Veteran-owned pool builders in Northeast Ohio

In everyday use it means the business is owned and run by someone who served in the U.S. armed forces. There is no special state license behind the phrase, and a company can describe itself that way without any certificate.

There is a formal definition when it counts for government work. Under the federal rules the SBA administers, a veteran-owned small business must be a small business that is not less than 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more veterans who live in the United States. A service-disabled veteran-owned small business meets the same test with owners whose disability is rated by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Owned and controlled matters in that definition: a veteran who holds a small stake while someone else runs the company does not make it veteran owned in the formal sense.

VetCert is the SBA's Veteran Small Business Certification program. Since January 1, 2023, the SBA has certified veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, a job that used to sit with the VA. To apply, the owners must be identified by the VA as veterans or service-disabled veterans, the business must be small under the SBA's size standards and registered in SAM.gov, and at least 51 percent of it must be owned and controlled by veterans.

The program exists so those businesses can compete for federal set-aside and sole-source contracts. That is why it is common among companies that sell to the government and uncommon among residential builders, whose customers are homeowners. A pool builder who is not VetCert certified may still be veteran owned. They simply may never have needed to apply.

Use more than one check. None of them is complicated.

• Ask. Ask who owns the company and whether the owner served. A real veteran owner will tell you about it.
• Search the SBA. Certified veteran firms can be verified through the SBA's Small Business Search. A listing there is strong evidence. No listing, for a residential business, proves little either way.
• Check the Ohio Secretary of State. Its free business search shows whether the company on your contract is a registered, active entity, along with its filings. Filings do not always name owners, but they confirm you are dealing with a real company.
• Meet the owner. In a small company the owner is often on the site visit or on the job. That is also the best way to judge how the business is run.

No. Ohio runs a separate Veteran-Friendly Business Procurement Program under Ohio Revised Code 122.925, which helps certified businesses compete for state contracts. The law defines a veteran-friendly business enterprise by veteran employment standards set by the directors of development and transportation, based on the percentage of a business's employees who are veterans. The Ohio Department of Development lists it among the state certifications its Minority Business Assistance Centers help businesses obtain.

So a veteran-friendly certification tells you a company employs veterans in the proportion the state requires. It does not by itself tell you who owns the company. Like VetCert, it is built for public contracts and is rare among residential pool builders.

Ohio State Pools, Inc. is veteran owned and operated. The owner is Todd Stump, who has more than 13 years in high-end construction, including custom pools and complex structural projects. If you want to hear about his service, ask him at your consultation.

Our lead designer, Mike, has more than 40 years of designing and building pools and was featured on HGTV's Pool Kings. Our crew comes from construction, mechanical systems and landscaping backgrounds, which covers the three kinds of work a pool actually is: structure, the systems that run it and the yard around it.

We are based at 4935 S Prospect St in Ravenna, and we work within about 50 miles of Rootstown, across Portage, Summit, Stark, Cuyahoga, Mahoning, Trumbull, Medina, Wayne, Lorain, Geauga, Columbiana and Lake counties.

Mostly it looks like a plan followed through. Every pool we build is designed in 3D on your lot before anything is dug, so you see the shell, the deck, the equipment pad and the fence line before you commit. We pull the permits. We put quality materials in the ground to prevent failures later, and we install Pentair equipment, including a variable-speed pump, a DE filter, a pool heater and MicroBrite LED lights in every fiberglass package. Our Liberty fiberglass packages run from $68,400 to $103,900 installed, published so you can plan with real numbers.

We also build Latham vinyl liner pools and ICF concrete pools, patios, outdoor kitchens and retaining walls, and we service pools with openings, weekly cleaning, repairs and closings.

Ownership does not set the price of a pool. The shell, the equipment, the concrete, the dig and the site conditions do. We publish our fiberglass package prices so you can compare them with anyone's: $68,400 for the Dignity 10x20 or the Enrichment 9x17, $74,900 for the Hero 12x26, up to $103,900 for the Virtuous 16x40, each with the Pentair equipment, a 4 ft concrete deck and startup included.

A complete inground pool in Northeast Ohio is a sizable project, and most owners add the barrier fence their town requires, some extra patio and often a cover. Many families finance part of it, and we work with lenders including PoolLoan.net and HFS Financial.

A pool is a long relationship, not a single job. In Ohio it has to be opened each spring and closed each fall with the lines blown out and the equipment winterized, and in between it needs its water tested and balanced. Some owners learn to do all of it. Others would rather not. We offer openings, weekly cleaning, maintenance with equipment checks and chemical balancing, repairs and inspections, and closings, so the company that built your pool can keep it running.

We would rather you hear it from them. A few Google reviews, quoted as written:

• Dustin S.: "Todd and his crew are fantastic pool installers. Easy to work with. Pick out your fiberglass pool and they handle the rest."
• Nick S.: "The project was priced great, the build and craftsmanship was top notch."
• The boys garage: "He's very knowledgeable and his team is on time and professional. Hard to find that combo with fair prices these days."

Ask any builder you are considering, us included, for references from pools a few seasons old. A pool that still looks right after several Ohio winters tells you more than a fresh one.

Our region is harder on pools than the brochures suggest. A lot of the ground here is slow-draining clay that holds water through fall, winter and spring, and the winters bring repeated freezing and thawing. A pool built in that ground needs a solid base, stone backfill, a way to relieve groundwater and grading that sends rain away from the pool and the house. None of that shows once the deck is poured, which is why it is worth asking about before you sign.

The same goes for the paperwork. Each town writes its own barrier and setback rules, and the permit has to match what gets built. A builder who works here every season knows those offices and those soils. That local experience is worth weighing right alongside who owns the company.

It is a fair reason to put a builder on your shortlist, and many families like supporting veteran-owned businesses. It should not be the only reason. Ohio has no state license for pool builders, so the checks that matter are the ones you do yourself:

• Does the builder walk your site and design the pool on your actual lot?
• Will they pull the permits and draw the barrier fence into the plans?
• Does the quote name the shell model, the equipment by brand and the deck size, with every addition on its own line?
• Is there a written contract with a certificate of liability insurance? Ohio law requires one with specific contents for home construction services of $25,000 or more.
• How do they handle groundwater, backfill and drainage in Northeast Ohio clay?

A builder who answers those well is worth talking to, whoever owns the company. We think we answer them well, and we would like the chance to show you on your own lot.