Terranova Pools

UPDATE (October 2022): It is with regret that I must edit my original review for TerraNova Pools.

Although we still love our pool, I can no longer recommend TerraNova Pools as service provider of choice. It has been two years since our pool was installed (Pool installed August 17 2020; landscaping in Sept 12 2020) and items that were outstanding (as mentioned in my original review) have still not been completed. I have been more then patient waiting for the promised work to be completed and at first TerraNova Pools were very professional, assuring me that the outstanding items would be completed, even apologizing for the delay. However, now they have ghosted me Rob stopped returning my texts, and even the people at the head office who were initially trying to help, have also stopped returning my emails.

Heres the thing. When I first decided on a company to install my pool, I thought to hire a Pool company that also did landscaping. I was wrong. The fiberglass pools (which are made by Narellan Pools) are exceptional and work well. TerraNova partners with Narellan, so the actual pool is top notch. What suffered and continues to suffer with TerraNova Pools is the landscaping and the communication. This is important if you are looking to have a pool installed I would suggest that you go with a landscaping company that also installs Fiberglass Pools.

I have provided some PICTURES so you can see what I am referring to with regards to the landscaping:

Picture 1: the entry to the skimmer basket. It looks nice, but please note that in order to lift the stone to clear out leaves and to install the vacuum, I have to stick my finger into the hole and lift the stone with one finger. This is not easy. TerraNova was suppose to provide some sort of chain to allow me to pull the stone up, or perhaps shave the stone down so that it was not that heavy to lift. As clearing the skimmer is something that has to be done a daily basis, trying to lift a stone with one finger is ridiculous and not ok. Many a finger have been bent and scraped trying to maneuver this contraption.

Picture 2: the entry to the dewatering system. This is the hole that leads down to the bottom of the pool to ensure there are no leaks/or water around the outside of the pool. Again, they placed a heavy stone on top of this entry way and to date I have never been able to lift it. I have no idea if there is any water or are any leaks under the pool. I will hold TerraNova Poosl liable should there be damage to the pool due to this useless install.

Pictures 3 & 4: landscaping around the inground pool blanket. First, I should say, the pool blanket is a great idea and I highly suggest that you install one however please make sure that the landscapers know what they are doing. TerraNova Pools installed my pool blanket in a way that stone spacers (slivers of stone) were installed closest to the blanket mechanism instead of having larger stones frame it. As you can see the slivers are useless as a frame and now the blanket flap will hardly close. No amount of sand will fix this and after only two seasons, the stones will have to be re-worked.

As mentioned in my initial review, the communication was never great with TerraNova Pools it was the reason that I couldnt provide a solid 10 back then. But now I see that this was the initial red flag and I should have taken better notice.

I no longer will be working with TerraNova Pools to open/close my pool. That ship has sailed and I honestly dont trust them anymore. In fact, that was my last communication with them I asked them about continued services on the pool as I was told that staying with them would ensure the warranty is intact. Again, no response. TBH, even if there was a warranty I highly doubt they would honour it.

I hope this update is helpful to those thinking of installing a pool.

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Original Review:

Last spring I started researching pool installations and decided on TerraNova Pools. Rob was terrific and based on his experience made great suggestions on type (Madeira8) and placement of our pool which we absolutely love.

The installation of the pool was a true feat with the pool being craned over the house to be placed in the backyard - definitely a show for the neighbors ! John and his team were very nice and friendly. The installation of the pool was very quick, once a final date was established - regrettably it was delayed from June/July to late August.

Unfortunately we continued to have some issues with delays mostly with the landscaping. I completely understand that covid posed a lot of issues for many contractors, but as materials came on time the delay was due to labour - again with covid we accepted the delays as best we could.

Although I am really happy with our pool, I wasnt able to give a 10/10. This was not at all due to the delays as I mentioned this project was started during a very extraordinary year. Instead my inability to provide a perfect rating was more to do with issues of communication. Im use to contractors advising when they plan to come to the house to work - that didnt always happen and I was either asking for status updates or was surprised when workers just appeared without any notice. For example once I was sitting outside in zoom meeting when all of a sudden workers showed up unexpectedly.

There were also some misunderstandings on what would be included in the work (gate replacement) as well as some items that have yet to be completed. I spoke with Rob regarding these issues and he was very professional and assured us it would get done. As the pool is now closed we are fine having these items being completed in the spring.

Other then these few issues, which could have just been my personal experience, I believe TerraNova Pools is well worth your time. This company is run and serviced by very nice and friendly people who really understand pools and illustrate excellent expertise in the area.

Thank you very much for providing our backyard oasis. We cannot wait for spring/summer 2021 to come so we can really enjoy our lovely new pool. Wishing you all a happy new year!