Its happening in the Atlanta market...They just open under a new name. I lost one early this year to a company that was one name in the fall and a new name in the spring. He left a few pools unfinished.

Heres a little tip-
When you meet with contractors, be wearing a handgun on your hip as you take your jacket off. The unprofessional one's you will never hear from again.

Than as work progresses, stop by and once again be wearing your piece, the work will get done with no nonsense.

Simply cleaning the 357 or the Glock at the table works too. The police in our area get upset otherwise.

Scott

PS Sounds like what I do when my daughter comes home with a new boyfriend.

I have a license to carry, so it works well when I step out of the car or greet them at the door.
They wonder what you do but I dont answer.

ItÂs a shame that nobody cracks down to stop making it that easy for the crooked contractors.

You other guys... It must be real exciting to be in the pool business in NJ! poolguynj, I almost feel like the next sentence of your post would go like this:

...If they get out of line before the shell of the pool goes in we just burry them under it!!! Nobody will ever find them.

I was hoping for a little more realistic and helpful advice. But I really did enjoy those other post!

In Florida you can go to http://www.sunbiz.org and search corporations by owner name or company name so you can see if the owner has a history of sinking businesses. The State of Florida has a website to check the details of the license as well at http://www.myfloridalicense.com

The funniest part of that is I have know Jim Gandolfini since 6th grade. We graduated High School together.

Scott

bella-orlando,

I'm in the Orlando area and currently in the process of interviewing several pool builders, and have already received some bids to build a pool for my home.

It worries me to hear that there are some companies that are making bids and going through bankruptcy! How can I find out who these companies are? We are pretty close to choosing a company, but are a little leery about making a choice now.

All the companies I've spoken to say they are financially stable, but who can you believe?

Is there some site besides the two you mention that would list bankruptcy filings? It's so hard to know who to trust!

quote" Any other PBÂs experiencing this in your market? "quote
To date, in '09, I've finished 11 pools behind bankrupt builders, and 3 more behind owner/builders who were behind the eight ball due to a couple of tail end subs subs paid a heavy half prior to doing any work.
Normally I'll finish 4 or 5 pools a year behind the heartbroken pool buyers. Half of the time, just as with these, I bid the jobs and wasn't good enough to be awarded it, but was the first call to come out and finish it up.
In spite of my feelings about how it went down initially I always feel for the buyers because our Texas judicial system protects the perp's and not the victims.

See ya,
Kelly

There are a lot of insolvent companies that are never forced into bankruptcy by their creditors. Your best protection is checking references from customers and suppliers.

Suppliers are a very good source of info... they can tell you who is paying their bills. However, these pool companies have high overhead and high credit lines that they went under without much warning. ItÂs like they just keep on going until they canÂt get any more credit.

I am thankful that my wife is an accountant and she keeps everything in line. HGTV showcased our company from start to finish on a major renovation to a pool here in Orlando that had a large structural crack. We also added a gunite spa, paver deck, landscaping, etc. It aired on February on the show Ground Breakers. It has kept us busy fixing the sloppy stuff some builders is doing just to make a cheap pool. We are seeing less quality now that everyone is just trying to build a cheap pool. They donÂt worry about quality.

I donÂt think I would bother too much with talking to previous client because of course they are going to send you to the happy customers. A good idea is to ask to see some pools under construction so you can see the quality and talk to some of the subcontractors or employees. I am sure you will get an earful if the contractor is behind on payroll!

Good luck, sorry I canÂt give more info since I am a pool builder. I can get you some names of local suppliers and subcontractors so you can do your own research. Also, be careful about the payment schedule!

Jason