Next Level Pools and Spas: Success Story

Back in the 1980s, Robbie didn’t expect his future to be in any way connected to pools. He wanted to be a veterinarian. College on the horizon, a respected career, and a steady life were ahead of him. At least in theory. 

Today, his company — Next Level Pools and Spas, that he runs with his wife Melissa — builds commercial and residential pools all around Central Florida and scores way above the median in our directory. And that’s quite a shift from a steady veterinarian trade.

When we asked about the change of plans, Robbie said that it all started almost by accident: he took a job cleaning pools for a friend’s dad in high school, college kept getting pushed back, and he “got stuck in the pool business.” 35 years later, it’s a successful family business.

This is the story of Next Level Pools and Spas.

NEXT LEVEL POOLS AND SPAS AT A GLANCE
OWNERS	Melissa and Robbie, husband and wife
SHOWROOM	Maitland, Orange County
BUILDS	New residential and commercial pools, plus renovations
CREW	Family and a small in-house team, run by a superintendent Robbie has known since high school
FUNDING	Self-funded from day one, no loans
PERMITS PULLED	110+

Level 1 — 18 Years in the summer job

That first job was with a friend’s dad who ran a pool cleaning company, and Robbie stayed in it. He stayed for about eighteen years. Long enough to move off the net and onto the repairs.

He left to start a renovation company with Melissa, then spent time working for a friend who built pools: the stretch he credits for getting his roots in the ground on the building side. Next Level Pools and Spas’s official first year is 2020.

Where the Next Level name came from

Ask Robbie about the company name and he doesn’t reach for a branding story:

“It’s kinda like the name Next Level Pools — I kept going up one level till I got to the point where I made it to the top, where we’re building residential and commercial pools now.” — Robbie

Level 2 — finding the reasonable limit

Plenty of Florida builders run at volume. Robbie’s read on that end of the market is that somewhere past a certain number of pools a year, the homeowner stops talking to anyone who can actually change anything. He built the company to sit on the other side of that line, and he’s not shy about it being a choice.

He has no interest in winning a build on being the cheapest quote in the stack, or in the customers that pitch brings in:

“We’re not trying to build a thousand pools a year. We’re trying to stay right at the level we want to be at and still give out the quality.” — Robbie

The crew is the part they won’t rush

The superintendent running their jobs is a close friend of Robbie’s from high school. Several of the crew have worked alongside him across more than one company, and both owners credit that consistency for how smoothly the work has gone.

Hiring is where they move slowest. The bar is whether someone will represent the company well standing in a homeowner’s backyard, rather than whether there’s a seat that needs filling.

Level 3 — Learning to turn work down

“If you don’t fit our vibe, we don’t wanna build a pool for you.” — Robbie

That filter has a price tag on it. Robbie estimates they’ve turned down around $500,000 of pool work in the last two years, on jobs where the customer didn’t feel right or the early conversation raised a flag. For a company this size, walking away from that much work is the clearest thing they’ve said about how they intend to operate.

Trade tip: referrals do almost all the selling

Almost every job comes from someone they’ve already built for. They keep a website and spend close to nothing on advertising.

“Almost all of our jobs are referrals from prior customers. It’s just strictly word-of-mouth.” — Robbie

The one real experiment was a three-month magazine ad last year, and it mostly turned up people not ready to build. The showroom they opened in April of 2024 did more for them than the ad did — they started in a shared office of about 100 square feet, moved when that building sold, and having a room with their name on it in Maitland is what put them on the local map. There are no promotions running at the moment.

Level 4 — New builds, commercial work and renovations

As Robbie says, now new residential pools are the bulk of it. Commercial work is the rung Robbie spent a career climbing toward, and renovations stayed on the books — that’s where he and Melissa started as a pair, before either of them was building from scratch.

• New residential pools and spas
• Commercial pool projects
• Renovations on existing pools

All of it runs through the same small team, which is the entire point of keeping the company at this size.

Homeowner Tip: mind the weather!

Weather is the recurring operational problem, and not in the way a homeowner expects. Heat is a crew issue. Rain is a money issue for a pool builder.

The expensive version is a hole that’s been dug and steeled sitting open through a storm and caving in before the shell goes on. That’s a redig and a re-steel, on the builder’s dime.

• Heat that slows a crew through the afternoon
• Rain days that push every trade back
• A dug and steeled hole caving in before the shell goes on
• A redig and a re-steel, at the builder’s cost

Expectations: a week from dig to shell

Robbie’s crews can dig and shell a pool in about a week. Jobs typically get plumbed the day after the gunite was shot. That’s proof of the pace and the standard together.

Level 5 — Resist scaling past quality

They’ve never borrowed. Self-funded from the first job, never a month where cash flow was the problem, and Robbie is clear the credit was there if they’d ever wanted it.

COVID barely registered. The business got going around the back end of it, and the material price rises that followed hit the whole industry at once without breaking anything on their end.

Next Level? In Progress

The same phrase Robbie used about learning to build is the one he uses about growing. Roots in the ground first, then steam. They’re adding capacity at a pace they can watch — their daughter is already selling, another salesperson starts soon, vehicles are going on, and the superintendent bench is getting deeper.

He’s seen the alternative. Larger builders scaling fast, then gone overnight, is a pattern he brings up unprompted, and it’s clearly doing work in how he plans. The long game is a name in Maitland solid enough to hand to their kids or sell when they’re ready.

“It’s no stress here.” — Robbie

Is Next Level Pools and Spas a Good Fit for Your Next Project?

If you like the story, you can get a new residential or commercial build from Melissa and Robbie, visit their showroom, and get in touch with them on their website. 

[ contact form ]