Florida Bonded Pools

Had them for roughly a year for in-ground pool maintenance; had to have the pool guy swapped out a couple times when the one sent did a poor job and the pool went green. After Hurricane Matthew, they left us for roughly 1 - 1/2 weeks, by which point the pool had gone thoroughly green, even after our dredging the bottom after the storm. After another week, they wanted an extra $400 for a 'de-greening' , which we refused given the delays, at which point they dropped us. Then debited our bank account $150 the next day for monthly service. Whatever reputation they may have built in the past doesn't seem warranted now. Update 12/7/16: Just debited *again* for $150....

It took longer than expected and required 2 pool draining to complete the job correctly. The 1st to remove the faulty pool wall covering (marcite). The 2nd to repair the 'bad' place errors with the new marcite application.

The company is poorly run, do not pay their sub-contractors Have foreman that do not show up or have no idea what they are doing

Mike (sales/new pools) texted me 6/9/2016 (evening) and changed the time (to 10 a.m.) of our appt on 6/10/2016. I agreed to the time change, but realized I had to move it up an hour (to 11 am. ) due to another appt here at our home, at the same time. I texted Mike and he agreed to be here at 11 :00 a.m. He called and left a "voicemail" at 11:01 to tell us he's here at our home, and that he rang the doorbell three times..claims no one answered and he left. WE (me, and 3 other people) WERE ALL HOME! In fact, the garage door was OPEN, with two cars in the driveway, and we have video camera motion recording alarms, none of which went off. Additionally, my husband came home early from work, to meet with him as well. So, actually Mike was never at our front door or home. He apparently was ringing the doorbell at the WRONG HOUSE and left a voicemail on my cell, at 11:01. So, I saw the voicemail and called him back at 11:15 to see where he was, he said he had gone back to his offc. (the office is about 4 miles/10-15 mins depends on traffic) and he told me the above story, that he must have gone to the wrong house via google GPS (?), and he then asked if I'd want to make another appt for next week. I declined, and said I would speak to my husband who had come home, to also meet with him. I then called the company and left a message for the NEW pool company OWNER to call me to discuss the issue. I will add to this review if and when we get a call back. I made no subsequent appointments. As of today, we have not heard from the NEW owner, though Mike (not the new owner) did text me at noon, shortly after I called the offc , even though I called to speak to a mgr/owner and left a message with the woman who answers the phones. She said she would give him the message. Anyway, in a text at noon, Mike said he was sorry for the GPS mistake and that clients are priority, and he takes care of his family doing this job. I then texted back and asked why he didn't wait 5-10 mins in the neighborhood, and call us back. He knew I had an appt at 10, even though my appt was at home, why didn;t he wait and call back in 5-20 mins...afterall we did have an 11 appt. He could give us 5-10 mins for that appt? I have not heard back from him either. .

At this point our pool, 3 years old, suffers from many of the original problems. The constructor's response has been incomplete and inadequate. In my opinion they produced a faulty product and are doing little to remedy the situation. It is unclear whether they don't know what the problems are or if they are just choosing not to invest necessary time and money to fix things properly. I would NEVER use them again.

My initial contact with Chuck Powell was awesome. He is a terrific salesman. I had contacted many pool companies. I finally selected Florida Bonded after MANY design changes, Chuck did not flinch once he went with the flow and was fantastic. The pool install happened very quickly. I was not pleased I was called on a Friday for a Monday start date. That kind of caught me off guard and with getting the yard ready with moving sprinklers and fences that is not a whole lot of time. The time of the first day to the end of the pool has gone very quickly, I think weather delays have been on the only thing that has slowed the process down. I have completed the process and made my final process with the FBP and they are still showing me that this company is nothing short of professional. They are definitely a "PICK US" company! I am extremely pleased with the salesman Chuck, the start up team Jason, and the crew that did the tile and plumbing and all the labor. This is my first pool so for me to see this process was extremely important to me. The screen enclosure went up quick. The team from Preferred Aluminum is like a well oiled machine. The project manager Tom, was responsive when I did call him and took care of things when I did call but usually the only time I saw him is when he needed a check or when there was a problem. I rarely talked with him at all. Damien was awesome about sending weekly updates and I tried my best to get to the project on those days or let him know I wanted to be on site for certain things. I have a HOA and Florida Bonded took care of everything from that end too. I appreciated that. I hate dealing with that process ad it was so easy. am very pleased with my pool. I do not have one regret about my pool, except maybe doing it in the winter so that the water is cold and I can not jump in it right away. If you are considering this company...stop thinking and select them they should be your company! they are the RIGHT choice!!!

