A pool is among the larger construction projects most people commission at their own home, and it is buried in the ground where you cannot inspect it afterward. If the steel is wrong, the compaction is inadequate, or the plumbing is not pressure tested before the concrete goes on, you will not find out for years, and by then the company that built it may not exist.
So the most important decision is not the shape or the finish. It is who does the work. We have been building pools in Georgia and across Gwinnett County for more than 20 years, which means we have also been called in to look at other people’s. Here is what we would check if we were hiring, including the questions we would rather clients did not think to ask.
The Eight Questions Worth Asking Every Contractor
Ask all of these, of every company you talk to, and compare the answers rather than the prices. The right-hand column is what should make you pause.
| What to ask | What a good answer looks like | What should concern you |
|---|---|---|
| Is the company licensed and insured, and can you see the certificates | Ask for both and actually look at them. Insurance should include general liability and workers compensation | Reluctance, or “we can get that to you later” |
| Who pulls the permits | The contractor should, as part of the job, including structural, electrical, gas, and barrier requirements | Any suggestion of skipping permits, or asking the homeowner to pull them |
| Is the proposal itemized in writing | Scope, materials by name and grade, inclusions, exclusions, and a payment schedule | A single number on one page, or a verbal price |
| What exactly does the warranty cover, and for how long | Structure, interior finish, and equipment are usually warranted separately with different terms | A vague “fully warranted” with nothing in writing |
| Who is actually on site day to day | Whether crews are employed or subcontracted, and who your point of contact is | No clear answer, or a salesperson who disappears after signing |
| Can you see completed work of similar scope | Recent projects comparable to yours, ideally locally, plus references you can contact | Only renderings and stock photography |
| What is the payment schedule tied to | Payments should follow completed construction milestones | Large deposits up front, or payments not linked to progress |
| What happens if something is wrong after handover | A named process and a response commitment | Anything that depends on goodwill rather than a written term |
For the record, our own answers: Aqualis Pools is licensed and insured and we will show you both. We pull the permits. Our proposals are itemized in writing. Our warranties are 15 years structural, 15 years on plaster, and 3 years on equipment. We will give you references and addresses of finished work in your area.
Why the Written Proposal Matters More Than the Price
The most common expensive mistake we see is a homeowner comparing two numbers that describe two different projects. One quote includes the deck, the barrier, and the equipment you actually want; the other includes a smaller deck, a basic barrier, and entry-level equipment, and comes in lower. Neither is dishonest. They are simply not comparable, and nobody made them comparable.
A proper proposal names materials and grades rather than categories: which interior finish, which coping, what the pool decking specification is, what pump and filtration, what is included in pool tile and coping. It lists exclusions explicitly, which is where surprises usually live. And it ties payments to completed milestones. If you take one thing from this page, make it this: ask every contractor to quote the same scope in writing, then compare.
|
What Happens Below Ground Is What You Are Buying
The visible parts of a pool are the cheapest to fix and the easiest to judge. The parts that determine whether it is sound in twenty years are all completed before anything looks like a pool: excavation to stable subgrade, steel placed and tied to the engineered specification, plumbing pressure tested before it is buried, and the shell placed and cured properly.
This is why a contractor’s willingness to explain and document those stages matters more than their renderings. We walk clients through the site at the steel stage specifically, because it is the last moment the structure is visible. Our guide to the ten steps of a custom pool build sets out the full sequence, and what the build is like to live through covers the experience side.
Permits Are Not Paperwork, They Are Your Protection
Pool construction involves structural work, electrical near water, gas where there is heating, and barrier requirements. All of it is permitted and inspected, and requirements vary across metro Atlanta jurisdictions.
A contractor who offers to move faster by skipping permits is offering to transfer risk onto you. Unpermitted work surfaces at resale, can affect insurance, and in the case of pool fencing and safety barriers it is a genuine safety matter rather than an administrative one. As a licensed builder we handle applications and inspections as part of the project, and we would treat the offer to skip them as the clearest possible signal about the rest of a company’s work.
Warranties: Read What They Actually Cover
“Fully warranted” means nothing on its own. Pools carry separate warranties on different elements, and the terms differ. Structure, interior finish, and equipment are three distinct things with three distinct lifespans, and equipment is usually covered by its manufacturer rather than the builder.
Ask for the terms in writing and check who honors them. A long warranty from a company with a short history is worth less than a moderate one from a business that will still be here. We are a family owned business with more than 20 years of trading behind us, which is context worth having when you read anyone’s warranty, including ours.
Design and Materials Come After the Contractor Decision
Most homeowners approach this in the opposite order, spending months on shapes and finishes and then choosing a builder in a fortnight. We would reverse it. A good contractor improves your design; a poor one cannot be rescued by a good design.
Once you have chosen, the interesting decisions begin: designing the pool itself and how it sits in the yard, the materials that determine how long a pool lasts, which pool features and add-ons earn their place, whether to include a spillover spa, and how the pool relates to outdoor living work around the pool and surrounding hardscaping. Doing all of it under one contract is usually cheaper and always simpler than coordinating separate trades.
How to Check a Contractor Before You Sign
- Look at finished work in person. Renderings are a sales tool. Ask to see pools we have built of similar scope, ideally nearby.
- Speak to past clients, not just read reviews. Ask specifically about communication during the build and about anything that went wrong, because something always does. references you can read are a starting point, not the whole check.
- Confirm they work in your area regularly. Local jurisdictional knowledge saves real time on permitting. Our communities we build in list is public for that reason.
- Understand who you are dealing with. How long trading, who owns it, whether crews are employed. who we are and our full range of services should be easy to establish for any company you consider.
- Be cautious about the lowest bid. On a project that is buried in concrete, the saving usually comes from somewhere you cannot see. If financing options would let you build it properly rather than cheaply, that is generally the better decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
What questions should I ask a pool builder?
Ask to see licensing and insurance certificates, who pulls the permits, whether the proposal is itemized in writing with materials named by grade, exactly what each warranty covers and for how long, who is on site day to day, whether you can see comparable finished work, what the payment schedule is tied to, and what happens if something is wrong after handover. Compare the answers rather than the headline prices.
How do I compare pool quotes fairly?
Insist that every contractor quotes the same written scope, including deck size, barrier, interior finish, coping, and equipment specified by name and grade. Most price differences between quotes turn out to be scope differences rather than value differences, and nobody discovers that unless the scopes are made comparable first.
Should I be worried if a contractor suggests skipping permits?
Yes, and we would end the conversation there. Pool construction involves structural work, electrical near water, and barrier requirements that are inspected for good reason. Unpermitted work can affect insurance and resale, and the willingness to skip inspection tells you what standard applies to the parts you will never see.
Is the cheapest pool quote ever the right choice?
Occasionally, if the scope genuinely matches. Usually the saving comes from something buried: less steel, thinner shell, less base preparation, cheaper equipment, or an unpermitted shortcut. On a structure encased in concrete and soil, that is the worst place to economize, because none of it can be inspected or corrected later without demolition.
Ask Us the Hard Questions
You dream it, we build it. Aqualis Pools is a family owned, licensed and insured builder with more than 20 years of experience, warranties of 15 years structural, 15 years plaster, and 3 years equipment, serving Georgia and the surrounding Georgia communities. Whether or not you build with us, use the questions on this page with everyone you speak to. If you would like our answers in person, call +1 (770) 373-8405 or start with a site visit. The visit, design, and written quote are free. We also handle new pool construction, pool remodeling, and pool equipment upgrades under one contract.
