ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT

Avoid at all costs. After 10 months my simple pool install is still not complete. What has been done is not level, missing components, and exhibits poor craftsmanship. Pool liner is way off, creating massive wrinkles and spots where the liner falls out of the track. Salt system was installed improperly and wouldn't function. Wrong transformer installed so pool lights would not work. Stamped concrete never sealed. Pool returns missing covers, ladder not installed, a mountain of dirt still sitting in my back yard after 10 months, and Joe Shaw continues to promise "next week" the job will get done. Do yourself a favor and hire a different installer.

Joe is not an easy person to work with at all. He is always after his money first then when he feels like it he will do the work, only when Joe has time to. Bought a Leisure pool from him and the pool is perfect, how ever it took Joe 5 months to put my pool in. I would not suggest you choose this company and find someone else. My back yard was destroyed by him and he left piles of pee gravel on my yard and called it filled and grated. Joe never did anything he said he was going to do. He has done the following to my house. 1. Destroyed my yard. He told me not to worry about it and that he would fix it after job was complete. I have found out that if Joe can say what ever he wants to but when it comes down to it he says "review your contract". If its not in the contract Joe word is not worth anything at all. 2. He said he was going to color cement for pool. The color I pick out was a sandy brown shade. Turns out that Joe said his gray is sandy brown and it was my fault for not picking the correct color. Also I have 3 nice new cracks in the cement he put in, and they happen the next day. I was told they were hair line cracks and that is not covered. He installed a fire pit in the pool area also and that fell apart and is now an eye sore. If you are looking to install a fire pit in your pool don't let Joe do it. I have found out now that a fire pit needs a drain at the bottom of it so water can drain away from pit. The best thing to do here is to buy a free standing fire pit or have a professional install it the right way for you, because when the pit gets hot the metal ring heats up then the cement cracks even more. Built in fire pit not good idea for anybody. 3. Joe was supposed to fix my underground sprinklers before fall. Well he said he did. When I turned them on this spring I had 3 major holes in the lines, I had them fixed by someone who knew what they were doing. Also found out that Joes guys buried there new lines to my system that they fixed 3 inches into my neighbors yard. Yep had to move those to keep my neighbor happy. 4. My pool shell arrive to my home one month later then he said it would be. When I called Leisure pools they told me they had no order for my shell. 5. My fence for pool was the wrong color. Joe sent black instead of bronze, delayed another 3 weeks. Also Joes guys who delivered the fence the first time took out a branch in my neighbors yard. Oh my neighbor also told me she called him and he never called her back, and she tried three times to get a hold of him. 6. Joe also stopped by my house and took back items that he said were not in the contract out of my yard when I was not even home. I know this because my neighbor that was house sitting for me saw him taking stuff from my fenced in yard to his truck. 7. Joe also closed my pool that year and took the gauge for the filter, pool jets, and pool plugs with him before he was done with me. 8. Joe was supposed to open pool this year and fix all that was wrong with my job, but again no Joe. Sure he told me he was going to open pool and fix the problems but again I was left with holding the bag. 9. I had to also fix the grading issue of my yard this year. 10. Oh and he also asked me in a text to pay for a pizza for his guys because he was in a meeting and would pay me later. I should have know then this deal was going to be nothing but a circus with a bunch of clowns.

We were not very happy with the owner of this company. We still have issues that are unresolved and have money withstanding from him because of this.

