Swimming Pool Contractor reviews in Los Alamitos, California

We hired Sunset Designers and Builders Inc to construct our pool and hardscape, and it was an absolute pleasure working with John and his team. During our initial meeting, John thoroughly explained his services and the equipment and materials he uses, and provided us with a detailed folder for our review, which was very informative and reassuring.

Throughout the project, John sent daily video updates, including any changes to the project worksheet, which kept us in the loop every step of the way. John and his team were responsive, professional, detail-oriented, and always available to address any questions. They completed the pool and hardscape earlier than estimated timeline, something that is rare and greatly appreciated. From start to finish, they gave us complete confidence that the job would be done right.

We LOVE our new backyard and can't wait to enjoy it!

We had an excellent experience with John & his team during our backyard remodel and pool fill-in project. He provided a detailed estimate, thoughtful design layout, clear budget from the start, and his attention to detail throughout the process was outstanding. He visited the job site daily, kept us informed with regular video updates, and maintained top-notch communication every step of the way. Our new outdoor living space, fireplace, and bocce ball court turned out beautifully, and we couldn’t be happier. Highly recommend!

Lack of communication and long wait times was my experience.

Great communication, on time construction schedule, and high quality work

All in all, they made it as painless as possible. John and his crew did excellent work and were very accessible. I would highly recommend them to anyone. They always kept us up to date.

Sunset Designers and Builders built my backyard oasis. They were upfront, professional and finished my pool on time and on budget. This entire project was seamless and the best experience! 100% recommend!

I wondered “Will I be able to put a pool in my backyard?” I knew there were pipes and gas lines and a sewer line somewhere in the yard. John came over for our first appointment and said, “of course we can put a pool there. We can move anything.”

Building a pool and spa was one of the best decisions I have made. Because I love to swim and the space was not long enough for a true lap pool, I looked into the Endless Pool system. The hydraulic system provides a strong water current that keeps me in place as I swim and provides a great workout.

The added benefit to this system is that my grandchildren love playing in the current. They have spent hours being tossed around as they play.

We built our house 10 years ago. The new pool, spa and hardscape in the back yard look like they were built at the same time as the house. The patio actually looks larger now than before the pool was put in.

John’s crews came when they said they would and were friendly and always answered my questions.

Once again, deciding to build a pool was one of the best decisions I have made.

My wife and I worked with the Sunset team for a new pool/spa build in concert with hard and soft scaping services. John and Nate are true professionals! From expert design to skilled builders. If you want a quality pool, high level service, and exceptional value…..look no further than Sunset. They are truly the Best!

When we bought our home in Los Alamitos back in 2018, we knew for sure that something needed to be done to the backyard so our toddler would have a place to play and eventually hang out as he grew into his teen years. When the pandemic hit, we began looking into what we wanted in the backyard of our forever home and started our outreach to various pool builders. John “JZ” Zahn was attentive, professional, and detail-oriented from the day he stepped into our yard. In 4 short months from the day we first met JZ, our pool and spa was ready for our now Kindergartener to splash around in the last weeks of warm weather. There are a few characteristics of JZ and his crew that really stand out:

• He is a detail oriented professional. His proposal was clearly laid out and all upgrades were separately priced so his clients could decide on how to customize their build.
• Sunset maintains an excellent professional relationship with city inspectors. Never was there a delay because we were waiting for inspection.
• The team does not cut corners. Everything is done to code and even the “rough” work looks clean.
• Sunset recommends high end materials and equipment but does offer choices at varying price points. We went significantly over-budget…but that was our own dang fault!
• JZ and his office manager Nate, but mostly JZ, made at least one trip to the house per work day….at times he made multiple encore appearances. He’s got a committed and skilled team, but oversight always makes for efficient progress. His focus on staying local allows for this added project governance. It’s kinda fantastic.
• They send a video update to recap the day’s work….a very quick visual of JZ describing the accomplishments of the day and activities for the next work day. I’m a project manager and this update gave me all the feels.

This review is getting entirely too long but you get the picture. If you are looking for a QUALITY build and need to have a detailed professional who will get the work done impeccably and ON TIME, JZ and his Sunset crew is the way to go.

