Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Perez.
Eric, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Growing up, my father always worked the night shift at the local bakery. As a kid seeing what he had to go through and what he missed out on at home, I knew that I wanted to have my own business one day.
During summer vacations back in high school, I used to tag along with my now brother in-law when he used help out his father service swimming pools. And it was then that I was first introduced to the business. Making your own hours, choosing the type of jobs to take on, choosing which customers you worked with. It was like walking into Dodgers stadium, it just felt right.
With the help of my brother in-law and father in-law, I started Perez Pool & Spa in 2008. We actually still help each other out on different jobs and weekly service. And even though they have their own business, it most definitely feels like one big family business. Having said that, business has been great. Enough so that I was able to bring in my father to help out. No more night shifts!
With the extra help, we are able to provide what got us here to begin with, a higher level service to our customers.
Throughout the years we knew we had to be different than the rest. We saw the importance of having to be licensed and insured, of attending trade shows to stay up to date with the ever evolving industry. Which allowed us to provide our customers with the latest innovations in automation, energy efficient equipment, and poolside accessories.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Just like any business, one of the biggest obstacles is getting started. Starting with no customers is not the easiest way to build a business, but not impossible. Little by little our work started speaking for itself and all of a sudden the phone started ringing. It’s one of the main reasons we take so much pride in our work, we know how far we have come and what we need to do in order to keep growing.
Building a clientele is challenging, but its only half of the work. The other part which I believe to be more difficult is actually keeping that clientele. In our industry there’s always someone that will do the work for less, which is a concern but something we can’t afford dwell over. We’re confident that our customers will continue to see the value in the service our company provides.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Perez Pool & Spa – what should we know?
We take pride in knowing that we are able to walk into a backyard and immediately improve the condition of a pool/spa. Even if it is as simple as educating a customer on a product or making a small repair. We get a lot of that during our regular weekly service stops on residential and commercial pools, which is about 75% of our business at the moment. The awesome part about that, is that we actually get to build relationships with our customers. Reliability and trust truly go a long way. The other 25% is made up of special projects, installations, repairs, and whole pool remodels.
Having said that, we have no problem pointing our customers in a different direction when a project is outside of our scope of services. Whatever it takes to get the job done right, the first time.
Our future goal is to move towards the pool building side of the business. Taking a pool from A to Z. That means digging a hole in backyard, pouring cement, adding water, and at the end having a kid yell “Canon BALL!!’. But we wouldn’t want to forget about the weekly service. The plan is to have weekly service and new pool builds running simultaneously.
With the mentors and resources we have in place, the future looks very exciting. The one thing we’re 100% sure of is that in this business there’s always something new to learn.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Reliability and professionalism I believe are two very big components that we try our best to stay on top of. With as much competition as there is, these two will continue to set us apart from our competitors. It means getting back to our customer’s concerns and questions on a timely manner, it means making it convenient for them to make their payments online. I mean, sure I have to charge my phone about 23 times a day, but that’s ok.
At the end of the day, I put myself in our customers’ shoes and ask myself what I want out of a pool company. Just like everything else, we always want the best. If I keep myself grounded with those terms I know our customers are happy and our pools will continue to look awesome!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.perezpoolandspa.com
- Phone: 310-597-7045
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: perez_pool_spa
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PerezPoolAndSpa/
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/perezpoolandspa
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