July 1st 2012, I found a fiberglass pool on line that exactly met my specifications and sent an inquiry to the manufacturer (Leisure Pools) for an authorized installer. Joe Shaw of Artistic Development contacted me by phone. During that initial call, I inquired specifically whether the distance (75 miles) would be an issue and was assured that it wasn't a problem. He came to our home on 7-6-12, we paid the deposit and signed the contract. The pool shell was expected in 2 to 3 weeks and the installation would take less than a week. I heard nothing more until I called him in August. He told me that the shell had been delivered and would be installed the following week, but when that day came he didn't show up, then rescheduled and so on, for the next few weeks. The pool shell was ?set? on 8-29-12. When they left for the day, my yard looked like a war zone. There were piles of pea stone everywhere, far more than the job required, pieces of re-bar sticking up out of the ground and huge open craters all around the pool. It was such a safety hazard that we couldn't even use our yard, let alone our new pool. It looked so bad that a UPS driver asked if we were putting a POND in. No indication was given as to when the installers would return to complete the project and Joe did not answer my calls, texts or e-mails. With fall approaching, we were also unable to cover or clean the pool (which was full of sand and pea stone) because the vacuum hose and safety cover were both missing from our equipment package. When we went to the township offices on 9-4-12 to inquire about the electrical permit, we were advised that NO PERMITS had been pulled for the pool (the estimate included $250.00 for permits, and they are required in our municipality). The township attempted to reach Joe while we were in their office, but his phone was turned off. To avoid being fined, we had to pull both permits at our own expense. On 9-5-12 I advised Joe that we had passed the electrical inspection, inquire about the missing vacuum hose and safety cover, and ask when they would be returning. He suggested that I may want to consider the $1,200.00 automatic vacuum and said that they would return ?next week.? Over the (now three) weeks that the pool was left in this vulnerable state, we had some heavy rains, which undermined the loose and open gaps between the pool shell and the ground around it. On 9-13-12 I contacted him again to let him know that the step end of my pool was now at least 3 inches lower than the seating end. I was told again that they planned on returning ?next week? and would correct the problem then. After another week had passed and I had heard nothing from Joe, I asked my boyfriend to call on his phone (so Joe would not recognize the number). He answered the phone! It was the first time that had happened since the pool was set. After a few choice (but polite) words from my boyfriend, Joe said they would return tomorrow to finish. One installer (not Joe) came on 9-21-12 (there were supposed to be two) to level the pool, prep for, and pour the apron. My boyfriend actually took the day off work to help dig, he really wanted to get our yard back. To correct the settling issue, the installer drained the pool until it had only 2 feet of water. The concrete apron was poured with the water at that level, the weight of which caused the sides of shell to bow in from the pressure of the concrete on the nearly empty pool. We later learned that the apron was supposed to be much thicker (in some places it was only a couple of inches deep). We will only find out over time what problems this may cause. Joe had advised us not to use our well water to fill the pool (because it contained too much calcium) and that a water truck was being sent to re-fill the pool. On 10-12-12, there had been no water delivery, so I called the water hauler myself and learned that no delivery had been ordered. The pool has been sitting for nearly a month with only two feet of water in it. Because they did not bring me the vacuum hose until the day they drained the pool, I had still NEVER been able to vacuum it. This entire time, I have had a pool full of sand, stones, concrete residue, leaves and debris and no means of cleaning it! In desperation, with temperatures dropping rapidly, and still no hose to vacuum with, I contacted one of Joe's employees to ask if it would be ok to drain the pool (in order to clean it) then immediately have it refilled. He said that would be fine, so I spent three hours in my 50 degree pool, cleaning out sand, leaves and gravel with a broom and dustpan, as we drained it with our sump pump (we couldn?t use the pump on the pool because of the missing hose) was completely drained. The water truck arrived within the hour and filled it (at our expense) to "winterizing level" about 8 inches below the skimmer. Because we still had not received the safety cover (included in the original estimate) we had to rig our own cover from lumber and a tarp. Although Joe said the first fall closing and spring opening were included, we were not confident that our equipment was safe from freezing damage, due to not being closed properly. Thanks to some helpful videos on youtube, we were able to figure out how to drain and store the equipment before they were broken. In the three months that had passed since Joe had been here, the second landscaping company had laid the travertine patio and built a pergola at the end of the pool. In doing so, they also had to reset the deck jets (which had been concreted into the apron at different heights) and have CAD drawings made to customize the pool coping to accommodate the bow in the shell and a misplaced sump well. When we called Joe in November to schedule the installation of the cover, he was annoyed that we had taken the matter of closing the pool into our own hands. He said that before he came out, he wanted us to fill the pool all the way up to the coping with our well water (after he told us not to use it) so that he could use his special vacuum to get the heavy debris out of the pool. When he arrived, he decided that we should reconnect our pump and filter (which had already been put away for the winter) but this would require draining the pool back down to the level of the skimmer, so we drained the pool again while he assessed the situation with the cover. Because he had not visited the jobsite in three months, he was surprised by both the patio and the pergola (although both were in our original plans) and had no idea how to install the cover he sold us, or how to install the anchors in travertine. He left the jobsite to buy a drill that "might work" but may damage the ($40,000.00) patio. By the time he returned, we decided not to take that chance and had the masons install the anchors at our own expense. We offered to repay him for the impact drill he had just purchased and he agreed on the condition that we pay him in cash. He offered to take the cover back to have it altered, but after waiting three months for him to bring it the first time, and with tensions mounting, I passed on his offer. The ONLY communication I have since received from Joe, was an email containing my final bill, which was several hundred dollars in excess of the agreed price. It offered no credits for the expenses that we paid out of pocket; the water hauler, missing permits, the cost of correcting for his errors, or the installation of the safety cover. My reply addressed these issues and the fact that my documented expenses exceeded the balance he was claiming. If he wished to pursue it, I would see him in court to collect the money he owed me for the unfulfilled items on the estimate. That ended our acquaintance. I am shocked that this has been such an awful experience. My last pool was a vinyl above ground, costing a tenth of what I paid for this, and I was treated far, far, better. Leisure Pools make a great product and I absolutely love the pool itself, but they need to pay more attention to how their authorized installers represent them. I would not wish this experience on an enemy, let alone refer a friend, and risk that their project would go anything like mine.

They were very punctual and competitive in price. It was a tough decision but decided to go with another contractor with more experience installing pools. The only down side were that the original estimate did not include things that probably should have already been included.