Understanding Swimming Pool Warranties

A Jeep in a pool-photo courtesy of Joe_13 on Flickr.com(cc license)






Ouch! Think this is covered under warranty? Think again.


One of the most important deciding factors in your pool purchase should be the warranty. Compare each company side by side. They may look similar but they are not all the same.

The warranty is normally straight forward. This is covered, that is conveniently not mentioned. It is important to find out what each item means. You may want to consult an attorney to review the contract and warranty information. Just remember, an attorney is an attorney and may not know what a term like coping means. So, you should learn what the components of a swimming pool are to better understand the fine print as well.

Typically, the fine print in a swimming pool contract is found on the back. I have seen all sorts of stuff on there. Contrary to what the pool guy tells you, nothing is on there to protect you. All of that mumbo jumbo comes from experience and comes to serve as protection for the pool company. The more you understand about what it all means, the more of an advantage you will have over them.

Let's breakdown an actual warranty. The warranty should go into effect as soon as water is put in the pool. That usually means that anything that happens during construction is on the pool builder. Usually though. There is that little clause about natural disasters and acts of God that your homeowners insurance would have to cover, not the pool builder. And yes, you need to have that pool on your insurance even during construction. Imagine if a hurricane comes through and destroys the half built pool.

You should realize that the pool builder considers your project complete once you start adding water. Keep in mind that it may be a day or two or three before anything is actually running. This means that you could be in a warranty situation without even jumping in yet. Make sure this is clearly spelled out and you understand what happens when there is a problem.

A lot of builders offer a lifetime warranty on the structure and integral components. That does not mean that the pump, the filter, heater, etc. is covered for a lifetime. They should clearly define warranties on that stuff, normally they are from the manufacturer. I would recommend that you get copies of warranties on the parts and make sure they define who would be coming out to fix any problems and see if the builder covers anything on top of it.

You should look to see if the warranty is transferable and what the conditions are. This is especially helpful if you plan to sell the house at some point (particularly if soon). It will give potential buyers comfort if the pool is still covered.

After you have sorted through what is covered and what is not, look for the limitations and exclusions. Here is the kicker. It is imperative that you know what these are and what they mean. Some companies state that you need to have a qualified or recommended service dealer take care of the pool. If you were planning on doing it yourself, you just voided your warranty. They do this for a couple of reasons. One to protect them from you causing a warranty situation by doing something wrong and the other is to pawn off having to pay for anything that a service dealer does wrong. As you can imagine, it is easier to point fingers than it is to pay to fix something. Other things to look for in this section are occurrences that void out the warranty. Actually, this section should be labeled "stupid things you can do that we will not pay for".

Either in the exclusions or somewhere under customer responsibilities, you should see all things that you need to do (or not do) that will void your warranty.

Those are the basics. If you have a comment or question, feel free to leave one and I will respond accordingly.

Here is a link that explains warranties from an consumer advocate perspective:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Consumer+advocacy+group

In the future, I will post a section on warranty stories.