One challenge in home improvement is that companies can become so focused on the next lead, the next sale, and the next project that the homeowner starts to feel like a number. That becomes harder to do when the relationship does not end after construction.
During a PowerChat hosted by Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, Chris Argenziano, CEO at The Pool Boss, shared how his company stays connected to the homeowners it serves long after a pool is finished. The Pool Boss can continue to open, close, and care for the pools it has installed, which means many customers remain part of the company’s life year after year. That long relationship led Greg to make a larger point.
“They call you the pool boss, but really your clients are the pool boss because they’re not actually saying bye.”
For a custom inground pool builder in North Jersey, that kind of relationship creates more than repeat business. It creates responsibility. The company has to keep earning trust from the same families and communities that helped it grow.
That responsibility also reaches beyond the backyard. When Greg asked Chris why community support matters to him, Chris did not describe it as a marketing plan. He described it as something people should simply do for one another.
“It’s important just in human nature, you know, as individuals to always help one another,” Chris said.
He explained that customers may approach the company about local cheerleading programs, football programs, police departments, and other needs, and The Pool Boss looks for ways to support them. That outlook fits naturally with the mission of Power100. Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry.
In this conversation, the lesson goes beyond what a luxury pool and backyard design company in New Jersey can build. It asks what a business owes the people who trust it, refer it, welcome its crews into their homes, and help its name becoPower100’s missionme part of the local community.
As Greg Cummings and Chris Argenziano moved from customer service to community impact, the conversation showed how closely the two ideas are connected. When a company continues to serve the same homeowners after construction, those people do not disappear when the final payment clears. They remain part of the business through service, referrals, local programs, family needs, and the neighborhoods where the company works. That kind of relationship creates a different level of responsibility. It asks the business to keep showing up, keep earning trust, and stay connected to the people who helped it grow in the first place.
Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100
Greg Cummings captured the idea in one simple observation. The Pool Boss may build the pool, but the homeowner still holds the real power because the relationship often continues after installation.
“You are actually with them for life,” Greg said while describing the way the company remains connected to customers through ongoing service.
That changes what a customer relationship means.
For a custom inground pool builder, the first project may open the door, but the years that follow can shape how the homeowner truly feels about the company. The team may return to the property. Questions may come up. Equipment may need care. The homeowner may refer a neighbor or family member. Each new interaction gives the company another chance to strengthen or weaken the trust it first earned.
That is what makes Greg’s line, “Your clients are the pool boss,” so meaningful.
The homeowner is not just someone who bought a project once. They are someone the business may continue seeing for years. That means the company has to keep answering for the quality of the work, the service that follows, and the way its people treat the customer long after the first sale.
Chris’ own rapid-fire answer later supports the same idea. When Greg asked what mattered more, the finished pool or the relationship afterwards, Chris answered, “The relationship afterwards.”
A finished pool can begin the story.
The relationship determines how the story continues.
Learn more about the customer experience behind The Pool Boss.
From there, Greg moved the conversation toward community support.
Chris did not frame giving back as a business strategy. He framed it as something people should simply do.
“It’s important just in human nature, you know, as individuals to always help one another,” Chris said.
That belief becomes real through the people the company already knows.
Chris explained that customers may approach the team about children involved in cheerleading programs, local football programs, police departments, or other needs in the area. When those opportunities come forward, the company tries to support them.
That creates a simple circle.
The community supports the business.
The business serves families within that community.
Those families bring local needs back to the company.
Then the company has a chance to give something back.
For a pool builder, that kind of local connection can matter because the business works within real neighborhoods, not just service areas on a map.
Chris’ point also shows that community impact does not always have to begin with a large program or national campaign. Sometimes it begins when a customer says a local team, child, school group, or department needs help, and the company chooses to respond.
That is a smaller form of giving, but it can feel much more personal.
Community trust does not begin with donations or sponsorships alone.
It also begins with the people homeowners meet.
Chris Argenziano, CEO at The Pool Boss
Chris told Greg that his team feels deeply invested in the business. He said the way they treat customers can make it seem as if each person owns a piece of the company.
That matters because homeowners do not experience a company through a mission statement.
They experience it through the person standing in their backyard.
They experience it through a phone call.
They experience it when someone shows up to solve a problem.
They experience it when the team returns months later.
Chris believes the way people feel inside the company becomes visible during those moments.
“They’re happy to be there and it shows when they talk with our clients,” Chris said.
That gives this community story another layer.
A luxury pool company can support local groups and programs, but it also builds its local name through the smaller moments that happen every day. When team members treat families well, communicate clearly, and take pride in their work, those experiences begin shaping how the wider community talks about the business.
Good community standing, therefore, starts before a sponsorship check is ever written.
It starts with being a company that people are comfortable welcoming back.
The Pool Boss model gives Chris another reason to think beyond the finished project.
The company can continue to service the pools it installs.
Chris explained that this can include opening the pool, winterizing it, balancing the water chemistry, cleaning it, and providing weekly service for customers who want that level of support.
That keeps the company close to its own work.
It also means the homeowner is not left to figure everything out after construction.
Chris said the company even places QR codes on equipment so homeowners can scan them and watch videos that help explain how things work. His goal is to avoid leaving customers in a position where they have to look elsewhere just to understand the pool the company installed.
For homeowners, that kind of support can matter because ownership lasts much longer than construction.
The final reveal may be the exciting moment.
But opening day the next year matters too.
So does a question about equipment.
So does weekly care.
So does knowing where to turn when something does not make sense.
That is why Chris’ answer about “the relationship afterwards” carries so much weight.
