The company behind one of the few franchised pool builders in the U.S. implemented an aggressive growth strategy this year and is beginning to incorporate fiberglass pools into its business model.
So far, Premier Franchise Management has added 26 new locations — 15 for its builder brand, Premier Pools & Spas; and 11 for its service operation, Premier Pool Service. The growth entered Premier into several new states, including Illinois, Montana, Utah, Oklahoma, Ohio, Idaho, North Carolina and Tennessee. It also added another five in Texas, where it currently has the most locations.
The company now includes 88 franchised offices in 35 states, and it expects to add about five more before year’s end, said Paul Porter, CEO of Premier Franchise Management in Granite Bay, Calif.
The upcoming purchases will carry the Premier brand for the first time into South Carolina, Iowa and South Dakota, Porter added.
In 2021, Premier plans to enter new countries. For several years, it has had a presence in India. Now it wants to move into Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Brazil and Europe.
This year, the company also entered the fiberglass-pool market. It started by integrating the product into some of its operations as a way to work around shotcrete shortages.
But now, PFM plans to make fiberglass a significant part of its business plan. Next year, the franchiser expects to open some fiberglass-only locations, partly by recruiting existing installers. In 2020, it is projected to have installed 500 fiberglass units, with a goal to sell 1,000 in 2021 — and introduce fiberglass pools into Sunbelt states that currently don’t offer them.
“I’m very, very excited about that,” Porter said. “The fiberglass market is shifting, and I think there’s going to be market penetration for quite a few years to come.”
The company is still exploring which fiberglass-pool suppliers to partner with.
This year marks 10 years since Porter and Premier embarked on an effort to consolidate builders across the country. In 2010, it began granting builders licenses to use the Premier name. In 2014, it switched to a franchising model.
That first year of licensing yielded the company approximately $30 million in sales, Porter said: “This year we think we’re going to hit $500 million in sales.”
While PFM initially sought existing pool builders, it now recruits from outside the industry as well, he added.
“We’re trying to bring the best candidates who have first and foremost integrity, then business acumen,” he said. “We feel we can train them to build pools but you can’t train them to have character.”
With the industry unable to stay ahead of the skyrocketing demand resulting from stay-at-home orders, he believes his company’s growth will help the industry boost supply and serve homeowners who are currently being told they’ll have to wait for a pool until next year.
“There’s a lot of demand,” he said. “But I don’t think that when the dust settles, there’s going to be a whole lot of growth” in the industry.”
So far this year PFM has seen a 45% boost in production franchise-wide. It also has doubled its corporate staff to enable the growth, Porter said.
With these changes in place, the franchise is shooting to add at least another 50 locations next year, Porter said.
