It's Finally Finished!
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (128837)
Gainesville, Florida
April 1, 2016 6:47am CST
After being closed for three months for renovations, today is the day we re-open our city's largest municipal pool! This was a painstaking renovation, as it was an unplanned one. After a catastrophic failure of our vinyl pool liner last year, we had no choice but to close and replace it. Fortunately, we had two things going for us: one, we were able to close during the winter when the least amount of patrons were affected; and two, I had capital funds available for the pool that covered the cost of the renovations.
The negative part of the whole issue was that we filed a warranty claim on the pool liner (the liner was 9 years old, but covered by a 10-year warranty), which the installation company promptly rejected. After months of back and forth negotiations with the company to reach a settlement and avoid litigation, we finally reached a compromise nobody was happy about, but everyone could accept.
Despite the frustrations any large pool renovation entails, we are happy with the end product and are excited to re-open the pool this morning!
10 people like this
10 responses
@LadyDuck (502653)
• Italy
3 Apr 16
@moffittjc I agree, everything is better than to be sued in court, they would have spent plenty of money in lawyers.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
3 Apr 16
@LadyDuck Just the fees lawyers charge is ridiculous, even before you ever step foot in court! We retained legal counsel during the negotiations, and their fee was something along the lines of $300/hour. We had one meeting where the lawyer drove up from Miami, spent an hour in the meeting with us, and the drove down to Orlando and went to Disney World with his family. We got billed for the entire day for his services (we had to pay him for the 5 hour drive up, the one hour meeting, and the 5 hour drive home (even though he stopped at Disney on the way back). That is ridiculous! Thankfully, he didn't bill us for his time at Disney (although I'm sure if he could have gotten away with it he would have tried).
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
Whether we were happy or not with the compromise, the company that installed our first pool liner should have been relieved that we chose not to sue them in court!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
Well, the stress of that project is now off my back, but with the pool now open, and the weather turning hot, I have new stress now in managing all those people coming to the pool! lol
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
1 Apr 16
I sense many were happy to be able to make a big splash about the reopening of the pool! We have only one municipal pool nearby. You need membership in order to access it. When it closed for renovations there was nothing nearby for anyone to use. Sad, but it is the way life is in a small town.
2 people like this
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
2 Apr 16
@moffittjc that is what happens when our local pool closes for repairs.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
Unfortunately, with it being winter, this was the only publicly-accessible pool available in town for this time of year, so when it closed for renovations, swimmers had absolutely nowhere else to go. They were VERY relieved and happy that we got it back open today!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
@ElusiveButterfly This particular pool that we renovated is the only year-round, heated outdoor pool in our city. The University of Florida has a big heated outdoor pool, and also a huge indoor pool, but those are for students only and not open to the public. So, outside of the university, my pools are the only game in town!
1 person likes this
@Marcyaz (35316)
• United States
2 Apr 16
@moffittjc
Yep right now they are happy to have the pool open again but next week they will be compaining it is to hot or there are to many people there. Anything to complain about people will complain.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
@Marcyaz I just love how the pool patrons complain about everything, yet they keep coming back week after week! lol
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
We were packed today for our grand re-opening, and all I got all day long was very positive comments from all our patrons and swimmers! They love being back in the water!
The funny thing is, a week from now, they'll all be back to complaining about everything under the sun! So, for the next week, I am going to bask in the glow of their warm compliments! lol
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
1 Apr 16
Companies really hate to honor warranty claims, especially near the end of their term. The bean counters see that money they've had to keep in a liability account all those years about to become income and their little green visors get all steamed up at the thought of having to pay it out instead.
I say this as a reformed accountant, by the way, so I know of what I speak.
2 people like this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
2 Apr 16
@moffittjc Compromise, the art of making sure everyone is equally unhappy with the outcome. The important thing is the pool is back in service.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
@DWDavis We opened it back up just in time to close it back down again for severe storms this weekend! lol
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
2 Apr 16
@moffittjc I saw on the weather channel that you are about to get hit hard. Stay safe my friend.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
And the weather just turned warm this past week, so the timing was perfect!
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
We will definitely be getting that this weekend! We will have bad storms over us for the next three days!
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
2 Apr 16
@moffittjc Why? Are you sending the pool to Manchester for a few days?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
@Asylum Either that, or you sent your rain to us here in Florida!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Apr 16
It was like lifting a ton of bricks off my back! I was so happy and relieved to finally get that project done. Thankfully, our citizens were very patient with us as we completed the repairs.
@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
11 May 16
Well I'm sorry for the frustrations. But glad that it all worked out and is all ready to go!
1 person likes this
