Mc Carthy Pools

McCarthy Pools runs a Southborough showroom and installs fiberglass and in-ground vinyl liner pools across the area, alongside year-round service -- openings, closings, leak detection, and equipment work. The 'pool cleaning' label undersells what the company mostly does: most of its written record is about pool installation and construction jobs, not routine maintenance calls, though openings and closings are part of the ongoing relationship several long-term customers describe. The company has been in business for decades -- its own site says 57 years, while BBB records 67 -- under an A+ BBB grade that carries no accreditation. BuildZoom lists an active Massachusetts Home Improvement Contractor registration for the company, though we couldn't independently verify it. The installation reviews are consistently strong. A 2024 reviewer whose fiberglass pool went in called the process 'seamless' with the timeline held as promised; a 2023 customer whose in-ground pool was installed that spring said the crew 'showed up every day and kept the project on schedule.' One customer wrote in 2023 that they'd done business with the company for 30 years 'and never had any problems,' and a March 2026 Nextdoor poster in Lancaster described McCarthy as the most reliable of several pool companies they'd tried, after the company replaced their liner about six years earlier and has opened and closed the pool every year since. But a real pattern runs through the negative reviews, and it's about scheduling and communication rather than the installed work itself. A 2023 reviewer said a scheduled pool opening was missed entirely -- techs never arrived, three calls and two emails went unanswered on the day. A 2025 reviewer described the same shape: a missed appointment window and a dismissive response when they called to ask where the crew was. Most recently, a June 2026 review -- the only one in the last six months -- describes a liner replacement job costing over $7,000 where the reviewer, a thirty-year pool owner, felt blamed rather than helped over a water-level issue. A separate 2023 review said a fiberglass pool quote came in about $100,000 above two competitors selling the same product line. Anyone hiring for a pool installation should ask directly about the crew and project manager assigned -- the installation reviews name specific staff and describe attentive, on-schedule work -- and get scheduling commitments and a firm quote in writing before booking a service call, given the recurring missed-appointment complaints.