The initial meeting with the sales person Chuck Powell was great. He has been with the company for a very long career and is a truly wonderful company representative. He worked with us on our design and was very helpful in getting the whole design plan completed and giving us accurate cost estimates. This company kept to its initial cost estimate. Grade A The digging of the pool took 3 weeks to get started. Then there was a contractor from Dirt Works that dug the hole. The digging resulted in a massive cave-in area that kept getting closer to the house foundation. This contractor also left ALL the dirt behind. As they left, they ran over our water line causing a leak. They were here on a Friday night and would not answer the pool company's phone calls. After much back and forth with the pool company with this leak causing us to turn off our entire water supply with a house full of guests, they allowed us to call Rotor Rooter for after hours emergency repair. By 8 pm, the house's water was restored. This Dirt Works company also cracked one of our living room windows due to the heavy weight of their equipment. By the end of the pool project, the pool company did replace the window (after asking us repeatedly how it occurred, implying we broke it and passed the cost to them). Grade C The entire project started in March and was not completed until end of July. Each contractor was not supervised by our assigned Field Superintendent. We had to call to let him know our concerns about the quality and performance of each contractor. I suppose if we would have been told this constant oversight of each contractor was our responsibility, we would have had this expectation. However, we were directed that this was the Field Superintendent's role. It was always reactionary to our concerns versus proactive oversight in leadership on our pool construction. Grade C Almost all the contractors left a mess behind for someone else (us) to clean up. The best ones that left the job site clean was the Baby Gate Installer and the returning employee that was much needed to the group, Tom. Otherwise, I can only recall complete frustration over leaving gates standing open, acid (poison) left out when it's obvious we have toddlers, large chunks of cement in all surrounding grass areas. And let me mention the trash floating in our pool for 4 weeks. (Workers empty water bottles and cartons from fast food places). Our back yard was trashed literally by each group of contractors without any respect for the fact that this is our home where we live in between all these workers. Even as I write this 2 months past, it still irritates me that the pool company considers this behavior status-quo. Again, leadership and oversight totally non-existent. Grade D The biggest issue we had from the beginning dig until after the pool was completed was the huge pile of dirt the original Dirt Works contractor left for someone else to deal with. The pool company could not get them to return to complete the job, so their solution was to spread it our all around our grass. They kept telling us it would be removed, but in the end, it wasn't. They tried to pass the cost on to us. We did not relent. The final negotiation was the pool company paying for 1 palate of sod and reimbursing the cost of labor for grading. In the end, the amount of time both my husband and I spent grading the excess dirt amounted to easily 15 hours of our hard labor. Plus, the entire way it was handled created discourse and upset for us for weeks. It was poorly done and in the end, left a bad impression about this management team, Sans Tom. Grade D Now that all the sod is laid and we no longer have trash all over our backyard, we are really enjoying our pool and outdoor space. The finished product would be an "A" grade had we not had to live through the things detailed above. I tried to write this after some time had passed so I wouldn't be overly harsh in my review. There were many other problems I did not mention in this review and that is a gift of time passed. This company has some good people that I truly liked, however, we were buying a product and as a whole, they did not earn an A grade. We hope to not build another pool in our future so this is why I said I would not use them again. I am hard pressed to recommend them to our next door neighbors when they build their pool. I suppose as long as they know the trials we faced and how we would deal with the contractors & pool leadership differently with the knowledge we now have, then I could recommend this company.

It went well until it came time to get on the schedule. After the estimate of renovation, we received no response from the company.

Overall I'm happy with the outcome. Initial sales contact was prompt, courteous, and professional. I got estimates from 3 different companies and all three bids were nearly the same. Florida Bonded wasn't the cheapest, but they have been in business since 1957 and they were responsive and easy to contact if I had any questions prior to and during the process. The actual prep-work and installation went smoothly and quickly once it got started. It did take about 3 weeks to start work, but I knew the lead time in advance. Within about 4 days, my pool was ready for water. The project manager told me that someone would be stopping by my house 2 to 3 times per week for the next 2 weeks to balance the chemical levels in the pool and to make sure it was properly maintained during this period (i.e., vacuum, brush, etc). This was the only part of the process that disappointed me. The person who was supposed to come by for these follow up visits didn't show up on the day he was supposed to. I called the project manager and he told me that there were mechanical issues with the service truck, but he would personally stop by and add the chemicals, etc. And he did. The same thing happened each time during the next two weeks. It was always the project manager coming by for these follow up visits. I wouldn't have cared, except I got the impression that he wasn't very knowledgeable in the process. Additionally, he always came to my house in his personal car with no equipment (i.e. vacuum, etc). He did brush the walls and add some chemicals, but it really wasn't as thorough as I had expected. On the final visit, I finally did see the actual service tech, but that was it. About a week later, I hired a pool service for weekly maintenance and he said the chemicals, PH, etc, were all way off balance. This leads me to believe that the follow-up service that I got from Florida Bonded wasn't what it probably should have been. Regardless, my pool does look great and now that I have weekly maintenance, I'm very happy with the outcome and am looking forward to warmer weather so I can actually swim in the darn thing.

