Endless Summers: A Company History
Another saga of two men with a truck
Care for their pools well, and the customers will come.
Endless Summer Pool and Spa Service, LLC was started
by Jeff Caldwell and Tom Mader in the spring of 2003.
Having a combined 10+ years of experience in the pool and spa industry and a handful of pool customers, the duo decided it was time for Columbus and all of Central Ohio to have another option for a pool and spa service contractor.
Since 2003, Endless Summer Pool and Spa Service, LLC (ESPSS) has grown from a side business to a company that employs 6-8 seasonal workers and 5 full-time, year round employees.
After creating a website and logo, decaling a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee - the first ESPSS pool truck - and opening a modest business checking account, Jeff and Tom started their adventure as entrepreneurs.
Since both had fulltime jobs, business was slow and methodical for the first year. Tom had three accounts for weekly pool maintenance: one on Thursday evening and two Saturday morning. Fridays were spent cold calling condo and apartment developments to drum up business for the coming year.
Some major accounts acquired in 2003 were:
Lakes at Bethel, Ortho Neuro and The Vinings at Tuttle Crossing, all of which are still with ESPSS today.
Armed with a solid marketing plan and a small book of business Tom became ESPSS's first fulltime employee on May 3, 2004. Jeff still maintained a fulltime job and worked all his free hours for Endless Summer. By mid-summer, it became evident that a Jeep was no longer suitable to service customers properly. In August, ESPSS's first pool truck was purchased, a black 2002 Chevy Silverado.
By season's end there were 25 weekly pool maintenance stops.
In May, Chad Ferrell was brought on to help grow the business. A new 2005 Chevy Astro minivan was purchased. With a covered vehicle it would be a lot easier to service spas and indoor pools in the winter.
Jeff still worked as many hours as possible for ESPSS and maintained outside employment to care for his family.
Business was coming in from many marketing sources, which created 55 weekly maintenance stops on two routes.
After three years of working two fulltime jobs, Jeff was finally able to leave his outside employment on May 6, to dedicate all of his efforts helping grow ESPSS into a thriving business. A 2003 Suburban was purchased as Jeff's new service vehicle.
Tom and Chad expanded the routes to 80 stops per week. There was a waiting list for new customers. No new maintenance accounts would be added until 2007!
With a growing customer list, multiple referral sources and a hefty waiting list, it was very clear that this was no longer a three man operation. Two 2007 Chevy Colorado pickups were purchased as pool maintenance vehicles.
Two seasonal Pool Techs were added to accommodate the now four routes and over 130 weekly maintenance accounts.
After working out of their garages, basements, sheds and home offices, Jeff and Tom decided it was time to expand the business to a new level. The lease on the current location at 7350-F Industrial Parkway, Plain City, OH 43064 was signed in February.
A well planned layout was schemed for the empty 2000 sq ft. warehouse. Much of February and March was spent organizing shelves, moving product from homes to the warehouse and planning for another successful season.
Four seasonal Pool Techs were hired for pool maintenance, openings and closings. All five trucks were at maximum work load, servicing 190 pool services customers.
With yet another waiting list and phones ringing off the hook that spring, another Chevy Colorado was needed to accommodate the expansive pool maintenance schedule.
A record six Pool Techs were hired to meet the demands of over 250 maintenance stops each week.
Once again six Pool Techs were hired to meet the demands as the business continued to grow. Even with nine fulltime workers, there was no longer room to add additional maintenance accounts by August.
All six vehicles reached their maximum workload maintaining over 275 maintenance stops each week.
Many things were planned to achieve another record year for ESPSS. The seventh ESPSS truck was purchased to allow for more growth in the pool cleaning department. Kelley Jo Stallings was hired in April to fill a newly created position; Office Manager / Outside Sales Rep.
New office furniture, computers and software were purchased to keep ESPSS on the cutting edge of up to the minute scheduling, new business marketing, customer communications and service excellence. Our website received a complete overhaul.
We project 300+ maintenance stops per week by the end of season.