Swimming Pools in Thailand
WARNING “Ignorance is bliss” until it cost you money.
Make no bones about it! My business relies on builders & backyard Charlie’s that build Swimming Pools in Thailand. I can’t believe the amount of complete crap I have heard over the last few months in regards to swimming pools. This is just a few areas that I deal with – Plumbing failing due to poor design, pool going off due to water balance being out, replacement of sub standard pumps, re-grouting & re-tiling tiling of pools due to sub standard product & workmanship, retro fitting of Electromagnetic Water Conditioning Systems & Salt Water Chlorinators, complete replacement of pumps & filters due to being undersized. A lot of people I have dealt with lately have been told by their builder that they can build the swimming pool. In defense of the ignorant I suppose it sounds feasible that this would be the way to go.
But this is the problem.
Would you get an Airplane engineer to build you a boat or would you get a boat builder to construct you a plane? I don’t think so. Being an Ozzie we are brought up around swimming pools and most houses have them in the land Down Under. When swimming pools started to become the norm in Oz the crooks & shonks came out of the woodwork. This prompted the industry to self regulate and form associations to keep control over what was going on and to bring some professionalism to the areas. Standards where slowly set and people started to get what they paid for. I see the same thing happening here in Pattaya and Thailand in general with Swimming Pools in Thailand.
Most people I have been dealing with
Are from the UK, Europe or the US and they don’t have the basic knowledge about Swimming pools in Thailand so they are at the mercy of the cheap Charlie’s and the hard sale. The amount of substandard work & product really amazes me. Too the extent that it is laughable. The amount of problems I am called out to fix attests to this. Don’t forget you get what you pay for. In a lot of cases you get what the builder can buy the cheapest.
Guarantee
A prominent developer said to me & a colleague about one year ago that his pool builder has built hundreds of pools and none leaked. Well guess what, his own pool leaked and one of his club house pools had a surge tank that was two thirds under sized. I came across an example of a quote the other day for a 5 x 10 meter pool for under 400,000 baht. This is about 30% down on a properly build pool with a guarantee. Why & how could this quote be real?
Well there is many ways to save on “building a pool in Thailand” which include –
Not using waterproof concrete, showing you a tile then using a sub standard one that looks the same, undersized filter & pump & using thin sub standard piping and the best of all is last – half filling the pool walls with dirt etc. We constantly come across tiles that in less than one year have the glaze worn of by the aggressive water here. The glaze on swimming pool tiles is quite thick, unlike kitchen or interior tiles that have a thin glaze. Many of the cheap Charlie builders use kitchen tiles as they are significantly cheaper. Some of my customers have tried ringing the builder to come and fix these problems only to find the builder has done a runner and changed their sim card. What then? I get called to trouble shoot and it makes me money.
Buying a house with existing Swimming pool in Thailand
A lot of people buy houses that already have existing swimming pools in Thailand. They can’t be put in the same basket as the ignorant who buy of the cheap Charlie’s without doing the basic homework like – Asking how long have they been building swimming pools and can you speak with some of their existing customers and see their pools & getting a specification break down on paper. I am available for inspections of swimming pools if you are contemplating buying a home with one. This could save you money on the purchase. As well as becoming aware of what you will be up against with the pool in the future. I hope I have woken a few people up to some of the pitfalls that accompany swimming pools and spas in Thailand.
Steve Johnson is the Managing Director of “WET” Water Engineered Technologies (Thailand) and offers a broad range of “Commercial & Domestic” water filtration solutions, potable water, plus swimming pool design, construction, equipment and consultation.
Steve can be contacted on # 08484 28317 or email info@poolsasean.com
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