Brothers dive into Nixa pool business

Now after more than two decades in business, the brothers are operating a successful company with enough customers to keep them busy year-round.

The Schleseners opened Buster Crabbe Pools Inc. in 1983 at a south Springfield location.

After several years, the pair outgrew the Springfield spot and chose to relocate to Nixa.

The business spreads across a 4.5-acre lot with storage sheds, display pools and plenty of space to park equipment and trucks.

“We needed a place close to town, close to our work, but yet someplace where we could spread out,” Jeff Schlesener says.

The company installs about 50 pools a year and employs around 20. Jeff Schlesener oversees sales and Gary Schlesener is head of construction.

Slow start

In the early 1980s, Jeff Schlesener was completing a business degree at Southwest Missouri State University and working for pool contractors, while Gary was working in concrete construction. The two decided the time was right and started their business.

The customers didn’t come running right away, Jeff Schlesener remembers, and there were times the brothers questioned their original vision.

“In the beginning, there was a lot of competition. I guess there still is, but being the new kid on the block, it’s tough to break into the market,” he says. “It was tough – a lot of weeks without paychecks.”

After about seven years, Schlesener says business picked up and the snowball effect took hold.

Gary Schlesener says one aspect they didn’t count on was the growth of the Springfield area, something that has worked in their favor.

“That’s definitely been a positive,” he says. “I mean, it was a good area even back then, but how everything’s just boomed, (it was) certainly a good decision to start a company here.

“I’d like to say I saw it coming,” he adds, “but I didn’t. We’re kind of blessed in that area.”

‘Bread and butter’

Buster Crabbe Pools focuses on residential jobs. Pools range in price between $20,000 and $55,000, including installation.

“We do a steel structure with vinyl liner,” he says. “That’s pretty much our bread and butter.”

In addition to pool installation, a major part of the company’s business is servicing pools, preparing them for opening and closing and maintaining every aspect of them.

“We’ll close about 700 pools (this season),” says Jeff Schlesener, adding that automatic pool cleaners, automatic chemical feeders and automatic pool covers all have made owning a pool much simpler.

“It was a headache; now they almost take care of themselves,” he adds.

Another technology improvement Schlesener is impressed with is the new Far-Infrared sauna.

Buster Crabbe Pools began selling them a couple of years ago and Schlesener says they are amazing.

“You sit in one and you sweat, and it actually pulls the toxins out of you,” he says.

Family values

The brothers, raised in Eldon, both came to Springfield for college – Jeff in 1977 and Gary several years later.

They credit their upbringing and early experience in concrete and construction work as the foundation for their solid business principles.

“We do what we say we’re going to do,” Jeff Schlesener says. “We don’t pull the wool over people’s eyes. And we do things in a timely manner. It’s not anything we thought up; it’s just how we were raised.”

Gary Schlesener says rather than specific goals for growth, the brothers have focused on staying on schedule and being able to provide the quality service their clients expect.

Scheduling is an important part of Mike Robbins’ custom home building business. Lining up contractors and making sure each contractor works in a timely manner so the next can come in is essential, Robbins says. That’s why he chooses to work with the Schlesener brothers.

“Every time they told me they’d be there in so many days, or at a certain time, they were always there, always punctual,” Robbins says. “I trust people around me to be like that, but that doesn’t always work out. I wish everybody I did business with did business like that.”

Buster Crabbe Pools installed Robbins’ personal indoor swimming pool and completed contracts for two pools at homes Robbins was building for clients.

Buster Crabbe Pools Inc.

Owner: Jeff and Gary Schlesener

Founded: 1983

Address: 1151 W. Guin Road, Nixa, MO 65714

Phone: (417) 725-POOL

Fax: (417) 724-2823

Web site: www.bustercrabbepools.com

Services/Products: Specialize in residential in-ground pool construction, service and repair.

Employees: 18

Who is Buster Crabbe?

When the Schleseners began their pool business in 1983, the first pool they installed was a Buster Crabbe brand swimming pool. The company, from Southern California, was once owned by Buster Crabbe, an Olympic athlete and actor.

Crabbe competed as a swimmer in the 1928 and 1932 Olympic games, winning a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle in 1932. Crabbe then went on to become an actor – playing roles such as Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Billy the Kid and Buck Rogers – and an entrepreneur, owning the swimming pool company. Crabbe died in 1983.

The Schleseners only installed Buster Crabbe pools for the first couple years in business, but the name had been established and was growing in the area, says Jeff Schlesener, so they didn’t want to change it.