Austech Pools Leak Detection & Repair

I spent 2. 5 months and $ 860.00 with company trying to find cause of a pump that would not stay primed. They were very inconsistent and sporadic in repairs. Stating they were coming and then a no show. Only to show up the next day at 7 pm! Finally Carter admitted that he did not know what was wrong so he consulted the «best pool repair guy in town». Jeff came and looked at pool, promised to send estimate for repairs and disappeared for 2 weeks. When I called company angry that pool pump was left non functioning, I was sent a nasty text from Carter because I refused to work with a company that just disappeared. I paid my bill to Carter but I would not recommend them to anyone else especially if you want something done timely!

Initial response was good and they came out and tested my pool and claimed they found a leak and patched it. It went down hill from here– the leak wasn’t patched and it was a week or so before anyone came back and claimed there more more leaks and they would schedule someone to dive the pool to fix.
No one ever called to schedule but I did get an invoice for the failed leak detection and quote for the future repair. The leak detection was supposed to be partially credited to the repair– as written on the invoice but they claimed otherwise on the repair. In any case, it was a couple weeks until they finally showed up– never coming when they said they would. In the end, their were 2 more patches, but no change in the amount of water leaking.
No response to my reporting of this but they didn’t charge me for the repair either. Money paid for leak detection for no result– lesson learned. I’d avoid in the future.

I had a good amount of water loss on a new pool that was perplexing everyone from the Pool Builder that looked at it. They made one call and sent in the Pros. Carter and team arrived on time, quickly diagnosed the problem and had the leak fixed on the same visit. He explained everything that he did and made sure that I didn’t have any questions. I see some reviews complaining about how busy he is — to me that’s just further proof of how good he is at what he does. I wish I could say that I want to be a repeat customer, but I am hoping for a trouble free pool — rest assured though I will call for any future problems

Beware!
My husband and I contacted Austech in May of 2014 to assist us with plumbing repairs that needed to be made on our pool. Austech was one of four companies that we requested a bid from and they were very responsive and helpful during that process. We truly thought we were in good hands with Carter.
Unfortunately, a week after Austech completed the plumbing repairs on our pool (early August), it became evident that the plaster was beginning to delaminate. My husband and I didn’t realize what was going on at first, but after a quick Google search we knew right away what we were dealing with. Based on the research we’ve done, it also appears that this problem could have been easily avoided with some proper planning and timing of the work that was completed at our home. Apparently, plaster delamination occurs for to main reasons: 1. Draining a pool and leaving it empty for 48 hours or, 2. Draining a pool in temperatures that are over 85 degrees. Well, Austech left our pool drained for 7 days straight in 95+ degree weather, so you can imagine what our pool plaster looks like now.
Needless to say, my husband and I had no clue delamination was a risk we faced and were never told by Austech that this might happen during the plumbing repair work. If we had known, we would have happily postponed our pool work until the Fall and would have made sure that the Austech team completed the work on the main drain (the portion of the project that required the pool to be drained) in 48 hours or less. Our plaster was in great condition before Austech began their work in our pool, but now it is completely delaminatiing and we’re faced with a replastering cost of $ 6000+.
Beware of hiring Austech for your pool leak and repair needs — they will promise you the moon and then disappear when something goes wrong. We’ve reached out to their office multiple times via email, phone and in writing since this occurred and haven’t heard a peep back.

I used to love this company. I used them to resurface my pool and they were easy to deal with.
Since then apparently the ownership has changed and I can’t even get them to come out and look at the now peeling and generally bad looking surface that they put on. It’s a huge disappointment and a very expensive problem that I will have someone else fix.

They came out and detected a leak in one of the returns, when we had a pool repair company come out and dig it up, it was a dry hole ! They did not come out and re — test !

I have a very old (1972) pool on the eastside, which is notorious for it’s shifting clay soil. Needless-​to-​say, I’ve had tons of problems through the years and have worked with many different pool repair companies. That is, until I discovered Austech. They are HANDS DOWN, the best in town. They recommended a new technology to re-​surface my pool (Aquafin) which literally shifts and expands as the cracks do. Not only has it worked great for the past 3 years, but my pool looks beautiful. Plaster would have just cracked again. (They also did a stellar job sealing all of the cracks prior to installing the aquafin coating.)
Darren, Ray, Celia, and their employees could not be nicer nor better informed. They’ve come out multiple times on their own dime to check on things when I’ve had other problems unrelated to their repairs. Recently, I had to replace the old cleaning line and Ray gave me several options to improve my system at no extra cost while they were at it. I am currently watching one of their employees cleaning all of the leaves from the bottom of the pool as he waits for the water to get low enough to finish the repair. (NOT part of his job description!) These guys don’t ever sit around idle.
Once, I had a malfunction which was due to a part failure (not their fault), and they promptly came out and re-​did the entire (labor intensive and expensive) job for free– no questions/​no hassle. They stand by their workmanship and their guarantees. And they stand by their word, which is unfortunately not all that common in pool repair companies. They have also pioneered some state-​of-​the-​art technologies in leak detection and reparation.
Despite the excellent caliber of their work and materials, their prices are very competitive. The re-​surfacing cost me about $ 3000 less than I was quoted by two other companies to re-​plaster, and had a longer guarantee (5 years!)
I can’t say enough good things about these guys!
FOLLOW UP: Unfortunately, we were oversold on the Aquifin finish. It’s not reliable, and gunite pools can’t «breath» with a water-​tight, rubberized finish like this. (Same thing with painted pools.) Thus, it’s only a matter of time before your Aquafin pool surface starts delaminating. Go with Quartz, Pebble-​Tec, or Plaster. The former two being the longest lasting and best looking. Feel bad for the original owners of Austech, as I think they really believed the hype that Aquafin™ spun. They were always a very customer-​oriented company, who did lots of work for me pro-​gratis. However, I definitely cannot recommend the Aquafin finish. Just had the pool resurfaced again with quartz, and am very happy with the quality and look of the finish.

The company is is good in identifying the leaks using hydrophones. I am not persuaded they provide the best fix for the customer.
So if you have a leak in your pool I recommend hiring him to detect it, but may not agree with their proposed solution.
Specifically, they found a leak at our inground where the bottom drain joins with the gunite. They proposed closing he main drain and installing an alternate drain close to the water level, which involved digging, cutting the pool desk, patching etc… I asked if they can patch the leak at the bottom and their response was «we don’t do patch work». It turns out closing the main drain was unnecessary, as the pipe leading to the main drain was intact, and ultimately they did ended up patching around the main drain, and installing an alternate drain, which was unnecessary. Besides the cost associated with this operation, closing of the main drain resulted in the pool being more prone to getting cloudy.
In hindsight it was an obvious error on my part on allowing them to close the main drain. There is a reason pools are built with bottom drains: to help remove particles which tend to segregate near the bottom of the pool.
Bottom line: I would recommend hiring them to find a leak, but have reservations regarding their solutions.

You won’t find more friendly or prompt service anywhere in Austin for a service company. That is a fact. When you call Austech, you are getting THE expert. I mean, Darren is an inventor and seller of leak detection equipment and he teaches people how to properly detect leaks. So you get excellent personable service with an expert. I’m in the midst of my second detection and repair cycle right now. (different crack than the first time). The office staff, Celia, is so friendly and always answers the phone.

super nice guys and some of the best customer service I’ve received in Austin. Just nice to actually get quality work from pleasant people for a reasonable price.