Tom Steinbacher, president Texsun Pools, Houston, Texas (interview by David Brake).

www.texsunpools.com/
Topics include:

• Barbeque and Swimming Pools
• Outdoor Kitchens & Living Spaces
• Customer Focused Services

 - -  Please see below for a text version of this audio file. - - 

David Brake:        
When you think of Houston you probably think of barbecue. If you live in Houston and you like barbecue and you like swimming pools, you’ve got to think of Texsun Pools. Texsun Pools has six locations in the greater Houston metropolitan area and we’re visiting today with Tom Steinbacher, president and owner of Texsun Pools. Tom, welcome to the Innovation Lab.

Tom Steinbacher: 
Well thank you. Good morning.

David Brake:        

Now tell me a little bit about the connection between barbecue and swimming pools from your perspective there in Houston.

Tom Steinbacher: 

Well in Houston, in the greater area around Houston, we have a tremendous weather advantage. We have a long season and it gets hot down here. So the outdoor swimming pool area is used extensively. And what we’ve seen over the years is the growth in that area as far as expanding time spent in people’s backyards; they’re traveling less and making their backyard their destination for a vacation in many cases. So when it comes to barbecuing and grilling, they go hand-in-hand right around the swimming pool.

David Brake:        

So, Tom, can you be a one stop source for me? Let’s say that I want to, you know, remodel my pool. I’d like to add a new spa and I even want a barbecue grill or a smoker. Would you be the guy to talk to?

Tom Steinbacher: 

Absolutely. We offer a broad spectrum of services. We’re all aftermarket. We not only do the retail side of it for maintaining pools and water chemistry and so forth, we have an extensive remodel division. We build outdoor kitchens, outdoor rooms, which are very, very big right now. A lot of people are really finding that having the area outside that’s conducive to entertaining is what they want to do. And so we’ve seen a tremendous growth in the last two, three years outdoor kitchens especially. You can have gas grills. You can have smokers. We sell Primo Grills. It’s one of our best selling grills; extremely popular. And we incorporate all of those into an outdoor kitchen or room. Oftentimes it’s a combination of both.

David Brake:        
I understand that you even invite your customers to bring in some of their favorite barbecue recipes and you try them out there in your stores on weekends. Is that correct?

Tom Steinbacher: 
That is correct. One of my store managers came up with an idea. She had sold quite a few grills over the course of the previous year and had a lot of these customers, obviously they also had pools so they came in frequently, and they started bringing in recipes they created. And so she got pretty innovative and put a little contest together. And so now she’s got quite a following of customers that bring in their recipes once a month or so during the season. And she posts them out and then we’ll cook them on weekends and let the customers that come in experiment and they kind of vote on what their favorite recipe for that weekend was. And typically we’ll, obviously, reward the submitter of that recipe. So, yes, we’ve created quite a little following there.

David Brake:        
Tom, it sounds like you’ve got a real customer focus. And having been in business for over 27 years I can understand why. When somebody says customer driven to you or customer focus, what does that mean and how do you actually put that to work at Texsun Pools?

Tom Steinbacher: 
Well it’s interesting. We offer a lot of services and we have been around for quite some time, so we have quite a reputation. One of the things that I found interesting at one of our locations, and I was talking to somebody last night, actually my brother who’s in the business as well, he does a lot of the inspections for houses that are being sold and, on their swimming pools, and he was about 12 miles away from one of my retail stores. And the customer that he was inspecting said, “Well the guy across the street recommended that I use you guys for the service.” And his next-door neighbor started using – driving 12 miles to our retail store and buying the chemicals and using the recommendations that we put on there. They haven’t had any algae. They haven’t had any problems with their pools for the last couple of years.

And a matter of basically over a two year period of time, we have 12 people on that street that now drive 12 miles to our retail store, and that’s pretty unusual. They drive past two or three other pool companies to come to us. So I like to think that we’re doing something right to be able to pull customers and to have our customers refer us to their neighbors, their friends, their family to provide quality service. So it’s quite encouraging to say the least.

David Brake:        
You know, Tom, the talk about barbecue’s got me a little hungry; make me think a little bit about what I should perhaps do with my pool. Let’s assume for a moment that I’m living in the Houston area and I want to combine a little barbecuing with a pool remodel. What are some of the things that I should be aware of if I want to remodel my pool? What advice would you give me if I came to you and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a pool. It’s 18-years-old. I’d really like to remodel it. I’m not quite sure where to start.’ What should I be aware of, Tom?

