AUSTIN, Texas — Editors note: this story has been updated to reflect additional statements from pool builder, Cody Pools.
It has become an all-too-common defect, potentially impacting thousands of pools across Central Texas.
The KVUE Defenders first told you about "concrete cancer" in April. Since then, we've shown how it has devastated homeowners, triggered hundreds of lawsuits and caused many pool builders and concrete companies to go out of business. And now, it's impacting the real estate market.
Experts say pools built between 2017 and 2023 are at risk of Alkali-silica reaction, or ASR, more commonly known now as "concrete cancer," which can render a pool useless and impossible to fix because of a faulty concrete mix.
Concrete cancer can take months or even years to appear, with cracks being the first sign. KVUE found people unknowingly buying homes with impacted pools, while local realtors say they've received no guidance from their trade groups or state regulators.
"There's a couple of cracks right here," said Arjun Okkath, of Round Rock. "You know, you can see a frog swimming," he laughed.
Okkath can laugh a little bit about his situation, but the fact that he's staring at a huge financial hole hasn't been much to crack up about.
"It's totally unusable right now," Okkath said. "It's just upsetting to see this. It's totally devastating. We got this house just because it had a pool."
Okkath said he uprooted his family from Boston in 2022 and bought his Round Rock home not knowing the pool has concrete cancer.
"It was not obvious," Okkath said.
About six months later, he started seeing the initial symptoms, like calcium build-up and small cracks.
"It looked cosmetic because that was just a white mark, so I was not too worried," Okkath said. "Also, there was an inspection, which was done for the pool when we got the house. So I was not too worried."
He said he trusted his inspector's report, which didn't even mention the pool. But the cracks continued to get bigger.
"Eventually, I started losing water," Okkath said.
He said his water bill doubled. He saw the KVUE Defenders' concrete cancer coverage and learned his pool can't be fixed and would need to be demolished and rebuilt.
"That would cost me around $150,000 or more," Okkath said.
He said the pool was completed in December of 2021, just six months before his family of three moved in. He said the previous owner and their realtor won't talk to him.
"I've been trying for a couple of months, trying to follow up with my realtors multiple times," Okkath said. "The only response I've gotten from them is saying the seller is not responding, which I feel is very weird."
The Defenders reached out to the builder, Cody Pools. CEO Mike Church said in a statement:
"Based on an extensive review of internal records relevant to the affected timeline, geographic area and shotcrete providers, it has compiled a definitive list of original customers potentially affected by this issue and notified them.
Cody Pools said it has set up a dedicated response team to support impacted customers and assess their circumstances. The company says it is ensuring coverage for testing costs and remediation and rebuild of the affected pool through insurance claims approval, which it said can be timely.
As for whether Arjun's pool is covered by warranty, the statement goes on to say:
"Additionally, our warranty contract, which has been in place for 30 years, is not transferrable upon sale of the property. This warranty contract and coverage is typically standard protocol across the pool building industry (by request of the insurance carrier) and even among some home builders."
"I was not notified about that when I got the house," Okkath said. "Not by the realtors and not by the previous owner, obviously or not by the inspection company. So I had no clue."
Okkath retained a lawyer but said once Hot Crete, one of the now former concrete suppliers for Cody Pools, filed for bankruptcy in April, the lawyer dropped his case.
The KVUE Defenders found hundreds of lawsuits filed against pool construction companies and concrete contractors across Central Texas, with many builders – including Cody Pools – pointing to a few concrete companies and quarries for the faulty concrete, or shotcrete mix.
Now with the defect impacting homebuyers and home sellers, some say realtors must beware for their clients.
"This has been happening now for a while," said Kimberly Mills, a broker and the owner of Lavache Property Group. "I've known about this now for a year. And so, we are overdue, as far as I'm concerned."
Mills has experienced the issue from both sides. In 2023, she learned her pool in Leander has concrete cancer. She has also helped a few clients sell their homes after having ASR-impacted pools.
Mills said she had to research the next steps to see what her clients could do with the impacted pool. After talking to experts, she advised her clients to remove their pools and landscape the space before selling. Mills said she chose to disclose all information to buyers.
It's an issue she said local trade groups or state regulators should have at least warned real estate agents about.
"I'm still finding so many agents that don't know that this is going on," Mills said. "Unless somebody tells them, how else would they know? I know because I'm sitting next to it.”
The Defenders reached out to the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) in April to see what guidance it is giving its members.
ABOR denied an interview request and originally said in an email, "Concrete cancer or alkali silicon reaction is not something that has been brought up by members and hasn't been a common area of concern." The board also said its purpose is not to monitor and educate members on construction defects.
That's a surprising response to members like Mills.
"You know, that's the most important piece right now is that the agents are aware because they're the ones that are helping their client call the inspector," she said. "They don't have to be the expert, but I think sending out a notification that ... we seem to be experiencing this issue in Central Texas."
In August, the ABoR followed up with another statement, saying in part, "A central Texas realtor® can connect buyers with a licensed inspector who's experienced in pool inspections and knows to look for construction defects such as ASR. This ensures that the buyer is fully informed about the property's condition."
It's something Okkath wishes his sellers, their agent and inspectors could have ensured for his family.
"It felt like this was definitely not fair," Okkath said.
The KVUE Defenders also reached out to the Texas Real Estate Commission, which licenses realtors. The agency confirmed sellers of residential property are legally required to disclose all known defects to potential buyers and that goes for their real estate agents, too.
The Texas Real Estate Commission also wrote in part, "However, license holders are not required to do additional research to find out information. If they don’t have actual knowledge, then they don’t need to disclose. Unless the license holder is the seller, license holders do not fill out the seller’s disclosure notice and do not need to assist a seller in doing so. Many don’t because that would increase their liability."
The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance also sent a statement saying it's aware of the issue in Central Texas:
"PHTA is working with its members to share critical information as it becomes available about any affected geographic locations and is advising pool builders on how to prevent this type of issue in the future and proactively demand quality control efforts be implemented by concrete suppliers in their delivery of concrete materials. It’s important to note that pool builders and other construction professionals do not source concrete aggregates, cements, and admixtures. Rather, they purchase products already batched and delivered to the site."
What exactly is concrete cancer?
Alkali-silica reaction, or ASR, more commonly known as "concrete cancer" happens when concrete is not mixed properly and lacks fly ash. Water makes the concrete expand and crack and, in most cases, the only way to fix it is to demolish and completely rebuild at double or even triple the original cost of construction.
Fly ash is a byproduct of burning coal, something society is moving away from, creating a shortage exacerbated by the pandemic. Experts said pools built between 2017 and 2023 are at risk of the defect.
Concrete cancer's impacts on home value
Mills said that almost all the homes she helped sell post-concrete cancer lost value because the pool was removed and landscaped. On top of that, the families had to pay to remove the pools.
"So, not only did you they just spend, you know, almost $40,000 to have the pool removed and landscape done, but now we have a loss in the value of the home that we're selling," Mills said. "I would say that they lost at least $75,000 in the value of the homes."
Okatth said he bought his home for a million dollars when the market was hot. Since then, the market has changed and prices are down. On top of that, he was quoted $150,000 to remove his pool.
"I don't think I'll be able to sell this house for more than $750,000," he said. "So it doesn't make any sense."
What are pool companies doing?
Cody Pools says, along with steps to address concrete cancer described above, it also canceled contractual business agreements with the implicated shotcrete providers.
CEO Mike Church added, "As far as the industry can tell the issue was limited to three separate shotcrete providers (and potentially three to four different quarries). Cody no longer uses shotcrete or the implicated shotcrete companies for the fulfillment of residential customer orders."