Michael Gesmond was 8 years old when he sat in his father’s lap inside an excavator as his father dug a new swimming pool. Gesmond spent years helping at his father’s construction company: running for parts, holding a string line, connecting pipes. “I was soaking up all the information I could,” he says. “The most important lesson he imparted at that young age was to complete every task to the best of my ability.”
During his first year pursuing a computer-science degree, Gesmond realized he’d rather start a business. Hearing the pool industry was growing, he settled in Charleston and began hauling pool liners to job sites in the back of his Honda, while also holding jobs at the local mall and grocery store.
Heritage Pools is now 17 years old, has over 40 employees and provides pool construction, renovation, maintenance and repair. The company won the Best of Houzz Service award from 2015 to 2018; a McEwen Industries Pool Dealer of the Year award from 2015 to 2020; the Paramount In-Floor System Sales Excellence award from 2015 to 2020; and the 2020 Southwest Pool and Spa Show Award of Merit, to name a few.
“After so many years in the industry, I’ve experienced a multitude of challenges as well as interacted with many industry professions,” Gesmond says. “This has spurred me to develop a scalable, repeatable business model. I want to continue to develop Heritage Pools as a reliable provider to customers, as well as a business source for the industry.”
