Mike Church has been a busy man.
His company – Cody Pools – has occupied the number-one spot on the PSN Top 50 Builders List for 12 years in a row, including this year’s.
And he was at the front of the consolidation curve. For him, it started in 2018, with the acquisition of Challenger Pools in Tampa, Fla.
In 2020, the company took on a private equity partner, Main St. Capital, to help it continue to grow. Since then, Cody Pools has gone on to make three more acquisitions. In 2021, it purchased fellow PSN Top 50 firms Platinum Pools in Houston, Texas, and Phoenix-area company California Pools & Landscape, saying it made Cody the largest independent pool builder in the country at the time. Last year, another company from the Sunshine State joined Cody - PSN Top 50 builder American Pools & Spas, based in Orlando.
Here, Church shares some of his approaches to bringing his companies together.
CAUTIOUS APPROACH
When it comes to integrating newly acquired companies, Cody Pools has adopted a gradual process.
In terms of standardization throughout the company, the builder has focused mostly on putting each operation on the same accounting software. On a less formal basis, the various locations have been sharing business practices and choosing the best ones to incorporate company-wide, Church says.
“One of the things we did is try not to disrupt any business after the acquisitions,” he explains. “We kept the same management staff and operations. And then, over time, implemented better business practices from each one once we learned about each other, rather than rush to changes.”
A management strategy of Cody’s has helped the company evaluate practices and decide which to incorporate company-wide. Church assembled an executive team, made up of the heads of each market it serves – one each from the Florida, Phoenix and Texas operations. They meet weekly to discuss issues and share ideas.
This has been especially helpful for installing confidence in the employees of the acquired companies. In his observation, the top concern among company owners who sell, and their employees, is how existing staff will fit into an entity that is merging together. So Church handles it slowly.
“We've been really easy and open on that, to make sure we don't startle anything, and just make it the best that we should - without making rash decisions,” he says.
It’s also helped that, after meeting with the entire staff of a newly acquired company to announce the transaction, Cody meets individually with each employee in the first week. “That's been pretty successful for us,” Church says. “It's just making them feel comfortable, and then six months later, they are thankful that, ‘Hey, you did what you said.’”
As far as construction goes, they’ve largely been left to stick with the practices that have worked best for them over the years.
“We kind of let them do their own things, because each market is a little bit different in how we build and a different terrain,” he explains.
The company’s approach clearly works for it. The company reported nearly $337 million in total revenue for 2023, up from $97 million in 2020, before its last three acquisitions.