for about 15 minutes and said that if we wanted to continue moving forward we should contact their office. They were immediately removed from consideration.
We met with Kelly from A Oasis First and she created a plan that included exactly what we asked for. She also went over the pricing and potential schedule. During the conversation, we also asked about subcontractors and were told that A Oasis directly employed all the teams that would be working on the pool except for the gunnite and plaster teams, which we were happy to hear although this didn't turn out to be entirely true as we found out later that A Oasis has exclusive relationships with some subcontractors (turf and structure subcontractors in our case) they work with but they are not directly employed by A Oasis. This experience was good, but we still needed to see what the second builder had to offer before we wanted to commit.
We met with the designer from the other builder and he had created a plan that was what we asked for with some additional things we hadn't considered that made the design better but of course also more expensive. Throughout this conversation we did find out that this builder builds most of their pools in the Plano area and opened an office in Ellis County as a result of the housing boom going on.
After reviewing their plan and costs, we returned to A Oasis to compare the costs to make the original plan inclusive of some of the changes suggested by the second builder. During that review, it turned out we would be able to get better materials (travertine vs. stone) at a lower cost. At this point we decided to move forward with A Oasis. Our final project cost was a huge investment, $134,250.00, but we spend a lot of time at home and felt it was worth the price based on our experience with them up to that point.
My only concern up to this point was in how the pricing was presented to us. When we had first been in there was a Memorial Day promo going on that we would have been eligible for almost $7500 in savings, since we didn't sign on the first day we met with them that promo had passed. When we did eventually contract with them (mid-May) they did not have a promo and said they didn't know what the July 4th promo would be yet and they gave us a $4000 discount. Two days later they posted the July 4th promo on their Facebook page and when I contacted Kelly to see if we could take advantage of that promo since the quote was good for 21 days and she responded with:
"With each promotion, the pricing must be based on our latest spreadsheet proposal. The new spreadsheet for the current promotion was just released to us today. I’m happy to reprice you on the current spreadsheet dated 06.16.23. From my experience, I doubt there will be a significant difference in bottom line price".
This seemed a bit car dealershipish but we moved forward anyway.
In trying to decide how best to rate our experience with A Oasis Pools overall, we felt it would be most beneficial to home owners to call out specific categories and then use a five star system as that is something most people are familiar with and can relate to.
Sales and Design Process - 4 out of 5
Kelly was extremely patient and professional in all our interactions with her. She initially created exactly what we asked for and then later made adjustments as we made changes to what we wanted quickly and easily. The A Oasis showroom in Midlothian has a lot of options that buyers can choose from depending on what they want their pool to look like. It was helpful to be able to see the actual samples we could envision the final product. Home owners who decide to work with A Oasis will be in good hands with Kelly. I would not give them 5 out of 5 for sales and design for two reasons. First, the promotions and pricing weirdness that I described in the previous section seemed disingenuous and didn't make sense. Second, the contract mandates that you pay in full before the pool is plastered, not when everything is complete. We had outstanding issues still unresolved for several weeks after we made our final payment.
Communication - 1 out of 5
In rating Communication, I only give them 1 star because of Kelly. She answered emails and text messages quickly and efficiently. All other communication from A Oasis was a major negative. We had done our research before hiring them and had seen reviews on the Better Business Bureau, https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/waxahachie/profile/landscape-contractors/a-oasis-pools-and-outdoor-living-0875-91038751/complaints, that alluded to poor communication. We thought those might be outliers but unfortunately we experienced many of the same issues. When we signed our contract we were told that we would be given access to Buildertrend, which is their system to provide communication, and that all communications should be sent through Buildertrend so everyone has access to them. We sent over 12+ communications throughout the project through the system and the only ones that were answered were for the finance manager and regarded payments. Our project manager did not answer questions submitted through the system. We eventually resorted to emailing him or texting him and he would not respond or he would not answer the questions asked. After our pool was paid in full, the project manager made some promises about completing things that needed to be fixed which he never followed through on.
Eventually we got a new project manager who was better but still would not provide a schedule or plan for how the still outstanding issues would be resolved even two months after our final payment was made. We copied the sales manager on several emails and messages, visited the office to talk with him and left him voice messages on his cell phone he only returned two emails early on when we started experiencing issues. We even copied the owner in multiple messages.
Customer Service - 1 out of 5
Again, here they only get a 1 because of Kelly. She always seemed to care about our issues, responded to questions and is the only person who ever apologized for the issues we were experiencing. We continuously had to ask for updates from the project manager regarding outstanding issues. In some instances people that were supposed to come didn't and we had to reach out to find out why and get an updated date for when they would be there, nothing was done proactively on their part. Despite all of the messages we sent, nobody from A Oasis management ever reached out to see if our issues were being resolved or offered to get involved to resolve them. Once we signed our contract with them, it seemed like we no longer mattered or were valued as customers. We made our final payment on September 20 and as of November 15, 2023 still had unresolved issues.
