Elevation is like that snake that you don’t see and can come up and bite you sometimes. Fortunate for you, Emerald usually knows when that snake is present, we just don’t know how hard he’s going to bite sometimes. Property or ground elevation is the height difference of your yard relative to a certain point (usually your existing patio). We try our best to account for elevation changes with the need for retaining walls, pool height, turndown, etc… Sometimes, those things can vary depending on the final elevation of your property. Final elevation will be determined day of dig. Most of the time, this is accounted for though in your contracts.
Your contract covers the specifics on this. We encourage you to reread this section so there’s no surprises when we have to charge to put the “Great Wall” back up if it wasn’t accounted for in the standard contract.
Pool depths are listed in your contracts, however, please understand that there can be variances or reasonable tolerances with regards to depths, mostly of which are affected by the type of soil we are required to excavate. Pool profiles are not listed in your contracts for the same reasons. If you have a preference on pool profiles, it recommended that you ask your project manager about this, before we start playing with the big tonka toys. Please don’t wait until we finish digging, load up all our toys, and drive into the sunset before telling us that you wanted to have more of a shallow end.
Mitigating rock isn’t fun for anybody. It delays the excavation of a project, it creates wear and tear on our equipment, and it cost you the customer to remove it. Rock charges are very different on every project that encounters it. If we have to dig out, scrape, chip, clip, hammer, or remove rock, there will be a cost associated. Those costs are listed in your contract under the terms and conditions. Please understand that the cost for this is determined by the amount of time that it takes to deal with it. Yes, this also includes the haul off and dump of the rock as well, it doesn’t stop when the hammer comes off. Those big dump trucks on the street don’t operate on hopes and dreams unfortunately, they do take fuel to run and most dump locations don’t want your rock.
We recommend that you contact your data provider to have a temporary line moved for the construction process if you think it may be an issue. Believe it or not, we must dig underground to build your pool. When we do this, we tend to find “things” that may not be expected sometimes. This can include, but is not limited to…electric, gas, utilities, water lines, septic, sewer, irrigation, more dirt, expansive soils, rock, retaining walls, old pools, new pools, tree roots, water, graveyards, bodies, old pets, and the list goes on. Each of these items have their own set of remedies and potential costs to mitigate. Your contracts will list specifics on some of these things. Ultimately, costs may be associated with the removal, haul off, and/or dump of these items if they’re not already addressed in your contracts.
Driveways typically work great for parking your vehicles, kids’ bicycle, power wheels, scooters, sporting equipment, etc., however, they usually don’t hold up well against a 70,000 lb. fully loaded dump truck or real life, big boy tonka toys repeatedly driving over it. For this reason, driveways are a last resort as far as access goes. Should we access a property via your driveway, ECP is not responsible for associated damages. We can fix it if it happens, but there will be associated costs with fixing those items.
We’re currently in negotiations with the alien network, however, we have not solidified any deals with hovering excavation equipment. Because of this, it is expected that we will destroy grass, dirt, sprinkler systems, sidewalks, curbs, flowerbeds, fences, neighbors’ yards, and potentially much more. Please understand that ECP is not responsible for any of these items if they are destroyed during the course of excavation. We are happy to replace and/or fix these items if they arise, but they’re typically not covered within the normal scope of the contract and may add cost to fix.