CALLAHAN, Fla. — Sophia Grose and Jenny Love were ready for a swimming pool in the back yard of their Callahan home.
“It’s hot in the summertime and we were, like, we’re rewarding ourselves with this pool,” Grose reasoned.
The couple told First Coast News they chose a contractor, Pools ‘n Spas of Central Florida, a subsidiary of Strong Inc., and the work began in early November. But unusually heavy rainfall occurred in November and early December. By Friday, Dec. 13, they noticed a problem with their installed but empty in-ground pool.
“It looked like it had moved," Love described. "It was shifting."
“[Strong Inc.] found out that the weeping hole at the bottom had not been punched out by their employee, and that’s why the pool popped up like a boat,” she said.
The company didn’t dispute that narrative.
“None of us caught [the error], so the pool popped out,” a company spokesperson said.
Not all at once, but indeed because the "weeping hole" hadn’t been cleared, the pool essentially maintained buoyancy and the ground water caused it to gradually float several inches out of the ground.
Grose and Love said they demanded immediate action; Strong Inc. said it was actually concerned about instant response because the ground was saturated and could become a mire for heavy equipment to become stuck.
“Yes, we got the machine stuck, because they wanted us to come quicker than we felt like we needed to because it was so wet,” the spokesperson said.
So began efforts to save the pool structure, efforts that Love says lasted four days and saw three pieces of heavy machinery sink into the soil.
“Tried to salvage the first pool,” Love recalled. “They dug trenches.”
The customer and the contractor are sharply divided about much of what ensued. Love and Grose say efforts to save the pool and retrieve sinking equipment caused significantly more damage to their yard than would have been necessary if the installation had gone according to plan.
Strong Inc. acknowledged that the original error of not clearing the "weeping hole" is rare – even boasting that this is only its fourth instance in more than 5,000 builds across 32 years of business.
But the spokesperson contended the extracurricular work of removing the equipment and replacing the first pool with a second one left no larger or deeper a scar on the property.
“I don’t believe so at all,” he countered. “[The disturbed soil] was, like, 15 feet away from the pool.”
He also asserted that the damage at the couple’s home is not only unusual but expected.
“The first two things we tell people is, the sprinklers are going to get messed up, and - it’s a construction site - the sod is going to get ruined," he said. "That is industry standard, going to happen every time.”
Although nearly three months later the project stood obviously unfinished – an enormous mound of dirt sat just footsteps away from the new patio, the new pool is in place but empty, and equipment and debris still dot the property on all sides -- the spokesperson said he expects the project will be completed in about two weeks, still within the originally forecast timeframe of three-to-four months.
As for the earth mound, which Love and Grose said might be to blame for a broken subterranean septic line, the spokesperson said there had been an agreement about what would happen with the excavated material.
“She wanted us to grade the dirt around in the yard because she had low spots,” he contended. “So, we already planned on putting dirt all over the yard.”
There appeared to be a misunderstanding about excess rough concrete around the perimeter of the patio as well. Love and Grose pointed out that any re-sodding efforts would be futile without removing the hardened material. The spokesperson assured that it will be removed before the project is completed.
“We’re still going to scrape all that off, make the dirt flat again,” he assured, “We feel like they’re getting a little bit ahead because we haven’t done the final cleanup, the final grade, or anything.”
But there is yet another problem. Love and Grose said their homeowners' association is pressuring them to clean up the strewn debris and damage. They believe Strong Inc. should foot the bill for what they say is excess yard damage.
“We have to have sod. It’s in our covenants,” Love said, adding that she has already talked with landscape contractors about the cost to restore her yard. “We got a lower-end quote at $13,000. The higher-end quote, so far, is $16,000.”
Love and Grose paid Strong Inc. about $45,000 for the pool build, up-front and in cash.
Strong Inc. currently has a D-minus rating from the Better Business Bureau, including a warning that “the company has a pattern of disputes alleging contract and customer service issues”. But the company has countered, saying it offers an arbitration clause that has seldom been used and not at all in the ten years leading up to 2018 “because the complaints people make are not legitimate.” The spokesperson said the record since then remains unblemished, and Love’s and Grose’s instance is no exception.
“I feel like they’re trying to take advantage of a bad situation, so I feel confident going in to that that the judge or whoever would feel the same way,” he said.
Love said Strong Inc. declined to file an insurance claim to cover the costs.
“I would have felt more comfortable having another company fix it,” Love said. “That’s why I want to go through their insurance.”
But both parties also hinted at a wish – if not quite full optimism – that they can put the difficulties behind them.
“We don’t want to hurt his business,” Love assured. “We just want our pool and we want our yard back the way a reasonable amount of damage should have been in the first place.”
The spokesperson stood by his confidence that soon the dust will settle and he’ll have a satisfied customer to add to what he says is a long list.
“I think that at the end of the day they’re going to be, hopefully, happy with everything," he opined. "I think the pool’s going to look great.”
The Better Business Bureau offers a list of tips and resources for those hiring a contractor to build a swimming pool. The list can be accessed here.