Seasonal World — Attraction in Millstone Township

SUMMARY: After doing an extensive evaluation of many pool companies in N.J., I selected Seasonal World and I am glad I did. My experiences with Seasonal World for a complete back yard turn-key renovation, which included sales, project management and installation of my inground pool, pavers, electrical and a fence have been excellent. They broke ground in mid-June 2022 and we were swimming in the pool by mid-August and I did not experience any construction delays. You may find other cheaper pool companies in N.J but I was willing to pay that cost difference based on my assessment and the old adage "you get what you pay for" and rings true in this case. There is a pool feature that I very strongly recommend which is the inground pool cleaning system, a bit costly but well worth the money, trust me. During the entire season, I did not need to vacuum the pool!!! This was a big help during my business trips away from home. In summary, I highly recommend Seasonal World and I would use them again if installing another pool.

ADDTIONAL DETAILS:

SALES - The salesman, John, was very knowledgeable in providing answers to all of my pool questions. He invited us to the sales office and showed us various pool configurations and images of completed pool designs and other details that guided us to a make a final pool selection.

POOL DESIGN - The next phase was to approve a pool 2D and 3D pool design of the complete back yard. The design was done using CAD software and visual aspects, including dimensional information of the pool design were presented to me for approval so there should be no surprises. One cautionary note I have is to make sure that the design is what you want since it will potentially impact time and cost if changes are made after you sign-off and approve the design, this is very important. This is a critical step that will help manage expectations for both you and Seasonal World.

PROJECT MANAGAEMENT - Seasonal World assigned a project manager, Bella, and we spoke weekly throughout the various six (6) project phases that Seasonal World formalized as part of their business practice. Each project phase is fully explained so that you have a full understating of the work flow that is required. This is in addition to all of the "behind-the-scenes" work that is required to manage the many moving parts to install an inground pool, e.g. managing contractors, materials, permitting, scheduling, etc.

CONSTRUCTION - Once ground was broken, there was very little dwell time between digging out the soil, marking pool heights and leveling, installing the steel rebar, installing the underground piping, shooting the gunite (cement), finishing the pebbled pool surface and setting the water edge tiles. After the pool was installed, the electrical grounding & bonding and lights were completed. Once this work was completed, the extensive paver work started which took another 6 weeks and came out beautiful. Next came the installation of the fencing which completed all the construction work and all township permits were approved and closed.

BE PRESENT DURING THE FULL CONSTRUCTION PROCESS - My personal perspective, which may not always be practical for everyone, is to be present during most, if not all, of the construction work to inspect and verify that the installation is proceeding per the approved design & contract. Catching any unintentional mistakes or deviations early benefits everyone and will avoid any unnecessary rework and cost. One other added benefit is that you will be able to immediately answer any preferential construction questions or options that may come up and not leave that decision to the construction workers.

POOL TRAINING - One-on-one pool training with me was performed by Chris. The training covered how to use the numerous pool features through the hand-held controller that controls many of the pool functions. Chris is very knowledgeable and did an excellent job explaining all of the pool features.

OFFICE STAFF - Everyone I interfaced with was polite and...

I have to say my experience with Seasonal World was the worst experience I have dealt with as a home owner. I initially went with SW because of the good review and they are one of the few companies who build a concrete pool with a vinyl liner. I even had a neighbor rave about them. My biggest issue is that they are the most untrustworthy people that I have ever dealt with. They tell you one thing, then do something different. Here is a recount of just some of my experiences, of which I have either written or photographic evidence of the problems, I had dealt with.

