photography by Christian Hernandez In the mid-2000’s, Mike Burns and his wife, Amanda, were ready for a change from their life in England. Setting their sights on sunny Florida, the family purchased Doc Dean’s Pools from its original owner and emigrated in 2005. It’s been a great fit, says their son James Burns, because of…
When Tyler Rasmussen got passed over for a promotion at his job, he said enough is enough. He had always dreamed of working for himself anyway, and a friend had been telling him about a pool route he just purchased. “I’m a hard worker and do things the right way,” Rasmussen says. “I got tired…
Ryan Hayes has big dreams for the family business he’s been around since age 8. Already committed to taking over for his parents, who own Leisure Time Pools and Spas in Oklahoma City, when they retire, Hayes started out water testing and helping his dad in the store’s warehouse between throwing the baseball or football….
Tiffiny Consoli wasn’t looking to go into the pool business. She was just looking to own a business, any business, that made sense. “I didn’t have one thing I was particularity good at or knew I wanted to make bagels every day,” she says. “It wasn’t like that. I wanted to have a business.” Since…
Brian Lee Miller started Hilltop Pools and Spas, Inc., after moving from his native upstate New York. Brian initially only did pool construction in summers as a way to earn supplemental income while not teaching school. He eventually opened pool construction company Hilltop in 1976 in the tiny town of Jonesboro, Georgia — population about…
With help from family, friends and even customers, Adam Litke and Loren Cohodes bought All Seasons in February 2015.
Mark Howard’s neighbors were pool guys. While growing up in Phoenix, during his high school summers and on weekends during the school year, Howard worked for two brothers who lived near him. After graduating, Howard briefly worked at a print shop but found it insufferable. “I couldn’t stand being cooped up,” he says. So he…
When Jennifer Del Vaglio was working as a lifeguard at a country club, she never dreamed it might turn into a pool career. She did, however, meet her husband CJ there, who ended up being the true catalyst. The couple was working in Connecticut — Jennifer as an event planner at Deloitte and CJ as…
Along with his family and crew, Miguel Mercado has carefully developed the Dorian Construction Group into the pre-eminent outdoor living design construction company in El Paso, Texas. Primarily, the company handles pool construction, pool refurbishment and transformation, outdoor kitchens, fire pits and ponds. “I started out more than 25 years ago as an aquarium hobbyist,”…
Morehead Pools in Shreveport, Louisiana, is a family business — with a crazy family tree. It was founded in 1960 by Hall Morehead and developed a winning reputation — until the early 1970s when Hall Morehead and the business had accrued significant debt. Margaret Moore, Morehead’s operations manager and bookkeeper, saw an opportunity to save the…
Photography by Scott Murrish Jack manilla had it all. After years of working for large corporations and “chasing the golden ring,” as he puts it, he had acquired large homes, condominiums, boats, cars and other toys. But he ended up in business with people whose values were in stark contrast to his, so he cut…
John Oldfield started small. After working two years for his father-in-law Dick Nichols, owner of San Jose, California–based Genie Pool & Spa Service, Oldfield purchased seven pool-service accounts from him in 2005. “There’s not a better guy to get your feet wet with,” Oldfield says of Nichols. “You couldn’t ask for a better mentor or…