The Process

Last week, SuperRealtor™sent me the number of yet another pool builder. I met with him this morning — and older guy with longish hair and a very bushy beard, wearing a Hawaiian shirt. I love Hawaiian shirts on men.

He was totally different from Genius Pool Guy, who is a designer for Fancy Pool Company. Genius Pool Guy is an artist. Pool Guy #2 builds pools. Just him and his crew. Most of what he does is building pools and spas for gyms and other commercial uses.

He came over this morning. He’s a nice guy — and not in the slick salesman way, although of course he wants the business. He’s just a really nice guy. A nice guy who knows his stuff about swimming pools, evidently.

He told me all about his past life — as a naval aviator, and a member of a rock band that played South Florida and Las Vegas. He admired Chris’s dead deer head on the wall above our fireplace, as well as the story about it, which is that Chris went hunting once and fired one shot. Not a lot of people see the humor in this, but Pool Guy #2 did.

My favorite thing about this morning’s meeting was talking about how to best achieve a “natural look” for our pool, a job best accomplished by installing boulders. “I’m not sure how we’re going to get boulders down into our creek,” I said. He looked at me. “They’ll roll.”

We talked about all the pool companies in Dallas. He asked who else had given me bids. I told him about the first guy who said, “Mrs. Rose, you seem like a nice lady but you are crazy if you think you can put a pool in this yard.” — He knows his stuff, and he cherry-picks his clients. We talked about the Really Huge Pool Company with the Fabulous Brochure — That brochure is full of inconsistencies. And they’re not going to be able to give your pool the attention it will need. He’s right — they haven’t even had time to bid on the project. I told him I’d met with Genius Pool Guy from Fancy Pool Company. They do build a beautiful pool. I like that Pool Guy #2 was gracious about his only competition. It made me want to work with him.

Pool Guy #2 went to give me a business card but realized that he didn’t have one. That’s cool with me — I don’t always carry cards either. Instead, he pulled out a small 3×4 picture of himself, the kind of picture that actors and models carry. I knew I had seem him somewhere before! He told me all about his other job, a short-term annual gig that keeps him busy in November and December.

Around this time, my son wandered back downstairs. He had been down in the kitchen earlier, cleaning it. Now, he wanted to be part of the pool planning process.

I asked my son, “Do you remember last night when we told you the truth about Santa Claus? How we make the choice to still believe in him, but we also have to work to make him real?”

His eyes got all big. Yes.

“Mr. McD, who is a pool builder during most of the year, is one of the people who works the hardest. Do you know who he is at Christmas time? Can you tell by looking?”

My son’s jaw dropped.

I’m not sure who is eventually going to build my pool, but I do know that I am done looking at vendors. Both builders are outstanding, with solid references and a good mesh with who we are and what we want. We need to look at plans and numbers before we make any decisions. I know which one my son is rooting for.

We’ve already told the kids that we’re getting a pool for Christmas. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Santa built it?