-During excavation, the crew dug up a drain pipe that came from my home's gutter system. We knew it was there and that it would have to be redirected. George from the excavation crew had me go out and buy a temporary pipe to redirect during the construction. He also said that when they came to do the backfill, they would take care of it and redirect the pipe away from the pool. When the backfill crew came, they buried the pipe right alongside the pool and did not install a drain valve for a place for the water to go. When I brought this to the attention of SW, Tony, the owner said that the crew did redirect the pipe and I had nothing to worry about. I knew this was not correct and had to dig up a portion of the pipe on my own to prove that it had not been redirected. I informed SW that we were not willing to move forward until the drain pipe issue was taken care of. Tony agreed to remove the pipe and we would take care of redirecting the drain pipe, so we agreed to move forward. That week the liner was installed (and another major payment is due). The day after the crew that was supposed to remove the pipe and never showed up, Tony informed us that they had changed their mind and it was too late to removed, even though he agreed to it, but he now had our money, so why bother. We continued to express our concern about erosion, sinkholes and the concrete collapsing, so Tony agreed to put "Piers" in the concrete (which they did do) and extend the warranty on the concrete (which they did not do). -The liner installers did not set the liner correctly the first time. It was only off by a little bit. The pool was filled halfway with water at this point. I brought it to the attention of SW and was told don't worry about it, water from filling the pool will set it in place. So I filled the pool and the liner still had air behind it and the corners were not set right. A supervisor came out and said that water had gotten behind the liner and they would have to drain the pool halfway and reset it. I wanted them to bring a water truck out to refill the pool because I already spent the money to fill the pool once, but they blamed mother nature for water being behind the liner and they were not going to pay for that. When the crew came out to reset the liner, they confirmed there was NO water behind the liner. -I had several issues with electrical sub contractor they use: 1) They were supposed to use an existing hole on the side of the house to run the electric out of the house, instead they drilled a new hole and left dead wires and unused conduit hanging out of the side of the house. 2) When they trenched the yard, they drove their machine through my clearly marked sprinkler system causing $1700 in damage. 3) I paid to have a outlet ran to my shed where they would connect to the existing outlet inside the shed, instead they put a new outlet outside the shed and again left existing dead wire and conduit hanging off the side of the shed. 4) When they back filled the trench they dug, they did not tamp it down, so i now have a 3inch wide by 4'deep trench running through my yard.

These are just some of the "low" lights of my experience, there are several more things like the pile of trash they left when they were done...

I had my in ground pool installed spring of 2014 by Seasonal World. Unfortunately I can’t give zero stars on a Google review so I gave the next lowest possible. I think the pool buying process is emotionally up and down. Designing the pool is super exciting, whether it is choosing the type of decking around the pool, the liner or salt vs. chlorine, etc. However the actual construction process not so fun although it doesn’t have to be as bad as it was using Seasonal World. For starters everything that goes wrong will be your fault not theirs. It doesn’t matter that they are the pool experts (in theory) you are supposed know. They destroyed my sidewalk that cost me $700 to repair but the real cost was dealing with the town, the mason, permits and inspection that was very time consuming. Not sure why they don’t tell people ahead of time that this is going to happen so they can be prepared for it and budget for it. I think most people would still go ahead with a pool but feel a lot better about having to repair the sidewalk without the surprise factor. Then there were exact measurements on the blueprints for the stamped concrete going around the pool that their engineer and the town engineer signed off on. Just before the mason was ready to pour the concrete he asked me to take a look and approve the forms. Without a measuring tape it was clear he was missing the lounge chair section (about 150 square feet) I had already paid for. When I told him it wasn’t right he said I would have to pay an additional $2,900 for the lounge chair section we had designed and already paid for. Left with no choice but to give him the check so I can get the deck done that day I did. The mason told me to feel free to measure when he was done. I told him I certainly would. Like I said I’m not a mason or a pool expert and I don’t have one right angle in my pool deck, I felt that my measurements would be contested just as the mason did the day he poured the concrete. So I hired my NJ licensed surveyor to come and measure the pool and the deck around the pool. Sure enough the NJ licensed surveyor that used laser guided equipment found the square footage to be exactly what I paid for originally. In other words the $2,900 check I gave the mason the day he poured was wrong. Essentially they took money for work they didn’t do but made me feel like I’m the idiot. Once again I don’t do this for a living that is why I hired a professional contractor so they can get it right. They gave me back the $2,900 but refused to reimburse me the surveyor fee that I incurred to prove them wrong. Lastly I have major problems with the pool. I installed $5,000 worth of drainage round the pool and a well point (pump under the pool) but every time it rains I get water behind my liner. My drainage contractor said the pool was not backfilled properly before the deck was poured. Once again they said this is not their problem. I think you can see a pattern developing. I filed a complaint with the BBB but that was useless. Don’t put much faith in their A+ BBB rating. The BBB just tries to help resolve issues but if they can’t the complaint gets closed with no negative impact on the contractor. If you are going to spend $30,000, $40,000 or upwards of $50,000 on a pool I would look at other pool contractors that might value your business instead of treating you like just another moron that...