Tom Steinbacher: 

Well here’s a couple of things I would recommend. There are so many new and innovative items that can be put on a swimming pool now it’s phenomenal. You have advancements in equipment that is just mindboggling compared to where we were ten years ago; variable speed pumps, energy efficient systems, LED lighting. So you can really create a tremendous environment in your backyard. But you need to be cautions on if you’re going to make that type of investment, you need to make sure you do your homework.

Some of the things I would recommend is always get more than one bid. I would recommend get three or four bids. Do your homework on the company that you are getting bids from. What I mean by that is make sure you get copies of their insurance. And go ahead and take the time to call those insurance companies and make sure that insurance is valid. Make sure the subcontractors have insurance. There – a lot of people can do a lot of different things, a lot of different designs, but the longevity, I would recommend going with a company that’s been in business a minimum of five years. You have to know they’re strong enough and they’re going to be there if there’s problems down the road. So check the list of previous jobs. Any reputable remodeler should be willing to say here’s a list of my most current ten pools we just remodeled and their phone numbers. Feel free to call them up if you want to go by and take a look at them.

And that’s something else. Take the time to go look at the quality of work and the varieties that are out there. You have colored plasters now. You have aggregate plasters. You have different types of decks. There’s such a broad spectrum. If you’re really serious about this, you’re looking to put an investment in your backyard, you want to make sure you make the right decisions on that. Do your homework on it is my biggest recommendation, and follow up with the people that you take leads on – or bids from.

David Brake:        

Tom, do you see that people have a different relationship with their pool now than maybe they did 15 or 20 years ago as you think that it’s not just a pool, but it’s really an extension of living space? Tell me a little bit about that.

Tom Steinbacher: 

I was going to say, back when I was growing up my parents put a swimming pool in. And this was back about 1980. And the pool they built was a kidney shaped pool, had a slide, a diving board, a deep end, white precast coping, pea gravel deck. It was really a very plain-Jane pool by today’s standards. We loved it as kids growing up. But what we’re seeing nowadays is, just like you said, an extension of the living area. We’re seeing people really creating a backyard environment; an oasis in their own backyard. And, you know, they’re really enhancing it with the types of things such as water features, waterfalls, the sheer descent-type fountains. You see a lot of natural stonework. Diving rocks as opposed to diving boards, those type of things, to create literally an environment that is oftentimes tropical or traditional. They incorporate their outdoor rooms, their outdoor kitchens.

They’re creating an area that they are going to spend a lot of time. They’re not just going to be in their backyard swimming in their pool. They’re creating an environment that they enjoy spending their free time in. Whether it’s cooking out, whether it’s having a party, they’re – it’s a different concept than it was 15 years ago. Fifteen years ago it was “It’s hot out and I want to be able to go jump in the cool pool.” Nowadays it’s “I want an oasis in my backyard that will allow me to really entertain and enjoy my family time. It’s been quite interesting to see the transformation.

David Brake:        

Well we’ve been visiting with Tom Steinbacher, president and owner of Texsun Pools. And if you’re in the Houston area and you want to remodel your pool, you need some advice on maintaining your pool, or you’d like to combine your pool with a little barbecue or maybe just stop by one of his stores on the weekend and sample some barbecue, you know where to go. Tom, last question for you. I understand you have (inaudible) that she will actually try some of the recipes that the customers bring in. Do you think your mom would be interested in providing a couple of her favorite recipes from your customers that we might be able to feature in the Innovation Lab?

Tom Steinbacher: 

Absolutely. Absolutely. When we wrap up this I’ll get your information and we’ll send quite a sampling of variety over to you to post in there and see if other people would like to experiment with it.

David Brake:        

Well there you go, folks. If you are in the Houston area you want to stop by Texsun Pools, try some barbecue, meet Tom and the rest of the staff. And if you’re not in Houston, we’ll do our best to make sure you’ve got some good barbecue recipes compliments of Texsun Pools and Tom’s mom. Tom, I want to thank you so much for doing a Pentair podcast and being part of the Innovation Lab today. Thank you.

Tom Steinbacher:       

No problem. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.