Cody Pools — Local services in Georgetown

Your pool builder matters. When I moved here in January 2020 and bought a house, the first thing I did was look at putting in a swimming pool. I went and researched many pool builders and heard many horror stories of people trying to save a few bucks by going with small local “professional” builders. Two people down the street paid a local builder to built their pool only to have them go out of business halfway through the project and take their money with them. Many of these builders just start over under a different name. I was going to invest a lot of my hard earned capital on this pool and I wanted a builder who would be around ten to twenty years or longer after it was done. I also wanted a warranty that was backed up by their reputation and honored. I decided to go with the number one pool builder in America which is Cody Pools. And man was that a good decision, as I would soon find out. After the pool was built, within just a year or two I would find cracks, leaking and assorted Shot Crete (shell) problems. I reported these to the warranty department and Cody Pools responded by sending multiple crews and workers attempting to fix the problems (spending thousands of dollars) at no cost to me. They even scraped and replastered my pool. Nothing worked. We started hearing in the news that my problem was not unique. Hundreds of pools in the Austin area were having problems from multiple builders (not just Cody Pools). The problem was is the mixture of the Shot Crete by a couple of Shot Crete suppliers. It was called alkali silica reaction, ASR, which is a defect in concrete mixtures that causes the shell of a pool to weaken and crack until it can no longer hold water. I wanted to know if I had ASR. I hired an engineering firm to core my pool to find out (Cody Pools refunded me the cost of this test). It turned out the test came back positive for ASR. I contacted Cody Pools warranty division with the results. Will they honor my lifetime warranty on the shell of my pool? Yes they did. Pool insurance companies like many other insurance companies love to receive your payments but when it comes to paying out, not so much. But Mike Church, owner of the local Cody Pools, is a man you can count on and stands behind his product. He was going to honor his product even if it cost him. Many pool builders went out of business leaving hundreds of pool owners with a hunk of decaying concrete in their backyard that would not hold water or which can not be repaired. Hundreds of pool owners losing thousands of dollars. Think before you spend thousands of dollars who you want to be your pool builder. Cody Pools came out a few months back, tore out my pool and totally replaced it (not the equipment as it was fine). They even fixed my grass and sprinklers and any damage to my property they caused in the process. They completed the work last week. To say that I am ecstatic to have my pool back is an understatement. You really don’t want the stress and wondering I experienced. Cody Pools was and is the right choice. The pool looks fantastic! I want to thank all those who not only provided me service but went above and beyond in seeing this through process. First, Mike Church, for being a man of integrity and standing behind his pools. To Peter Batterton, the District Sales Manager. Mike Snyder, my salesman, through both the first pool and the rebuild. Please call and ask for him, you won’t be disappointed. Dominic Beck, the Superintendent over my pool rebuild. Now there is a man that has your satisfaction at heart. I can’t say enough good about this man in going above and beyond to ensure I was completely happy. I can’t say enough about his mason, Herbert Cruz.(true tradesman). A shout out to Derek Medack’s team (Warranty and Service). They receive a lot of abuse but do not receive the recognition they deserve. They have always been very respectful, nice, knowledgeable and responsive to all my calls (and there were many)....

