Alan Smith Pool Plastering & Remodeling

They quality of the work was good, but the project management and follow through was not good.

It tuned out fine and they are a good pool company. Probably the best in southern California. They did a beautiful job.

We needed things done right away and they were able to accomodate us with their services. We could find nobody else to come do the services. They did an excellent job! I'd highly recommend them.

It should be said that Alan Smith Pools did not complete any work at our house, so I am not commenting on the quality of their re-plastering. I am, however, commenting on their professionalism and expertise (or considerable lack thereof) leading up to a job. In fact, the unprofessionalism and apparent ignorance of Los Angeles Building & Safety Code coupled with a hard and fast sell to sign a contract was enough for me to cease contact with them and go with another outfit. The estimate for the re-plastering job was reasonable, but what I didn't like was that the guy giving me the estimate was a salesman clearly working on commission and not the guy doing the actual job. He was completely ignorant of LA code, which requires a permit for re-plastering a pool. I have an email from our salesman that explicitly says "you do not need a permit." Well, he is dead wrong. And it is pretty alarming that a pool company would not know such a basic rule. If they don't follow the laws--or aren't even aware of them--why would I want to hire this company? I was also put off by the flurry of emails pressuring me to sign a contract now in order to lock in a certain price. It was a hard sell, and frankly, one that felt a bit sales-y. It felt to me they were more interested in getting the contract signed, the down payment down then the quality and professionalism of their work.

Called for estimate to replaster and repair pool. They showed up on time and said it would take a few days for an estimate. After a week, we called back, left messages. After 10 days, got a call to say that they're not sure why we hadn't received it yet, but that it would coming. 14 days later, finally got an estimate after 3 follow up phone calls. The estimate was much more than others. Not impressed with their customer service at all. If it takes 3 phone calls and over 2 weeks just to get an estimate, I can't imagine what a big project would take.

We had some issues with the pool, with the curing of the cement. One thing that is important to me is communication and I was not happy with their lack of communication. They said that a certain person would be a project manager and then you would speak with this person for a certain part of the pool and then another person for another part of the pool. There was really no coordination, like the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing. I have a policy that if someone is going to be at my home working, that either myself or my husband would need to be home and we made that very clear in the beginning. I had sent them an email stating my husband and I would be out of town for a certain period and there was to be no work done at that time. And they came and were on the property and worked on the pool anyway. The have double billed me for things that I didn't have or use. They billed me for tile and deliver of tile and they didn't deliver any tile, I purchased the tile and I went and picked it up. After I brought it to their attention they were good about correcting it. But there were several things that they double billed me for. Unfortunately due to illness with myself and my husband, we were not able to stay on top of things until just recently. They came out and drained the pool and sanded it and re-surfaced it and we are just now putting the pool back together. The bottom line is I would not recommend them or use them again. The project manager should have been out here supervising and should have been on top of things and there was no project manager. A project as large as this deserves a project manager that knows what is going on. The owner called me after I sent an email about his people being on the property when we were out of town. He only talked about how successful his business is and how long he has been in business. The point is, they came out and were on my property when I had asked them not to come out while we were away. Also, I have had to drain the pool twice and the water here is expensive.

I located Alan Smith Pools through Angie's list. I also got a bid from another contractor, recommended by my pool guy, that was a little cheaper but I had a higher level of trust with Alan Smith Pools after my first meeting with the salesman, Neil Spain. The salesman was very knowledgable and did a very compolete and detailed estimate. He went through all of the steps and what to expect. The project went exactly as discussed with us. They called and e-mailed to let us know when the next crew would be on site. They have special crews for each step. One crew came and removed all of the plaster and tile and removed the coping that needed to be reset in one day. The remodeling and tile crew came next and their work was done in three days. Next the plastering crew came out and did the pebble finish in a day. The next crew cleaned off the surface material and acid washed the pool and refilled it. Then they cleaned and serviced it for a week to get the chemical levels balance. From demo to pebble finish was 11 days. From deposit to water in the pool was 20 days. These guys are fantastic. Very professional. Communicated a lot about what they were doing, when the next crew would be out, etc. They even coordinated the service back to our normal pool guy. I highly recommend them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It didn't. I cancelled the visit.

