As a Christmas gift for his family in 1951, Wayne
Steimle wrapped up a pool
light and placed it under the
tree as a promise for what he would
build his family that upcoming summer.
Wayne was a high school physics
teacher, and that June of ’52 he was able
to recruit some of his students to help
build his family a backyard swimming
pool. That sort of thing was possible in
those days.
As the summer progressed, and
the pool became a reality, Wayne’s
neighbors started asking him if he
could build them swimming pools
during future summer vacations, and
he said, why not? One thing led to
another, and Wayne soon decided he
could make more money building pools
than teaching high school physics, so
he started California Pools.
Wayne’s son, Doug Steimle, went
to college for civil engineering, and
upon graduation, decided to go into
the family business. After learning the
business from the ground up, Doug
ended up buying and running California
Pools for over 20 years.
Doug’s son, Ryder Steimle, is the
current owner and CEO of California
Pools. Under Ryder’s leadership, they’ve
franchised the operation, and now
offer their experience and services to
homeowners all throughout the nation,
not just in Southern California.
TAKING OVER THE STEIMLE
FAMILY BUSINESS
After graduating with a degree in
business, Ryder wasn’t sure he
even wanted to work for the Steimle
family business; however, a sad and
unexpected event changed his mind.
“My grandfather passed away right
after I graduated college,” says Ryder.
“California Pools had a sort of awards
banquet, during which they paid tribute
to Wayne. The tribute really touched
me, and I was able to see the potential
of the company and what a great legacy
my grandfather and father had built
since 1952. The next day, I approached
my dad and asked if I could work for the
company with the end goal of buying
the company once he decided to retire.
That was the start of my journey.”
Under the mentorship of his father,
Ryder was thrown into the trenches
to learn construction, sales and
management — climbing the California
Pools’ ladder — until he ultimately
achieved his goal and bought the
company from his father.
In 2018, California Pools became a
franchise, which required the company to change its business model and
allowed for substantial growth.
“Currently, there are around
28 franchised locations throughout
California and the Sunbelt States,
but we’re also spreading on the East
Coast and in the Midwest,” says Ryder.
“California Pools is headquartered
in Texas, and we do construction
and remodeling, but a couple of our
locations are testing out service, so we
anticipate service franchises in the near
future, too.
“In my tenure over the last 15 years
or so, I’ve watched the industry change
a lot. As the industry changed, or as
the demand for pools increased in
nontraditional areas, it just became
unsustainable for us to try and grow
these new areas using the model we
were using. We had to take a hard look
at how we wanted to grow and carry
on the Steimle family legacy, and the
California Pools Franchise model was
really the only way to do that.
“Since we were already running the
company in multiple locations — I
want to say we had around 15 company-owned
locations prior to 2018 — we
already had a lot of tools in place to
help us easily transition into a franchise;
however, we didn’t have the ability
to manage local knowledge, or local
compliances; that was what franchising
would help us accomplish. The farther
we got from home base, the better it
was to have a partnership/franchise with
somebody as opposed to an employer-employee
type relationship.”
It took two years for the company
to become registered as a franchisor,
and from there, California Pools fully transitioned its business model into what
it is today.
THE INDUSTRY-LEADING
EXPERT
There were many crucial business
decisions over the years, but Ryder
believes the real reason for the
company’s success is its family
centered culture and soul.
“My grandfather treated everybody
like family, and I would like to believe that
both my father and I carried on this safe
and friendly atmosphere,” says Ryder.
“My uncle just recently retired from
running his franchise, and during his
time as store manager, all his employees
called him Uncle Mike. We truly treat all
our employees like family, which tends to
help people stick around.”
The business also tends to be
stable, but flexible, in order to grow
and evolve. “Financial stability has
been a big focus for us,” says Ryder.
“In our industry, a business can get
into financial trouble very quickly. Prior
to 2018 when California Pools ran all
the company-owned stores, we had a
lot of financial discipline and controls
in place so we could weather storms
like Covid and recessions. Flexibility
has also been important to us over
the decades. We’re always looking at
how we can improve, or do things
differently, so that there’s always a path
forward, and we’re staying relevant.”
Another aspect that makes California
Pools Franchise unique and successful
is their open lines of communication
across the nation.
“A franchisee who’s in Texas has
the ability to call a franchisee in
California to get help and expertise
on a problem,” says Ryder. “These
open lines of communication between
locations, employees and franchisees is
important; it allows new people to learn
from people who are already successful,
rather than just going out and winging
it, or starting from scratch. My uncle,
for example, worked close to 50 years
building swimming pools, so a culture
where a brand-new employee could call
him up and get advice on something
has definitely helped.”
Philanthropic initiatives are another
great way to set the tone in leadership.
Whether that means you donate
money, products or time to good
causes, doing so helps our industry
and communities to grow and evolve
for the better.
“We are involved in an organization
called Operation Underground Railroad
(OUR),” says Ryder. “This organization is
involved in stopping child sex trafficking,
and we’ve been donating to their cause
for years because we truly believe in what
they do.”
What is the plan going forward? In
a word, growth. “The whole point of
transitioning from our old model to
our franchise model was to grow the
business, so we hope to continue to do
that. Our short-term goal is to go from
where we are today to 40 locations, really
pushing towards franchising on the East
Coast and in Northern California.”
