sk veteran retailers how consumers used to perceive aboveground pools and they will quickly draw you this picture:

“You mean ‘pools on wheels’?” John Mosher jokingly asks. “That’s what my friends in the inground business used to call them. The most common thing I heard 25 years ago was ‘That looks like a cattle watering tank,’” explains the owner of Central Iowa Pool & Spa in Des Moines, Iowa, who has been selling abovegrounds for 25 years.

Rita Rowlen uses the term horse tank. “You’d just stick it up in the backyard … [and] it was just kind of ugly,” says Rowlen, co-owner of Ultra Modern Pool & Patio in Wichita, Kan.

Comments about the pools were just as ugly. “I’ve heard before, ‘If I had to have one of those, I would rather not have a pool,’” Mosher says. “But when it’s 100 degrees out, it doesn’t matter what it looks like — any water feels good. Water’s water.”

But with improvements to the product, accompanying service and advertising, such comments are less and less common, says Alan Burnett, president of Burnett Pools and Spas in Cortland, Ohio.

“They’ve evolved from a basic tub — a wall, top rail and a plain blue liner — to an attractive variety of shapes and sizes, with patios, decks, fencing and even the ability of romancing them with special lighting, fountains, walk-in steps, heaters and landscaping.”

Adds Mosher, “I would say it went from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan.”

Image factory
In the past, these products were something you’d buy out of a catalog, says Mosher. There were no add-ons, no variety. “It used to be, ‘What color do you like: Blue, blue or blue?’ Now they have patterns,” he says.

Not to mention options, including more shapes, more depths, more colors, more accessories and more services.

In the catalog days, it was up to the customer to place, install and dress up the aboveground pool. Installation and consultation services almost didn’t exist. “Now the dealers are much more trained,” Mosher says.

With such training, some retailers can offer services such as adding hand-built decks and even softscaping, in addition to manufactured deck kits. In dressing up these installations, many retailers have the same goal in mind as the inground-pool builders down the street: Integrate the vessel into the home and create a comfortable, attractive environment.

“There are a lot of things you can do to make it look like part of the home,” Rowlen says.

Some retailers have started sinking their abovegrounds into a new deck so that the pool is flush with the house. This technique works especially well on properties that slope down from the house. The retailer or subcontractor places the pool on the lower terrain, then extends the deck from the house until it meets the pool. Softscaping can give the installation a more natural look.

“We sell a lot of custom-built decks with our pools,” says Pat Walsh, president of The Above Ground Pool & Spa Co. in San Antonio. “The majority of our customers are looking to disguise the fact that it’s an aboveground pool.”

Today’s aboveground pools are even getting treated to the same kind of professional service enjoyed by inground pools. More of Mosher’s customers now will pay for professional service, particularly openings and closings.

Spreading the word
Word about the product’s evolution is traveling, say these retailers, partly because more professionals also have updated the ways they position their product.

There was a time, Mosher says, when most aboveground-pool ads could be found in the comics section of the local newspaper. “Now they have ads in the Home and Garden section and the Leisure Living section,” he says.

Unlike the aboveground’s early days, says Mosher, that image-building is backed by retailers who can explain the benefits one-on-one in the showroom. Decades ago, he says, “It was just look at the picture in the magazine and buy it.”

Word-of-mouth referrals also have helped. “I think they’ve seen their friends’ aboveground pools, found out these are nice and think, ‘We should have one of those,’” Mosher says.

The product’s beauty and convenience may make the customer want an aboveground pool, Burnett says, but improved perceptions about the product’s quality make them willing to pay for one.

“Before, the aboveground pool was not perceived as a long-term investment,” Burnett says. “Now people [see] that an aboveground purchase, especially if it’s aluminum, can be passed on from one generation to the next. Or…you can sell your aboveground pool separately from your house.”

Because of improved materials and construction, says Walsh, “I have pools that we installed 22, 23 years ago that are still getting used.”

In a different light
With the evolution of aboveground pools and their possibilities, these retailers say that consumers no longer see the vessels simply as a default for those who can’t afford inground pools. Rather, they focus on the benefits of the product and how it fits their lives.

“I think that years ago, people bought an aboveground pool to get the most inexpensive pool possible into a small yard,” says Ron Fronheiser, president of Fronheiser Pools in Bally, Pa. “Today, there’s so much more flexibility.”

So the product appeals to more needs than before, Burnett adds. “There are a lot of different ways of looking at the aboveground pool: It’s great for a sport or game pool because it’s all one depth. It’s great for aerobic exercise, and for learning to swim because you don’t have to worry about a deep end,” he says.

Some consumers like the fact that they can take part in these activities in a pool that doesn’t add a permanent structure to the property. “An aboveground pool is not permanent, so it does not increase your property tax,” Burnett says.

Some families on the move also prefer to avoid a permanent structure because they’d rather not invest as much as an inground pool costs. These customers also may want the flexibility of removing the pool if the next home buyer doesn’t want a pool, Mosher adds.

Some families even feel safer with an aboveground pool, Burnett says, because the height can serve as a deterrent for small children. At the very least, Mosher says, safeguarding these pools with lock-up ladders is less expensive than building a fence around an inground pool.

Occasionally, Burnett says, he’ll even get customers who purchase aboveground pools because they can get it in their backyard quickly.

Added value
To enjoy these benefits, many clients are willing to pay more than before for their aboveground pools, particularly in cold-weather states where abovegrounds make the most practical sense and have a more established reputation.

Walsh and Mosher say an average aboveground pool used to cost $1,000; now it costs $3,000. Both retailers have had clients who are willing to go substantially higher, when all of the extras are figured in. For example, Burnett has sold abovegrounds for as much as $18,000, and Mosher has sold a $20,000 version. Burnett believes his clients will pay more because they now see the purchase as an investment.

Walsh’s San Antonio firm is selling higher-priced pools, as well. A few years back, he decided to target the higher-end market, so he and his staff devote a lot of energy to promoting the benefits of more complete packages. Many of his customers are on the move and they want to stick with an aboveground. “Here in the South, people move so much these days. A lot of them aren’t willing to make the commitment to an inground pool when they’re going to be out of the house in four years,” Walsh says.

The improvements and expanded market appeal of aboveground pools have moved the product a notch up the socioeconomic scale, says Rowlen. “It’s just progressed up to where now, [owners of] middle-priced homes don’t think anything about getting an aboveground pool,” she says. “In our area [Wichita], it’s very common for a $100,000 home to have an aboveground pool.”

Although it’s rare, you can even find some abovegrounds in higher-end homes, says Mosher. “The pools have evolved so much over the past years, they go into $200,000 and $300,000 homes,” he says.

These facts lead Burnett and others to believe that some customers now choose abovegrounds over ingrounds because of the benefits, not just the cost. Says Burnett, “If they could spend $18,000 on an aboveground pool, my opinion is that they can afford an inground pool, but they choose to have an aboveground pool.”