EDUCATION
POOL PARTY
BY MIKE ZAWACKI
Pool projects require a team of collaborative contractors. Learn how to get into this profitable business at Equip Expo 2022.
To meet the residential homeowner demand for landscape projects that transform backyards into next-level living experiences with aquatic features as their centerpieces, ambitious contractors are adding pools, spas, and aquatic features to their design/build and hardscaping portfolios. However, experienced pool industry experts warn contractors entering this market are often missing a key element that not only contributes to a project’s successful completion, but also increases client short- and long-term satisfaction: collaborative teambuilding. Most experts agree one single company should not manage the complexities involved in a pool or aquatics project from concept through to completion. While there are exceptions, most landscape contractors lack the necessary skill sets or the experience to manage the complexities of a pool project from the design phase on through construction by themselves, says Skip Phillips, Master CBP, owner and principal designer at Skip Phillips, which designs and builds custom swimming pools, spas, and other aquatic architecture. A successful project, he says, draws from the design and artistic intellect of the architects and applies that to the contractor’s mechanical and
“There’s the structural, which is based on the soil conditions and support or lack thereof. And then there’s the mechanical, or how you organize your systems, your filtration, your returns, your skimmers, sanitation, heating, and lighting. If there’s a failure in any one of those three, then the project fails. “If I have a (pool) that looks good, but it has an amateurish design that fails, then that is not a success in my
construction knowledge to execute the project’s overall vision for the client. Therefore, teambuilding is essential. “There are only three parts to a pool. There’s the design, which is proportion and scale, but it is also material selection and how you organize the space,” says Phillips, who is also co-founder of GENESIS, part of the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance, which provides comprehensive technical education and certification.
Photography Credit: Hardscape North America/ICPI-NCMA
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