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…
The job requirement of a pool service technician isn’t just to clean leaves out of the pool. If there’s a job that a general contractor can do, you can be sure that most pool service technicians can do it, too. However, that expanded list of job requirements means pool service technicians need an expanded insurance…
Photography by Rodrigo mendez In 1994, a 27-year-old Todd Starner and his younger brother Jeff sat across the kitchen table from their father, Richard, asking for money. Eyeing a motorcycle? A vacation? Debt relief? Hardly. The brothers wanted to become entrepreneurs and needed $10,000 to buy a 50-pool service route from their retiring boss, Donnie…
Colley’s Pool & Spas It’s a good problem to have. “We’re gaining work every year,” says Christian Robichaud, service manager at Colley’s Pool & Spas. “We’re putting in a lot of pools. We’re closing and opening a lot of pools. We would love to have more help if we could.” Robichaud and Bill Fischer, retail…
As a boy, Adam Morley, the president of IPSSA, would idly push a net around his grandfather’s pool to stave off boredom, What he couldn’t have known then, of course, is how this pastime would play a role in his future. Morley, now president and CEO of the Independent Pool and Spa Service Association (IPSSA)…
Postorino Pool has morphed from mom-and-pop pool service company to well-known local business photos by Bella Foto Photography More than 30 year ago, Tom Postorino, owner of Postorino Pool, realized he was tired of cold Wisconsin winters. After a trip to Arizona for a wedding, Tom began to ponder relocating to the sunny state. So…