Back At It

It's been forever since my last post. I've been busy with family things, house things, just normal everyday stuff. But the most difficult has been the new pool. We decided to put an in-ground pool in the backyard to enjoy during these hot summer nights here in the southeast. We looked into a couple of local pool companies and decided to go with one that had an owner that seemed to be honest. That was the first mistake of several in this venture. The contract was signed in the beginning of May. It's now the end of July, and they have just about got the project wrapped up. That's right, the END OF JULY! I have never dealt with a more unprofessional company in my life. The owner had no idea what stage anything was in, but if you asked him what was going on, he'd tell you that he was on top of it. They screwed up my yard with backhoes, skid steers, dump trucks, and concrete trucks. An attempt was made to level out some of the leftover soil but all they did was flatten it out. They didn't try to blend it in with the yard, as they promised they would. The owner lied, the installation guys lied, even the lady screening phone calls in the office lied. It has been the most stressful three months I've ever had. I wish we had done more research into this pool company. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess.
So right now, all that's left for the pool people to do is run a drain line from the filter and two drain lines from the deck drain. Then our part begins....
Our part consists of straightening out the leftover dirt to prepare it for sod. Once the soil is blended and readied, then the laying of the sod commences. This will be back-breaking work, but it is imperative that this gets completed ASAP. Because my yard was slightly sloped, one end of the pool is rather high. Extra soil had to be brought in. And when there's no grass on dirt, nice little mud rivers are formed, and they all seem to be channeled to the neighbor's yard. After the sod has been laid, the fence needs to go back up. Several sections of the surrounding fence had to come down to accommodate for the previously mentioned trucks and skid steer. Once the fence is back in place, I think that will be about it.
All-in-all, the pool and surrounding patio is absolutely beautiful. I think it would be even more beautiful had we not had to deal with the stress of the poor management of the project. If anyone reading this is thinking about putting in an in-ground pool, please, research all of the pool companies, and get SEVERAL references!