The pool is amazing! It turned out unbelievable. Everything from the different types of tile and stone, and color of the bottom of pool to the lighting and plants, everything is phenomenal. Working with John Zahn of Sunset Designers and Builders was great. They are professional, and they are very good with their clients.

Finding a good contractor is no easy task, and finding a great contractor is like tracking a unicorn! With JZ and Nate, we hit the jackpot. They deliver great results, always show up to work, and are there when you need them. I have several friends and neighbors who also used Sunset Designers & Builders, and after having a similar experience, recommended them to us.

John and his team delivered on their promise to transform our backyard from a dated pool to a backyard paradise. Their communication was outstanding, offering regular updates that preempted any need for us to inquire about what would happen next. We'd happily recommend them!

Our experience with John and his team was absolutely fantastic. They were exactly what one would hope for in a contractor. We appreciated the daily emails, which summarized the work done that day and informed us of the work coming up. They were incredibly attentive to minor details that we didn't even know to think about, and there were no surprise costs. The crew was polite and tidy, and the quality of their work was excellent!

We are extremely pleased with our pool, landscaping, and entire project with Sunset. They did a great job and we will always be grateful for their efforts. They are pros at what they do and we appreciated all their diligence, attention to detail, expertise, hard work, and care. Our project represented a complete redo of our back yard. It included demolition of existing yard, new pool, walls, hardscape, landscape, outdoor shower, and lighting. We went with Sunset because they could handle all aspects of the project, were highly experienced, and highly recommended. We are so happy we chose them and so pleased with our new back yard.

When it was time for Nancy and I to renovate our 20-year-old backyard pool area we could not think of a better person to do it than John Zahn of Sunset Designers & Builders.

John has been around Rossmoor for over 30 years and he has renovated and installed new pools for what I would guess is well over 300 satisfied customers. Plus, he has been very active in various community events including the Garden Club show which is held in May.

In our situation, we wanted a complete renovation of our backyard pool area.

We contacted John and told him of our idea’s and listen to his ideas. John came up with a high-tech graphic of what he thought we should do.

We were totally impressed with the high-tech graphic he delivered to us showing our backyard as it would look when the project was completed.

We started the first Tuesday in January and finished the middle of April.

During that time there was only two working days that the crew was not on the job due to COVID. The crew always arrived on time and left at about the same time every day.

It was fun watching the project come together from our back sliding door and also what a great team of workers John has put together to work the project. They were all on time, courtesy, knew what they were doing and always willing to listen to my questions and answer them if needed.

Nancy and I are very happy with the show case backyard that John has put together for us.

If you are considering installing or renovating an existing pool, you will be very happy in choosing John Zahn of Sunset Designers & Builders.

Dan & Nancy Roddy

After wrestling our way through a couple of very difficult home remodels, we decided to choose Sunset based not only on photos of their product, but also on the reviews which clearly demonstrated that they were highly professional and excellent communicators. To say they exceeded our expectations on every level would be a tremendous understatement and would just not do them justice.
This is a company that would literally email us EVERY DAY to send updates and make sure we were prepared for next steps. There was nothing the crew did, that John or Nate hadn't run by us first. They were fantastic communicators... so far beyond anything we expected.

From the moment we initially called John until the end of the project , he was nothing but professional, enthusiastic, straightforward about pricing, incredibly knowledgeable and super nice. He is full of great ideas and experience but was always willing to listen to and humor my crazy design ideas and ultimately executed a vision that is so far beyond amazing that we have to keep pinching ourselves.

Despite several bouts of heavy rain, Sunset stayed almost nearly on track with timing and handled the weather like absolute pros (covering with plastic and even installing a pump to drain water out to the street). His crew and all contracted workers are the best of the best... all very professional, respectful, clean and really thoughtful in the way that they handled the job. Each time an inspector would come out, we got comments about how it was the best job they had ever seen.

I'll stop here, but just know that I could go on and on. I'm sure we could have found a company to do it cheaper, but trust me when I say that working with Sunset was worth every penny. Perfect from start to finish and now that it's done, we have absolute confidence that each step of the process was handled meticulously. WE LOVE OUR BACKYARD and we love John Zahn and his crew. Best home improvement decision we have ever made.

