My parents founded Johnson Pools in 1977. We started out as a custom concrete, block wall, vinyl-liner pool builder and slowly grew. Back in the ’80s, people wanted freeform pools, so we moved away from concrete walls and start doing steel walls. In the late ’90s to the 2000s, people went into debt up to…
It comes as no shock to pool builders that the popularity of tile finishes is on the rise nor that clients are increasingly asking for glass and translucent glass tile, which brings its own set of challenges. In early 2014, Brian van Bower, president of Aquatic Consultants, Inc., and a co-founder of Genesis 3 told…
Photography by Travis Carroll In 1985, Joan Struckhoff persuaded her husband Fran to purchase the pool division of the company for which she worked. At the time, Fran was working in sales in a different industry. “I said, ‘I really want to do this, but I’m going to need some help,’ ” says Joan Struckhoff….
You hear through the grapevine that a local school district is looking to bid out their pool service and maintenance work. You’ve built up a pretty sizeable residential service route and would like to add some commercial clients; this could be the perfect opportunity. But before you send over a proposal, and become responsible for…
When Forrest Walterson, general manager at Mr. Pool Inc., in Boulder, Colo., sat in an office to learn about a new chlorine-free sanitation system, his reaction was exactly what you’d expect. “That all sounds great, but can you show me?” Walterson remembers saying. Walterson was meeting with Clear Comfort, which sells a two-stage sanitation system…
The swim team at Brophy College Preparatory, an all-boys private Jesuit high school in Phoenix with more than 1,200 students, has won 26 consecutive state titles (36 total) and one national title. But the team’s swimming pool was more than four miles away and not accessible to the rest of the students and staff. “Brophy…
2 Wheel PoolCleanerPoolvergnuegenthepoolcleaner.comhayward-pool.com In December 2013, Hayward Industries, Inc., acquired Poolvergnuegen. Poolvergnuegen’s cleaners, branded as the The PoolCleaner, bolster Hayward’s offering in the automatic cleaner category. The PoolCleaner’s suction cleaner comes in two- and four-wheel configurations. One patented feature of the cleaner is its self-adjusting turbine vanes, which look like a paddle wheel. The adjustable…
“Because our company only does design, we work with a lot of builders on projects that include details they’ve never done before,” says Brian Van Bower, president of Florida-based design firm Aquatic Consultants, Inc., and president and co-founder of the Genesis 3 Design Group. “Often the driver is the consumer who’s seen it elsewhere, brings…
Rick Woemmel left his computer-science job and got into the pool business because he didn’t want to sit behind a computer and a desk all day. “Now I sit behind a computer and a desk all day,” Woemmel says, which shows just how much the world and the industry have changed since he opened Bi-State…
Lobbyist John Norwood knows government. His firm, Norwood & Associates, has represented the interests of California business owners for over 35 years. Churchill Downs, Comcast, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group and the California Spa & Pool Education Council (SPEC) are just a few of Norwood’s clients. Aside from representing its legislative needs, Norwood assumed leadership of…
What is your policy or how do you respond when a customer asks for part or model numbers when you’ve recommended they replace a piece of pool equipment? / What’s your policy on installing and/or servicing parts and products you did not sell? “Some people call to ask for a quote for hot tub covers,…
Photography by Rodrigo mendez What is Mari Lange’s worst nightmare? Being strapped to a desk at a nine to five. “I’m just not one of those people who can sit and do nothing,” Lange, owner of Algae Eaters Pool Service, says. “I’m not a clock-watcher, I have to move all the time.” And she certainly…