Pablo Creek Reserve Article

Recently, Pools by John Clarkson's Jordan Clarkson and Joel Hartman were interviewed for a story to be posted on Pablo Creek Reserve's Website / Blog.  PBJC has had the pleasure to construct a variety of projects in the neighborhood for a number of homeowners and has developed a relationship with the community associates.  Vikki Stockton and her staff do a great job, and we are honored to be a featured Pool Contractor.

Pablo Creek Reserve is a Gated Community located at the south end of San Pablo Road, near the intracoastal waterway in Jacksonville, Florida.  The neighborhood has many qualities that make it a desirable place to live.  To begin with, the beach is accessible within minutes, as is the Mayo Clinic and Hospital.  The lots are larger than most neighborhoods' and there is a pleasant "Central Park" which is ideal for bar-b-ques and afternoon picnics.  The neighborhood has a real community feel and they decided to create the blog to enhance communication.

This particular blog story included a few pictures of a large Vanishing Edge Pool we designed and constructed for one of the community residents.  This particular pool featured a natural stone waterfall, an elevated spa with stone exterior, a flagstone beach entry, a 6 Jet Captain's Chair in the spa, Swim-up Bar made of natural stone with in pool bar stools, a fire-pit with a built-in bench, a travertine deck, and a Majestic Isle Pebble Interior.

To see more pictures of the project - please visit our Houzz profile.
To read the entire story - please visit Pablo Creek Reserve's blog.

Houzz.com - Portfolios and Idea books

The internet has undoubtedly changed the way people buy and sell products and services.  The pool industry is not exempt from this, and I have enjoy watching the evolution.  One of the biggest effects has been on the way people are able to research companies, materials and designs before they even meet with a contractor.

In the "Old Days," say the 90's ;) a salesman would show up at a home with a photo book as a portfolio of projects the company he represents had built.  The customer may have a few magazine cut outs of pools, but nothing the designer could take with him as that was their only copy.

With the internet becoming more readily available, the contractor's portfolios transitioned onto a website created by the company to display their work.  It was common for a salesman to show up at an appointment, in which a homeowner had printed out photos of pools, along with the magazine clip outs.  The challenge was the quality of the prints are usually sub par and from many unique sources, making it difficult to track down.

The fact is, Contractors want to display their portfolio and homeowners want to create and share a scrapbook of their ideas.  It adds to the excitement of the process.  At the Aquatech conference this February,  Pools by John Clarkson learned about a site that facilitates this online: Houzz.com.

Here is Houzz's description of their site:

About Houzz

Houzz is a leading destination site for home design enthusiasts-- professionals and homeowners. The Houzz site and mobile apps feature over 250,000 high quality interior and exterior photos, thousands of highly-engaging articles written by design experts, product recommendations and social tools to manage the remodeling and decorating process.

On the Houzz platform:

Design professionals showcase their portfolios, sharing their work with a community dedicated to home and landscape design. 40,000+ professionals have uploaded more than 250,000 inspiring photographs, making Houzz the Internet's largest database of design and decorating ideas.

Homeowners collect their favorite photos, find design professionals in their areas, upload photos of their homes and gardens, and swap tips and questions with other members. More than a million ideabooks have been created by Houzz members, and new ones are added every minute. 

PBJC has created a profile and encourages our prospective customers to visit the site and start creating their own idea book.  They can even follow us to be notified when we add new photos.

Hope to see you on Houzz!

Commercial Pool Remodel with Tempool

Pools by John Clarkson recently completed a major remodel on a pool for a community in the Jacksonville area.  The project included new pool tile, new plaster interior and a new paver deck and coping.  As these community pools age, it is amazing how much difference some new finishes can make - and how the pool can appear brand-new afterwards.

One of PBJC's partners in the project, Tempool; captured the process on a time lapse video.  The video shows the dramatic transformation in a little over a minute and half.  Although everything cannot be captured by film, and a lot of the hard work from certain individuals is missing - it is quite fun to see.  Enjoy!