Some Good Information
What Kind of Material to Use for Your Pool Deck
Gallery of Pool Decks
Luxury Swimming Pools
Master Pool Guild Gallery
When you install a pool from Rising Sun Pools they give you a contract list of people they work with. So, to be clear, when you purchase the swimming pool YOU will still have to find your own contractors and pay extra money for electrical, patio deck, gas lines, brick work, grading, landscaping, decking, fencing, etc. Now it was my turn to find someone to do our patio as that was the next step in my pool install.
First we had to decide what we wanted to do with the pool. I didn’t want basic concrete as it looks to plain in my opinion. However, this is a great way to go if you want to get your pool installed quick and pay the least amount of cash for a patio. My wife and I looked over a ton of pictures and decided we wanted to do a stamp concrete design. We want to do a dark edge around the pool with a lighter stamp color like the images below.
Once we were sure of what we wanted I had to find a contractor. As usual I called about 8 – 12 different companies and got estimates from them all. Some of these guys simply came out, looked for 5 minutes and left due to lack of experience in doing the rock wall and waterfalls. I had one crew come out that talked so loud the neighbors three homes down could hear them. I’m not sure why they had to scream the entire time they talked but it was really bad news, I didn’t use this company. =) A few other people came out and were nice and had experience but their prices were so outrageous I couldn’t use them.
So who did we finally decide to use? We actually went with the Rising Sun Pools suggested contractor who is Capital City Curb & Gutter. I went out during my bidding process and got to meet Darren (the owner) and speak to him about ideas, etc. He is a very nice guy and this company does a ton of work on pools all year long. He told me they could do the rock wall, waterfall, grading, etc and had no problems doing any of the work we needed done. He also had a very good price for everything I wanted to get done. Here is his actual website with portfolio, information, etc.
Click Here to Visit Capital City Curb & Gutter
They came out yesterday and graded out around the pool and got everything ready so they can pour the concrete next week. We also decided to put in a rock bench type seating area to help keep the water flow away from the pool. More on that later when they get started.
The only problem I had with this company was the lack of communication at times. They are actually so busy (working from 4am until 11pm some days) that it’s very hard to get a call from them sometimes. Also on a few days they were going to show up to work and they never came or called. This really won’t effect you in most cases as you may be at your normal job, etc when they work on your pool. I was at the house waiting all day so I could take pictures and document everything for this pool review so I was a bit upset. I even called the owner and left a voice mail saying “I told you I was ready to install the pool and pay you but I can’t get a return call…… do you just not want to do my patio and work”
Darren got my message and called me back, he was very polite and told me he was sorry but he was just really busy. So I got over my temper and told him I was sorry for being upset with him and we worked together on the project. So if you can handle some communication issues with this company (that seems to be the only issue) then I would suggest you use them. I even had another guy Email me yesterday saying he was getting his pool installed and wanted to know who to use for the patio. I told him to use Capital City but also warned of the communication problems, he told me that he already talked to them and got an estimate and agreed with me about communication issues and getting a call back. So in the long run maybe I can speak with Darren after the install is complete to see if I can talk him into hiring someone to answer the phone for his company. 
Here are some of your patio options when installing a deck. Concrete, Stamped Concrete, Flagstone, Pavers & Travertine
Below are pictures of the crew grading my pool, it will be time for concrete Monday!
Rising Sun Pools Review Raleigh, NC 