Pool service veteran retires after 45 years in the industry

Bryan Simpson of Bryan’s Pool Service is retiring after 45 years in the swimming pool and spa industry.

He thought it would be interesting for SPLASH! readers to get a little history in the form of his journey from fitter to pool industry veteran.

In 1972, he graduated as an electrical fitter/motor winder, and for eight years he worked around Sydney in various workshops.

Then, in 1980, he was sitting by his own swimming pool, which had been built by Aquatic Pools in his northwest Sydney backyard.

He was reading Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald – which in those days weighed a tonne and had reams of classifieds advertising everything from puppies and secondhand cars to real estate and business opportunities.

“I saw an advertisement from Retaw Enterprises,” Simpson says. “Neil Hamity was seeking commission-only salespeople to sell Kreepy Kraulies to pool owners.”

With some serendipity, Simpson’s pool actually had a Kreepy Krauly in it at the time, cleaning the bottom of the pool as he studied the classified. He already valued the product and knew its potential.

Simpson contacted Hamity and was offered the job.

He was an immediate success, selling 90 units in the first three months. However, he lost sales due to faulty pool pumps – and the pumps were taking up to three weeks to get repaired.

His business sense kicked in – there must be an opportunity here, he thought.

Trading as Magnet Electric Motor Service, he set about building a pool repair workshop in the back of his home, including setting up a coil winding machine and an oven.

“Soon I was repairing pumps for Uneeda Pools and Carlingford Pool Shop, and many pool servicemen were dropping pumps off for repair,” he recalls.

Before too long he realised that the trade was actually his competition, so he decided to go direct to pool owners.

Bryan’s Pool Service was launched in the Sydney Yellow Pages, with visual advertisement featuring a picture of a mobile workshop and a heading: Pool Pumps Fixed On-Site.

“When the directory came out my business took off! I worked seven days a week all around Sydney.”

Simpson credits the success with his encouragement for the customers to watch him strip down the pumps in their driveways as he repaired them.

“They could see and understanding what had failed – and so were better-abled to understand the fully priced solutions to get their pool going again.”

When the customers first contacted him, Simpson would ask a lot of questions to better understand the problem and the state and type of equipment they had.

“Because of my diagnostic questions about their problems and their equipment when they first called me, I had new pumps, re-conditioned motors and parts all on-board.”

For a while he continued as a pump repair specialist, but eventually it became uneconomical to rewind motors.

“So, while mechanical repairs continued, new pool pump sales and installations became the norm. I eventually expanded to include filters and saltwater chlorinators – working with top suppliers like Onga, Hayward, Aqua Joy and Automatic Pool Cleaners,” he says.

“One of my best moves from the beginning was attaching high quality vinyl stickers with my details to the equipment. Decades later customers still call me on that number!”

Simpson, now 72 years old, says the time has come to finally hang up the tools.

“Someone needs to answer the phone though,” he says.

He is keen to sell the phone number to an interested service business, seeing as he still regularly gets calls on it. Call him on 0418 246 534 if interested.

IMAGE: Bryan Simpson and his trusty mobile workshop (supplied)