If you’re looking ahead to summer, that probably means you’re trying to decide if a beach vacation is in the cards for you this year. Instead, you might want to consider the fun, luxury, and convenience of a new inground pool. It’s the perfect alternative and will bring that vacation home to your backyard, year in and year out. For sheer flexibility, quality, beauty, and value, it’s tough to beat an inground fiberglass pool. Durable and easy to maintain, they’re available in a fantastic variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and with ultra-cool new innovations like the beach entry or zero-entry option (Patent US 10,358,837 and 10,472,839). Here are the top five things to consider when you’re choosing the best fiberglass pool design:
- Soak or swim (or both)? How will you use your pool? Do you see yourself and your friends and family soaking up the sun and relaxing in your new swimming pool? Or are you interested in using your new pool for exercise? Or do you prefer some combination of both? There is a fiberglass pool design available. However, you decide to take the plunge.
- To cover or not to cover? If you have young children in the house or lots of young children in the neighborhood, an automatic pool safety cover can literally be a lifesaver. They’ll also save you time and money with pool maintenance, as they keep debris out of your pool and reduce chemical loss.
- Diving board or slide? Do you want kid-friendly features such as a slide or a diving board? If so, keep in mind that both slides and diving boards have specific safety requirements that the pool design must meet. If one or both of these accessories are important to you, then be sure to speak with your dealer about ensuring the best fiberglass pool design that meets the requirements of the manufacturer of the slide and/or diving board.
- Touch or tread? The depth of any pool design is important to consider when you’re choosing your new fiberglass pool. Do you want to be able to touch the bottom anywhere in the pool? Or do you want to be able to tread water? Perhaps you want a little of both. When deciding, remember, we’re talking about the pool’s depth–not the water depth. Your actual water depth will typically be four to six inches below the specified pool depth, depending on a number of factors your pool builder will work out with you.
- Space or size? Take a look at the space you have in your backyard. You want to be sure that you consider the size for the best fiberglass pool design that will be a good fit in your space. Remember, you don’t have to (and probably shouldn’t) get the biggest pool your yard will fit. Think about what else you want to be able to do in your new backyard oasis. Leave room for plenty of decking, ample grass, and some landscaping. And if you’re thinking of adding other amenities, like a water feature, pergola, or outdoor kitchen down the line, ask your pool builder to propose a design that ensures you’ll have room for those later.
My brother Dan and I started our business in 1978. At the time, I was 22, working at Kroger and at the fire station. But while all the other guys I knew were sitting around the fire station reading magazines, I was looking for a business opportunity. I knew I wanted to own my own business. My brother was working construction. Somebody sent me an article about the pool business, and I thought, “Yeah. This is something we could do.” It made a lot of sense to me. Gas prices were high, and people were looking to entertain themselves at home.
We decided years ago that we would price our pool installations the way we would want to buy them–to include what we would want to have if we were the customer. So we include things like a variable speed filter, cartridge filters and lighting. As far as concrete goes, we include 3’ around the pool and 6’ at one end, standard. We install vinyl, fiberglass, gunite, and even vinyl-lined concrete, but our average install across the board is about $60,000.
Meet the Gonzalez family*: The Gonzalez family lives in a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio called Loveland. Alonzo and his wife Maria own a large home in a beautiful subdivision where they raised five kids. They now have ten grandkids who are the light of their lives. While everyone leads busy lives, Maria still cooks family dinner every Sunday night, and everyone who lives anywhere nearby sets time aside for it as best they can. There’s always something to celebrate, whether it’s a birthday, an anniversary or a great report card. Nothing is more important than spending quality family time together.
The Goliath is huge. The 
You’re actually doing it. You’re getting an 
Our biggest seller is the Lil Bob. We also sell a lot of Goliaths and Aspens. Automatic pool covers are pretty much standard around here, so we like pools that are auto-cover ready. We work with APC (Automatic Pool Covers), and we like them a lot. Most of our customers have pretty big lots, so they have room for deep and large fiberglass pools. We sell lots of 16 x 40s. California is by far our most popular color.
What are your thoughts on Thursday Pools? 
The Thursday Pools Monolith is big! It’s a deep and large pool that’s big enough for all their friends to party in. (Big enough to hold a whole swim team, in fact.)