We met with John Zahn and Sunset Designers in 2017. John and his team worked with our schedule and came to our house to review the space, go over general plans, and explained the process, equipment, and the amount of time it would take to accomplish our goals. Within a week, we had a proposal and a contract. However, we were not quite ready to commit. In 2023, we were finally ready to go ahead with our plans. He again came out, reviewed the space and updated our proposal and contract. He was efficient and thorough. His costs were slightly above some of the other companies, but knew that his work ethic and time management was well worth it. We signed the contract and broke ground August 1, 2023. Every step of the way, he was on site holding our hands through the whole process. He dealt with a lot of different personalities with grace and ease and was able to fulfill our dream. My favorite part of the process was the daily video emails John and his team would send. They would update us on what they did that day and what they planned to do the next day or upcoming week. We were fully integrated in the project and process. There was someone at our house everyday working on something. I never had to wonder if someone was coming or what was happening. If there was an issue or a problem, John or his team was reachable at all times. Sunset finished a pool, jacuzzi, cement, full seated bar / BBQ, and landscaping in three months. I was astonished to see my children playing in our pool on Halloween. I am so happy we went with Sunset and his team.

Wow!!! I am absolutely over the moon for our pool and backyard! I got exactly what I wanted. The crew work so hard and are very polite and helpful. John does an excellent job of listening to his client’s wants. The price was amazing... we got far more than I ever hoped for and it was reasonable. The project was done on time, and with lots of extra attention to detail. I could not possibly be any happier with my backyard paradise! John really made our vision come to life, and everyone at Sunset is really wonderful to work with. Constant communication, lightning quick responses to questions, helpful suggestions, and true attention to detail and respect for the client’s home and budget are what you will get with Sunset. I can not recommend them highly enough!!!

We hired Sunset Designers in the Summer of 2020 for a complete backyard remodel with swimming pool and couldn't have been happier that we chose John Zahn and the Sunset team to bring our dreams to reality. We spent more than a year researching and interviewing pool and landscape contractors prior to making the decision to move forward with Sunset. John's level of professionalism, follow up, and creativity throughout that process were ultimately what we valued in the person who we would trust to oversee what we considered to be a substantial investment and the place where our family would spend so much time together. Starting from day one to project completion we were amazed by how communicative they were, providing updates on a daily basis, and we always knew what they would be working on the following day. John was always available and prepared to talk through any ideas or changes we may have come up with throughout the project. He gave us the creative freedom we wanted but ultimately guided us to make the best decisions based on his many years of experience and design talent. His hard-working team showed up on-time every day and they were always friendly and courteous. They also cleaned up the site at the end of each day, which is something we've learned to appreciate after working with many contractors in the past. Our project included an outdoor kitchen, firepit, 3 separate deck areas, landscaping, lighting (landscape and patio), irrigation, drainage, outdoor shower, pool and jacuzzi. And, in the end the project turned out even better than we had imagined. John and the Sunset team were an absolute pleasure to work with and I would hire them to do all of my home projects if I could. If you are considering hiring them for your backyard/pool, you will not be disappointed. You will also enjoy John's sense of humor! Thanks Sunset for everything!

John and the team at Sunset did a great job in helping us create and build our outdoor oasis. Right when we met John my wife and I really liked how open and honest he was. All the pricing was very well documented and he took a lot of time to provide all the samples we needed. When we decided to change something he made sure it was in writing and that we agreed to the price. His communication was great and we always knew what was going on with the project at all times. We even made a mistake in a choosing some pool tile for the the spa overflow that just didn't look right and he removed it and put different tile and didn't charge us for the mistake we had made. It was great working with John and the team at Sunset. Our pool has become the neigboorhood YMCA because every kids and parent want to come enjoy our backyard oasis.

Full transparency: We’ve been due to leave a review for JZ and his team at Sunset for a long time…and we’re finally doing it because the weather is cooling down and we’re not in our pool 24/7 now!

From start to finish, John was communicative, detail oriented, and honest. He gave his expert opinion on our design choices, guided us through our decision-making, provided us with daily updates, and treated us like we were at the top of his priority list. Both John and Nate were easy to get a hold of if we ever had a question and were a wealth of knowledge and resources when it came to any additions we wanted. Our whole yard was transformed and has been the go-to spot for parties and BBQ’s this past summer. We honestly couldn’t be happier!