Working with James has been the MOST UN-AMAZING experience EVER.We are a family with a disabled…read morechild, a child that drowned 9 years ago in the very pool, that James was supposed to transform into a magical oasis, instead of a place filled with traumatic memories. This same pool is where my husband now teaches children survival swimming, it is essentially his office.April 16th we contacted James about the pool. He did not show up here until May 8th for the walk through, one excuse or another, red flag #1. He walked in here like a used car salesman, promising the moon and the stars, perfection, but had never opened a single picture I sent him of what I wanted. Our pool had huge leaks and very unlevel decking, we decided to add a spa and a pool shelf, for our son to enjoy the pool in his bath chair as well. May 11th, after James sent my husband some photos, I text him re-iterating what I wanted for the spa, a flush spa inside the pool NO WATERFALLS. He stated, ok, he said it was "nicer" with a waterfall, I made it clear I did not want one. May12th, he sent a contract, stating Spa with LARGE WATERFALL AND SPILLWAY. I text him AGAIN about the waterfall and a few other points on the contract. He never corrected it and I never signed it. He forgot he needed to sent a leak detection specialist before starting the job, I reminded him. MAY 18th we began work on the pool, a full month after we contacted him. Since that moment, it was nothing but ISSUES and ARGUMENTS and James being DISRESPECTFUL to both me and my husband.
James seems to think, the paying customer does not get to decide what gets done in their own home, he just does whatever cookie cutter designs he has. Lo and behold, the spa was BUILT WITH A WATERFALL, after multiple times of telling him I did NOT want one. He then began to say it was not possible to have a spa without a waterfall. Which if that was true, why was it not discussed during the walk through?? Why would we be building it and now you tell me what I want cant be done?? IT CAN BE DONE, he just NEVER communicated it to his subcontractors. The people ACTUALLY DOING THE WORK had NO IDEA of what the design I meticulously sent James WAS. James was compeletely rude, sarcastic and so unprofessional. He sent argued with me about what he built, saying it was a spillway not a waterfall. I KNEW from this point on, every single thing was going to be an issue, and I was completely right. I LITERALLY fired him. I said I am done, I got a quote from A MUCH BETTER POOL CONTRACTOR, who was honest about what could happen, said everything could no be perfect. Cracks could happen again, stair removal could be and issue AND THAT WE HAD NO MAIN DRAIN. Because my husband did not want to wait for someone else to start this project, we decided to rescind his termination and continue with him......ONLY to find out that the same day he was building the stairs off the shelf INCORRECTLY. I sat at work drawing a picture of what I wanted, and HE MESSED THAT UP TOO. He didnt send the picture to the man working in the HOT FLORIDA SUN until the steps/shelf were already built and poured INCORRECTLY. I walked outside and took a picture of the text he sent him 5 mins after I told him what he was supposed to be doing, him calling ME abusive....when REALLY the abusive one is HIM!! Making people do the job 3 times over under the sun because he cannot COMMUNICATE.
We move on, the decking, the pumps and pipes, the water line tiles, every single thing has had to be REDONE. The vacuum line, after being told 15 times we needed it, it got put in after the deck was installed. The decking has been removed 4 times, chipped pavers all over the place, and after we have FILLED THE POOL, it sat for 4 days waiting for him to send someone for maintenance who stated....this was a "shit show". EVERY SINGLE ONE of his people talk poorly about him, they say this happens A LOT. One told me he did his friends pool for half of what im paying and HAD SAME EXACT ISSUES. He is a complete SWINDLER. He ONLY shows up when the customer is FURIOUS, and he then shows up cussing and acting like he is "THE MAN" ready to defend his honor. He has no honor, he is a common thief. IT IS AUGUST!! A project that he promised would be done in ONE MONTH, has been going for 4 months and as of today 08/07/2026 the decking is not correctly installed. LAST WEEK after the pool was completely filled, my husband was ready to start his lessons again, he had to come and REMOVE a large part of the deck!!! Because it was 4 INCHES OFF from one side of the pool to the other. I will add pictures of everything here!! I am beyond frustrated, beyond disappointed, and he should have stayed fired!!! He is now saying he wont fix the decking until he gets paid, or he will come and remove the pavers! I asked him to fix it correctly for ONCE, but he doesnt seem to understand that this is NOT how you run a business. THIS is not how you speak or treat people that are paying you 45k!