Additionally we had several issues that the Operations Manager should have been resolved prior to the pool being plastered but since the process wasn't followed how it should have been those issues would be treated as warranty work. This meant they would be able to send people to fix the issues as their construction schedule allowed. This meant the final issues for the build were not completed until December 3, 2023,which was 2.5 months after we made our final payment.
Quality - 2 out of 5
As you can see from the picture at the top of this page our backyard looks beautiful from a distance but once you get close and start inspecting it closer there were serious deficiencies in the quality. These deficiencies were evident in all parts of the build. The following sections highlight the issues we experienced and include images for reference.
Being new to Texas, everyone we had talked to leading up to our decision to build a pool cautioned us against have large areas of concrete because the soil in North Texas is prone to shifting and the concrete would crack. As a result we decided to spend the extra money and do travertine decking instead of concrete so any shifting that happened would be easier to manage by removing tiles and re-leveling them. We also added travertine pads between our patio and the cabana/pool deck that included artificial turf between the pads leading to another area close to the house where artificial turf was also installed.
The travertine looks great from a macro perspective but when you look at the tiles, there are inconsistent gaps between many of the tiles. Some of the tiles that were poorly cut were replaced finally at the end of October. There are many tiles with broken or chipped corners that have yet to be addressed. At the end of October they also replaced the plastic basket covers with the travertine covers that we had been promised. While they look much better the installers that put them in wound up getting dust from the travertine and other debris in the pool and the auto-fill basket as they cut the tiles and mortared right where the basket covers were located by the pool. We Having invested over $50,000 in the decking alone, we were disappointed in the quality of the install workmanship.
The travertine pads were adhered to a concrete base that was installed between the deck and patio. After the concrete cured and the travertine was installed, we noticed many cracks appearing in between the pads. We asked the project manager about those and were told they were superficial but that the team laying the turf would put mastic over the cracks to fill them before gluing the grass to the concrete. When those installers were on site, I asked them about the mastic and they said that was not something they did and proceeded to glue the turf strips over the cracks. The deck team also left a gap between the patio and the concrete pad behind a drain for the gutter downspout that was only filled after multiple requests.
Part of our build included a 14' x 16' cabana that included four can lights in the ceiling, a mount for a ceiling fan, gutters, and a solid wall on the west side where we intended to hang a television. The cabana structure was finished at the end of August except for a code required ceiling "pancake" where the fan would be connected. The builders cut a hole in the ceiling and left a live wire sticking out without even a wire nut to protect it. We were told by the project manager that the structures A Oasis builds are designed to withstand 100-mph gusts of wind, however in the video in the section below, you can see the cabana swaying dramatically in winds nowhere close to 100 mph.
We bought our house new and were coming up on our 1-year warranty period so we had an inspector at the house on September 11 who also looked at the structure as part of his overall inspection and he noted that it did not look like the properly anchors were used in the beams and that it did not have sufficient reinforcement for its size. As a result, we asked the project manager if the build team could add reinforcement to the structure and verify the proper anchors were used.
The team did come back in September and added some diagonal 2"x8" pieces to each of the posts. After they were installed and we verified the work after they were gone, we noted the pieces could be moved by hand and were not properly secured into the post or beams. Additionally, most of the supports were not cleanly cut to align with the post or beam. Images are posted below that illustrate all the electrical and support issues. We were not confident in the structural integrity of that fix and eventually in October talked to the Operations Manager who came to the house to see the work and agreed it was substandard. Finally on November 16, 2023, the subcontractor returned and replaced the 2"x8" with 4"x6" to match the beams across the top. They also added metal braces to the corners with larger bolts to secure it than what was originally installed. Images of the second fix are also below. In the three months since the cabana was completed three of the four legs have gotten cracks in them with one fairly significantly. The subcontractor believed this was a result of the wood drying out rather than a result of the inadequate bracing during the September storm. UPDATE: On December 25, 2023, Ellis County experienced some typical wind and that wind pulled the .25" of screw they used to secure the supports out of the structure. As a result we had to submit a message through Buildertrend which will hopefully be answered quickly as all of the hardware used will need to be replaced by the subcontractor.
