Michael Krause may have only started his pool service company, First Response Pool Service, this year — but he’s not new to the industry. Were it not for a freak accident, he’d have an extra year of business ownership under his belt. When Krause went on a camping trip and broke both of his ankles…
For Rudy Hablewitz, owner of ELEVATEDesign, a design firm specializing in outdoor spaces, including pools, every day is an opportunity to push boundaries and to create something unique. Hablewitz studied landscape horticulture at Southern Illinois University and in 2017 began working for a pool company doing design work. “This was my first real opportunity to…
To Robert Daniels, branch manager for Pool Doctor Service & Supplies/National Pool Partners, a pool technician is more than someone who cleans and balances your pool. “Behind the scenes,” he says, “we are ensuring you and your family are safe while swimming. When you are out of town, we are normally the first to report…
While getting his engineering degree in Brazil, Max Filho worked at engineering firms specializing in tall buildings and shopping malls. “That experience made me understand a lot about how a construction company works,” Filho says. He went to work for his father, who in addition to plumbing pools also did repairs and renovations. Since Filho…
Servicing and cleaning pool covers is a skill unto itself, and something Alex Diaz hopes to capitalize on. “[I want] to build a national brand, sparking a new service within the pool industry,” Diaz says. Diaz worked for a pool cover company in Santa Barbara, where he learned how to clean covers, and then how…
William Graham admits that it’s a cliché, but he feels like he’s found a home at Spa Electrics. His dad, Bill Graham, who has worked in the pool industry for more than 20 years, pointed him to the company. “Coming from a background of customer service, technical service, sales and a strong business acumen, my…
Season Gower has spent 20 years in the pool industry, starting as a receptionist for the remodeling division at Shasta Pools. “I continued my education outside and inside the industry to get to where I am today,” Gower says. Now the general manager of the remodeling division, Gower says her favorite part of the industry…
Wread Richardson says he learned the industry from one of the best: His uncle, Paul Ryan, owner of Texas Pools in The Woodlands, Texas. Ryan was “a genius pool designer who had won more design awards himself than most companies do in their lifetime,” Richards says. While working with his uncle’s company, Richardson designed pools…
Life in the U.S. is still new to Alisa Gotay, a native of Puerto Rico who made the move to Texas with her husband and son five years ago. She is even newer to the pool industry, having begun working at Silver Spring Pool and Spa in El Paso, Texas, in summer 2020. Gotay remembers…
Billie Jean Parrish seems to be the dictionary definition of a people person. That was true during the 10 years she spent as a hairstylist and it remained true after she switched to a career in an administrative role for a pool business. One might think she’d spend most of her time glued to a…
If there is one thing California may have more of than swimming pools, it might be programmers and yet the two industries rarely cross paths. Avid swimmer and certified wunderkind, Sai Reddy, sees artificial intelligence technology in the pool industry as not only an inevitability but a matter of life and death. There are countless…
Blow molding refers to the process of melting plastic, putting it into a mold and then shaping it with compressed air. Most plastic bottles are formed this way, including products manufactured by Taylor Water Technologies, which makes water-testing kits. For Jessica Ruckle, blow molding was the first job she did at Taylor. In the years…