About — FloridaPoolz

Why this exists

The data exists. The state has it. The review platforms have it. The builders publish it themselves. But pulling it together — for every builder you are actually choosing between — takes hours nobody has.

In Florida, every pool contractor holds a public license record. Every review anyone has left them is public. It is all out there.

The problem is that it is out there in six different places, none of which talk to each other, and each of which answers a different half of the question. For one builder, that is the best part of half an hour of tabs and notes. For the handful you are seriously considering, it is most of an evening — and at the end of it you still have no way to compare what you found.

So almost nobody does it. Most people end up choosing on a neighbour’s recommendation, a quick search, and whoever sounded most confident on the phone. For a project this size, that is not enough to go on.

We did the work instead, for every pool builder in Florida we could find a real trading record for, and put the answers in one place.

Where we are

Most of Florida, and we will tell you which part

Every figure here is counted from what is on the site right now — not a target, not a projection, and not rounded up.

528: Pool builders researched
528: With DBPR licenses on file
36,130: Public reviews behind the ratings
4,174: Photographs, every one described
372: Towns and cities
45: Counties, of Florida's 67

The deeper the blue, the more builders we hold in that county. The white ones are where we have not reached yet — and we would rather show you that than claim the whole state.

The difference

What you need to check, and what it takes

The same questions either way. Asked the hard way, and asked here.

License: On your own Get the number out of them, then look it up on the state register. Check it is current, what type it is, whose name it is actually in — and whether there is a second one you were not told about.; On FloridaPoolz Number, type, status, the year it was issued and who holds it, on the profile. Every license they hold, not just the first. One click through to the state’s own record to check us.
Reviews: On your own Google, Yelp, Houzz, Angi, BBB. Five platforms, five scores, and no way to tell a 4.8 from nine reviews apart from a 4.3 from four hundred.; On FloridaPoolz Google and Yelp together, with the count beside the score, what reviewers keep praising, what they keep complaining about — and the critical ones published, not buried.
Photos: On your own Could be stock. Rarely titled, almost never says what is actually in the picture, and spread across a website, a Facebook page and a gallery that stopped loading years ago.; On FloridaPoolz One gallery from every source we found. Each photograph read and described — the shape, the size, how it was built, the water colour, the decking, the setting, and a cost band.
Standing: On your own Half an hour of notes per builder, and no way to line them up against each other at the end of it.; On FloridaPoolz A single score, built the same way for everybody, with the workings shown. Never for sale.
Still trading: On your own Call, leave a message, wait two days, call again, and find out the hard way.; On FloridaPoolz We say whether there has been a sign of life. When there has not been one, we print the date of the last one instead of letting a dead listing look exactly like a live one.
Track record: On your own The state register, the review platforms, the web archive, domain records, trade bodies — all separate, all in different formats, none of them agreeing on a date.; On FloridaPoolz The year the license was issued, when the domain was first registered and when the site was first archived, in one line. Three independent ways of checking “in business since”.
Where they build: On your own “Serving all of Central Florida” — on every website in the state.; On FloridaPoolz The towns they name themselves, the county they are registered in, and the evidence behind each one.
Time: On your own The best part of half an hour per builder, if you are quick and you know where to look.; On FloridaPoolz A couple of minutes a profile. The evening back.

The research

Everything we look at

Every source, on every builder in the directory. Each one named on the profile, with the date we last looked.

The state license register

Florida DBPR. Republished as found — we do not grade a license and we cannot change one.

The license number
What type it is, and what that permits
Whether it is current, and its exact status
Whose name it is held in
The year it was first issued
When it expires
Whether they hold a second or third one
Whether the register's name matches the name they trade under

Google

The business profile and the reviews under it.

The star rating
How many reviews it rests on
How that compares with other builders nearby
The strongest reviews, in full
The worst reviews, in full
What reviewers praise, and how many said it
What reviewers complain about
Whether the owner replies
The date of the most recent one

Yelp

Where they have a presence on it.

The rating and the number of reviews
Reviews we can quote
How the two platforms compare
A link straight to the listing

Their own website

What the business says about itself. Attributed to them, never to us.

What they say they build
The towns and cities they name
Their photographs
The phone number they publish
The email address, and how direct it is
Opening hours
The finishes, features and materials they mention
When the site last changed

Domain and web archive

The two dates that can substantiate "in business since".

When the domain was first registered
When the site was first captured by the archive
The most recent signal of any kind
Whether the site is still being kept up
How all of that squares with the license year

Every photograph

Read one at a time, not scraped into a wall of blue rectangles.

The shape of the pool
Roughly what size it is
How it was built
The colour of the water
The decking and the materials
The setting it sits in
The lighting
Whether there is a spa, a shelf, a screen
A cost band, where the picture supports one

All of it, on every builder in the directory — and a profile holds more than would fit on one page.

Common Questions

What you may need to know about us

How this works, what it costs, and what money cannot buy here.

Where does your information come from?

Six places: the state license register, Google, Yelp, the builder’s own website, domain and web-archive records, and — once they claim their profile — the builder themselves. Every profile names its sources at the foot of the page, with the date we last looked. There is no secret dataset.

How is the score worked out?

The same handful of measures for everybody: reputation, track record, how active they are, how complete their record is, how much real work they can show, and whether we have been able to reach them. The anchors are fixed in advance and frozen, so a builder’s number does not move because somebody else joined the directory.

Can a builder pay to score higher?

No. Builders can pay us for tools and for a better position in the listings, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The score is not part of that. Their license, their rating, their review count and how long they have been trading read exactly the same whether they pay us or not.

Can a builder get a bad review taken down?

No. A builder can reply to a review, in their own name, underneath it. Nobody can edit one, hide one, or buy the removal of one. We publish the critical reviews alongside the good ones, because a profile with only praise on it tells you nothing.

Do you check that reviews are genuine?

We republish what Google and Yelp hold, and we cannot promise nothing in there was bought — nobody can. What we can do is refuse to let a star rating carry the whole judgement. Reputation is deliberately a small share of our score, so that a pile of old five-star reviews cannot outrank a builder who is demonstrably still working.

Something on my profile is wrong. How do I fix it?

Tell us and we will correct it. If it is your business, claim the profile and you can edit it directly — your description, your photographs, your prices, your hours, and the name of the person who answers the phone. Anything that comes from the state register we will not change, because it is not ours to change; if the register is wrong, that has to be fixed at the register.

What does it cost a builder?

Claiming a profile is free and always will be. There is a paid plan for builders who want more from it. There are no per-lead fees at any level — when a homeowner contacts you through the site, that costs you nothing.

What happens to my details when I ask a builder to get in touch?

They go to that builder, in full, including on the free plan. We do not sell your details on, and we do not send the same request to five companies so they can race you. The builder gets sixty minutes with it to themselves before anyone else is offered it — and that clock pauses overnight, so nothing expires at three in the morning.

Why is my county not on the map?

Because we have not found a builder with a real trading record there yet. We would rather show you an empty county than pad the map. If you build pools there, add yourself and it stops being empty.

Are you connected to the state, or to any of the builders?

No. We are independent of the regulator, of the review platforms and of every builder listed. We republish the state’s records; we do not act for it and we cannot speak for it. If you need something certified, the register is the authority and every license on this site links straight to it.

Pool builder? We have something special for you

We keep it honest and simple with both buyers and business owners. Your company’s listing is free, forever. Claim it or check the special premium offer we have for Florida’s best pool builders!

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