The work itself ripping out the ceilings in an existing structure was easy enough, but getting paid the $7000 his business WA Site Clean is owed has proved to be much more difficult.

“I don’t know where the money is going,” Mr Cook said. “It’s very frustrating.”

After Jump! failed to pay invoices from WA Site Clean sent in September, Mr Cook engaged a lawyer to pursue Jump! but has only recovered $1000 so far and is one of a string of contractors and tradies in dispute with the franchise over payments for building its pool network.

This follows revelations by the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald that Jump! franchisees have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the construction of swim schools and are still waiting for the build to start up to two years later.

In response to the story, construction contractors in Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland have contacted The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald claiming they had experienced difficulties getting paid.

Some contractors have had judgment entered against Jump!

The allegations are vigorously denied by Jump!, which insisted it has not been delaying payments although it says has been forced to hold off on final installments in some cases because of the difficulty getting certification sign-offs for works, particularly in Western Australia.

"We’re not delaying the payment – there's just a delay in having the certifier," founder Ian Campbell said.

Mr Campbell said he doesn't see payment times as a "systematic issue" within the business.

Jump! Swim has 68 swim schools in operation and Mr Campbell says the business has grown successfully over the past eight years.

"All that I can talk about is our track record, and I do think that's really relevant," he said.

However, he says the process of getting a swimming school built and up and running is much more challenging compared with when he started Jump! in 2010.

Mr Campbell said increased regulation is "crippling" Jump! Of the sites opened in the past six months, he acknowledges some franchisees had signed on two years prior to their swim schools opening.

He says the business is "guided by the franchisee" in terms of finding an ideal swim school site and that the Jump!'s track record shows it's worth the wait to open a school.

But when asked whether small businesses had a right to be angry about delays in payments, he denied there were any systemic issues causing a drag on payments and claimed Jump! was working through final payments "as quickly as possible".

"The challenge is on us to ensure that quality control, and this is the most regulated business."

He said Jump! is still best placed to use the franchise model, arguing the small swim schools are needed in the community.

"There is more noise now than ever when it comes to children learning to swim, and it's getting harder to provide access to 'learn to swim' [programs]," Mr Campbell said.

One of the businesses chasing payment from Jump! is Reliabuild, which completed a job worth more than $80,000 to build the Browns Plains swim school in Queensland in the middle of 2018.

Reliabuild owner Scott Marks has lodged proceedings at the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) over the build, saying that close to $25,000 of the bill is still outstanding.

The project was finished in August and the swim school opened soon after, Mr Marks said.

Mr Marks said he felt compelled to finish the build because the franchisee was so desperate to open her business.

The swim school has since opened but Mr Marks said he’s extremely frustrated after taking a range of measures to get his final invoice to clear – including driving to Jump!'s head office at Surfers Paradise for a face-to-face meeting to discuss a payment plan.

“There were dozens of phone calls and the same amount of emails,” Mr Marks said.

In a statement Jump! said it was intending to fight the dispute in QCAT.

The company’s legal representatives said Jump! would defend the claim from Reliabuild arguing that it had already paid subcontractors for some of the work for which Reliabuild was now seeking payment.

Reliabuild, in turn, denies this is the case.

One contractor in Western Australia had two court judgments entered against Jump! entity Jump Swim Schools Construction and has issued statutory demands that it said have not been paid.

Lawyer Shane Brown of Lateral Legal represents the contractor and said the non payment means the entity is presumed to be insolvent and may be wound up.

Jump! said it is appealing one of the judgments and disputes the other.

Four other contractors also detailed their cases, although not all were willing to be identified partly because they did not want to prejudice any potential settlement.

One Melbourne electrician says he's chasing thousands of dollars after completing the majority of a commissioned job.

“We did 90 per cent of the work,” the business owner said.

“They’ve got absolutely no regard for you, they totally ignore you and think it’s going to go away.”

Perth plumbing business Baywood said Jump! needs to be “named and shamed”, with the company frustrated over an outstanding bill for $29,000 from works done in October.

“They just palm me off and every time you ring up there’s a different reason for the delay,” owner Jimi Meyer said.

Jump! said it has been waiting on documentation from a certifier that Baywood's work had been completed before final payment is made. It’s understood the inspection of the works was done in November 2018.

"I wanted to bend over backwards to make their lives easier," Mr Meyers said of Jump! and its franchisees.

Now he just wants to know when he's getting paid.

"And any money is better than no money."