Desider Pools 'n Spas

Desider Pools 'n Spas
7516 Churchill Dr, Hanover PK, IL 60103
Toll Free: (800) 452-8724 Phone: (630) 213-2030 Fax: (630) 213-8786
Email: desider@msn.com

Visitors

WELCOME TO DESIDER POOLS 'N SPAS

Congratulations! You made a smart choice. We are a full service company providing everything you need from openings to closings, repairs of all types, including; vinyl, fiberglass, steel and gunite pools, spas, hot tubs, steam rooms and saunas. We feature full parts, chemicals, and accessory departments.

This is taken from the Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1999.

As a commodities trader, Mike Desider's blood pressure rose and fell with the price of pork bellies. Now, as the owner of Desider Pools 'n Spas in Hanover Park, Desider tracks another statistic--the number of pool and spa installations. This article is a reprint from the Chicago Tribune, Friday, June 4, 1999.

Fortunately for Desider, 47, the numbers have grown since he plunged into the pools service business in 1986, according to the Alexandria, VA based National Spa and Pool Institute (NSPI). While pool sales increased steadily through the '90s spa sales have doubled in the last 10 years.

When the high-octane pace at the Chicago Board of Trade frayed his nerves, Desider called a friend from his native New Jersey who had a successful pool-maintenance company. "I asked him how to get into the business," recalls Desider, "He told me to start by taking classes in pool chemistry and electrical repair."

Today, Desider still attends classes and workshops sponsored by equipment manufacturers and the NSPI. Education, he says, is the difference between a reputable pool contractor and a fly-by-nighter.

"Products and techniques change so rapidly, you've got to keep up," says Desider, who figures he spends 100 to 140 hours a year in the classroom. "You never know what a client will have--new equipment or antiquated--so you have to be prepared."

His outdoor pool business heats up in April, when clients want their pools opened. Most hire him to service their pools weekly until the pools are closed for the winter.

"Most outdoor pools in this area are heated, so a lot of people can extend the pool season into November, " he says. More and more, his clients hire him to build pool enclosures--kit or custom-- so they can be in the pool all winter.

April through November, Desider works seven days a week. Winters, he fills his extracurricular calendar with scuba-diving vacations, his charity work as a member of the Medinah Temple in Chicago, and his son's soccer and gymnastics practices.

"You can pay less," says Desider, "But if we have to change what was installed wrong, you will pay more in the long run. There are national, state and municipal codes, plus manufacturer's specs. Some here-today-gone-tomorrow pool contractors skip these steps. In the last 5 years we've seen an increase in improper equipment installations."

Desider and his employees work solo on routine service calls, each driving a truck filled with replacement parts and pool chemicals. They team up for liner installations and Pool Closings. Rookies work at Desider's side until he decides they are ready to answer calls alone. By that time, they know his rules; don't placate the client.