Packaged to perfection: innovative builders stretch the limits of package pool designs

For nearly a decade, package-pool professionals have been finding ways to offer many of the bells and whistles offered by their gunite peers. Starting with modular wall panels available in a variety of materials, these builders add on everything from beach entries to radiant heat in the pool floor.

In fact, the list of upgrades is as long as a Florida swim season. Package pools now feature ceramic tile, rock waterfalls, sheer descents, spill-over spas, in-pool ladders, fiberoptic lighting, concrete steps and benches, tanning ledges, stone coping, cantilevered stamped concrete decking and automatic pool covers. And, yes, there are even a few negative-edge pools.

Improved profit margins, the love of a challenge and a bit of ego have kept these builders in the high-concept, package-pool market. Today, they are known in their communities for their customized work.

Creating a market

Anthony Boglino began customizing package pools for three reason: To make more money, differentiate himself from the standard pool builder and see more profit per job.

"We let the other guys wrestle for the cookie-cutter pools," says Boglino, owner of Premiere Pool & Spa in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y. "We have essentially created a niche market here with that approach."

Concord Pools also generates word-of-mouth referrals because it fills a specific niche in its upstate New York community of Latham, "Fifteen years ago, gunite guys could do so much more," says owner Mike Giovanone. "But now, we're shoulder to shoulder in the race with them."

When Mike Sanford began adding more elaborate features onto his package pools, he, too, found he was competing directly with the gunite builders in his area. "We wanted to offer the things that other package-pool builders were not offering," says the owner of Fox Pools of Central Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.

Package-pool builders who have entered the high-concept market say they turn to a variety of sources for their ideas. Magazines, Internet galleries, landscape architects and industry trade shows have inspired their top-notch designs. These builders also rely on their experience in the industry and their own active imaginations for creative pool concepts.

"I walk into a home and, sitting on the kitchen table, there are usually eight to 12 photos from the Internet, and the customer says, 'This is what I'd like to do,'" Giovanone says. Many of his ideas for pool designs emerge from his imagination after seeing a backyard. "I want to build a pool that complements, not dominates, that yard," he notes.

Alan Burnett, owner of Burnett Pools in Cortland, Ohio, says, "Creativity is our only limit." He visits the home and considers any photos the customer may have collected for ideas. "Do we plagiarize from magazines or shows? Yeah, we do," he admits.

Sanford says that if a customer can come up with an idea, he can build it. "If they draw the pool on the ground or on paper, we can make it," he says. "Our motto around here is, 'Can't do, can't stay.'"

Jared Green says he has never had to tell a customer that he could not include a feature they wanted on their package pool. "That's against my religion," says the owner of Aquarius Pools in Roanoke, Va.

One customer he called on had placed a garden hose in the yard to indicate the shape of the natural-look pool he wanted. "We took the measurements of his garden hose, and we carne within 2 inches of it," Green says.

>From blueprint to backyard

Once the pool's general layout is decided and the list of features determined, how do these builders turn the vision into reality? It's a combination of self-training and industry education. Most agree that there's a learning curve in creating innovative package pools, though.

In his early years in the industry, George Serba would personally customize the modular aluminum panels he used on his more complex projects. "I'd buy the panels ... and adapt them," says the owner of Pooltown in Tallmadge, Ohio. He would rebuild the panels in his shop, retrofitting them to suit his custom jobs.

"I would put iron a piece of paper and then physically make a prototype to see if it would work," Serba says. "Often, the client would sketch something, and I would figure out the combination of panels that are available to me and then remake them to meet my specifications."

Boglino put his bachelor's degree in mechanical technology to good use. He paired his college education with additional training available through the package-pool industry to implement his designs. "There was definitely a learning curve as to the jetting and plumbing techniques," Boglino says. "Our industry does have an educational system, if people choose to use it."

Burnett calls his method for upgrading package pools "romancing the rectangle." The recipe for his success includes self-education, industry experience, manufacturer training, networking and a trial-and-error process. "When I wanted to do a beach entry, I had to figure it out," Burnett says. "So I contacted a few people in the buying association who had built one before and got ideas on what to look for and what to avoid."

Another educational resource for builders is adult continuing-education courses. Sanford started in the pool business at age 18, and had a knack for troubleshooting and repairing the mistakes other builders had made. However, he chose to attend night school to further his knowledge of construction, engineering and estimating.

Sanford's education and experience were tested when he started building more challenging package-pool projects, he says. The first thing he sought to solve was how to add brick coping to a packaged product. He developed a footing that would allow for custom coping to be added to the pool. He also devised a method for adding unique in-pool benches.

Builder-manufacturer relationships

Package-pool builders who have entered the custom market say that their relationships with manufacturers is instrumental in their success.

Today, builders send their drawings to the manufacturers, and the modular walls and liners are designed using computer-aided design (CAD) technology. Builders say that manufacturers not only welcome their innovative ideas, but they also aid them by ensuring that the designs meet National Spa & Pool Institute safety standards.

Giovanone calls his manufacturer's engineering office directly to request specialized &signs. "Fifteen years ago, I could build any shape you wanted, as long as it was a rectangle," he says. "Anything that can be drawn can be built today."

Green relies on his manufacturer's engineering staff as well as his own ingenuity. "I try to come up with a preliminary drawing and give it to the engineer," he says. "They usually come up with [a proposed solution], and we just refine it. These architects have no limits."

