A lot has changed in nearly four decades.
What started in 1987 has grown into a nationwide network that’sapproaching nearly 200 franchises nationwide, and over one hundred thousandpools built in American families’ backyards.
However, the story of Premier isn’t about the numbers or big,fancy awards. It’s about the experience gained, lessons learned, relationshipsbuilt and people who have helped shape the Premier name into what it is today.
It started with passion.
A passion for building something that could last. Passion forbuilding a legacy and preserving the dream that started it all.
From building backyard pools to expanding nationalfranchises, here’s a peak of how Premier got here and where we are headingtoday.
Every company has a beginning, and every great story startssomewhere.
Ours started in Sacramento, California.
At the beginning,there was no national footprint. There wasn’t decades of systems and resources,or locations stretching from one coast to the other. There was no way ofknowing that one day the Premier name would become part of thousands offamilies’ homes and backyards across the country.
There was simply an idea, an opportunity, and thewillingness to build something.
Paul Porter and Keith Harbeck founded Premier Pools and Spaswith a dream. Like so many entrepreneurs, they started with an idea of whattheir business could become and went to work building it.
Pool by pool. Customer by customer. Year after year.
With every pool comes with another lesson. Anotherrelationship came with every customer. With every year came more experience andanother opportunity to grow.
They may not have known exactly where the journey wouldlead, but they knew what they wanted to build: something that mattered andsomething that could last.
That passion became the foundation for everything thatfollowed.
As the years passed, so did the vision for what Premiercould become.
A little over a decade after its beginning in Sacramento,Premier Pools & Spas took a major step forward by opening its firstcompany-owned location outside of California in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It was more than just another location. It was a chance totake what had been built, learned and refined over the years and bring it intoa completely new market. The dream that started in Sacramento was beginning toreach beyond California.
By 2012, Premier Pools & Spas had reached anothermilestone when Pool & Spa News ranked Premier the #1 pool builderin the United States.
What began with one dream had grown into a nationallyrecognized name in the pool industry.
But reaching the top wasn't the end of the story.
If anything, it opened the door to an even bigger question:
What if everything Premier had spent years buildingcould help someone else build a dream of their own?
That question would help lead Premier into its next chapter: franchising.
By the time Premier entered franchising in 2014, there weredecades of experience behind the name. Years spent building pools, servinghomeowners, entering new markets and navigating an ever-changing industry hadcreated something worth sharing.
That year, the first Premier Pools & Spas constructionfranchise opened in Souderton, Pennsylvania, beginning a new era for thecompany. For the first time, Premier's growth wasn't simply about openinganother company location. It was about giving other entrepreneurs theopportunity to take what Premier had learned and use it as the foundation for abusiness of their own.
There was something special about watching that originaldream takes on a new meaning. The passion that had driven Premier from thebeginning could now live within independently owned businesses across thecountry, shaped by people with their own ambitions, families and reasons forwanting to create something lasting.
As new owners joined the network, they brought more than newdots on a map. They brought their own experiences, ideas and stories with them.What had once belonged to a small group of people in Sacramento was becoming acommunity connected by a shared desire to build something they could be proudof.
And as that community grew, Premier grew with it.
Years in the pool industry also taught Premier that ahomeowner's relationship with their pool doesn't end when construction iscomplete. The backyard continues to be a gathering place for summer afternoons,family celebrations, quiet evenings and memories that can last forgenerations—and caring for that space becomes part of the experience.
That understanding eventually inspired another evolution forPremier.
In 2018, the company expanded into pool service, opening thefirst Premier Pool Service franchise in Texas. The new model createdanother way to serve homeowners throughout the life of their pools whileopening another door for entrepreneurs interested in business ownership.
Premier was evolving, but it wasn't moving away from whereit started. In many ways, it was doing the opposite. The company was findingnew ways to build upon the experience, relationships and passion that had beenthere from the beginning.
Construction had created the foundation. Franchising hadallowed that foundation to be shared. Pool service gave the network anotheropportunity to grow around the people and communities it served.
Nearly four decades of history can be summarized with dates,locations and milestones, but those aren't the things that truly tell Premier'sstory.
The people do.
Behind the Premier name are entrepreneurs who took a chanceon an idea, franchise owners who opened businesses in communities they callhome, employees who helped those businesses grow and families who trustedPremier to create a place where some of life's best moments would happen.
Some owners came to Premier after spending years in the poolindustry. Others arrived from completely different careers with a desire tocreate something of their own. Each brought a different story to the network,and in doing so, became part of Premier's story too.
That is perhaps the greatest difference between the Premierof 1987 and the Premier of today. What began as the dream of a few has becomesomething carried forward by many.
Legacy isn't preserved by keeping everything exactly as itwas. It's preserved by giving the next generation of people the opportunityto add something of their own to it.
Today, Premier stretches far beyond its Sacramentobeginnings. The network has grown to more than 185 franchises, with morethan 100,000 pools built along the way.
Those numbers tell us how far we've traveled, but they don'ttell us where we're going.
That's still being decided every day.
It happens when an existing franchise owner expands intoanother market. When a new owner walks through the doors of training for thefirst time. When a team breaks ground on its first pool. When someone who hasspent years imagining business ownership finally decides it's time to pursueit.
Nearly four decades later, Premier is still changing,learning and growing. There are communities we haven't reached yet, milestoneswe haven't celebrated and people who don't know yet that they may one daybecome part of this story.
And that's what makes looking back at our history someaningful. It reminds us that everything we know today as Premier once existedonly as an idea of what could be.
Maybe that's the lesson hidden within nearly four decades ofPremier history: you don't have to know exactly where a dream will take youfor it to be worth pursuing.
Paul Porter couldn't have seen every city Premier wouldeventually enter, every franchise owner who would join the network or everybackyard that would one day carry the Premier name. They simply had a visionand were willing to begin.
The rest was built along the way.
Today, we're proud to look back at everything and everyonewho brought Premier to this point. But our history was never meant to stophere. Every new owner, employee, customer and community has the opportunity toleave their own mark on what Premier becomes next.
There are still pools to build, businesses to grow, familiesto serve and dreams waiting for someone to take the first step.
Our history began with passion. Our future will be builtby the people who carry it forward.
And perhaps the next chapter begins with you.
Whether you’re new to the pool industry or already experienced, Premier gives you the tools, systems, and support to build and lead a thriving pool business in your area. Take the next step and see if a franchise is right for you.
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