Cody Pools — Local services in Tampa

Overall we are very happy with our pool/spa. We started off with one project manager where things were pretty rocky. We weren’t getting any updates and things were moving at a snail’s pace. Thank the Lord that Cody reassigned Adam to our project! He made the process enjoyable and was extremely easy to get a hold of. If it wasn’t for Adam, this review would not be what it is.

My recommendation to those interested in going with Cody Pools is to ask lots of questions up front! Please remember, the sales employees are there to sell, and that’s it. Your project manager is the one who will make or break your opinion on the company. Luckily, Cody Pools has Adam who does a fantastic job.

Recommendations:

I highly recommend staying on top of the city that is approving the permit to begin your build. We live in Largo. Our permit was hung up on the fact that Cody did not send someone out to place a a protective barrier by the gutter. Literally, all it took was me calling around asking what the holdup was. I then had to call the person chosen to install this barrier who said all he needed to do was run to Home Depot and get a tube and sock (sock acts like a filter outside of the tube) and put it by the gutter. That took 20 minutes and would have saved us 1-2 months on our permit if they would have done it at the beginning.

Excavator was good

Plumbing group (very young!) was awesome

Electricians were good as well. They did have to come back out to move a line, but they did it without a fuss. We had two outlets installed at the back part of the patio. They were at different levels and one had conduit showing inside the patio. Cody had them come back out, replace the screen post, and reinstall the outlet to the way it was requested. Warrant group is fantastic!

Pavers…..oh the pavers. So we had a little issue. We ordered Ivory Shellock and were at a standstill with the installers as they were ready to install but they were no pavers delivered. I called John (salesman) and asked what the issue was with the pavers as the crew was ready to install. He informed me that the pavers were oversold (Miami company) and are backordered. He said it would be 16 weeks before they deliver! This was the most frustrating part. The project was then at a stand still for 4 months…..but they provided us another option. An upgrade :/. It definitely wasn’t in the budget but John said that he could upgrade us to travertine and would only charge us the difference of the upgrade ($2,000 - $3,000). The kicker, they would be delivered next week. We chose this option so we didn’t stall the production by 4 months.

*Tip: when the deliver your pavers and they are under a tree, cover them with a tarp! They come with plastic wrap around it but it doesn’t protect it completely. We had ran and the pollen molded and stained lots of the pavers. It took an acid wash (more than once) to get them to satisfactory condition once they were installed.

Pebble Sheen: Make sure the name of what you’re selecting is the exact color of the pool you want. We pointed to one of the sales guys (who was the on to complete our selection form) that we wanted a blue pool (anything but teal). We pointed to the picture he showed up to verify the color. When it was installed, it definitely is very light….very very light.

Screen enclosure. I’ll keep this one brief. Amazing job. Women, you’ll especially love this portion of the install. If you’re the husband, be prepared that your other half will be at the window admiring the 4-5 short shorts, shirtless, Tarzans installing your enclosure. Enough said.

All in all, we are very happy with our project. The kids love it and it definitely acts as an extension of our house.

The warranty group is awesome. If you aren’t happy with ANYTHING, call them. They’ll send someone out to fix it.

Adam, amazing like I mentioned before! Can’t say enough about him.

If you have questions from an honest home owner, don’t hesitate to message me. I’ll be happy to answer...