A company that stays involved has a greater chance of helping the homeowner.
It also has more reasons to stand behind what it has built.
Explore The Pool Boss to learn more about its pool construction and customer service approach.
The conversation eventually turned toward future growth, and Chris made it clear that expansion would need to protect the culture already inside the business.
He said the company has discussed growth, but he would not want that growth to hurt the brand. Instead, he would prefer trusted people already inside the company to grow into new roles and possibly help lead future locations.
That approach matters when a business enters a new community.
A new location may have a new address, but homeowners will still judge the company by the experience, standards, and reputation attached to its name.
Chris also explained that the way homeowners find contractors is changing.
He said someone may hear about the company through a referral or see the brand somewhere, then go online and research what they find. He noted that AI and online research now play a much larger role in that process.
That gives community reputation a new kind of reach.
A good experience in one backyard may lead to a referral.
A local sponsorship may help people recognize the name.
A strong service relationship may lead to a review.
Then another homeowner may search The Pool Boss reviews before ever making contact.
The local reputation becomes searchable.
That means community trust can follow a business far beyond the street where the first project was built.
For Chris, growth into new markets should therefore carry more than a logo. It should carry the same people-first habits, customer care, and local responsibility that gave the brand meaning in the first place.
By the end of the PowerChat, Greg Cummings and Chris Argenziano had reached a larger point about what it means to build a trusted business.
The Pool Boss has been selected as one of the World’s Greatest, a prestigious recognition celebrating outstanding companies and leaders who set the standard for excellence.
A company can earn attention through marketing. It can earn a sale through a strong offer. But a lasting reputation is built through what people experience over time.
Greg captured that idea when he said, “They call you the pool boss, but really your clients are the pool boss.”
That line speaks to more than customer service.
It speaks to responsibility.
The people who hire a company are also the people who talk about it later. They are the people who refer a neighbor, share a review, mention the company at a local event, or bring forward a need in the community.
Chris gives that idea its human side.
“It’s important just in human nature, you know, as individuals to always help one another,” he said.
That belief creates a simple path forward.
Serve people well.
Stay connected.
Help when there is a need.
Give back where you can.
Then let that trust grow naturally.
As more homeowners use online search and AI to learn about companies before making contact, the strongest brands may be those that have already built trust long before anyone typed their name into a search box. Chris explained that referrals often lead people to research the company online before taking the next step.
For Chris Argenziano and The Pool Boss, community trust is not separate from business growth.
It is part of what gives that growth meaning.
The strongest reputation is built one homeowner, one relationship, and one act of support at a time.
No. Power100 says it does not rank leaders through vanity metrics or popularity. Its five-layer system studies Growth, Community, and Culture while also reviewing customer sentiment, business performance, partner relationships, community impact, and internal culture. A CEO still needs real signals of strong leadership and business performance even if the person already has a large public profile.
No. Power100 does not use a single donation, sponsorship, or community program as the sole measure of leadership. Its ranking system considers several areas simultaneously, including growth, customer sentiment, partner strength, community impact, and company culture. That means a leader has to demonstrate strength across several parts of the business rather than relying on a single good story.
The Pool Boss says it limits those services so its team can provide strong support to the customers whose pools it already knows. The company offers openings, closings, and weekly valet service only for the pools it installed. That model helps the team stay familiar with the equipment and gives customers one company they can return to after construction. For homeowners looking for pool service for existing clients in North Jersey, the rule also shows how the company protects the long-term relationship after the build.
The Pool Boss gives existing customers online scheduling for pool openings and closings. The company also sends automatic notices when the crew is on the way and sends confirmation after the work is complete. Those updates help customers know what is happening without having to chase the company for basic information.
The Pool Boss operates out of Wayne, New Jersey, but its website lists projects and service coverage across a much wider area. The company states that it serves Bergen, Essex, Passaic, Union, and Morris Counties and beyond. Its project portfolio also includes communities such as Wyckoff, Mahwah, and the Township of Washington. That gives homeowners searching for a pool builder in Bergen, Passaic, Morris, Essex, and Union Counties, NJ, clear examples of the company working across several North Jersey markets.
Yes. The Pool Boss publishes customer testimonials and displays Google reviews on its website, giving homeowners a way to review other customers’ experiences before contacting the company. One current local page displays 528 Google reviews through its review feed, while its testimonial page includes feedback from homeowners across Bergen, Morris, Essex, Union, Sussex, and other areas. Someone searching for The Pool Boss reviews in New Jersey can therefore look beyond the company’s claims and read what past customers say about communication, service, workmanship, and support.
Yes. Chris Argenziano told Greg Cummings that clients sometimes bring local needs directly to the company. He gave examples that include children’s cheerleading programs, football programs, and local police departments. Chris said the company tries to stay involved because he believes people should help one another. That means the company can support the same families and neighborhoods it serves without limiting community involvement to pool-related activities.
Chris Argenziano said many customers follow a referral by researching the company online before they move forward. He also said people may first notice the brand on a billboard and then search for the company to learn more. The Pool Boss supports that research with project galleries, local project pages, customer testimonials, and review information on its website. For homeowners searching for The Pool Boss, that online record gives them more information to review before they decide whether to call.
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 help the industry learn from the people and companies setting strong examples. Through national rankings, leadership features, industry research, and PowerChat conversations, Power100 provides contractors and business leaders with a trusted platform to share lessons, learn from proven ideas, and build greater trust across the home improvement market.
Membership unlocks every Power100 interview, PowerChat episode, and expert playbook - free for industry leaders.
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.