Picking a pool builder is terrifying. Shady pool builders are everywhere. I had as least 3 prospective builders come to the property and disappear completely and not return calls. I'm guessing because they knew I was a lawyer, and didn't trust the quality of their work enough .... IDK. But, even worse, a lot of pool builders start an LLC build your pool while promising big warrantees then simply close the LLC and disappear, making your warranty worthless and you are left with lord-knows-what they built you. A pool is no joke. It's virtually a living thing. There is way too much that can go wrong, so I knew I needed to choose wisely. We picked two of the largest pool builders in Austin. Both have been around for a very long time. One of which was Cody pools. Cody won the project on price by far, not only that, they included so many extras, like a UV filter, smart phone controls, colored lights, and a vacuum robot. They even have their proprietary plaster finish with "sea glass" pebbles. It's so beautiful. I didn't see anyone else have that type of finish. Aside from that, we had a unique request, that the other company simply refused to do. We wanted the equipment behind a fence that was covered by a deck (to hide the equipment completely). But to do that, they had to cut through a concrete walkway that was covered in pavers, run the plumbing underneath, then repair it like it all never happened. Enter our Cody project manager Marcos. Marcos didn't even blink at our proposal and said he could make it happen. Obviously we choose Cody. Then came the contract. There were things that concerned me about it, but I was told the owner said, "we are going to cover it anyway, so go ahead and fix it." So all our contract worries were resolved without issue. Next construction began, with Marcos in charge. I can't tell you how much I love this dude!!! Our entire pool was built in 1.5 months. Trades (excavation, electrical, plumbing, concrete (gunite), masonry, plaster, tiling, decking, and clean up) came in one after another like clockwork. Absolutely amazing. A very well oiled machine. And I was super impressed with how talented and professional each crew was. All great guys. And Marcos was on top of it every step of the way. When we found an unexpected pipe, Marcos got someone there the next day to reroute it without skipping a beat. When I asked for a change order to extend a retaining wall for decking, they simply started building it the next day. When my wife changed her mind on the wrap-around-tiling for the infinity edge, Marcos, instead of stopping the project to order new tile, hustled around town until he came up with enough of the new tile to finish the project without a hiccup. When my intended electrical panel couldn't support the pool equipment, we quickly figured out how to run it discretely from the main panel. When I asked for them to do the our concrete pavers for our deck after our landscaping company came back with an outrageous estimate, Macros got it done for 1/5th the price. I'll say it again, love that dude!!! I think the most down time we had was when we had to order more materials for the extra wall, and even that was only like a Monday off. After the pool was full and running, Cody scheduled a "Pool School," at my house to teach me how to care for the pool. And they gave me a bunch of equipment like a skimmer, vacuum, brush, and a water testing kit. Lastly, Cody, has a fantastic dedicated Warranty Department, which answers the phone every time you call (You won't have to chase anyone down like with other shady and elusive contractors). I had an issue with a hose on the Third-Party cleaning robot that Cody gave me. So I called their Warranty Department and they called the manufacturer and had them send me another right away. If you cannot tell, I am glad I choose Cody. This review is 100% voluntarily written and I offered it without being asked. The only thing I received for it was...

I had hoped that I would not have to write this, but our pool project with Cody Pools has long-since passed the boundaries of being unprofessional. We started talking with our Cody Pools Georgetown sales rep and designer Peter on January 21. He was very knowledgeable, engaging, and professional. We were tracking well until the pool was excavated. A few days passed by, and we did not hear anything from the construction supervisor Trey. I emailed him to let him know that the excavation was finished. He responded on April 14th that they would start laying the rebar the next Monday, April 19th. Crickets. No one showed up. We are not whiners, so we did not complain. Things happen.

Then a few weeks later while I was eating lunch at home, I saw people in my backyard, unannounced! I thought someone was trying to break in and moved quickly to secure our yard. After the workers and I had a tense moment, they explained they were there to set the rebar for the pool. No one told us.

The exact thing took place weeks later when they started pouring the gunite. No one let us know. This is more than unprofessional, it is dangerous. I also will note that the emails stopped from both the sale team and Trey after we received a digital letter from the owner Mike Church that spoke to the delays Cody Pools was having in association with COVID-19’s disruption of the supply-chain. That was the last email we received, and it was on April 27th. That was almost three months ago! Trey sent us three text messages since then. Our beautiful backyard looks like a cesspool, we still do not know when our pool and patio will be completed 6 months into this and guess what??? The summer is almost over, the five events we scheduled for July and August ruined, and our neighbors are rightfully concerned that our fly and critter infested hole in the yard will lower their escalating real estate values. The process started with so much promise! Ugh!

We chose Cody because of their reputation and pool knowledge. Apparently, we did not get Cody’s “A” Treatment for whatever reason and now we must wait in silence while we look at our $100K insect hole. Professional communication, timelines, and a completed pool should not be too much to ask for. We just want a pool.

RESPONSE: I'm not sure what your #1 status means. The idea that you want me to contact Cody Pools AGAIN means that the rating isn't what is made out to be. My pool has been like this for almost 4 months!! I just want my swimming pool completed. Please resemble your ranking and have my...