Venture Custom Pools built me a beautiful pool at the end of last summer in just enough time to enjoy it before the cold hit. Our project manager Tom was great a communicating and meeting with me when I had questions. The office staff at Venture is amazing the girls Amanda and Tina kept me informed every step of the way. I would recommend Venture to all my family and friends.
We contracted for a pool and spa with Venture Pools in early June 2022 and worked with Mark for a design for our small backyard.
Mark designed the perfect pool and spa for our space with an amazing fountain and a nice in-pool table and seating with space for an umbrella. He really got to know us and delivered an amazing design that truly fits us.
Digging started the first week of August 2022 and our project was finished around the end of September 2022. We were super impressed with the speed and quality of work. Geoff was our project manager throughout the build and always made sure everything was done to our satisfaction before moving to the next phase of the build.
Mark, Geoff and crew took our ugly yard and made it a beautiful and peaceful place.
Venture Custom Pools – It’s been a very long journey but here we are with unresolved concerns for our pool that we began building in the Fall of 2020.
We’ve been left with 30ft+ of gunite cracking, a shell that can’t maintain water, cracked tiles all around, coping that doesn’t even meet the decking edges, pavers that are so unstable they are falling away.
Not only does the pool not look like what we agreed upon, but it is unsafe and unstable. Venture refuses to follow their own engineer recommendations for repair.
We sat down with venture and agreed last May to build a pool. We were told late August mid September was definitely doable for a finish date. It wasn’t done until the end of October. That is not the point of this review. The point is how we were treated and why we are not recommending them. ZERO sense of urgency and ZERO communication. When we were told a certain task was going to be completed it was often at least a week later than they said and my wife was constantly the one having to call and chase them down or email them to ask for an update to even find out there was a schedule change. Never did they reach out first and constantly the response was “I’m not sure why they didn’t show up” or “i will get back to you asap” and they never did. We have a large dog that we were constantly putting in daycares and spending money for days they were supposed to show up with zero empathy on days they did not for the money we were spending to work with them. The whole process they made us feel like our project didn’t matter, that our pool was something they would get to when they could. They failed two different inspections making the project even longer. Accidently put an extra hole in they said would be a free bubbler – then forgot to put the pipes in so it is just a pointless hole on our sun-shelf with a black plug on it.
Why the review almost a year later ? Well I ran into some health issues right as they were finishing and we had bigger problems going on. Now over a month ago we put a umbrella in the sun self umbrella insert and it was crooked, called them immediately and they said they would fix that. Of course it’s now over a month later and it’s still not fixed and no one reached out after the team didn’t show up the date they told us- AGAIN my wife reaching out to them to ask for an update TWO WEEKS LATER and they still have no idea. A mistake that should have never happened and they still cant seem to apologize, and fix it with any urgency, so we were just reminded how we were treated last fall. This company broke us. They turned something we worked really hard for, something we couldn’t stop talking about into something we regret and still is not even complete as we wait for this last piece to get done. There customer service, there lack of empathy for how far behind they got and every mistake along the way, filled us with regret. We completely understood a couple delays here in their given the times but the lack of communication and inconsiderate responses constantly just made this experience a terrible one. I’m sure building a pool is hard, but treating customers right is not.
BEWARE! We built our pool with Venture 3 years ago because the salesperson/designer really saw our vision. But the entire building process was a nightmare. In less than two years, we had coping crumbling and tiles cracking and falling off. Venture agreed to help replace some of the coping until they inspected and realized how much actually needed to be replaced. Then they backed out and left us high and dry. Now we are stuck needing to have our pool redone just a few years after installation.
I have struggled with whether or not to post this review. Our pool was completed back in March, but getting the job done was an exercise I was not prepared for.
Here is a link to a google photos album that documents all issues mentioned herein: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DGb7cxsdk1ADSuac6
Here is our experience:
My partner and I chose Venture after our experience with their sales rep Matt. He was great, answered all of our questions, made us feel comfortable, and assisted us in every way that he could. We signed our “contract” with Venture on October 29th. Every step of the way we had to call them to get things scheduled, find out why the subcontractors didn’t show up when they were scheduled (this happened frequently), and in general we had to be our own project manager. We didn’t even dig until December 21st Here’s what happened:
We had a project manager assigned to us initially that came to our property maybe 5 times. There were issues with the coping that were supposed to be addressed but were ignored, when we brought this up to our project manager he told me, “we are a high volume pool builder, there’s no way that we can keep track of all these issues.” we were assured that we would take care of the coping issues, but the next time we heard from him was in an email with one sentence: “When can we come by and pick up the decking check?”
