John Black Construction

In March, I used an on-line referral service to find a company to replace the liner in our inground swimming pool. John Black was the first to respond and made an appointment to come out that day to give an estimate. He was personable and knowledgeable and gave a fair price. He answered my questions, and seemed like he was the ideal person for the job. I did interview 2 other contractors who gave similar estimates, but Mr Black was local, and was willing to cover the light opening in the pool, where other contractors would not, so we decided to hire Mr Black for the job. About a week later he came to measure the pool. He again was very thorough, which we expected from someone with as many years experience has he has. We paid more than half of the cost of the job as down payment and Mr Black said he would order the liner and it would be in his possession within a week. At that point, it was early April and we were in no hurry, understanding the weather was rainy and still cold and we had no plans to have the pool opened before May. We didn't hear anything from Mr Black for over a week and then he showed up, unannounced one Sunday at dinnertime, stating he "forgot" to take a measurement for the liner and needed to get that. He said that he would phone it in the next day and the liner would be in by that Friday, which was the beginnng of the Easter weekend, so we really didn't expect him to come then for the install. He had also made it clear he had other customers ahead of us and he would do their pools first, as the weather permitted. We waited weeks when I finally called on April 26 to ask what was going on and when he would be coming out. His wife said he was going to come out Saturday April 23, but it rained. However, we had not heard from him to set up that appointment for the 23rd, so whether it was true or not, I have no way of knowing. During the call on April 26, we set up an appointment for May 4 for the install. I called to confirm on May 3 and was told that because of the weather, he would come on May 7. He called on May 6 around 9:15 pm to say he would be arriving before 10am on Saturday morning. On May 7, Mr Black and another man arrived and began the job. The new liner was installed and water was filling the pool by 1:30 in the afternoon. At that point, I was pleased with the work and looked forward to the completion on Monday, as Mr Black stated the job would be done at that time, when the pool was filled. He collected his final payment the day of the install and was on his way, saying "see you Monday". Monday, May 9 came and went and Mr Black did not arrive to complete the job. He called at 8:30 pm Monday night to say that he did not have the skimmer trim and would get one Tuesday and be right out to finish up. Tuesday came and went and at 6:30 that evening, when he still had not arrived, I called and left a message asking when he planned on coming. He returned my call at 8:30 pm and said he had the part and would be out on Wednesday. At that point, I told him if the job was not complete by the time I was home from work on Wednesday, we would be locking the gate to the yard and stopping payment on his final bill until the job was complete. He did arrive on Wednesday and the job was completed. Overall, the experience was okay if you don't mind waiting and a lack of communication. As for myself, I would not recommend him to my family or friends based on his lack of communication and how long we had to wait to ultimately have the job completed.