Buyers benefit from the builders' strong relationship with their manufacturers as well. "They get the benefit of a multimillion-dollar company standing behind the components," Sanford points out.

Receptive manufacturers paired with builder creativity have actually engineered innovations and advanced the industry. "1 once suggested that the panels be made more builder-friendly," Serba says. "They re-engineered the panel so that it would be flexible for us."

This strong builder/manufacturer relationship also works to push the limits of current design and installation techniques, which will continue to propel the market in the future, says Giovanone.

"The builder and the manufacturer need to make each other better," he notes.

Mike Giovanone

owner

Concord Pools

Latham, N.Y.

Last summer, Mike Giovanone pulled out all the stops by adding neatly every possible upgrade to a package-pool project, including a 24-foot negative edge. "The negative edge of the pool is 20 feet above the original grade we started with," he says. This unparalleled pool sports seven waterfalls, steps with hydrotherapy blowers and a radiant in-floor heating system. The pool also features total perimeter fiberoptic lighting, five synchronized underwater lights and lighting on the waterfall. Surrounding the pool is 18-inch, cantilevered, stamped-concrete coping and custom pavers for the decking.

Anthony Boglino

owner

Premiere Pool & Spa

Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.

Anthony Boglino is particularly fond of a free-form, lagoon-style package pool and spa combination he built in Huntington, N.Y. The project (shown on page 89) features interior steps, bench seating and a meandering waterfall built from 10 tons of moss rock. The waterfalls cascades into the pool and spa. The spa then spills over into the pool. The project's high-tech features include fiberoptic lighting and computer-operated controls. A deck of Cambridge stone pavers surrounds the pool.

Alan Burnett

owner

Burnett Pools

Cortland, Ohio

Alan Burnett is proud of a package pool he built for a family whose 20-year-old daughter had been injured in a car accident. He says the family was seeking a pool with a unique shape that would offer wheelchair access "without looking like a therapy pool." Burnett designed a free-form shape with a beach entry, which inclines into 18 inches of water. A 4-foot ramp connects to the sloping entry, which follows the curve of the pool's outside edge and leads to a 36-inch depth. At that depth, someone using a wheelchair can easily get out of the chair and into the water. Another portion of the beach entry leads to two steps for use by swimmers. The pool also features ceramic tile, cantilevered concrete coping, a brick patio and aluminum fencing.

Mike Sanford

owner

Fox Pools of Central Oklahoma

Oklahoma City

Mike Sanford was asked to build a vinyl-liner pool in a backyard with a deep slope. He designed a 16-by-38-foot rectangular sports pool, which is 3 feet deep at each end and 5 feet deep in the middle. The pool features a raised bond beam wall covered in ceramic tile that matches the tile used in the pool. Five cascades of varying widths spill from the wall, which doubles as a planter. This pool has a long list of add-ons, including brick coping, a cast stone waterfall, a raised spill-over spa, fiberoptic lighting, an in-floor cleaning system, and remote controls for the lighting and spa.

Jared Green

owner

Aquarius Pools

Roanoke, Va.

Jared Green affectionately refers to one of his most interesting package pools as "the blob." The customer wanted a vinyl-liner pool in a small area wedged between two walls. Green arrived to find a garden hose laid out at the site in an "ink spot" shape. He was able to design and build a pool to suit the limited size of the site, as well as the customer's request for a natural-looking vessel with an assortment of upgrades. The curvilinear pool has the look of a pond and is accented by a 4-foot natural rock waterfall. Also included area blue-black vinyl liner; dark gray, stone-like 6-inch tile; a cantilevered, stamped concrete deck; and fiberoptic lighting

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Package-pool innovators typically build a combination of high-concept projects interspersed with what they call "cookie cutter" of "off-the-rack" pools throughout the year. While they don't set specific limits on how many of each type of pool they will build, they do find that offering a mixture of both types keeps their companies busy and profitable.

Concord Pools used to build 450 pools in its nine-month building season. About 10 years ago, the Latham, N.Y., company began to build highly specialized package pools. Today, it constructs 250 pools annually, almost all of which have custom features.

"We sell time. The customer rents us for a few weeks and we take care of it," says company owner Mike Giovanone. "They have the money, but they don't have the time."

Mike Sanford, owner of Fox Pools of Central Oklahoma, says nearly all the pools he builds in Oklahoma City now are high-concept. Like Giovanone, he has reduced the total number of pools he builds each year to focus on more upscale projects. He used to build 60 to 70 pools each season. Now he's installing 45 specialized pools with a higher profit margin.

Premiere Pool & Spa completes 200 pools each year, 35 to 50 of which have special features, says Anthony Boglino, owner of the Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., firm. As a builder, he's got a decade of experience in custom package pools.

For Alan Burnett, about one-third of the projects Burnett Pools builds each year are highly specialized. It the Cortland, Ohio-based firm builds 30 pools a year, approximately 10 have add-ons such as spas, benches, waterfeatures and lighting, he says.

Others maintain a 60/40 split. Of the 15 to 25 pools George Serba's Pooltown builds annually in Tallmadge, Ohio, about 60 percent are upscale.

"We still talk to the $25,000 customer, but a $100,000 or $200,000 pool is priced that way because of al[ the work that is being done," Serba says. "Are the headaches greater? Absolutely. But you're getting paid for those headaches."

--J.P.R.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Hanley-Wood, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group