Would you please let PE know if you have a swimming pool?

Primary Journalistic Dispatch & Direct Reporting

When a contractor abandoned Jeff Thiessen's half-finished backyard pool in Scottsdale, Arizona, he called Shasta Pools . Phoenix-based Shasta, which has been around for more than 60 years, finished the job. Last month, Thiessen's family office bought it.

You might think the golden age of swimming pools has passed. Americans' pandemic-era enthusiasm for spending more time and money in their backyards has faded. New in-ground pool construction fell below 60,000 units last year, roughly half its pandemic peak and the lowest level seen since the early 1980s, according to Pool Corporation , the world's largest distributor of swimming pool supplies and equipment.

The average cost of building a swimming pool, across the 377 jobs completed by Shasta in 2025, is $73,500.

In-Depth Developments & Factual Context

"It's more of an I-shape [market] now," said Skip Ast III, director of sales at Shasta and part of the third generation of the founding Ast family. "It's just the haves and have-nots."

Despite this, more than two dozen sponsor-backed swimming pool platforms have formed or been acquired over the past four years. The largest, Austin-based SPS PoolCare , has completed more than 190 acquisitions since 2021, according to PitchBook data.

But PE's interest in swimming pools is less about digging expensive holes and more about servicing them once they are built.

Industry Impact & Strategic Analysis

Pools need chemicals, cleaning, pumps, heaters, repairs and renovation. There are about 5.5 million pools in the US, propping up a $62 billion servicing market, according to the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance. Maintenance and minor repairs made up 64% of pool-product sales last year, new construction only 14%.

The company's buyers, Dansons Capital Group - created after Thiessen sold grilling equipment supplier Pit Boss Grills in 2023 - Accrual Equity Partners , and commercial pool builder Hydro Construction plan to help Shasta expand its maintenance and repair business, with the eventual aim of turning it into a broader home-services business.

The builder of a pool "can win that customer over for life from the initial transaction," said Jacob Tilzer, founder and managing partner of Accrual.

Forward Outlook & Market Perspective

PE has already done the roll-up playbook with heating, ventilation and air conditioning businesses, pest control, lawn care and garage doors . The largest platforms in those predecessors now attract multi-billion-dollar bids. In February this year, for instance, Blackstone agreed to pay about $2.5 billion for HVAC, plumbing and electrical services business Champions Group .

The best residential services assets can trade in the high teens to more than 20-times EBITDA, said Eric Van Dam, a managing director on the services & industrials team at investment bank Piper Sandler . Pool platforms are smaller. Many generate between $15 million and $30 million in EBITDA, a range that attracts middle-market funds looking to build them up to a size that makes them attractive to larger buyers, Van Dam said.

Troy Hazard, the former chairman of global pool and spa care franchise Poolwerx , said he fielded interest from 46 PE firms before taking money from growth equity investor Norwest in 2022. He still hears from private-equity firms "every other week."

"Everyone realized, well, we've got the handyman, we've got the lawnmower guy, we've got the window cleaning guy," Hazard said. "We haven't got the pool."

New pool construction depends heavily on housing turnover, interest rates and homeowners' appetite for large discretionary purchases. But "once you have a pool, you can't defer the spend," said John Tisera, chief executive of Azureon , a Michigan roll-up platform owned by buyout shop O2 Investment Partners. The average American swimming pool is more than 23 years old, and Tisera estimates one customer can generate $200,000 to $300,000 over 20 years.

The predictability of pool maintenance is reflected in pricing. Pool construction companies trade at around five to seven times EBITDA, said Matt Spain, a senior managing director at investment bank B Riley Securities . Maintenance businesses can fetch "eight to 10, maybe even a little higher", he added.

Reporting synthesized and verified under Nexvoro.tech editorial guidelines. Full primary records referenced via Yahoo Finance.