“It just makes me sad to see this,” Arjun Okkas said. “It’s really tragic.”
AUSTIN, Texas — Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect an additional statement from pool builder Cody Pools.
This has become a very common defect and could affect thousands of pools across Central Texas.
The KVUE Defenders first told you about “concrete guns” back in April. Since then, we’ve told you how concrete guns have devastated homeowners, sparked hundreds of lawsuits, and put many pool builders and concrete companies out of business. And now, concrete guns are impacting the real estate market.
Experts say pools built between 2017 and 2023 are at risk of alkali-silica reaction (ASR), now better known as “concrete cancer,” a flawed concrete mix that can render a pool unusable and irreparable.
Concrete cancer can take months or even years to develop, with cracks being the first sign. KVUE has found that people are unknowingly purchasing homes with pools that have contaminated concrete, but local real estate agents say they’re not receiving any guidance from industry groups or state regulators.
“There are some cracks here,” said Arjun Okkas of Round Rock. “You can see frogs swimming through them,” he laughed.
While Okkas can laugh a little about his situation, the fact that he’s staring at a massive financial hole is nothing to laugh at.
“It’s completely unusable right now,” Okkas said. “It just makes me sad to see the state it’s in. It’s really tragic. The only reason we got this house was because it had a pool.”
Okkas said he relocated his family from Boston in 2022 and purchased a home in Round Rock without knowing the pool had concrete cancer.
“That wasn’t clear,” Okkas said.
After about six months, the early symptoms began to appear, including calcium buildup and small cracks.
“It was just a white mark, so it looked fine and I wasn’t too concerned,” Okkas said. “Also, the pool had been inspected when we bought the house, so I wasn’t too worried.”
He said he trusted the inspector’s report, which didn’t mention the pool, but the cracks continued to get bigger.
“Eventually, I started losing fluids,” Okkas said.
His water bills have doubled, he said, and he looked at KVUE Defenders’ concrete cancer insurance and learned his pool couldn’t be repaired and would have to be demolished and rebuilt.
“That would cost over $150,000,” Okkas said.
He said the pool was completed in December 2021, just six months before his family of three moved in. He said the previous owner and real estate agent won’t talk to him.
“I’ve been trying to contact the real estate agent multiple times for months,” Okkas said, “and the only response I’ve gotten from them is that the seller hasn’t responded, which I find very strange.”
Defenders reached out to builder Cody Pools, CEO Mike Church said in a statement.
“Based on a thorough review of the affected timeline, geographic areas and internal records related to our shotcrete providers, we have developed and notified a confirmed list of former customers potentially affected by this issue.
Cody Pools said it has set up a dedicated response team to support affected customers and assess the situation. The company said it has secured coverage for the cost of inspections and the repair and rebuild of affected pools through insurance claims approval, which it said could be done in a timely manner.
On whether Arjun’s pool is covered under warranty, the statement said: “The warranty does not cover any aspect of the pool.
“Furthermore, our warranty agreement, which has been in effect for 30 years, is not transferable upon the sale of the property. This warranty agreement and coverage is generally standard protocol throughout the pool construction industry (at the request of insurance companies) and even among some home builders.”
“We weren’t told anything about this when we bought the house,” Okkas said, “not by the real estate agent, not by the previous owner, and certainly not by the inspection company, so we had no idea.”
Okkas had hired an attorney, but the attorney dropped the case after one of Cody Pools’ former concrete suppliers, Hot Crete, filed for bankruptcy in April, Okkas said.
KVUE Defenders has found that hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against pool builders and concrete contractors across Central Texas, with many builders, including Cody Pools, blaming several concrete companies and quarries for defective concrete, or shotcrete mixes.
Now, with the flaw affecting home buyers and home sellers, some say real estate agents should be careful for their clients.
“This has been going on for a while,” said Kimberly Mills, owner and broker at Lavash Property Group, Inc. “I’ve known about this for a year, so in my opinion, it’s overdue.”
