Twenty years ago, you used to say to your customers, ‘You can choose whatever color you want as long as it’s white or blue.’ Stick around the industry long enough, and you’ll hear some variation of this. Though there was a time where those were the only two colors available, most pools still seem to…
Photography by Scott Murrish Jack manilla had it all. After years of working for large corporations and “chasing the golden ring,” as he puts it, he had acquired large homes, condominiums, boats, cars and other toys. But he ended up in business with people whose values were in stark contrast to his, so he cut…
When Hayward hired Bob Hughes in 2007, its Rhode Island plant was out of space. Since then, it has almost doubled production there without expanding. How Hayward has accomplished this is a lesson in manufacturing efficiency and creativity, coupled with a commitment to improvement from the organization’s top leaders to its factory workers. In 2004,…
Photos by: Derek Salyer Scott Waldo’s pool industry resume is varied, to say the least. He started in pool construction at age 13; was selling pools by 17; tried wholesale distribution; built pools in Nigeria, Africa; worked for a company in Florida, then moved back to Texas to open some of its locations. By 1998,…
photography by Paul Caliwagan It wasn’t that long ago that Jessica and Ed Coyner could’ve used a little help themselves. The couple, both of whom had worked in the swimming pool industry, decided to start their own company in January 2008. “Awesome timing, right?” says Jessica Coyner. Their company, Signature Pools, operates out of Chesapeake,…
Consider the lowly filter cartridge. If you’ve been in the industry for awhile, you know that in the last few years, filters have gotten more than their share of buzz. For a filter to have any buzz is abnormal, but the folks at Pleatco think filters are anything but lowly. They’ve made it their mission…
When you live near the ocean, it’s always in the back of your mind that you could see “the big one,” or the storm to end all storms. But after a few false alarms and storms that seem bad at the time, you build up a resilience and resistance to news of something heading your…
Poolcorp hasn’t just invested in itself. Fifteen years ago, the company decided to be proactive in helping the industry and its customers thrive: It evaluated what its customers needed to succeed and put programs in place to help them achieve those things.