I would not recommend this company to anybody. We had a saltwater pebble tech pool which we had converted to an Ozone & UV filter, and we asked them to have the boulders repainted and sealed, and the pebble tech power washed. They are just contractors so they hired other companies to come out here and take care of each of those components. they were too remove the current calcium line first from the rock outline (from my understanding that can bead blasted or another assortment of ways) and then re-stain and seal. But they did not do that they just re-stained it so where the calcium line was before the paint is not sticking. It apparently has a two-year warranty but I have called several times trying to get in touch with somebody and on one occasion I got Letty to answer the phone and she advised me that the company they used for the Boulder stain only speak Spanish so she would call and talk to them for me. But I have not heard back I have been following up for over a year with this issue. There's absolutely no customer service they will not call you back or email you back if there's a problem. So your warranty is basically null & void because you cannot get in contact with anybody. We had them servicing our pool once a week but literally the guy they would send would come out check the chemicals empty the skimmer baskets and occasionally vacuum the bottom of the pool. But he never brushed or kept up with that calcium ring where the waterline is so that ring has just grown out of control again. And I had to remind him when it was time to clean the filters because they had not clean the filters either. So we canceled our weekly service because we just felt $170 was not worth the lack of care for our pool. read more

Chris has been a pleasure to work with! We initially reached out about a year ago and he has been very generous with his time as well as authentic every time we've met. He's been flexible with our timing, had a very well thought out pool and construction design (our house is mostly geometrical so we scratched the initial design I brought to him and went with his geometrical design as well as went with his suggestion to have a retaining wall built so that the structural integrity of our pool is not compromised). When you meet Chris you'll notice that he is very knowledgeable about what it takes to build a quality pool. There are many small things that Chris has pointed out that I'm sure any other pool builders would have missed (like pouring the gunite first entrance step one inch lower to compensate for coping, pouring the second step wider so that the overlapping coping doesn't shorten its width and makes it shorter than the other steps etc). We are very happy of our current build (still in the plumbing phase) - I will update this review with pictures of the finished project once it's done! Have already started recommending him to family members who will be building a pool soon and recommend you give Chris a shot too. read more

Sahara Construction and Custom Pools - General Contractors Near Me - Katy, Texas

I'm beyond pissed on the actual customer service with the owner Chris. We are going on 2 years that my heater broke down and haven't had a replacement yet. Nothing but lies from Chris. Hayward heater broke and started leaking within months of having it. The pool was completed in November 2022, was used a few times in December and broke in January. The contract I signed says a 3 year warranty on Hayward equipment but apparently now they cannot replace it. Chris told me he was buying a new one and a month later nothing. I've asked several times for my new heater and all I get is "the economy is bad" WTF does that have to do with my warranty. I cannot get any updates and going on for 2 years now. Other Hayward parts broke like the cyclone and pump within a few months and luckily that was replaced. There are cracks in the foundation all within a year but apparently they need to be bigger than 1/8" to get it fixed. Do not use them or Hayward products. read more

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! IT WILL COST YOU MORE MONEY IN THE END. We built our pool in 2019 and immediately started having issues with the quality. All the reviews you read below are very true! Chris is great at selling you on a quality pool and he's very knowledgable; however, after the building process he's a different person. He only cares about collecting his checks and is very difficult to work with at times. We thought well at least we are getting a good quality pool. WRONG!!! Our pool decking paint was coming up in lots of areas and he did not want to fix it. He said he left me the paint. I used painters tape to show him how many spots were chipping, and he finally had someone come out and repaint. However, it started chipping immediately after they repainted. I believe they incorrectly applied the first decking paint which is the ultimate problem. Our back decorative tile wall is starting to lose tiles. Our plaster is discolored and he said it takes a year to cure. WRONG! Our decking is cracking and coming up in several spots around our hot tub. We were wanting to pay for the repair, but he never showed up. We have holes in contrete that was poured and cured for our decking. Now we are dealing with a gas leak because his contractor installed the coupling to connect the pool heater to our gas line incorrectly. I contacted him again to have the decking fixed. This overall experience is costing us a fortune to keep up with a low quality built pool. We are going to have to run a whole new gas line to our pool heater to ensure our gas line doesn't leak. Trust me, save yourself lots of money and trouble by choosing a better and more qualified pool builder. read more

