Home improvement companies often try to improve customer experience by changing what happens in front of the customer. They add new scripts, more training, better systems, and new service rules. But those steps can only go so far when the people delivering the experience do not feel valued themselves.
During a PowerChat hosted by Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, Chris Argenziano, CEO at The Pool Boss, shared a different view. Chris described an open-door culture where his people can come to him about work matters or personal matters. He said he cares about each person and sees the company as having a strong family feeling. That foundation helps explain what homeowners later experience from a custom inground pool builder in North Jersey.
Chris said his team feels so invested in the company that “you would think that they own a piece of the company.” He believes that sense of ownership changes how people treat customers because they are not simply doing a job. They care about the outcome.
That connection between employee experience and customer experience is what made the conversation stand out.
Chris said, “They’re happy to be there and it shows when they talk with our clients, our clients are happy.”
His point is simple. A company cannot expect people to create a warm, trusted experience for homeowners if those same people feel ignored inside the business. When the team feels heard, supported, and connected to the company, that feeling can follow them into every conversation and every backyard.
For a luxury pool and backyard design company in New Jersey, that matters because homeowners are trusting more than a finished product. They are trusting the people who will enter their property, communicate through the project, and represent the company every day.
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry. This PowerChat shows why culture belongs in that larger leadership conversation. A great customer experience may begin long before the customer sees the finished work. It may begin with whether the people doing that work are proud to be there.
As Greg Cummings moved deeper into the conversation with Chris Argenziano, the focus shifted from what homeowners see to what happens inside the company before the team ever reaches a job site. Chris believes customer experience grows from culture. When people feel trusted, supported, and connected to the business, they bring that feeling into the way they speak, work, solve problems, and care for customers. His point is not that happiness replaces skill or strong systems. It is that even the best process works better when the people using it actually want to be there. For Chris, a strong culture creates people who take pride in the company, and that pride becomes part of the experience homeowners receive.
Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100
Chris does not describe customer service as something that begins with a script.
He describes it as something that can naturally grow from how people feel about the company.
During the PowerChat, Chris said his team members are happy to serve customers because they are happy to be part of the business.
“They’re happy to do it. They’re happy to be there,” Chris said.
That difference matters.
A homeowner can often tell when someone is only completing a task. They can also tell when the person standing in their backyard takes real pride in what happens next.
For a custom inground pool builder, that feeling can shape every part of the project. Homeowners may spend weeks speaking with planners, project managers, construction teams, and service staff. Each person becomes part of the company experience.
Chris believes a happy work environment helps those moments feel better for everyone.
“Creating a happy work environment is gonna put you’re gonna get so much more out of the whole experience with everyone,” Chris said. He added that when his people are happy, that feeling reaches the homeowner, too.
The larger lesson is not simply that happy employees smile more.
It is that people who feel good about the company they represent may bring more care, patience, and pride into the customer relationship.
That turns culture into something the homeowner can actually experience.
Learn more about the people and customer experience behind The Pool Boss.
Chris takes the idea one step further by describing how deeply his team feels connected to the company.
“Everyone’s vested in, right?” Chris said. “You would think that they own a piece of the company.”
He is not talking about legal ownership.
He is talking about behavior.
People care how a project turns out.
They care about how a homeowner feels.
They care about what happens to the company name.
They care enough to treat a customer problem like something that belongs to them too.
That kind of ownership can become especially valuable where many small decisions and details can shape the final experience. A person who feels connected to the company may be more willing to notice a problem, speak up, find an answer, and make sure the customer gets what was promised.
Chris connects that sense of ownership to belonging.
He describes an open-door culture where people can come to him with work concerns or personal concerns. He says he cares about each person and sees the team as a strong family.
That support helps explain why his people may feel more responsible for what happens around them.
When people believe the company cares about them, they have another reason to care about the company.
For leaders, that creates an important culture lesson.
Ownership does not always begin by giving someone a title.
Sometimes it begins by giving them a reason to feel that they belong.
Follow Chris Argenziano for more insight into his approach to team culture and leadership.
Chris also pays attention to a type of customer feedback that many leaders might overlook.
He said he enjoys hearing homeowners praise the company.
But he finds something even more meaningful when customers tell him that the people working in their backyard speak positively about how the company treats them.
Chris Argenziano, CEO at The Pool Boss
For Chris, that is proof that culture has moved beyond something leadership says.
The team is living it when he is not standing there.
He explained that his people can come to him about work or personal issues and that he cares about each one of them.
That matters because a CEO cannot be on every project.
Chris cannot control every conversation between a crew member and a homeowner.
