Sometimes pool builders are unjustly blamed for defects.
When that happens, they’ll go to great lengths to prove their innocence. Pulliam Aquatech Pools took it a step further. Its sales manager, Andrew Fluty, worked tirelessly to investigate an issue that was plaguing a family, even after it turned out that the pool wasn’t at fault.
The Fort Worth, Texas firm renovated a pool for a young family preparing to move into their 1930s fixer-upper.
Their dream home, however, was anything but, as drainage problems vexed the family for months. The 20,000-gallon pool that sat a mere 20 feet from the house was suspect No. 1. Fluty did find a small leak on the suction line and fixed it. But water issues persisted.
Mold festered under the home. This was an urgent concern, as the wife was several months pregnant and complaining of respiratory problems.
Fluty arranged for a leak detection specialist to examine the pool, which was subsequently certified water-tight. Vindicated, he could have walked away at that point, but was determined to find the real source of the problem.
“I spent multiple hours and days out there trying to figure out why water was getting under the foundation,” Fluty recalls.
He continued his probe, even inviting a foundation-repair company to explore the issue.
Eventually, a foundation contractor disclosed that drainage had been an ongoing issue at this property going back years. The company even contracted with the previous homeowner, who didn’t want to pay to have the problem properly fixed.
Says Fluty: “He just did a patch-up job in order to sell the house.”
It took a pool builder to uncover a problem that fell outside his purview. Fluty was so invested that he followed the project through completion.
“My heart went out to them because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t anything we had done,” Fluty says. “But also I wanted to do everything I could to help them out.”