Chris knows what he's doing. No doubt. But if there are any issues (which I had) there will be no communication or lack there of from him or Tony (his finisher). There is a laundry list too long to put into here. Basically you will NOT get what you ask for or paid for. And if you do if will take a while. read more

Very pleased with the quality of the pool designed and build by Sahara. We started this process in the middle of the covid shut down but Chris still came out to meet us in person and responded quickly. We have a small yard and they were able to design something that's perfect for us. We are very happy with all the features and we are glad we went with the automated feature upgrades. It really takes the guess work out of pool ownership. We only regret waiting this long to get a pool! read more

Sahara Construction and Custom Pools - Pool and fire pit - General Contractors Near Me - Katy, Texas

I would give Sahara and Chris personally 0 stars if I could. I would avoid this business at all cost. Run full steam in the opposite direction. We have never been lied to so much and deceived so much as we have when we worked with Sahara. We had to threaten a lawsuit just to get him to finish the job and the job took nearly 16 months to complete. I use the word complete loosely as there are still several issues. Really do you research on Sahara and know that we were not the only customer with similar experiences. read more

Sahara Custom Pools build our backyard retreat. Chris came to meet with us and designed a perfect plan for our backyard. The process was smooth and the results are amazing. The process took 6 months, but it was worth the wait. We love the quality of the material that was used and the overall complete look of the pool and spa. Junior was very respectful and easy to contact. The team was kind and knowledgeable. We are ready to enjoy our backyard! :) read more

I would like to start by saying if I had to go though the process of building a pool all over again, I would do it again with Sahara Construction and Customer Pools. We started this process by getting several estimates. Sahara was our first. We told Chris what we were picturing. He did a sketch by hand of exactly what I envisioned! He was very personable and great with my 2 year old nephew. We received a few other estimates, but felt Chris was someone we could trust and enjoy doing business with for several months, not to mention Sahara had the best price for everything they offered. The project started very fast, although there was a longer than expected wait due to weather and Covid. We understood and reminded ourselves we have a lifetime to enjoy our pool and we wanted it done right. Each step brought us excitement and joy. The crews who worked on our pool were very nice, respectful, paid attention to detail and we never felt like anyone was rushing through the job or slaking either. Our project manager was awesome. He was very nice, respectful and did everything he could to move things along under the circumstances. The attention to detail when wrapping up was beyond my expectations. Tony was amazing with closing up all the loose ends, extremely personable and went over and beyond with service. I look forward to enjoying my little piece of heaven for years to come. Thank you to everyone with Sahara who help to make this a dream come true! Again, if I had to do this all over again, I would definitely do it with Sahara Construction and Customs Pools! read more

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Sahara is a first class pool company! Chris and his team did an amazing job building our backyard oasis. The quality of his teams work is second to none and the equipment he uses is top of the line. Chris worked with us daily from start to finish. We had 6 pool companies out to design and quote us on our pool, but none of them included everything Sahara did for the one price! Sahara is the complete package when you use them! read more

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Sahara was able to to complete my pool within 3 months during the heart of the pandemic where every other company would have taken twice as long. We had minor issues which were quickly resolved. Satisfied. read more

Chris and his team delivered on a backyard paradise better than we could have imagined. When we decided to build a pool and outdoor living space, we called 5+ companies, many of which didn't return our call, and others who didn't think we were worth their time simply because we were shopping around builders. Chris came out soon after the first call, spent almost 2 hours with us talking about what he thought would be the best use of our space to hit every checkbox on our wishlist. No other company left us excited to work with them. Within a few days we had 3D renderings and a contract. We were so impressed with the customer service and the communication throughout the whole process, pricing, and quality of work from Sahara, and could not be happier with the results. 100% satisfied and would build with Sahara again. read more

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Only four years after after my poo/spa was built by them the hot tub is popping out of the ground. Anytime a warranty repair is needed I get the run around with excuses but no resolve. They will do and say anything they can to avoid having to fix the poor construction they did. Four years and it looks like a 20 year old pool. All of my neighbors have much older pions than mine and theirs look newer. Very poor construction and will not stand behind their work. read more