Mills has seen this issue on both sides: In 2023, she learned that the pool at her Leander home was infected with concrete cancer, and she has helped several clients sell their homes whose pools were affected by ASR.
Mills said her client needed to research next steps on what to do about the damaged pool. After consulting with an expert, she advised her client to remove the pool and landscape the area before selling. Mills said she chose to disclose all information to the buyer.
It’s an issue that local industry groups and state regulators should at least warn real estate agents about, she said.
“There are still a lot of agents out there who don’t know this is going on,” Mills said. “How would they know unless someone told them? I know because I’m sitting next to them.”
The Defenders reached out to the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) in April to see what guidance they were giving their members.
ABOR declined requests for an interview and said in an initial email that “concrete cancer and alkali-silicon reactions have not been raised by our members or are not a common concern. The committee also said its purpose is not to monitor and educate its members about construction defects.”
It’s a surprising response for a lawmaker like Mills.
“You know, the most important thing right now is that agents are aware, because they’re the ones helping their clients call inspectors,” she said. “Agents don’t have to be experts, but I think it’s important to send out notice that this appears to be an issue in Central Texas.”
In August, ABoR released another statement that read in part, “Central Texas real estate agents can connect buyers with licensed inspectors who have experience inspecting pools and know how to look for construction defects such as ASR. This allows buyers to be fully informed about the condition of the property.”
Okkas wishes the seller, his agent and inspectors had ensured that for his family.
“I felt this was clearly unfair,” Okkas said.
KVUE Defenders also reached out to the Texas Real Estate Commission, which issues licenses for real estate agents, who confirmed that sellers of residential property are required by law to disclose all known defects to potential buyers, and that this applies to real estate agents as well.
The Texas Real Estate Commission also wrote in part: “However, licensees are not required to do additional research to find information. They are not required to disclose if they do not have actual knowledge. Unless the licensee is the seller, the licensee is not required to complete a seller’s disclosure notice or assist the seller in doing so. Many don’t do so because it would increase their liability.”
The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance also issued a statement saying they are aware of the Central Texas issue.
“PHTA will work with our members as soon as critical information about affected geographic locations becomes available to advise pool builders on how to prevent these types of issues in the future and to actively require concrete suppliers to implement quality control efforts upon delivery of concrete materials. Please note that pool builders and other construction professionals do not source concrete aggregates, cement and admixtures; rather, they purchase products that are already batched and delivered to the site.”
What exactly is concrete cancer?
Alkali Silica Reaction (ASR), commonly known as “concrete cancer,” occurs when concrete is not mixed properly and there is a lack of fly ash. Water causes the concrete to expand and crack. In most cases, the only way to repair this is to demolish it and completely rebuild, costing double and sometimes triple the original construction cost.
Fly ash is a by-product of burning coal, and the pandemic has exacerbated the shortage as society tries to avoid using it, with experts saying pools built between 2017 and 2023 are at risk of defects.
The impact of concrete cancer on home values
Mills said most of the homes he helped sell after Concrete Cancer lost value because the pools were removed and landscaping was done, plus the families had to pay for the pool removal.
“So not only did we end up spending nearly $40,000 to remove the pool and do the landscaping, it also took away the value of the home we were trying to sell,” Mills said. “I’d say it’s dropped the value of the home by at least $75,000.”
O’Catt said he bought the house for $1 million when the market was hot, but the market has since changed and prices have dropped, and he was quoted $150,000 to remove the pool.
“I don’t think we’re going to be able to sell this house for more than $750,000,” he said, “so it just doesn’t make sense.”
What does a pool company do?
In addition to taking the steps outlined above to address the concrete cancer, Cody Pools says it has also terminated contractual agreements with the shotcrete contractor suspected of involvement.
CEO Mike Church added, “To the best of industry knowledge, this issue was limited to three separate shotcrete contractors (and three or four quarries). Cody is no longer using shotcrete or the shotcrete companies in question to fulfill residential customer orders.”
