DeMeo Custom Pools & Spas

Paul R.‘s review below is right on the money.
We had Jim come out and spent A LOT of time going through every detail. He’s a very nice guy and seemed like the perfect builder for us – small shop, thorough, single point of contact throughout the build, etc.
But literally weeks go by without a response. Then we’ll get a curt («I’ll get that to you Monday») followed by more radio silence.
If you want to waste a lot of time, only to have Jim completely flake out on you, go right ahead. But don’t be surprised if he suddenly disappears. Extremely frustrating experience. For someone who prides himself on customer service, there’s zero professionalism here.

Upon meeting with Jim at the job site, where our new home is currently under construction, we shared our wants, budget ($ 60k) and made it known that we intended to contact at least 3 other companies. At the conclusion of the meeting, he asked us to email him some information relative to HVAC location (s) per the house plans, etc. which we did the next day. Long story short, we never heard from Jim again, even after sending 3 or 4 follow-​up emails and 4 or 5 voice mails over the course of 2 months with one exception, about 6 weeks in he did answer his phone; he apologized for not follow up and promised his proposal by the end of the week, that was 4 weeks ago.
Conclusion: Jim is a proverbial «cherry picker». We believe that Jim didn’t want to give us a proposal and bid because he wouldn’t be able to make the standard 50% — 80% profit margin which is the norm in the pool industry. A professional and honest businessman simply would have said, «I’m sorry but I’m not going bid on your pool». As noted above, Jim didn’t do this. He ignored our efforts to follow up with him for 2 months. If he can’t follow through with giving a bid and since he’s demonstrably not an honest businessman, how can he be expected to service your pool’s warranty? Is he going to be in business 10 years from now to service it, 5 years or even 2 years from now? What will happen to his business if the local building boom falls off the cliff? The smaller builders like Jim will no doubt fall to the wayside.
Since originally contacting Jim, we’ve since become wiser and more appreciative of the importance in dealing with large and reputable companies. After receiving bids from other companies, we now recognize that these larger companies are not only extremely responsive, but they’re more professional, use better pool equipment, have better software for designing and presenting proposals, are better positioned to price jobs cheaper because they can afford to take smaller profit margins due to their costs relative to volume purchasing and most importantly, they’ve been around for dozens of years; several are national companies and are likely going to be around for decades to come, thus able to service warranties, e.g. lifetime warranties on the pool (not pool equipment), warranty for cracks, etc. In these areas, Jim can not compete.
I strongly encourage you to get bids from Cody Pools, Anthony & Sylvan and Blue Haven Pools. These guys are all big, have been around a long time and are not going to go out of business. Based on my research, these three are the best in the business, whereas Jim is clearly not. Why settle for less?

DeMeo Custom Pools and Spas has been awesome, Jim actually cares about what I have to say instead of him looking at me like some paycheck. I had over 4 quotes and Jim had the best price. I was a little worried because it was so low but Jim took me to a few pools he had completed and they looked awesome. I am so glad I went with Demeo and if anybody wants to see my pool just send me a message and I would be glad to show you.

We had a really positive experience working with DeMeo Custom Pools and Spas and with the owner, Jim DeMeo, in particular. I could not ask for a better and more engaged partner when going through this process and we highly recommend his Company’s work.
As with any project, the beginning part where you are coming up with your ideas and trying to find someone to help can be a really confusing time. Jim was really great during this process. He seemed super knowledgeable, experienced and engaged and was happy to answer our many questions and give some great advice and recommendations. I can also say that when you are interviewing different companies before you select a pool builder, we noticed that the larger pool companies tended to have some great presentations and slick proposals but likewise, this was in many cases a sales rep who seemed to be visiting us (along with a list of folks). During this initial stage, we felt like Jim took a lot of care and time with us and we were happy to see that level of engagement continue once we got underway.
During the build process, Jim was great about letting us know what was going to take place. He was here daily during the process making sure that his crews folks showed up on time and completed the job correctly. All of the crews really did great work and again, we can’t say enough about how involved Jim was in this whole process. He always let us know if there was an issue or conflict immediately and he always worked to address it and solve it quickly. All in all our Pool Project ended up going rather quickly and smoothly and Jim’s crews had all the work done and the yard back in shape just in time to have our families over for a get together.
Again, we can’t say enough about the honest, fair and constantly engaged approach that Jim took with us. He was always happy to answer our many questions, he took a lot of time and care to make sure things got done right and he always kept us in the loop regarding what was going on and what would happen next. I would be happy to highly recommend Jim to help with your pool building project.

Jim DeMeo did an exception job building our pool and spa. We built a sport pool so our whole family could enjoy. He was very competitive on price and worked with us on budget. Jim took time to understand our design goals and provided guidance based on his vast experience. He’s very knowledgeable and walked us through a lot of basic questions we had. This was our first pool to build and we had a lot of questions.
We had 5+ quotes from all the large pool builders in the area. We decided to go with Jim for several reasons. First, he built a pool and spa for a friend of ours and they highly recommended him. Second, he was very knowledgeable about all aspects of the pool building process, and took time to walk us through the pros and cons of our choices. Lastly, he was upfront with pricing and timelines. We didn’t want any unwanted ‘surprises’ as we went through the process, and we didn’t have any.
Jim was always on time and very accessible during the process. The work site was always very clean.
It was great having the same person that designed the pool involved in the construction process. He made sure all of the custom items (baja reef, umbrella sleeve, bubblers, volleyball sleeves, etc.) were built as desired.
I would highly recommend Jim to anyone building a pool! He built us a great pool!
Dan