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Pool and outdoor kitchen design was excellent. They started on time but ran into delays due to weather, Covid, and supply chain issues. We went through a period of time with no proactive communications about plans and status. We had to prod for every bit of information we got. In the end we got exactly what we were looking for installed with excellent craftsmanship. I just wished they had communicated with us better during the time they were having so many issues. read more

Our experience with Sahara Construction and Chris Harrell has been the worst pool building experience we have ever had. Of the 5 pools we have built, this is the smallest and one of the most expensive. We wanted a swim-spa that we could use for exercise and relaxing. The swim spa was dug on May 4th and completed in mid-September - 4 1/2 months to build a 20 x 10 swim spa seems ridiculous even during COVID. From recent reviews by others, their projects seem to have been completed in much less time. I assume that their projects were much more $$$ than ours. It seemed that our project just wasn't a priority to Chris and Sahara. From the beginning, we knew that the pergola would need to be resized and asked Chris several times for a revised contract and drawing. We never received any of the request revised documents. On average, we saw 1 work crew per week. We had to continually contact Chris to determine what was next and when to expect the work crew. There was always an excuse why the next task couldn't be done until the next week. Once the site clean-up was completed in late-August, we started asking when our "pool school" would be. At the same time, we found that the gas line for the heater was not connected at the meter. We were told by Chris that we had to contact the gas company to have the gas meter upgraded. He said that we would have been told this during our "pool school". Later, we were told that they don't do the "pool school" until the gas is connected. So, when should we have been told about the gas meter? Since the swim spa had been working for 3+ weeks (less the heater), I figured out how to connect the automated system to our network and started playing with some of the features. I had reported several (6) issues / concerns numerous times and have not received any response except that all the issues will be resolved at the "pool school". They were - 2 weeks later during the "pool school", except for the swim jets for exercise. The swim jets don't produce the flow for effective exercise. I can't freestyle swim slow enough without swimming into the wall. As far as getting my heart rate up - forget it. I have been told by other pool builders that the piping and pump are undersized for an effective exercise spa. Too late now to fix that I guess. The other sales related item is the heater. We were sold that the heater would warm the swim spa up to 100F in a couple of hours. It will if the starting temperature is in the 85+F range. So now, this swim spa is nothing but a glorified spa-tub that will take several hours to heat up. read more

Extremely knowledgeable staff. They go above and beyond to help you design the pool and backyard of your dreams. No detail is overlooked, even the little touches I wouldn't have thought of. I was nervous going in, but they put me right at ease and took care of everything, so I didn't have to worry. Not only that, but the crew was very professional and courteous, so I never felt unsafe with the people coming on to my property. If I would have know how easy they make the process, I would have started the project a lot sooner! Thanks again! I love my backyard paradise! read more

We are so happy with our Sahara pool. The whole team worked hard to make sure that we were happy customers. Not only did they build a wonderful pool and spa, but they also took care of grass, fence and other issues that happen during the construction process. We absolutely love our new Backyard oasis. read more

Chris cares for that check and only cpllecting checks. Once the pool is finished and hes been paid, good luck with getting ANYTHING upkept or fixed. I will say the pool turned out nice.....at first. We are now around 19 months and have plaster issues. Have been trying to contact Chris and Letty for MONTHS with the same BS emails of "we will get to it". Still nothing done. We also used them for the pool maintenance, what an absolute shitshow of a company on that side of the fence. We started getting algae on the walls and pointed it out to the crew. They did nothing. 4 days later I had to spend 6 hrs scrubbing as it was EVERYWHERE. The 4 DE filters were dosgusting, showing they havent been cleaned out or serviced since the build. First recommendation after taking water samples was to change filters and drain pool. $190/month and weekly service there is no reason for pool equipment to be in the shape it was. Still have got no answers back on the costs we paid to do the failed maintenance they ahoukd have done and also for the plaster. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. RED FLAG FOR US WAS THAT THE BBB TOOK AWAY THEIR ACCREDITATION. read more

