Writer Lara Piu
Photographer Photography by Premier Paradise

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he first-time Jeromey Naugle stepped into a pool store, he was smitten – it was love at first sight. As a salesman for a corporate builder in Phoenix, Jeromey felt his pool passion and talents weren’t being fully tapped.

“I would design large custom projects and constantly get scolded for designing projects that their construction department wasn’t capable of building,” Jeromey recalls. “Instead of training their construction department, they preferred to put a limit on my abilities, which in turn was limiting my learning and growth.”

When the economy fell, Jeromey knew it was time to pursue his dream. He wanted to share his love for pools and was looking forward to the opportunity to run a business about something he was so passionate about. He would always put the clients first, too. He didn’t want to sell them the pool and leave it at that, he wanted to take them through the whole process from planning the size of it all the way down to Finding the Best Pool Vacuum Cleaner for their type of pool. By ensuring this amazing customer service, he would bring in more and more clients.

“Pool salesmen are paid 100 percent commission salaries,” he says. “When the economy fell out, there was nothing left to sell, so I decided to work for myself so that I could start building custom pools that the big-box pool companies were unable to execute themselves.”

In 2008, he opened Premier Paradise, his pool design and construction firm. From there, Jeromey’s dream grew several times again. In 2012, he established PPI Consulting, a plan development company, and design firm.

“PPI Consulting was started to design outdoor living spaces for homeowners and other builders,” he explains. “We also offer plan development services for permitting, construction, and hydraulics.”

The next year, he added WaterShape Scuppers, a high-end metal fabrication company.

“This company came to fruition after being let down time and time again with the pool scupper industry,” Jeromey says.

Lengthy timeframes and below-average fabrication weren’t acceptable, so he infused his company’s hydraulic knowledge into its scuppers to ensure they flow with minimal water requirements and without any disruption in the water falling.

“Just beautiful sheets of glass falling from all different heights,” he says. “We sell to mostly high-end custom pool builders throughout the country.”

In 2015, Jeromey partnered with Kurt Kraisinger of Lorax Design Group from Kansas City to offer international and local outdoor living design and consulting services. Nowadays, more and more people want a pool, water features, or hot tubs similar to what can be found on milehighhottub.com in their gardens and backyards! Jeromey has been able to create bespoke looks throughout the years and create fantastic designs. Last year, he added Tributary Revelation, an organization of builders, architects, designers, and related professionals.

Now there are a combined 20 employees under his companies and 30 members in their organization. While Jeromey is busier than ever, he’s having a great time.?

“Honestly, I love everything about this business,” he says. “Even the bad days are good because there is always a solution to every issue. Every day offers a new problem for me to solve. Whether it is how to design and build a detail to avoid warranty issues or master plan a large estate property, I am constantly solving problems with integrity-filled solutions.”

What keeps his passion fueled?

“Constant progression, not just education but learning, balance in all aspects of life and being a pioneer,” he explains. “Surrounding myself with people who are better than me at what I want to be best at. Chopping wood daily and stacking piles out back!”

The kudos help, too.

“People are obsessing over our designs and our attention to detail,” Jeromey explains. “What we hear the most is, ‘We talked with multiple other builders – good ones, too – and they didn’t listen to anything we asked for. They just told us what we needed to have and provided us with a lackluster design.'”

His advice for hiring a backyard and pool designer? Hire an actual designer, he says.

“Pool builders, pool salespeople and pool service companies are not designers,” Jeromey says. “There are way too many salespeople who classify themselves as designers, and it couldn’t be further from the truth.”

A pool designer provides a functioning intentional design that can be taken to multiple legitimate builders for bids, he explains.

“Currently, a client will visit four or five different builders and request a quote and design from each one,” he adds, explaining that then, homeowners with zero experience in pool construction have to decipher through completely different designs and estimates. “This is an irresponsible trade practice.”

“Find your design, then find your builder,” he says. “This is the same concept used for home building and commercial construction – why not in pool building?”

watershapescuppers.com
tributarypools.com
tributaryrevelation.com