Carden Pools & Owner Builder Assistance Group

Displays beautiful work on photos, seems very knowledgable able his trait, and makes you feel very confident about moving forward with him. However, he was hard to reach, cancelled several appointments, and a little on the arrogant side.
It’s a little disappointing that I wasn’t able to work with him because I have yet to find another place that offers to help home owners make pools affordable. As a result I have decided to spend more by going with a reputable company than to waste more time trying to get assistance from him.

The decision to go owner builder on our pool was a scary one for me as I have always just hired someone to do big projects in the past. Jim put my mind at ease within the first few minutes of meeting him. I felt comfortable with him and his knowledge of pool building was apparent right from the get go. He took his time and made us feel very comfortable throughout the planning process and was willing to listen to and answer all the questions we had. He is very thorough and made the experience easy and understandable, I highly recommend him if you are looking to save money going owner builder but need someone experienced and easy to work with the walk you through the process.

The decision to build a pool was very hard because I like to do my own projects. A full rip and replace of my current yard and installing a pool was way above my skill set but still found the thought of turning control over to a pool contractor highly unsettling.
While at lunch with a partner I was sharing with him my frustration in dealing with pool contractors and he quickly stopped me and brought up Jim. Jim had worked with my partner to build his pool and he said he would never do it any other way. I was instantly intrigued as this way I could be as involved as possible while not doing the heavy lifting.
Calling Jim was the best decision I could have made. Jim is on point, super punctual, very responsive and totally up front with no BS. You can’t recreate decades of pool building experience that Jim brings to the table. I’m a complete pain in the butt because I have so many questions, but Jim never batted an eye to help me understand options and go over all the finer details. It’s a big investment in the end but using Jim’s services made me feel as comfortable as one can to spend the kind of money it takes to build a little paradise and feel good you did it.
I’m 10 days into my entire project with demo, excavation, rebar, plumbing and electrical done. Everything is smooth as glass because the planning was done right with Jim’s help. It’s a super fun project and I’m in control of everything, I love it! My project is big so anticipate water in the pool by mid December. If you’re like me, and like to be involved in the process of building your pool I would not hesitate to call Jim, he’s worth every single penny. A+++++++

Hello Unilocal community, currently me and my wife were having a hard time with finding the right company to build our pool and with contractors not showing up, or charging a small fortune, we decided to take on the idea of building the pool ourselfs. Therefore we contacted OBAG, Jim to consult with us and direct us in the path necessary.
Little bit about me, I’m a tile contractor out of San Diego, company is The Tile Guys, License 877 631, in the industry for 20 years.
Jim meets us at our home, on time explains to us his services, as owner builder and says all he really does is design, engineer, assist with phone calls, dissect bids basically provides the guidance one would need to assist in building the pool correctly, and basically would sell you the pool equipment needed, of course at my discretion with an 8% mark up, totally fair.
Listening to Jim and his experience, my experience in dealing with people and trades over the years, we opt to go with him and offer to pay him in full for his services upfront, because we are excited and ready to move forward with design and planning.
We set up an appointment for the following day for Jim to come and measure the yard, my wife stayed home from work, and i left early to get home to meet Jim, Jim texts me and says he will not be able to come that day about 1 pm, OK thats Jim, i said no worries, he said ill see you tomorrow around the same time, Ok Jim thats fine see you then.
I sent Jim an email around 10 am confirming that he was coming? Jim responded back about an hour later, saying how got this huge job offer last night and that he was thinking of taking it, the money was great, etc. and basically NO he was not coming, and he decided to take the job he wouldn’t be able to do the job, he would be to busy, but if he didn’t take the job he would be tomorrow. also said if i get this job i could provide you with and estimate to build your pool…(Thats what the email said, with the NO actually big caps, and that’s the second pool building company he tried to push our way???
I responded back to the email, as states… I invited you into our home and listened to you bad mouth other pool contractors, our drawings, you said they didn’t know how to design pools and these are all wrong. You even insulted me as mason by stating well i have been in this trade 47 years and if have heard of you, you must not be that good… of course jokingly. but point taken. I accepted this a form of confidence, not arrogance… hence why i wanted to use you. You looked me in the face, shook my hand and told me don’t worry about it you’ll be here tomorrow. I said Jim as fellow contractor you give the rest of us contractors a bad name, by not following through with what you promise people, your an old school contractor and should know better, do what you say your going to do. Show up when you say you are, simple as that, don’t think im asking to much.
Jim calls me on the phone, and basically insults me again saying that me and my wife are drama and that he is glad he didn’t do our design, and that i was wrong for expressing myself the way i did in the email. I explained my frustration in him not showing, we ended the call civilly.
My point, I felt good with Jim, although he didn’t produce what he stated.
He tried to push 2 different pool building companies on me, which is exactly what i didn’t want, hence i wanted a consultant to guide us… this seemed incorrect, being hes a consultant, not a sales man for X NAMED POOLS.
Not showing up twice, we had arranged our schedule, to meet him… we lost money from making the time to meet with him, and days lost towards moving forward on our build.
So yes this irritated me very much, as a fellow tradesman, i hold a standard of being on time, showing up when i say, most importantly basically just doing what i say im going to do, we have owned our company 11 years, and i have missed an appointment or 2 as im not perfect and yes have had unhappy clients.
This is just one persons experience, honestly… the man does sell pool equipment, and consults. I have a feeling he sells the pool equipment, when he found out i wasn’t interested in the pool equipment, and that i wasn’t interested in hiring either of the 2 company’s he tried to push, he figured he couldn’t really make any money on me and made excuses.

