UNIVERSAL GROUP INC

There were issues with the infinity pool and golf course that he was supposed to follow up on and never did.

Everything goes smooth with them. They help me each time with figuring out what to do in each yard. What would look the best for the space and everything. The work is always been done professionally and in the time frame they estimate.They have been affordable for the houses I redo. Nice people. Nice work. Have used them for pools, spas, BBQ islands - waterfalls, all types of work. Always impressed. The houses really jump in value after I have worked with Universal Pool & Spa. I am grateful that I found them.

We were initially just interested in removing the old pavement deck that was around the pool and replastering. We purchased the house because of the large yard and pool but the pool was definitely in need of replastering and pavement around the pool was all uneven. The pool was cracking all around and just wouldn't stay clean. We met with several vendors, some were very affordable but wanted to replace the uneven pavement with new pavement or came in with amazing ideas for our pool and yard that we coud not afford. We met with John from Universal and he had immediately understood our budget and wanted to make our pool more unique that what it was by just replastering and pavement, he suggested pavers and adding an infiniti edge, which we had not thought about. John came by and followed up a few times and we finally decided to use Universal. John told us the work would take 4-6 weeks but it honestly took about 8-10 weeks because of various challenges. At the point of the second payment, we met with someone else with Universal who came by to retrieve a payment and a week later we met with another person who then became our point of contact. John was no longer our contact, which was odd to us. Suddenly we were dealing with one of the partners and we had to explain what we wanted and what John had sold us on. They brought by samples of tile for the pool and we selected one that they told us they had on hand becuase a client no longer needed it and we'd get a deal, we agreed to the tile. Once the tile work got started inside the edge of the pool and the infiniti, we noticed the tile work had stopped. When we inquired, we were told they didn't have enough and had to order it. So that was stalled for about a week, then they started the tile work again and when we noticed it, it was a different tile - about a shade lighter than the rest. I was very upset about this because no one was on top of this. I felt like they didn't care that 2 rows of tile were s shade lighter than the rest of the tile. Thank goodness it is on the inside of the infinitim but it was a clear lack of care on their part. We recieved a quick apology and I believe he knocked off $200 but it didn't change the fact that we were paying thousands of dollares for a new pool and they messed up and didn't offer to redo it or offer any other options but to knock off a few hundred dollars. I would say that overall the quality of their work is good, there is a lack of customer service and care though and that can be very important when you are spending over 15 thousand dollars. it was also disconcerning to deal with 3 different reps in the span of 8 weeks. We would have preferred one rep from start to finish. Overall, the plaster inside the pool is super smooth and doesn't shred your bathing suits. We love the look of the pool and deck and thank John for making the suggestion. Our back yard was also left extremely full of concrete chunks mixed into the ground and our grass was killed. It has been a year and our grass hasn't quite recovered from the wear and tear of having equipment, concrete and tools on top of it. I would have loved to have someone tell us that our grass and surrounding plants would be damaged due to the work being done. We would have prepared or made the crew more cautious with where they dropped concrete residue. Additionally, they tapped off 2 of our sprinkler lines and didn't tell us where and why -- we had to find that out on our own a few weeks after. These are just tips for anyone preparing to get work done on your pool -- make sure you protect your grass, plants and ask about sprinkler issues so you don't run into these problems weeks after the job is completed.

Overall, it was an awful experience. Partly because one of the owner's family members was very sick. Which I do empathize with. But that doesn't excuse not returning phone calls, delays beyond belief, etc. We refused to pay the last $1,000 because we were so unhappy. It took much longer than promised, they added in items/details last minute, they promised things they didn't do (such as keeping a replastering log book, which is standard protocol). They didn't clean up after replastering, so when they turned on the pool's filter systems, all the powder broke the filters and we had to replace them immediately, even though they were working before the replastering started. And then, the owner sold the maintenance portion of the company without warning, and suddenly we were dealing with a new vendor through no choice of ours with no warning. Who's a little better quality-wise, but not much. (we may change vendors) We chose Universal because they were cheap. We regret it. UPDATE: one of the owners contacted me after seeing this review online. I will acknowledge that third parties have agreed the quality of the replastering is decent. However, as I wrote above, the process of getting the job done was miserable. And as I thought, we did end up changing maintenance companies because the new company (we didn't choose) was not thorough enough. UPDATE 2: 9/8/2011 we now have to replace the pool filter system ($1,000) because Universal chose such a cheap (and crappy) pool filter system last time. It saved them money at the time...

Had them come over to get more info for a pool but ended with an estimate for the house. They gave promised they can finish the project in 2-3 months. I gave them 5 months plus extra time for delays in obtaining the permits. Finally completed 11 months after start. Their own workers were slow and mediocre at best, but friendly. They hired good subcontractors, framing guy was excellent (would use again). However, working with the owners were like working with a 5 year old. They always forget what I told them, did what they wanted, and when I corrected them, they got angry and blamed me for "constantly" changing my mind. I was surprised about how many things they didn't know about contruction and finishing work like how the tiles were suppose to be set for proper drainage, how install an oven, etc. They also tried to cheat like wanting to charge more to leave the ceiling higher when the subcontractor said it would be less work because he would not need to add more joists for a drop ceiling and claiming the door I wanted needed to be special ordered (delay in project) so they can purchase a less expensive door. Both doors were easily available at Lowe's. Added unauthorized charges to my account without my knowledge and demanded more money. Refused to acknowledge penalties after completion date was passed. Too many incident to mention. I had to filed complaints to BBB and the board to get them to continue work. Don't believe their promises.

They built our pool and spa. While the finished product is beautiful the journey was a nightmare. We had to constantly call to see if workers were going to show up despite repeated promises that they were. No one in the company knew what was going on and it took several phone calls to get an answer out of anyone. This happened every other day. During the construction they left litter and half eaten fast food everywhere in the yard and it smelled like urine. They left materials by the driveway for weeks and then tried to get us to pay for them when they were stolen. They tried to get us to pay for more than what they quoted and what was in the contract. Their pool service is equally horrible. They never show up unless called repeatedly. As well, many times when we called the phones simply don't work. When you do get a hold of someone they have no idea what is going on and you get transferred around.