Another roll-up has launched for the pool/spa service sector.
Last month, National Pool Partners debuted by announcing its first two acquisitions — Patriot Pool & Spa in Austin, Texas, a PSN Top 50 company; and T&D Pool & Spa near Orlando.
NPP was started by two veterans of the pest-control industry, Augusto Titarelli and Matthew Stevenson. Titarelli, who serves as NPP’s CEO, has four decades managing home-services companies. Most recently, he was vice president of field operations with Terminix. Before that, he worked with the alarm company ADT. Stephenson was Titarelli’s manager at Terminix. He serves on the NPP board.
After leaving the pest-control giant, the two sought to begin a venture where they would take their knowledge and experience from working in the home-services space, but to a different industry. After investigation, they decided to enter the pool/spa field.
“I’m coming in from other home-services industries that are more consolidated [than the pool/spa industry],” Titarelli said. “Looking at this space in the pool industry, we saw the quality of people and the energy ... I think it’s an industry that excites and has a lot of opportunity.”
To fund the venture, team partnered with Imperial Capital, which tends to invest in smaller businesses looking to grow. Supported with $200 million, it formed NPP as a holding company to acquire existing service firms.
Patriot Pool & Spa was founded in 2006 and serves the greater Austin market. According to NPP, it has been growing at a rate of more than 20%. It has ranked on the PSN Top 50 Service since the list’s beginning in 2018. The company reported a total service revenue of $3.5 million in 2019.
“We have spent the last year dreaming of a vision to revolutionize pool service, and today it’s coming to fruition,” said Patriot founder Hal Denbar. “Our customers and teammates stand to benefit for decades to come. I look forward to enabling the success of other entrepreneurs in the industry I love and carrying on the legacies that other owners have built ...”
T&D services The Villages region northwest of Orlando. Its owner, Eddie Skehan, has more than 30 years experience. “I had not planned to sell T&D until I was ready to retire,” Skehan said. “But joining NPP has allowed me to take some chips off the table and feel re-inspired to grow T&D and NPP together, while sharing tricks of the trade with all our partners nationally.”
Both selling owners will remain with their existing operations as well as take on new corporate roles with NPP. Skehan of T&D Pool & Spa will serve as national vice president, leading the company’s operational excellence. Denbar of Patriot Pools, takes the title of regional vice president, leading growth in the Lone Star State.
NPP will expand with a combination of acquisition and organic growth. To enter a new market, it will purchase an existing, well-established service company. With the hub established in a new region, management may open new locations organically in that area.
In addition to increasing its presence in Florida and Texas, the company is currently in negotiations to purchase a company in Arizona, which it hopes to finalize the first half of this year. Company owners who sell will have opportunities to continue on and potentially take a corporate role with NPP, or leave the firm, depending on the wishes of the seller and needs of that region of the company.
NPP will be the name of the holding company only. Branding for many of the acquired firms will remain intact, however some smaller acquisitions in a region may adopt the established branding for the area.
With its first acquisitions, the company now services 5,000 pools. The company has set a goal of servicing 100,000 pools in five years, and generating at least $100 million by 2023.
