06/05/2026
This is as short as I can make this, hopefully you take a minute or two to read this. I wrote this post on the Facebook group Ask the Masters. What kind of group is this? Ask the Masters Facebook group is a high-level educational and mentorship community for professionals in the swimming pool, spa, and watershaping industry. Below is the message and at the end, are the comments from the group.
When I moved back to El Paso years ago, I began noticing something that caught my attention almost immediately. Every time I went out to measure a property, I would naturally look around. It's something designers and builders do. We study the land, the grades, the structures, the details. But what kept standing out to me wasn't the homes. It was the pools.
I would look over one fence and see an empty pool. Then over another fence and see an empty spa. Sometimes a negative-edge pool with no water. Sometimes a pool half full. Sometimes every neighbor surrounding the property had a pool in the backyard, yet one or more of them sat empty.
At first I thought it was coincidence.
Then it became a pattern.
Then it became normal.
This isn't a post to criticize anyone or any company. It's simply an observation from someone who has spent years walking properties throughout our city. It is something I have seen repeatedly, and honestly, it is sad.
Pools should be places where families gather, where memories are made, where people escape the summer heat. Instead, many of them become expensive monuments to problems that never should have existed.
When I first returned to El Paso, I began working as a contract designer and eventually became a builder. Like many people entering a market, I was told, "This is the way we've always done it." What I learned over time was that "the way we've always done it" doesn't necessarily mean it's the right way. The failures weren't limited to budget projects.
I saw failures in custom homes.
I saw failures in luxury homes.
I saw failures in Parade of Homes projects.
I saw failures in pools that looked impressive the day they were completed and looked troubled only a few years later. Over the years I encountered cracked shells, broken plumbing, structural movement, water loss, poor drainage, poor site planning, and construction decisions that left me scratching my head.
One project involved a pool built only a few feet away from a massive rock retaining wall that dropped over twenty feet. The pool was cracked and spa broke off the pool. I found out soon after the initial consultation that this was the second time the pool cracked. It had also cracked during the initial installation. The retaining wall itself was showing signs of erosion near the base.
Another project involved a pool elevated 3’ above grade on fill material. There was no meaningful retaining structure supporting the surrounding grade. The deck had separated, the spa had broken away from the vessel, and I could literally reach my arm underneath portions of the deck.
Then there was the project that truly left me speechless. I was called out to provide landscaping for a newly completed backyard. The pool was empty. Not under construction. Not being remodeled. Empty. The shell looked as though someone had attacked it with a staple gun. Repairs had been attempted everywhere. I asked the homeowner, "Am I here to help remove this pool and build a new one?" They laughed and said no. The pool company would come back every year, replaster it, fill it for the summer, and by the end of the season the water would be gone again. The cycle simply repeated itself.
Of course, not every story ended badly. Some projects could be saved. Some pools could be renovated correctly. Some homeowners were finally given the functional, beautiful backyard they thought they were getting the first time. Those projects were rewarding because they reminded me that the problem wasn't that good pools couldn't be built. The problem was that too many weren't.
People often say the answer is education, and I agree. But knowledge alone isn't enough.
It's one thing to design. It's another thing to build. And it's another thing entirely to understand whether something should be built the way it is being proposed.
For me, one of the simplest ways to evaluate a structure is to think about gravity. Gravity never takes a day off. Every retaining wall, every pool shell, every deck, every slope, every piece of soil is under constant downward stress. Water weighs over eight pounds per gallon. Soil moves.
Structures settle. The question is never whether forces are acting on a project. The question is whether the design truly accounted for them.
Recently, I was called to evaluate a one-year-old existing pool that had already developed serious problems. The plans were engineered and approved. Looking at the drawings, I could see what may have been intended. But looking at the actual project, I couldn't help wondering whether the design was solving the right problem. Was the pool designed as a vessel? Or was it unknowingly being asked to perform as a retaining structure? Was the engineering based on ideal assumptions? Or on the reality of the site? Those are the questions that continue to interest me. Not because I enjoy finding failures. But because every failed pool teaches a lesson. And until we start asking better questions about soil, drainage, gravity, site conditions, and long-term performance, we will continue seeing the same story repeated over and over again.
For those with engineering, construction, or geotechnical experience, I would genuinely appreciate your thoughts on the attached project. Can someone explain what they believe the design intent was here and why this structure may have been engineered this way?
I'm not looking for knee-jerk criticism.
The comments:
“That plan as drawn will not hold water, water stop or not.”
“6" floor with Helix rebar pieces? In my humble opinion this design is doomed from the start.”
“I'm forced to agree w/Rock Solid! The plans even suggest that the subject project fails to meet the
"minimum" building Standards within the International Pool & Spa Code (ICC/ISPSC/ANSI), for stable soil. The ISPSC was adopted years ago by the Texas Legislature as the minimum "CODE" requirements, for Jurisdictions in Texas that adopt a swimming pool Code.
* Non conductive (fiberglass or coated) rebar in swimming pools has never been allowed by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) minimum Standards & thus not allowed in the ISPSC.
* For many decades, concrete to concrete joints in water retaining structures have required a keyed construction joint & water stop medium (like Bentonite).
* Picture a square plastic bowl (from your kitchen) without a reinforced stiffing-beam around the perimeter, full of water! Will it retain it's shape? Given the weight of water, a stiffening-beam is "always" a prerequisite, in any pool design or shape. In angular shaped pools, the center of a wall is naturally the weakest area, followed by grade-changes (common on spas, benches, sun-ledges & ect.).
* Preconstruction soil sampling has been recommended by industry "Standards" (NSPI/ PHTA-1 & 5) since their inception, o over 6-decades ago.
* Cantilever decks (no coping) is effective on vinyl-liner pools, but destined for failure in fiberglass & concrete applications.
I can think of a number of other construction violations that the so-called engineer ignored.”
“Therein lies the problem with Texas.
No requirements: for contractor licensing or qualifications, license bonds, soils reports, structural engineering, inspections, or trained subcontractors. The few inspections that may occur are by untrained AHJ inspectors. Pool contractors flying by the seat of their pants, rely on their subcontractors for their training.”
“I'm curious how many you see like that are vinyl.
There was a builder based in Austin who sold pools in El Paso and had unqualified contractors attempt to install them. It was an unmitigated disaster and the builder was the most unethical/ immoral person I've ever known.”
“I believe most pool plans are created by the builder and stamped by an "engineer" not designed by a structural. Engineer based on soils reports. I worked for one of those builder and then was one of those builders until I learned the hard way.”
