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STOCKTON (CBS13) ― Building a pool is an expensive investment in your home. But problems can arise, and when they do the company should take care of it.

In this case, the consumer felt the builder wasn't doing its job, leaving him with a potentially expensive repair bill.

"They are nice during the summer," says Jesse Lopez, of his backyard pool at his home in Stockton.

And you gotta' take care of the new swimmin' hole. That goes for both Jesse and for the builder Aqua Pool and Spa, in Stockton.

"I mean, I was pleased with them until the rust spots started showing up," says Jesse.

The first spot showed up at the end of 2007 about a year after the pool was finished.

Aqua Pool patched it.

"This is the patch right here" Jesse says while pointing to a small square-shaped patch of gunnite along the wall of his pool.

It took several tries for Aqua Pool to match the gunnite. Jesse wasn't thrilled with it but said "ok".

Then a year later, at the end of 2008, more rust bubbled-up.

"Again you can see the buildup that's coming out of there. Actually it even looks like it's gotten bigger," said Jesse.

It's about three feet from the patch.

"…rubbing it, it'll come off. But, it's pretty bad. That buildup just dissolves," said Jesse.

Jesse's worried that something more destructive is going on behind the pool walls, possibly with the rebar steel re-enforcements.

He believed all of the pool's gunnite was defective and needed to be replaced.

But he says Aqua Pool only offered to fix it with another patch, which wasn't good enough for Jesse, who paid $50,000 for this pool.

"I'd like to see the owner (of Aqua Pool) have a patch in his pool," said Jesse.

Several months of back-and-forth phone calls happened, but Jesse says Aqua Pool insisted that resurfacing the entire pool was not necessary.

"I even told them 'do I need to get an attorney?' They told me 'no, no you don't need to get one'," said Jesse.

He got us instead. We talked with Aqua Pool and Spa which said they wanted to make it right all along, but their way.

They began work on April 28; another draining of the pool, another patch.

"You know one patch, ok, but two, is just, I don't know. For this amount of money it's just hard," said Jesse.

Then in May, another disappointment comes.

"I think it's going to be hard to see because they're on the bottom now," said Jesse.

More rust; three spots close to the two patches and some at the other end. Jesse's now convinced there's only one solution.

"The pool has to get redone, especially if it's coming from the bottom," said Jesse.

Aqua Pool and Spa inspected, and guessed that the rust resulted from either contaminated gunnite or fertilizer. Unsure of the exact cause, Aqua Pool and Spa agreed to redo the whole thing.

"You know, I think we've been more than enough patient about them trying to fix it and not being fixed," said Jesse.

But Jesse's patience paid off. Repair crews got to work two weeks ago, and progress never sounded so good.

Then about a week ago: "I'm just happy it's done, a much better pool, much better pool," said Jesse.

Aqua Pool & Spa finished the fix. Jesse also upgraded the surface at his own expense.
And, while he'll wait until next summer to try it out, his son has already taken a dip.

"My youngest son, we were playing poker and he lost a bet so he had to go swimming. It was cold" he says laughing at the thought of his son's debt payment.

Jesse chose to wait until the end of this summer to have Aqua Pool make the repairs, so that they could enjoy it before Fall came.

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