He cannot personally create every good moment.
Culture has to work even when the leader is elsewhere.
For a pool builder, that can become especially important as teams move between many homes and communities. The homeowner may never meet the CEO during the project. Their view of the company may come almost entirely from the people who arrive at the property.
Those people carry the brand with them.
They show the homeowner what the company values through their actions.
Chris believes that when his team trusts the business and feels respected inside it, homeowners can sense that confidence outside it.
That makes employee experience part of customer trust.
Chris’ view of culture also affects how he thinks about workload.
During the peak of COVID demand, he reached a point where the company could have continued taking on more customers.
Instead, he stopped adding projects.
His concern was that the team could become exhausted and that workmanship could begin to suffer.
“I have to put my people before my profit,” Chris said.
In this perspective, that decision becomes proof behind the culture Chris describes.
A company cannot say it wants people to enjoy their work while constantly pushing them past what they can handle.
Too much pressure can affect patience.
It can affect communication.
It can affect attention to detail.
It can also change how someone feels when they arrive at the next customer’s home.
For a luxury pool and backyard design company, where homeowners may expect close attention to detail throughout the project, those effects can quickly reach the customer.
Chris connects team health and workmanship because he sees them as part of the same experience.
Protecting culture, therefore, means more than creating a friendly workplace.
It also means giving people a fair chance to do work they can be proud of.
That protects the team.
It protects the project.
And it protects the homeowner who trusted the company with the work.
See how The Pool Boss approaches its projects while keeping quality and customer care at the center.
Chris also thinks about culture when he considers future growth.
He told Greg that the company has discussed expansion, but he does not want growth to weaken the brand.
“We wouldn’t want the brand to suffer,” Chris said.
That creates a different standard for expansion.
A new location cannot simply carry the same logo.
It has to carry the same way of treating people.
Chris said he would want growth to come through people already inside the company. Team members may start in one role, develop over time, and eventually take on a very different level of responsibility. If new locations become part of the future, he sees trusted people from within the business helping lead that growth.
That gives employees room to grow while also helping the company protect its culture.
Someone who already understands how customers should be treated does not have to learn the company from the beginning.
They can carry those values into the next team and the next market.
Chris’ rapid fire answers make clear what that culture is meant to protect.
When Greg asked him to choose between growth and control of the client experience, Chris answered, “Control.”
When Greg then asked whether the finished pool or the relationship afterwards mattered more, Chris answered, “The relationship afterwards.”
Those answers bring the entire perspective together.
Culture is not the end goal.
The goal is to build people who care enough to protect the experience wherever the company goes.
For homeowners, that culture can eventually become part of what they see in customer feedback, referrals, and the reputation the company carries into the market.
Learn more about The Pool Boss and the team Chris Argenziano is building for the future.
Chris Argenziano’s focus on people, customer care, and team ownership is showing up beyond the company itself. In 2026, The Pool Boss announced that the national television series World’s Greatest! named the company the “World’s Greatest” pool company. The program highlighted the company’s in-house construction process, custom work, customer communication, and connection to the New Jersey community. The segment originally aired on Bloomberg Television. The recognition matters for this conversation because it points to more than finished pools. It points to the people and process behind them.
The Pool Boss has been recognized as one of the World’s Greatest, a prestigious recognition celebrating outstanding companies and leaders who set the standard for excellence.
That same theme appeared when The Pool Boss earned recognition on the 2026 Power100 Outdoor Living Authority List. The evaluation looked at leadership, community, company culture, customer service, and industry impact. The feature specifically pointed to the company’s people-first culture and its belief that strong customer experiences come from the people delivering them. That directly supports Chris’ message in this PowerChat. When employees feel connected to the company, customers can feel the difference.
The company has also gained attention from major lifestyle and media platforms. Contributor content published by Architectural Digest highlighted The Pool Boss for its custom outdoor living work, client-centered process, in-house team, and focus on long-term customer relationships. The article also noted that Chris built stronger training and systems as the company grew, so the team could protect communication and service quality.
In July 2026, Chris Argenziano and The Pool Boss also appeared in sponsored Brand Spotlight content on FOX 5 New York. Chris and the company’s leadership discussed how homeowners can turn their backyards into complete outdoor spaces and how families should think about the experience they want before building.
Together, these recognitions give the culture story more weight. A luxury pool and backyard design company in New Jersey can win attention for beautiful finished projects, but the stronger story is what keeps appearing behind the work: an involved team, clear communication, customer care, and people who take pride in what they build.
For Chris and The Pool Boss, the growing national attention offers outside proof of a simple idea shared throughout the PowerChat. When people feel valued within the company, they are more likely to create work and customer experiences that others notice outside it.