|Lot cleared and pool built and swimmable within 8-10wks, as promised.|Workers always prompt and professional.|Wished we'd been told of all features available. Didn't know about in-ground spray-streams until our friends got them with their FB pool.|Weeds coming up through deck, Was told by FB rep that contractor didn't use correct sand to set pavers. |Overall, quite pleased with our pool. Have recommended Fla Bonded to many.

They were unusually slow to respond. Visited the house to a**** but did not perform the work. Had to call back even though our presence was not required. The woman that answers the phone is abrupt and lacking. The work was performed professionally and they cleaned up after themselves. Left an invoice which I paid via phone with a credit card. I have used Florida Bonded many times in the past and have always been satisfied. I belive the delays were due to mis-management by the receptionist.

Over all the project went well the quality of work performed met my expectations. The process almost took two months as expected. Some delays were to weather, contractor scheduling by Florida Bonded Pools and backlog on their part. Even though I selected them from Angie's list because of their ratings.....I should have done more research on the company. I was happy with the sales man but once he got the deal sealed he was never in the equation throughout the process. My dealings were with Florida Bonded Pools Contractor Lead (Derek) best lead I?ve hd the pleasure to work with. Virtually all the work was done by numerous contractors from different companies very little was performed by Florida Bonded Pools which led to scheduling issues, miss communications, and care for the OWNER's PROPERTY. From the first day they make you sign numerous waivers and papers protecting them. It made you feel like you had better crossed your Ts and dotted your Is. if you didn't have it on paper you were responsible, I think they didn't knew how to handle the customer in a holistic approach....that must be because they coordinated numerous contractors to do the work. There were two issues before I had the company do the work. One, was I didn't want a retainer wall....they took extra care in measuring and positioning the final layout. Bottom line I had to purchase an additional 600.00 of dirt to slope out of the sides that was all ok and planned for. Two, they said they would not be responsible for sprinkler damage and that I need to cap off the system, of course made you sign a waiver also. I made sure they understood that I would cap off but wanted to make sure they did not destroy more than what they had to. I told them that I wanted to be told when they broke a pipe so that I could fix it and that I would mark all sprinkler heads and controllers with a flag. They agreed. Bottom line was that they had completely destroyed and shut off half my yard. I only found out when the plumber (I think) ripped out sections of pipe over 4 to 5 feet in length, and one of the truck drivers destroyed a number of heads that were flagged and beyond the area they were supposed to be in. Since my system was working even after the concrete shell was in and formed, I only found out when I realized that my system was not working. I found that they had buried all the damage and never took the time to let me know. Derek the contractor lead did his best on his own to fix...no luck that is not his expertise and the repair was definitely beyond his capabilities. Windows on the house where left totally covered with dust from cutting the pavers. At the end of the day I am very happy with the outcome of the pool. In some terms it met and exceeded my expectations. I invited Jeffery Clarkson the president and Ash Cribbs the Vice President to the house for a final debrief.....customer feedback. They were courteous and seem to understand my concerns. They admitted some responsibility for the sprinkler damage and made the comment that they should in the future have an irrigation person on the site when they do pool work. They left as courteous as they came in......I think they felt obligated to take my invite. Not once did they make an effort to discuss how they could work out the problem or come up with some alternative options. I figured as sincere as they felt they would have figured it out. When I brought it up to them as they were backing up from my drive they gave be the deer in bright light look! It cost me about 650.00 to repair my irrigation system. Had they made a slight offer to work with me I would have been just about totally satisfied. Its not about the Money it?s all about customer focus.

The estimator was very knowledgeable and helpful, and their price was the lowest of 4 estimates, but 3 of the estimates were within 10% of each other. They also provided a longer labor warranty than the other 3 companies. The project took a couple of weeks to get scheduled due to weather, which played havic throughout, and their scheduling with other projects and Thanksgiving. The work was to take approximately 7 days but took over a month to final touchup of the deck. The work by FBP is basically done by subcontractors, but everyone was professional and knowledgeable. The deck refinisher even saved me $500 by not recommending the deck drain be replaced, but coated with the deck. For several weeks after completion FBP came and sweep the pool and added chemicals as necessary. i had to nag the superintendent a bit, but he finally called routinely with up dates. One day the crew showed up at 6:45 AM, without notification, to start work due to all the rain the weeks before. However, they were very polite and relatively quiet, and didn't park in the driveway so we could go to work. I would definitely recommend this company and will update this review after one year to see how the work holds up.

