Nationwide Pools and Spa

Nationwide Pools is located just off of Powerline Road in Pompano, Beach, FL.
After deciding to renovate the pool decking, patio, and coping around the pool, I contacted several pool contractors in the Ft. Lauderdale area. I decided to go with Nationwide Pools because of the price, and initial presentation, which seemed to be professional and knowledgable.
Pros:
Nationwide provided a reasonable price for their services, and «completed» (see cons below) the job in less than 6 weeks, start to finish. That’s unheard of in South Florida.
The product was as promised and the installers, for the most part, did a professional job. The crew that installed the new coping was, in a word, talented. Their cuts where accurate and professional, and the coping was installed in about 2.5 days.
Cons:
The «foreman» who came to inspect my back yard before construction began seemed to spend too much time advising what he «couldn’t do» and lessabout what he WAS going to do. He was concerned about the thickness of the product I had selected and indicate that the job could not be done without buying a thinner product.
Concerned, (and ready to cancel) I contacted Nationwide. The original salesman/​rep visited and seemed confused about the foremans concerns, stating that «there should be no problem.»
During construction, I had two primary concerns:
1) Excessive debris and sand in the pool:
The contractors dumped an unusually high amount of sand into our pool. I noticed, but didn’t say anything, assuming that they would clean up once construction was completed. Once construction was finished, the sand remained. I contacted Nationwide and was told that «normally the owner is responsible for sand removal».
I was surprised by this (I find it hard to believe that Nationwide Pools actually expects the owner to clean up construction debris. I also doubt that that practice is expected on their more expensive jobs in multi-​million dollar homes.) Confused, I requested to speak to the owner «Keith».
My conversation with Keith didn’t go smoothly. I expressed my concerns and was initially cordial and level-​toned. The owner proceeded to complain about my «tone» and said «I can end this conversation right now.» I advised him I wasn’t angry, but that his lack of respect was making me angry. I’m sure my tone changed at that point. I advised him that I expected the pool to be cleaned. He agreed, after demanding final payment of $ 1000.00, explaining that the normal cleaning service was about $ 450.00 (??) The remaining balance had already been paid.
We paid the $ 1000.00, and a man came to clean the pool. While cleaning the pool, he clogged the pool-​pump and piping with sand. Nationwide agreed to drain, clean, and refill the pool. They also «fixed» the pool pump and cleaned the lines.
Shortly there-​after, my pool-​pump failed, and had to be replaced at my own expense. I’m sure this was directly related to the cleaning. I discovered that another possible cause of the clogging was that the initial crew had failed to properly seal the pool drain. As a result, sand was seeping into the pump-​intake pipe, turning to mud and clogging the pipes.
I fixed the pool drain myself.
2) The Linear Drain:
Because the new decking meets the south wall of the house, a linear drain had to be installed for water-​control. The drain was not only poorly installed, but actually caused my sun-​room to flood during the first rain after installation. I complained, and the crew returned, and reinstalled the drain. They installed in incorrectly and incompletely by doing a poor job on sealing the line, and using a concrete product that collapsed within 24 hours.
At this point, I was so disgusted with Nationwide’s lack of committment to correct the details, that I decided to ask them to leave the property and signed off on the job.
I also fixed the linear-​drain myself.
Recommendations:
1) Although Natiowide did adequately complete the pool area renovation, I really can’t recommend you use them.
Though the overall job was done as agreed, Nationwide dropped the ball and failed to follow through and accept responsibility for the issues that occurred post-​construction. The owner was unjustly argumentative, and his communcation with me on the phone was much-​less-​than-​professional. The «details» remained unfixed or incomplete, and had to be finished by me.

2) A lesson learned: Don’t sign the contract if the contractor requires that the balance be paid before the job is completed to your satisfaction. The contractor should be willing to accept several partial payments, but at least ¹⁄₃ of the balance should remain unpaid until you are satisfied with the results. A ¹⁄₃ remaining balance should be enough incentive for the contractor to finish the job completely.