By the end of the PowerChat, Chris Argenziano’s message points back to something simple that many business leaders can miss.
Companies spend a great deal of time asking how to improve service, earn better reviews, create more referrals, and make customers happier. Chris suggests another question may need to come first.
Are our people happy to be here?
That question never reaches the homeowner directly. But the answer can.
It can show up in the way someone speaks to a customer. It can show up in the care they bring to a project. It can show up when a problem needs to be solved or when a homeowner needs one more answer.
The Pool Boss
Chris believes that when people feel connected to the company, they begin to carry its reputation as if it were their own. He said his team feels so invested that “you would think that they own a piece of the company.”
That kind of care cannot be created by a script alone.
It grows from trust.
It grows when people feel heard.
It grows when they know their work matters.
And over time, it can become something customers notice without anyone having to explain it.
“They’re happy to be there and it shows when they talk with our clients, our clients are happy,” Chris said.
For Chris Argenziano and The Pool Boss, that gives the future a clear standard.
As the company grows, the goal is not simply to keep the same name or offer the same services.
It is to keep creating a place where people still care enough to represent that name well.
Because before a company can ask its team to create a great experience for homeowners, it first has to create an environment its own people are proud to represent.
Power100 does not rely only on what a CEO says about the company. Its five-layer ranking system cross-checks public and verifiable business data with feedback from employees, customers, and industry partners. Power100 also uses human review alongside its scoring system. That process helps the platform compare a leader’s culture claims with outside signals from people who actually experience the company.
No. Power100 uses AI scoring as one part of its ranking process, but AI does not make the final decision on its own. Industry veterans review the results, and Power100 cross-checks customer, partner, and employee feedback before it produces a final ranking. The platform says its process combines technology with human review, so one automated score does not define a leader’s culture or impact.
No. The Pool Boss describes itself as an owner-operated company and says Chris Argenziano remains closely involved from the beginning. The company also assigns professional project management support during construction. That structure allows Chris to stay connected to the standard of the work while giving the team clear responsibility for delivering the homeowner experience. For families choosing a custom inground pool builder in North Jersey, who creates accountability at both the leadership and project level.
Yes. The Pool Boss says its vision and design team includes an in-house licensed architect and certified designers with more than 25 years of professional design experience. The company designs more than pools and can bring together stonework, pavilions, water features, outdoor kitchens, fire features, landscaping, and hardscape. That gives homeowners looking for a luxury pool and backyard design company in New Jersey access to specialized design knowledge while still working with the close team culture Chris describes.
Yes. The Pool Boss publishes customer testimonials and verified review content that repeatedly mentions the wider team, not only Chris. Customers describe team members as professional, helpful, responsive, organized, and invested in the project. One testimonial from Township of Washington says customers work with “a team of professionals” and says the team members care about what they are doing. That external feedback supports Chris Argenziano’s point that homeowners can feel the team’s level of investment.
The Pool Boss says every team member takes pride in an individual role while working toward one shared goal. The company separates important parts of the experience through its vision and design team, construction professionals, and project management structure. It assigns both an on-site and an off-site project manager during construction. This structure gives people ownership of their work while still asking the full team to protect the homeowner experience.
No. Chris Argenziano places strong value on a family-style culture, but The Pool Boss also uses a professional structure. Its website identifies licensed and certified design professionals, dedicated project managers, and an experienced construction team. Chris’ cultural message does not replace technical skill. It explains how he wants skilled people to feel while they perform the work. That combination matters to homeowners seeking custom vinyl-liner pool installation in New Jersey.
No. The company describes its approach as a complete concierge experience rather than a simple construction job. It also offers pool care to existing customers after installation. Chris takes that idea further in the PowerChat. When Greg Cummings asked whether the finished pool or the relationship afterwards mattered more, Chris answered, “The relationship afterwards.” That answer shows why team culture matters beyond the original build. The people representing the company may continue serving the same homeowner long after construction ends.
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry. Led by Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, the platform examines leadership, growth, culture, customer experience, and community impact to draw greater attention to the CEOs and companies driving the industry forward. Through national rankings, leadership features, industry research, and PowerChat conversations, Power100 gives contractors and business leaders a place to learn from proven ideas, stronger company cultures, and leadership practices that can improve the way teams serve customers.
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Power100 is the nation's premier CEO ranking and media platform for the home improvement industry. Using a proprietary 5-layer evaluation system, Power100 identifies and celebrates the top CEOs, companies, and strategic partners driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and leadership excellence across the country.
