Of all the extracurricular activities offered in Las Vegas, education probably isn’t the first one that comes to mind. But if you’re Dave McNaughton, Sin City is synonymous with software seminars. This would make sense if he were a computer programmer, but McNaughton sells swimming pools.
Yes, swimming pools. As the owner and president of Mermaid Pools, McNaughton can attest that water is just the beginning of his business. And so when he had the chance to learn more about sophisticated pool design software in the entertainment capital of the world, he didn’t hesitate.
This year marks Mermaid’s 60th anniversary, and the company owes a lot to being willing to adapt, learn and grow.
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“We have a legacy in Ottawa of changing people’s lives,” McNaughton said. “We’ve got more than 40,000 pools out there.”
However, success was by no means guaranteed when Art Methot founded the company in 1965. Back then, backyard pools were a rarity. It was an era when swimming pools were associated with Hollywood glamour and fancy hotels. But in the backyard of the average suburbanite? Forget it. However, Methot had vision and know-how and his background in welding and fabricating truck boxes gave him a competitive advantage and an intimate knowledge of materials.
As Methot’s business took off, his sons Paul and Don soon joined, and Mermaid has been making waves ever since. Along the way, the company has seen endless changes in the industry.
For instance, the materials used for swimming pools have evolved rapidly. Today, the versatility and durability of materials like high-end polymers have come to dominate the market, something that was unthinkable in the 1960s. Microscopic mineral ions have replaced old chemical-based technology (and freed customers from hauling home heavy bags of supplies each spring).
How people actually use their pools has also changed significantly.
A swimming pool was once seen as a status symbol. It didn’t really matter what it looked like. Just having one was enough. That’s changed over time. Since joining the company, McNaughton has seen swimming pools interpreted in many ways.
“I would say on the initial days of when I started selling pools, 20-something years ago, there was a lot more talk about, ‘I want to get a pool for exercise,’” he said. “It’s transitioned towards, ‘I want something for the kids for the summer’ to now, ‘I want something for the family.’ Backyards are really being done … It’s an extension of the house now.”
McNaughton isn’t just Mermaid’s owner. He’s a customer, too. He first came to the company in 2003 when his wife, Meredith, had had enough of his long hours and told him that if he was going to be working so much, the family needed a pool. McNaughton obliged and, three months later, he started working at the company.
“The process was exciting. I was offered this opportunity and I grew into this family business. In 2007, they asked me to become the general manager of their head office, and it wasn’t long after that that we started talking about succession planning for Don and Paul. It had always been a family business and they didn’t have any children, so their vision was for me to take it over. So in 2011 I started the process of buying into the company and finalized it in 2021.”
That family business model may continue with his daughter, Kingsley, who is the face of much of Mermaid’s advertising.
Working with swimming pools sounds like a lot of fun and, based on the warmth with which McNaughton speaks about Mermaid’s 60-plus employees, it probably is.
“It’s the best industry to be in. It’s so easy to be proud of the people involved, that I work with on a daily basis. I love it.”
However, no business is without its challenges. During the early years of the pandemic, Mermaid found itself in a unique position. Demand for home swimming pools, hot tubs and other leisure pursuits soared as people who were stuck at home redirected their vacation savings. Demand was high, but the supply chain was under strain. What exactly did that look like? McNaughton gives an example of how one component of the product was affected.
“Picture a pool liner, if you can,” he said. “That’s not one piece of vinyl. Pool liners are welded together. That’s how the seams are done. The machine to do that requires two people to stand at it. A lot of the liners were made in Upstate New York. They had lockdowns and social distancing — to make liners was a nightmare for them.”
It’s a period he describes as scary and stressful but noted, “Fortunately, it wasn’t a time where people said, ‘I don’t want a pool or hot tub.’”
Today, another threat looms on the horizon with the uncertainty of tariffs. McNaughton said that, while the swimming pool business has a strong seasonal element, Mermaid keeps busy all year, which helps offset the unknowns.