Cody Pools was our number one choice for building our in ground pool. Larry Trainor was our sales rep and he came highly recommended. The experience with Larry was great and he was great to work with. I was very skeptical about starting a pool project, due to the horror stories I heard, reviews and neighbor complaints and experiences with other pool companies. However, the experience with Larry eased some of my concerns. He walked us through the process and made it painless, interesting and enjoyable. Although, the overall experience, I soon learned would be with the project manager. The first project manager we had was not engaged in the job at all and I blame Cody management team for that. We endured downtime that was unnecessary and could have been avoided. A manager at Cody should have reached out to show they were tracking the status, and they failed to do so. Elon Friedman became our new project manager and he stepped in as if he started the job. Elon was amazing throughout the process. He got the job back on track and is responsible for the great customer experience we had. Elon was responsive when I reached out to ask questions after a project was completed or when started, he was patient when I didn’t fully understand what and why certain parts of the job had stalled or was taking place. Elon always responded to my text messages and phone calls. He would respond even if he could talk at the time. If he had no answer he would tell us and always circle back with a response. He was professional and very engaged in the project. Elon followed-up after a job was completed by the contractors. He called to check on the status and to ensure us he would be stopping by to take a look. Elon would call the contractor if the work was not to his standard, and could possibly delay or not clear inspection. As a project manager it is important to ensure the job is moving as scheduled and that there are no bottlenecks. Elon exceeded his job. When materials were delayed Elon kept us updated rather it was something we wanted to here or not. He understands communication is essential to a great client relationship. We saw several pool projects in our neighborhood, and my husband and I always said we were so glad we chose Cody and we were BLESSED to have Elon on our pool project. Not everyone takes pride in their work but he did. We felt part of a team working with Elon. He stuck with us every step of the way until it was time to transition our project to the warranty department. I must say the warranty team was nice to work with. They called to schedule pool school, followed up to make sure we knew of our appt. The tech Orlando who did pool school was so much fun and he was funny !!! I probably drove him crazy with questions he had already answered but he smiles through it, started over and took his time. Orlando took pride in his job and we are so appreciative. There was another young man who did our startup and I am sorry I cannot remember his name but he was very nice, professional and also funny. He started the pump, added chemicals and took time to explain next steps. They never rushed us or speed talked to get it over with. If you are looking to build a pool, Cody Pools is a great choice. A great customer experience and professionalism is what you can expect from day one. When your project starts please do not blame the team for issues they have no control over, like weather! If the contractors leave trash while the project is ongoing politely ask them to remove it and they will. They are providing a service and are not servants so they do deserve your respect too. Thank you Elon, Orlando, Larry and the Warranty Team you all are the example of a team that puts “Customer First”. We really appreciated working with you and we love...

I would not recommend Cody Pools to anyone in the market to get a pool. We have had a horrible experience with them. One thing we made clear from the beginning was that we just wanted communication, we understand that things can change for scheduling and there can be delays but just let us know. If you tell us that someone is coming on a certain day and that changes, a quick text to let us know goes a long way. We have 3 big dogs and we spent well over $1000 on doggie daycare costs on days where we were told someone was coming and no one would show up and no one let us know that there was a delay. Overall the communication sucked and still does to this day.

Things started off ok with our sales rep John, nice guy and your typical sales type guy. Our original project manager Juliano was a really nice guy but new at construction project managing and it just wasn't the job for him. He tried his best to communicate with us and keep us in the loop. Well then Juliano left and we we got sent Steve. Getting Steve to communicate with us was like pulling teeth. He seemed to have the attitude of "when a crew shows up, they show up". At one point I expressed my frustration with Steve about the lack of communication all his response was "I'm sorry you feel that way". There was just so many specific things that happened that is just too much to include in this review, but so many of our frustrations could have been resolved with some communication.

Crews constantly left food wrappers and water bottles all over the yard, one of Cody employees spit gum out by the pump/heater which one of the dogs stepped in and let me just tell you it is not fun getting gum out of a dogs paw.

Our pool was finally finished at the end of Sept '23 however it is now March '24 and we have a leak in the pool that we have been waiting 2 months to get fully fixed. Someone came out in Feb and said that it was all fixed, only to find out it wasn't. Apparently there was a part that had to be ordered, which we found out through the warranty company, and that part wouldn't be in until March and the crew would be out March 8th to fix. Do you think someone showed up on March 8th....NOPE! Do you think we got a phone call saying that they wouldn't be showing up...NOPE!. I called the warranty company and apparently the crew had to push it to today, March 11th. As of right now no one has showed up. We have been having to add water to our pool several times a week because of this leak, which is costing us money, the pool looks like crap bc of the algae growing because the salt level is all of from water leaking and then having to add new water constantly.

We love having a pool but if we had to do it again there is no way we would go with Cody.

Follow-up:

We are still having issues with a pool leak after being told it was fixed.. Our pool cleaning company has tried numerous times to contact Cody to discuss with them what they are seeing and no one will return a phone call. I tried to call the warranty company today while our pool guy was here to coordinate someone coming out while they were here so they could show them the concerns and was told that we were out of construction warranty and basically tough luck that we could hire a pool leak detection company out of pocket and see what happens. We also have an issue with two spa jets not working on was told the same thing that it is out of warranty. In the past the warranty company has been the bright spot of Cody, but not this time. I asked to be transferred to a manger at the warranty company and was told they were in interviews and they could send me to voicemail but I...