Florida Bonded was great from start to finish. Attention to detail, quickly answered questions, addressed issues and concerns quickly. I would hire them again in a second

We decided to go with florida bonded because they had installed the pool originally back in the 1960's. We visited the showroom and picked out tile and coating for the pool deck. We had a start date for June of this year. It took about a month to complete the project. Overall the material installed on the floor of the pool is very nice and feels wonderful on your feet, the pool looks very nice compared to how it was looking after all these years. Our main problem with this company was not knowing when they were going to show up. We would ask the workers are you coming back tomorrow and their response was " we just show up and THEY tell us where to go". We should have gotten more of a schedule from them and that would be my advice to anyone signing on for a new pool or a make over. Granted there were some rainy days when they couldn't work but that was not always the case. We also found them hard to access when we had questions or wanted to know why the workers weren't here. The pool deck was done by another company and overall they did a nice job, they even worked on weekends. We also never knew who the "foreman" for the job was, people would show up that we didn't know who they were. There just seemed to be a lot of delays and finally "Robert" seemed to come in and help get the job done. He was a big asset to us and very knowledgeable. If you use this company you might want to ask for him. We also were not very happy with the top coating that separates the spa from the main pool, it does not look professionally finished in our opinion. We were told that it wouldn't matter once the pool was filled with water but it is noticeable to the eye if you are looking. We also found a small area of adhesive that should have been scraped off of our nice new tile that wasn't. This we found while we were swimming and tried to scrape it off but it is hard, like concrete. Guess we will be doing the scraping ourselves and hope it doesn't ruin the tile.

called 3 times to come over and they never called me back. I guess they don't need the work.

Requested a service call because my pool pump broke and sprayed about 1/4 of the pool water out. I am quadriplegic, and my husband had just been in a car wreck and is also in a wheelchair now, for a few months. My adult son jury-rigged a fix to the leak (a hose had come off and he zip-tied it on), turned off the pump (which was making weird noises), and refilled the pool. My husband used to do the pool maintenance, so I called Florida Bonded Pools based on their great Angie's List rating. The office staff were kind and scheduled an appt, but the problem seemed fixed for a day, so I cancelled. Of course, the next day, the noise returned, so I called again. Justin came out to the house, spent 12 minutes (my husband noted the time) showing my son "what to do," did nothing diagnostic, and left, charging us $75. That's $6.25/min, or $375/hr. Not a great value, unless you're having a cardiac bypass. To top that off, the entire pump broke down a week later (it was old and dying, something Justin might have noticed had he spent more time or actually looked at it). I called Paradise Pools this time, they responded right away. They charge $90 for a housecall, but it goes towards any work that needs to be done. Had a new pump in by the next morning; they charged $475 for everything. Plus the worthless $75 paid to Florida Bonded Pools. I just can't understand how they got such a great rating. Maybe this clown Justin is a new hire. If so, he should be a new fire.

They are good. He comes in and he is friendly. He tries to explain things to me. I had a new saline system that he was familiar with and so I gave him the book. He studied it and learned on how to work on it and so he was able to maintain that. I was impressed with that. He did a great job.

The whole experience was excellent and we would be happy to recommend their service to anyone.

Florida Bonded was on time, the work done was clean and there were no surprises as to price or subsequent performance of the machines.

They were professional and punctual. Everything was good about them, and I would consider using them again in the future.

They were prompt and timely and completed the service with the correct parts. The price was in order and they were very professional. I will use them again.

They did a great job and came when they said they would. I would use them if I ever need repairs.

They were excellent. The initial person that we met was extremely helpful; he was knowledgeable and responsive. I could call him any time to ask a question and he held my hand through the whole process of choosing things. They came highly recommended and they definitely lived up to their excellent reputation. Update 7/2014: At the beginning of the year we called Florida Bonded to take a look at some possibly minor repairs. It took me calling multiple times to finally get someone to come out. They did not show up when I was told and I never received a call back with an estimate for the repair (as I was told I would be). Also, when they installed our pool, they had a fence contractor they worked with install the fence. When it came time to repair some fence issues (because the fencing product was far inferior than what we were told), nobody at Florida Bonded seemed to know who it was or how to get in touch with them. The company seems to have really gone down hill and once the intial work is done, they want nothing to do with you. I would not recommend them.

The pool was neglected and they have done a good job making it usable. Courteous and professional personnel