A Kennewick backyard pool project heads to court as cost tops $800K
A Kennewick couple is suing their contractor after the cost of a backyard makeover, including a new pool and pool house, swelled above the assessed value of their home.
Surgeon Blair Sampson and his wife, Raquel, sued the owners of Premier Landscaping and Design Inc. for breach of contract, fraud and Consumer Protection Act violations in Benton County Superior Court in March.
The lawsuit, filed in March, claims the initial $400,000 cost more than doubled, exceeding the $750,000 assessed value of their East Heather Drive Home.
The case is pending.
The Sampsons’ Kennewick attorney was not available for comment.
Premier, and its owners, Brent and Holli Martell, denied the allegations in a statement released Friday by their Seattle attorney:
“Premier Landscaping and Design, Inc. and the Martells, dispute the claims of the Sampsons, will be filing counterclaims against the Sampsons, and are confident of prevailing on the facts that will be proven at trial.
“For 20 years Premier has provided outstanding projects for hundreds of satisfied customers, including Parade of Homes projects, and Premier will continue to do so in the future.
“Over our 20 year history we have had a very limited number of instances where a product did not perform as advertised by the manufacturer, or a worker has made a mistake. In every case, we have attempted to correct any problems and do right by our customers,” it said.
Premier is bonded through American Contractors Indemnity Co., a co-defendant in the case.
According to the lawsuit, the Sampsons contacted Brent Martell in 2016 to discuss a backyard remodel. The couple wanted landscaping, a pool, pool house, slide and a hot tub.
In January, after Martell drew up plans, they agreed to pay $400,000.
Work began the following month and the couple made a series of payments to the contractor — $20,000 in March, $100,000 in April and $100,000 in May.
In the interim, they upgraded their vision. Martell said upgrades would push the price to $638,000. They eventually agreed on a new price of $520,000.
By October, the Sampsons had paid the $520,000 in full. At that point, the relationship appeared to sour.
The same month, the Sampsons notified Martell the coatings Premier used on the pool, slide and hot tub had failed.
They said they detected other problems with the quality of the landscaping, plumbing and construction, particularly with the pool house.
The suit says Martell promised to make good on the work. But Premier stopped working in November, leaving numerous complaints unaddressed, according to the complaint.
The Sampsons say they spent an additional $300,000 over the next 12 months to repair damage, complete work that was never performed and bring the original work on the pool house and other structures up to code.
This story was originally published August 5, 2019 at 6:18 PM with the headline "A Kennewick backyard pool project heads to court as cost tops $800K."