Fernando Molina with Molina Pools IJF is an unlicensed contractor who did fraudulent work at my property of a pool refinish, tile, coping and deck remodel with a lack of professionalism that was absolutely shocking. He took on a scope of work way outside his capabilities and presented past jobs as a reference as though they were his work when they were not. He installed a very bad pebbletech product likely from Mexico and presented this as though it was the agreed upon Stonescapes product we had met to select at NPT tile and which had been installed at the job site he sent me to for reference, acting as though he had done this work and would install the same product for me. In hindsight it was never his actual work. He then did a bait and switch and installed a terrible product, which will not last and was very poorly done, turning out very dark teal rather than "sky blue" as we had discussed with his installer. He refused to put me in touch with his pebble installer both before the work so I could ask pertinent questions and after, even weeks after when he acknowledged not putting in the agreed upon product. He refused to produce an invoice at any point before or after the work was completed and never showed me the product he installed prior to or afterwards. He pressured me into bringing a cashier's check to pay for the work immediately after it was installed, before any acid wash and water was put in. I expressed I was not comfortable paying this in full and he insisted it had to be done to stick with the timeline, and acted as though he was paying for the acid wash which is a lie, this is just part of pebbletech installations. He constantly acted as though he was doing "free work" yet would pressure me for payment constantly. When the work turned out dark teal, dark like the black pebble and midnight colors, not at all light like Stonescapes French Grey which it was supposed to be, he offered to fix it at cost to me, only for materials. He then had me empty the pool and his guys showed up to redo the pebble in the right product and then left because he was unreachable by phone. He changed his phone number and was only reachable through WhatsApp. The work was never done and I had to incur the cost of completely filling the pool again and start up chemical costs all over again, which costs about $1250. He then said they would only redo the pebble at full expense to me, another 10K.
Fernando lacks all transparency on when work will be done, lies about the scope of work he will do, takes no accountability, insists on taking full payment for work - both labor and materials - before doing it, constantly pressures you to pay him. I had to go to the bank in the middle of work repeatedly, or show up to various supply stores such as NPT, landscaping stores like site one and purchase materials early mornings interrupting my work day. It is very unprofessional the way he has you running about town to purchase his supplies which always require payments in person. I also had to research my own drains and said he would install what I preferred, yet purchased some garbage plastic channel drains and threw them in the middle of the patio and now you can't even place any furniture in or around the deck.
He took full payment for work not done as he presented it. He never hooked up my auto fill, cleaned up after himself, or completed numerous other parts of the deck. He did not bother to account for cost of materials selected in advance of the bid and contract and acted like he was doing free work yet overcharged me at every turn. He charged me in full for a spa light installation which was supposed to be full size and matching the color of the pool light I also paid him to install, yet it is only a tiny bench light and a completely different color and he would not fix this.
The unprofessionalism ranges from taking my deposit and calling weeks later, which is months before the work would begin, to ask for more money toward the deposit to "fix his truck" when "stuck in mexico" which I had to refuse twice. He asked repeatedly to stay at the property which was a short term rental, before the job started, AND during the work - to have the workers stay there! When I declined this ridiculous and intrusive request, he then stayed at the property one night, trespassing. He had accessed the garage only once for 5 minutes to plug in an extension cord and no other access permitted, yet had the screen door and garage door unlocked and stayed inside the home overnight. He left my backyard a complete hazard zone with garbage and equipment everywhere for 3 weeks after it was supposedly completed and never returned. My side yard with new fake turf was a dumping zone, destroying it.
His work cost me 58K, destroyed my backyard, doing fraudulent work and making a dozen costly mistakes, not fixing any of it. He should be sued and also prosecuted for the illegal behavior. It will now cost me another 60K+ to get it all redone right. read more