Love our pool!! We started looking for a pool provider in June and Chris came out and meet with us. He answered all our questions and gave us guidance on questions we didn't know to ask other providers. We signed with Sahara in August for a pool and outdoor kitchen. They started right away and then ran into unforeseen circumstances with COVID and hurricane like rain, etc. Chris and Junior provided updates on those delays right away. Given the situation with the pandemic the timeline did extend from the 16 weeks to 20 weeks however by no fault of Sahara. The pool and kitchen are done and gorgeous. The attention to detail and work is excellent. Can't wait for warmer weather to enjoy it. read more

A big thanks to the Sahara crew for our new back yard. They did a Pool, patio extension, all new fencing and landscape in 2 months. Our project was always evolving along the way. I was very happy with the attention to detail and the ability to make the changes I wanted during the construction process. I could not be more happy with the outcome. Also during the process both of my neighbors commented on how clean and polite the crews were. Always remember to pick a company that not only has your needs in mind but those that live next to you as well. read more

He stared very nice and polite and after the first payment everything was slow and he always had a lot of excuses to not come and finish my pool he took a lot more time than he suppose to , he do very unprofessional job after he finish my pool and I paid him in full , we find out the pool has a leak and he don't answer my calls or texts and the pool is only month and a half finish. This guy is a thief he only cares about money I don't think he has any experience or he don't care about the people he is not responsible about his jobs. read more

Initially the job Chris did was great! But trying to get him back for warranty issues is impossible. Won't return calls or respond to texts. Oh well! read more

Was recommended this company because of their supposed customer service. Went through 6 different pool guys in one summer all varying in skill. In between they missed service days and would not refund. Now during big freeze, will take weeks to repair damage to pool and want to keep charging for services they will not provide during this time "because they will have to work twice as hard later". When I tried to talk to management to raise the issue, he basically told me to take my business and go elsewhere. Save yourself the money and time of dealing with these 'dirty cowboys'.... read more

Can't say enough about Chris and his crew through this process. After meeting with Chris in late June and signing the contract shortly after, his team started working on my pool the next week! We agreed to a 10 week timeline, and Sahara has stuck to that timeline and ensured I was in my pool on schedule! We're currently only waiting on the landscaping to finish, but it's still within the 10 week timeframe and if the work is anything like what have been receiving, I know it's going to turn out great! Chris and his staff are very knowledgeable and friendly, and always take time to answer my calls and texts whenever I need clarification on the process. I highly recommend them to anyone! I'll add photos once the landscaping complete so you can see their quality workmanship! read more

if I could give negative stars I would. I don't usually leave reviews but this experience has been disturbing so this is public service announcement. The owner Chris is highly unprofessional and decided that our pool could ONLY be customized to what he decided it should be. He did not ask what we wanted OR what we were looking for, instead drew up the design the pool he felt we should have. He inflated the quote by adding features we didn't want and when asked to remove the items because they made the project over budget, he resorted to telling us to go get a standard pool. The definition of custom is made to order so if I did not want 5 lights, a fire pit, a bench around the fire pit or a cool deck then they should be removed. Apparently our money isn't green enough or maybe there was too much melanin present. Additionally a GOOD business person with a quality product shouldn't feel the need to try to tear down the competition as part of their sales pitch. read more

Chris and his team really did a great job on our pool, hot tub and outdoor kitchen. Chris was very communicative throughout the process and made suggestions on things that would help us and not necessarily his pocketbook. I would highly recommend them if you are interested in building a pool or outdoor kitchen! read more

We are extremely pleased with our patio construction. The process was easy and transparent from quote through design and construction. It looks great and is excellent quality work. Any question or concern we had was promptly addressed and taken care of. I would recommend this company to anyone. read more

We have had a horrible experience with the company. We have recently sent a demand letter because our patio looks horrendous. It has white spots covering the surface and looks like birds pooped all over it. We have tried everything to remove them and they do not wash off. We even paid them 200.00 to come back and scrap the spots off, only for them to return a few days later!!! They took our money, but won't stand behind their work. We have been told by other businesses that it has to do with the concrete. We so wanted to have a beautiful new patio. Please use Angies List and get a reputable company. read more