There was a time when fun in a swimming pool centered on small, inflatable devices like inner tubes, diving boards or standard-issue slides. These are pretty basic and pretty mundane by today’s standards, however. For commercial pools owned or operated by apartment complexes, home owners’ associations, cities, and hotels or YMCAs, the fun quotient has…
Greg Fournier joined Hayward Industries four years ago, transitioning from the consumer-electronics industry to Hayward to help develop the company’s OmniLogic automated control system. Fournier, who says the elements of product design were similar across both industries, knew Hayward’s customers were asking for easier-to-use controls. “We wanted to make it simpler to buy, sell, configure…
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,…
You want your pool service to grow, but any small-business owner knows how it can be to find time to devote to company expansion. Brett Lloyd Abbott is president and chief strategist of MYM Austin, Inc., which specializes in serving the marketing, advertising and business-growth needs of the swimming pool construction and service industry. Growing…
As a pool dealer, you probably carry a dizzying menu of chemicals. When a customer comes in with questions about proper use of chemicals for one situation or another, it’s a perfect opportunity to build a relationship on the consumer’s terms, provided you can supply the right answers, backed by working knowledge and expertise. Just…
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…
Everyone is looking to save a buck these days. When the recession started six years ago, the “How much can I save and still get what I want?” mentality hit in full force. Though there have been a few upswings in the economy since then, we can’t seem to shake the nervousness. Business owners know…
“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…
Callahan Roach believes it brought flat-rate pricing to the pool and spa industry in 2000. Steven Dupuis, senior account manager for the flat-rate implementation company, started working with Callahan just three years later. Today, he traces his employer’s original muse back 102 years, to one of the world’s most iconic brands. “Flat rate is nothing…
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…
Sometimes, life gets in the way. Things change and you have to adapt. Growth happens and you have to make room. • Sometimes, you need to sell some of your pool routes. • Whether motivated by retirement, a shift in your business focus or an unexpected illness, there may come a time when you’ll need…