If a contractor has demonstrated that he is qualified to do the work, and once he has provided you with an adequate estimate and building proposal, you will still want to ask a few final questions:

Do you have a full-time superintendent?  It is important that your contractor has a full-time superintendent to take care of your job.  Many companies insist that the sales representative or company owner will manage the entire job.  However, when an issue on your job needs immediate attention but your sales representative is engaged in a project larger than yours, problems often arise. Larger jobs, which generate more commission and revenue for a sales representative, will almost always preempt a smaller job. This lack of adequate personnel creates a conflict of time that can usually be resolved with a full-time superintendent who is not paid on commission.

Do you have written construction standards? Can I see them?  Without construction standards, contractors essentially allow their subcontractors or laborers to build your pool.  The problem is that no “one” subcontractor or laborer can see the entire pool project. They do not have a "vision" for the entire plan that was initially presented to you. Instead, they see only their own individual responsibility.  Clear construction standards will assure not only that each stage is done correctly, but also that all consecutive stages will fit seamlessly together. Also, it is common for contractors to "cut corners" if they don’t have a code of standards.

Do you make frequent quality-checks throughout the project, assuring the pool is built right?  Sometimes, once a contract is signed, a contractor will assign out the individual parts of the job to subcontractors and never return to the site to oversee the project. Many contractors will "build" an entire project without ever seeing the customer or the construction site again. You will want to make sure that your contractor will be an active participant in the building process.

Do you have a specific construction account for my payments?  Many companies go out of business, leaving customers with an expensive problem.  This usually happens because companies go bankrupt themselves and have no way to pay for the rest of the job.  To avoid this, well-managed companies deposit customer payments into a specific construction account which assures the job will be completed and paid for.