Neil Spain came over to my house, I discussed what I wanted to do. Mr.Spain then told me what he would like to do to the backyard.He said to call him back at a later time to get an estimate. Why do I need to call him again to get the estimate? Did he think I wasn't serious? Ended up not getting an estimate. My friend had similar experience with this company. He had to call Mr.Spain to get the estimate after it was promised to him days before. This seems to be a hit or miss company.

The entire job took approx 2 weeks to complete. Very satisfied.

It turned out great. They are the best of them all because they keep their good contractors and employees busy. They are the best. They dow what they say they are going to do and their prices are competitive. I can't think of a thing that is bad about them. They are excellent.

I was very happy with their work. What they did was excellent.

It was fine. The work they did was acceptable.

It was great. They did it in a very short time. They cleaned up well and everything worked fine. I highly recommend them.

I contacted Alan Smith Pools to solicit a proposal for a complete backyard remodel project as indicated above. They responded promptly to the solicitation and scheduled a time for Gary Kawate to do a site visit and review the design plan I had prepared. Gary was prompt and professional, although it took them a bit more time than the others to provide the completed proposal. Their proposed price for the project was substantially higher than any of the other four quotes received. The proposal included detailed pricing for each activity, which was very helpful but their price was just way too high.

They were on time. They did what they said they would do. They had great follow up as there was one issue but they were able to correct it.

We had rain almost everyday so it took a while for the work to be done. They did a fantastic job.

Everything was great. They did what they said they were going to do. The pricing was fair. I would use them again.

The experience was excellent. They were on time and did a great job. They offered excellent communication and attention to details. They always cleaned up nicely after they were here. I thought they were terrific.

Had to follow up to get the estimate. When it arrived the majority of line items were rolled into a grand total. We asked for a breakdown of each cost items. The response was that they really could not bid the retaining wall or pavers because their cost would be too high and their company wasn't really equipped to do that work. After all that the only work they bid was the pool replaster.

Their estimate was for around $40000. They were professional and they did a thorough investigation before they gave the estimate. Their responsiveness was excellent.

After draining the pool, they found evidence of cracks that contributed to leaking. The company owner came out to inspect and suggest alternatives. This acaused a slight delay, but the work was accomplished to our satisfaction.

The field superintendent did not inform me when the job would start, I came home from work and found their crew was here sand blasting, many of my plants were damaged in the process. Throughout the job there was little or no communication as to when they would be here. The final plastering job is very nice however their customer skills are negligible. The hardscape was subbed out to Sun Deck which was a great company to work with. The equipment installation was haphazard as they did not install the pump I requested and told me the one they installed was good enough, they also installed the wrong pool light and when they finally installed the correct light it failed within a year and they were no help in getting it replaced. I talked the superintendent about the pump and light and they never responded. J bought the correct pump and replaced it and the system now works great

The contracting went okay. The company came recommended to me by my pool service. Initially, the salesman came promptly and was knowledgable and professional. The price was higher than other bids I received but they did lower the price a bit when I called them to discuss which I appreciated. However, I had to follow up on the salesman to learn whether his boss was willing to lower the price and then later after i agreed to go with them, i had to make a follow up call to get the contract signed. My pool guy and the ratings on Angie's list said i am getting a good company so i went with them even though they told me it would take three weeks before they could start. I paid an $800 deposit. Update 5/23/2011 - After a minor misunderstanding about the start date, they started today by draining the pool. Will provide further updates.

They came out promptly to review the vinyl-lined in ground pool for a remodel, but then weeks went by with no estimate. When I called the estimator, he said he had told my husband that this would be a total rebuild and that he wasn't giving an estimate. I thought maybe there had been a misunderstanding, so I told him that we were still interested in that estimate for the rebuild. He said he would get one to us within a week, but no estimate ever arrived. It's unfortunately that this guy was a flake. It's probably not reflective of the entire company.