The coping became such an issue. On the 19th of January, the masons completed their project. They did some of the worst quality work you can imagine. There is no pattern among the rocks, there is hardly any consistency in the shape/size of the stones. When we brought this up to our project manager he was very flippant and kept repeating that he can’t control how natural stone looks. we understand that… we were taking issue with the fact they used stones that were so deeply gashed and scratched that it was obvious and looked ugly. Beyond the beat-up stones, the other issue with coping was that they had laid 7 consecutive 1’X1′ stones and done a variation in a pattern around the rest of the pool.
After that email, we were assigned a new project manager. He took over in February, he came to our property 4 times, once was to meet with Tom and the masons, once was to add lava rock to our firepit, once was to collect a check for plaster, and once was to fill in a hole by the pool equipment.
One of the most egregious issues was with our drainage project. No matter how many times we brought it up, no one seemed to listen, understand, or respond to concerns. we insisted that the drainage project be finished before the decking, but because we didn’t have a project manager it fell through the cracks and wasn’t even on anyone’s radar until after the decking was complete. We were told at one point by our first project manager that he “had no idea what,” we were talking about when we asked where the additional drains would go. When the subcontractors for the drains finally came out, they had no idea they were supposed to lay a drain where we had discussed. Luckily we were home and able to address this, again this is something a project manager would normally handle. we called the Venture office and they had to reach out to the drainage subcontractor to get it corrected.
The decking was done poorly, there are crooked and uneven lines because the forms for the decking were not put in evenly. One of the most ridiculous examples was an expansion joint that was put in without consideration for its location relative to others and the proportions were so off it looked as if an amateur had done it. Another example is the plastic bag that was set over a skimmer as they poured concrete – this bag still exists in the skimmer because it is being held in by pounds of concrete.
Every step of the way, we have had to call the office to inform them of things that the project manager should have been in charge of. There were a number of mistakes made, the quality of work from subcontractors is subpar, and the overall care and compassion are lacking.
Eventually, the issues with our project were resolved. we had to request that the Director of Operations come out and walk the project, we also had to get one of the owners involved in order to get issues resolved.
Geoff (director) and Stephen (one of the owners) were very responsive and took ownership of the project. Once they became involved things went smoothly, but their subcontractors still did mediocre work. I had to argue with a mason worker about what type of work needed to be done. Ultimately, they sanded and sealed (with a penetrating sealer) the coping around the pool. This left a weird hydrophobic appearance that has ultimately worn off to reveal an extremely dull and boring finish.
It is hard for me to be willing to recommend Venture to other people. I am sure that they do high-quality work, I am sure that not every customer has this sort of experience, and I’m sure that they know how to redeem themselves. It really comes down to how frustrating the entire experience was. Geoff really did a great job of handling the situation and rectifying issues that needed to be attended to, but the fact that he had to be involved speaks volumes for what we went through overall.
If you have read all of this, I’m just saying that our experience was terrible, their fixes turned out to be pretty worthless, and it sucks to look at your pool project and have regrets over things that were outside of your control.
Venture built a beautiful custom pool/spa with water fall in our backyard. They were professional, fast and courteous and attentive to our questions as the pool was build. We were trying to get the pool done right after we moved into the house and they dug it the same day we closed. We appreciated that! This was actually the second pool they built for us. We were very happy with the first one, so when we moved, the decision on who to build our pool was an easy one.
Had a 75 K pool built, started digging pool in wrong location. Horrible communication during the construction of the pool. Had to constantly follow up with the super and office to get answers and scheduling. The pool has been leaking since the plaster was completed, going on 3 weeks now and still don’t know where water is leaking. Have several punch items that I continue to follow up on and no one from Venture seems to have any urgency to have the items completed. Me and my wife continue to call and email with no response. I would highly, highly recommend with using another pool company.
I have had a long time relationship with John Higdon, Pool Designer, with Venture Pools. Having a floor covering business for 30 years, we have worked together on many projects. I have personally seen the attention to detail and customer service John provides the homeowner throughout the project and designing a beautiful pool and surroundings. I would recommend Venture Pools!
Bob Winston
Winston Floors
