Quality Pool Job Matches School's Vision
Reprinted from Splashlines
Instilling A Vision
Sometimes a swimming pool is just a pool - a recreation outlet or a venue for competition and aerobic exercise. Sometimes, though, a pool is a little bit more. At Echo Glen Children's Center, in Snoqualmie, Washington, the indoor pool is not only a recreational facility, but an integral part of a greater vision to promote the personal responsibility of its residents.
Echo Glen is Washington State's juvenile detention center. Its endeavors to create quality rehabilitative programs have resulted in an effective canine training program and multiple humanitarian efforts. Residents are encouraged to participate in these service activities that allow them to look within themselves and identify with others. The rewards of their work enable them to see a future outside the center.
The center's swimming pool, similarly, provides an on-site incentive and rewards program. Used strictly for recreational purposes, this indoor pool is an effective motivational tool. Residents look forward to earned opportunities to take part in swimming, playing and relaxing in the facility.
Restoring A Pool
Given the importance of the pool, when it began showing its age, the center looked for ways to fix it long term. The tile pool had been repeatedly repaired and was beginning to leak into an underground mechanical room. The state contacted Yi and Associates, a general contractor, and architect Jim Mortensen began working to find a solution.
As Jim began looking for an alternative to pricey and ultimately leak-prone tile, he consulted the State of Washington on past projects under its jurisdiction. He learned about Advanced Pool Coatings in Roseville, California, which specializes in the application of fiberglass pool surfaces. The state had used Advanced on other projects and had even completed a pool at the Bellevue Aquatics Center nearby.
After learning about Advanced Pool Coatings' reputation and job record with the state, Jim requested a bid. "When I compared the cost to repair the pool with ceramic tile versus fiberglass, I found the difference to be about $60,000. It was a major cost savings for the client." Advanced got the job.
Satisfying A Client
Echo Glen's swimming pool was put on Advanced's schedule and the work was completed at the end of January 2009. When asked about the crews of Advanced Pool Coatings, Jim said, "They were in and out faster than what they said." In fact, "the work was done faster than the client could fill the pool back up." The work and the pool surface have impressed all involved. "We don't have any complaints," said Jim.
Working with company president Paul Walter was a great experience, said Jim. Based in the Sacramento area, Advanced Pool Coatings is not limited to local jobs. In addition to several Washington state projects, the company has completed commercial and residential work throughout various western states. Distance does not hinder the work at all. "Paul and I did everything 100 percent through email, down to the contracts. It was that easy to work with them," said Jim.
Maintaining A Reputation
Advanced Pool Coatings was founded in 1993, when two veterans of fiberglass pool resurfacing combined their expertise to form a company that provided quality work, a guaranteed finish, honest salesmanship, and prompt, professional customer service. Throughout the last decade and a half, Paul and his co-worker Dwight Johnson have enjoyed a successful relationship, growing the company and its reputation one job at a time.
Jim Mortensen's experience with Advanced Pool Coatings is not unique. Thousands of homeowners and business owners alike have enjoyed the results of a job completed to their specifications. Previous issues of Splashlines featured homeowners (and their grandchildren) who have enjoyed several years with an Advanced fiberglassed pool.
City administrators at the previously mentioned Bellevue Aquatics Center still enthusiastically recommend Advanced Pool Coatings, even seven years after the job was completed. Bellevue City's Assistant Operations Manager Paul Craig said the company assured them more-than-satisfactory results after they expressed concern about lesser quality fiberglass jobs they had witnessed.
"We heard about Advanced's improvements with fiberglass...and they assured us everything would be great. We wouldn't have any problem with delamination or cobalting, which some other applicators had experienced," said Paul Craig. "With Advanced Pool Coatings, we've had no problem whatsoever. They delivered."
A fiberglass surface is second to none. Paul Walter of Advanced states that even though most people don't know when they are swimming in a fiberglass pool, he can recognize one almost as soon as he gets on a potential job site. "If I know the age of the pool and I still see a clean, lustrous surface, even from a distance, I can tell that it must be a fiberglass-lined pool and not a porous plaster pool that has picked up dirt."
The non-porous surface of a fiberglass pool doesn't pick up the stains and dirt particles normally found in an aging plaster pool. In fact, most people feel that the surface achieved through a fiberglass application is better than new, with the additional benefits of longevity anda strong resistance to black algae. Warranty callbacks, Paul says, are almost unheard of.
Repeat business, however, is common. Customer satisfaction with Advanced Pool Coatings has led many companies to request more work at additional facilities and maintenance work on high-usage venues. For instance, Advanced has maintained the water flumes inside the log ride and mine ride mountains at Knott's Berry Farm for the past 13 years.
Committment to Residential Customers
Although high-profile jobs like those at children's centers and amusement parks are impressive, Advanced Pool Coatings remains highly committed to providing its residential customers with the same quality fiberglass resurfacing. When asked about this vital segment of the business, Paul's partner Dwight Johnson says, "I've fiberglassed more than 2,500 residential pools in Sacramento and the Bay Area combined."
With an unsurpassed reputation to maintain, Advanced Pool Coatings strives to please every one of its customers with its quality product and service. Readers can learn more about fiberglass pool resurfacing by contacting Advanced Pool Coatings by phone at (916)773-1883 or by email at:
info@advancedpoolcoatings.com.
Or visit the company's website at:
www.advancedpoolcoatings.com.
by Tami Stokes