Full, Honest Review of My Juliano’s Pool Install Experience

Having an in-ground pool was a lifelong dream and goal of mine.  We purchased a brand new home in March of 2020 because it would not only give us the peace of mind knowing everything was good to go for years to come, but because the 1-acre lot allowed us just enough room to build our backyard oasis, including a swimming pool.  We started off by interviewing 3 pool companies for the job.  Juliano’s Pools was the last of the 3 companies that we met with.  They were pleasant and optimistic that they could build us the pool of our dreams in our budget.  After some negotiations, questions and hurdles with conservation to get our permit, the day had finally come where we were approved to start building out our pool. 
Brian Juliano, himself, ensured us that he would be our project manager to make sure nothing happened to our septic tank that was close to where the pool was being installed, but within the limits the town has set for their approved setbacks.  We were told they were going to personally HAND DIG to make sure it was found and would go undamaged.  
Our dig day was to start on a Tuesday, right after Memorial Day Weekend.  Tuesday came and by mid-morning, we watched in excitement for trucks to come, but no one came.  My husband called the owner, Brian, who then told us they were running behind on another build, but that someone would drop off an excavator later that day and they’d start on Wednesday. We were a little surprised because they pride themselves on their communication and we didn’t think we should have had to call them to find out they weren’t coming when they told us they would. Wednesday the crew came and after just a few hours of digging, we were asked not to use our water or showers because they hit a drainage pipe underground and needed to repair it.  We were ok with that.  Stuff happens I guess.  
After a few little hiccups with communication and with our pipe, most of the project seemed to move along quickly and efficiently.   When we started nearing the end of the pool build, the electrician came out from Juliano’s Pools to get that all set up for the filter.  He did good work and in about 4 hours or less, everything was up and running.  Fast forward a few days, the team was here to start the backfill and grading, including Brian Juliano, and that’s when our excitement with this project took a drastic turn in events.  My husband was at baseball while I was inside feeding our babies.  The guys were outside working in the excavators when all of a sudden it sounded like someone hit the house with one!  I just so happened to be video recording my 9-month-old eating and making silly faces.  In the video, you can hear the impact and even see my son jump from being so startled.  I quickly ran outside to see that Brian had accidentally dug up and broke the electrical line going into our house and that in turn pulled our whole house electric panel on the wall to where it was hanging with some circuits busted.  I let him in to check it out, not saying much.  My husband came home from baseball to find we had no power in half of our house, no internet and no water.  Brian had his electrician there at 8:30 that night to get us back up and running, but seeing how our house was only a few months old, we requested a new panel.  It was only right seeing how the brand new one we had was ripped off the wall from the miscommunication between Brian and his electrician who supposedly “should have known better than to not dig down deeper with the grade we have here”.  That Saturday, Brian’s other electrician came and replaced our panel.  We were down without power for a good portion of that Saturday where both my husband and I had to work from home and when we have 6 kids home.  Thankfully, it was a nice day and we could go out and use the pool. 
The day AFTER our electric panel was ripped off the wall by an excavator outside, the backfill team was back out here whipping around and getting the rest of the grading and filling done to wrap up everything.  We thought it was coming along nicely until my husband went outside to check it out in person and discovered that despite them hand digging our septic tank to expose it, spraying it with a bright orange spray paint and staking it all around with caution tape, someone clipped the corner of it right off with one of the machines leaving a large crack and a gaping hole in our BRAND NEW tank.  My husband immediately called Brian with his concerns where Brian first tried to offer him a letter taking responsibility for the crack should anything ever happen down the road with issues with it, but I was not happy with that.  I sell homes in Massachusetts and we require a passing Title V in our state to sell our home.  A cracked septic tank is never what a buyer wants to see or hear.  I am not allowed to not disclose it since I do know about it now.  And again, this was a BRAND NEW SEPTIC.  Had my home been 20 years old, maybe I’d be less apt to feel as strongly as I do about these major mistakes Brian and his team made, but the facts are that these were all avoidable mistakes that cost BIG money to fix.  And seeing our home is brand new, these were NOT upgrades, but pure inconveniences and unnecessary stress on us.  
We expressed to Brian that we felt very inconvenienced by all of this and very disappointed.  These are rookie mistakes that could have been avoided with some attention to detail and a little communication.  We appreciate the beautiful pool that they built and we PAID for.  This review does not discount that at all, but it does warrant mentioning that had we known all of this would have happened in the process, we may not have chosen the company that we went with.  Brian’s response to our frustration was to tell us that the extra sand he delivered (without mentioning to us before trucking tons in) was on the house.  Normally, they would have tacked that on our bill he said.  He also offered a few openings and/or closings of our pool or a season or two worth of chemicals.  We expressed we felt our damaged septic tank that goes for more than $3000 installed was worth a little more than what he’s offering and requested a pool safety cover.  We didn’t need the Cadillac of safety covers.  I would have been happy with a basic one.   Brian proceeded to tell us he would not give a safety cover.  He explained he only recommends a top of the line cover and that is what he would sell us for $3600 and some change, OR, we could pay him $1700 for the sand and gravel and get the cover free of charge.  We made a few attempts at negotiating with Brian and his responses were that those were not the options he was giving. Despite his statements in previous conversations that he will do whatever would make us happy.  Brian then proceeded by having his office worker send us a final bill including the cost of the additional sand and gravel that was told to us to be “on the house”.  He strong-armed us into having to pick one of his very less than satisfactory offers and rushed to demand a final payment which was described to us (and in our signed agreement) to be due after the patio was finished, which it has not even begun.  

Fast forward to closing time, yesterday, Juliano’s showed up without a cover and only half of the bags of water needed and were VERY late. We were given a window of 12-6 for closing on Thursday and when my husband called Brian at 5:45 last night we were informed they were still over an hour out on another job in Brimfield and could come right after. My husband watched them in the dark do most of the work to shut down the pool, but in the end they couldn’t even close it because they didn’t bring everything needed to do so. This morning, the office was great at calling for payment for a job not yet completed. Finally, a little after 4 a Juliano’s truck pulled in and our pool is officially closed for the first season.

Bottom line, we love our pool.  We do not love Juliano’s.  We already referred someone that installed a new liner in their pool and bought truckloads of water from Brian’s pool water company during our build and would have sent many, MANY more referrals, especially being in real estate, but I cannot refer this company with peace of mind with how we were taken care of in the end.  Totally uncalled for and avoidable.  They were more worried about their bottom line and themselves than having a happy, lifelong customer.  They were more worried about rushing through the job to get paid than making sure our brand new home stayed in its brand new condition.  Is the pool nice?  Yes.  Was their communication and integrity (that sold us) what they promised us?  No, we were underwhelmed in that department at the expense of our new home, unfortunately.  

Happy to share my 360 build photos and other photos taken throughout the entire process if you’d like to see how they install an in-ground pool. Also happy to share the other companies we interviewed in case anyone is looking to get quotes for their own pool.