I would do a clad door in black I have no idea what your contractor is talking about

Fiberglass can look just like wood when it is painted, and you won't have the peeling, warping, shrinking, or expansion problems that you would have with real wood.

I'm not sure about other manufacturers, but Andersen makes black patio doors.

Your contractor might be referring to clad as thin roll-formed aluminum on top of wood, i.e. certain vintages of Pella, Crestline, etc... Yes, that's a bad idea. but not all clad doors use such a cheap way of doing it. If you're going to be technical, ThermaTru doors are also clad. Doesn't mean they're bad.

I have the door you mentioned (thermatru flush glazed smooth star, it's our back door). I like it but it doesn't look like wood. It's been installed about three years and we haven't had any problems. You should know that with flash glazing if the glass breaks you have to replace the entire door.

Therma tru recently came out with a product called Canvas that is smooth but it's meant to look more like wood.