In the image block below are pictures of the ceiling where the finishing pieces are not aligned, leaving gaps as well as a image of the floor where the deck team had run the electrical. This caused two issues, one they did not put decking in the hole and it was not in alignment with where the cabana builders needed to put the framing for the solid wall. However, rather than calling the project manager to have the issue addressed, the cabana builders framed out the wall leaving the gap in the floor which also did not align with the wall once it was added so water could seep into that hole. This was communicated to the project manager on multiple occasions with no response. The missing decking was eventually resolved by the new project manager that was assigned to our build two weeks after our final payment was made. However, you can see in the travertine image gallery that the pieces that were removed to address the gap under the wall were not reinstalled properly and now have a gap between them.
This is a video of the cabana on September 3, 2023 during a storm. This was the reason we asked for additional bracing to be added to the structure.
We decided to have A Oasis also install a concrete walkway from the edge our patio to the side gate and driveway to make it easier to take the trash cans out especially since this area would get very muddy when it rained.
There were multiple issues with this part of the project. First, the installers had originally created a form so concrete would not be poured around our utility lines, however when they poured the concrete the removed the form and concreted in the utilities. They also did not put an expansion joint between the walkway and the home's foundation which is not inline with standard construction code. The poured area was also higher than the existing pad where the air conditioning condense is installed so water would pool on that pad putting the condenser at risk of rusting. There were also shallow spots in multiple areas that prevented water from properly running off.
These issues were communicated to A Oasis on September 12. On October 13 they sent a team to remove the areas with low spots, poured new concrete, and they cut the concrete out from the utilities. While this did resolve the issue, they used a different type of concrete than the original pour and now there is a visible difference between the original and new areas (see below). They also left the area in quite a mess including concrete dust all in the A/C condenser. Unfortunately, when they installed the new form for the pad, they damaged the irrigation line which led to flooding when the sprinklers ran the following night. On October 15 they returned and cut the concrete to add the mastic layer between the concrete and the home's foundation.
The pool was plastered on September 22, 2023. The plaster team did not properly mask the tile and there is blue plaster now between the coping and the tiles in multiple places that was not acid washed off.
As part of their process, they connected ropes to the two columns of our cabana and then put poles in the ground on two sides of the pool to hang the hoses they used to shoot the plaster. One of the installers drove one of these poles through the irrigation line right by the pool and didn’t notify us or the project manager. The next day after the acid wash was complete and we were filling the pool, the irrigation started on schedule and a large amount of sand and dirt was pushed into the pool because of the leak caused by the damage. The PM and landscape supervisor were both notified of this leak, and they sent a team to fix it on September 25. However, our water company then notified us they had detected a leak at our house. We notified the PM again and escalated the issue through the sales department and it was not resolved until October 2 when the main irrigation leak person came to the house and identified that sand from the original leak had been pushed into one of the other pumps down the line which he was able to resolve.
The pool was acid washed on September 23. After the acid was and as the pool was filling you can clearly see streaks where the plaster was not properly acid or power washed and the bright blue of the plaster was still visible. This is evident on the sides of the pool and especially in the corners of the steps. During the process the installer ran a hose into a dirt area on the side of our yard where he pumped all the acid from the wash as well as the plaster that was removed through the power washing. Had we had grass there, it would be dead, and I had to cover that area with a tarp to prevent our dog from walking on it. Unfortunately, that individual did not speak English well enough and I did not speak Spanish well enough to understand what he intended to do. Luckily it rained two days later and most of the plaster washed away.
There are three other areas that we had issues with during construction.
Pool Equipment Slab
The concrete pad for the pool equipment was originally poured below the level of the yard by several inches. We brought this to the PM’s attention and the team at first removed the pad, added pieces of rock under it to raise the level which would have been catastrophic. We had to contact the PM again regarding this solution and the team poured a new pad at the correct height, however had we not said anything they would have moved forward with their original "solution".
Privacy Fence
As part of our design, we added a privacy fence that mainly acts to hide the pool equipment which is installed on the other side. This was installed in late August. The team that installed it did not stain it, install pole caps, or properly secure all the boards. These issues were resolved on September 30. On one end of the fence you can see nails coming through the front that missed the support beam in the back entirely and there is a gap between the end piece and the front boards.
Landscaping
As part of our contract we paid to have the yard regraded and to have sod installed within six feet of all sides of the pool. Additionally, we put in a change order to add some bushes at the end of the pool to help provide a windbreak to protect the cabana from the wind and we added an additional pallet of sod because we knew the six feet wasn't going to cover everything. Throughout the build multiple vehicles had been in our backyard and the entire west side of our yard was torn up. What I didn't know was how much area a pallet of grass would cover and the A Oasis landscape team didn't recommend adding additional pallets of grass which we wound up needing. This is our fault for not knowing what would be needed, but I would have gladly paid the additional cost for the two additional pallets of grass . We eventually bought two pallets of sod from The Greenery (highly recommend them), https://thegreenerytx.com/, in Waxahachie and laid it ourselves.
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