If you want someone who is knowledgeable, honest, reliable, and dependable — please contact Jim Carden for assistance in building your pool. Jim built my dream pool and every step on the process was a pleasure. There was never a time when I had a question that he did not get back with me the same day. In addition, he gave good advice that I did not get with the other pool companies that had given me a bid. I would not hesitate to refer Jim to anyone interested in building a pool. He is THE BEST!!!

If you are thinking about building a swimming pool please DO NOT hire a pool company. You will save a TON of money by subbing everything out yourself. Jim is a great resource and will help you every step along the way in this process. He designed my pool for me and got the structural engineering plans for a very reasonable price. He also gives you a list of subs for every stage of the pool building process. It was very easy to do and it saved me about $ 20,000. Great customer service! Highly recommend!

Jim has been very helpful in the process of us building our own pool. One thing I love about him is that he is super prompt to reply to any concerns or questions I have. He has good ideas that helped me in our process that I wouldn’t have thought of on our own based on his past experience. His has opinions as to certain things but didn’t force any of those us, just let us know how he felt about things. I think you’ll be pleased if you use Jim and his company. We are happy we found him.

I would recommend every person I know to use Jim at Owner Builder Assistance Group. He is so professional, knowledgeable, and a pleasure to work with. We saved thousands of dollars thanks to Jim. In fact, I just referred my neighbor to call him. If you want a pool you won’t go wrong with working with Jim.

I’ve known Jim Carden since he constructed my pool in 2005, when he worked for «a company».
In 2009, I had moved and needed another pool. Jim instantly sprang to mind because he’d done such a great job before.
I contacted him and found that he no longer worked for a company but was consulting individuals that were interested in contracting the job on their own, known as «owner builder». I was intrigued and invited Jim over to discuss the details of the project.
Jim’s years of experience helped me design the perfect pool for my backyard. It is my favorite pool ever (I’ve had four). His ideas and insight were priceless! He provided me with blue prints, gave me the information on where and how to file the buiding permits and gave me contact information for reputable sub-​contractors for excavation, rebar, gunite, plaster, coping, and concrete. Not only was it a simple process, I literally saved thousands of dollars by using Jim’s service.
I HIGHLY recommend Jim Carden if you are considering contracting the construction of your own pool. You only have one chance to do it right! Save time and money by using Jim’s consultation service.
Kathie S
Temecula