Throughout my life, I have always needed a creative outlet. I took every art class I could, sang in the high-school choir, joined drama, and wrote for the school paper. Creativity wasn’t just something I enjoyed; it was something I needed. So when I eventually joined the family swimming-pool business, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of cleaning pools for a living. It didn’t feel creative, it didn’t feel expressive — it just felt like work. But after talking it over with people I trusted, I realized the long game was where the creativity lived. If I could earn my way into building pools, designing them from the ground up, I might finally find the outlet I had been looking for while making a solid living.

My journey to becoming a pool builder started the old-fashioned way — with cleaning and repairing existing pools. And in hindsight, I couldn’t have asked for a better foundation. What better way to learn how a pool works than by fixing the issues that come with older ones? Over the next four years, I took every opportunity I could to learn. I cleaned, skimmed, vacuumed, diagnosed leaks, repaired equipment, and soaked up knowledge anywhere I could find it. As time went on, I added advanced building and design classes to my workload. I knew where I wanted to go, and I was putting in the hours to get there.

Six years later, the chance finally came: my first pool build. And luck was on my side — the customer couldn’t have been a better fit. The excitement and nerves I felt going into that first meeting were unlike anything I’d experienced before. After all the time, the work, and let’s be honest, the money I had invested in learning this craft, I was finally stepping into the role I’d always aimed for. Suddenly, I wasn’t just a technician anymore. I was the designer, the salesperson, the project manager, the whip-cracker, and the jump-in-and-get-it-done-now girl. It was my show.

Surprisingly, the easiest part of the entire project was the actual sale. Before meeting the client, she’d already sent me a few photos of what she had in mind. I went online, looked up the real estate listing, studied the property on Google Earth, and put together a full 3D rendering and video presentation for our first meeting. When she saw it, she was completely blown away. She looked at me and said, “You knew what I wanted before I even met you.” What can I say — the internet is a powerful tool when you know how to use it.

Of course, one of the first questions she asked was the one every client asks: how long will it take to build my pool? We told her three to four months, which she was completely fine with. But then she added the kicker — she absolutely had to have the pool finished by June 1st. A hard deadline.

At that moment, I honestly thought, “No problem. Smooth sailing.” Which turned out to be my famous last words.

From the very beginning, we hit setbacks. Vendors missed inspections. Weather refused to cooperate. Delays stacked upon delays. Everyone had someone else to blame. It felt like each day brought a new surprise complication. I’ll never forget one moment: I was on the phone with my client and one of our vendors, and he said, “I was playing cards with my family on a Sunday and looked outside — and there’s Kelli jackhammering the ground.”

What can I say? I had two things on my mind: one, I had to finish this pool by June 1st, and two, even though we had flashed the shell, there was no way it would survive another big storm. And guess what? Another was coming.

Once we got through gunite, the phases moved faster — but the weather kept fighting us. It felt like the moment I decided to build a pool, California decided it finally wanted rain. June 1st drew closer and closer, and despite everything we threw at the timeline, we missed it. We were scheduled to plaster five days later. The day before plaster, I even left my annual camping trip — a trip I planned under the naïve assumption the pool would be complete — just to make sure everything was prepared perfectly.

Plaster day finally arrived, and ironically, it was the smoothest phase of the entire project. Watching the surface come to life, watching the design I had envisioned become real, was emotional for me. The client was in love with her pool and spa — and honestly, so was I. After everything we went through, after all the sleepless nights, stress, learning curves, and the literal jackhammering, to see that finished pool felt monumental. I even cried a little, and I’m not the crying type.

Looking back, the experience was invaluable. Every bit of training, every class, every problem I solved in the service world — all of it prepared me for that very first build. It showed me exactly what I was capable of and just how much responsibility comes with the title “pool builder.”

One piece of advice has always stuck with me, given to me by Mike Bradley of NorCal Pool Production in Penryn, California: “Do not rush to get big. Take it slow and don’t try to sell every lead, or you’ll overwhelm yourself and underdeliver. And don’t jump straight into the biggest pools right away.” He was right. Growth without control isn’t growth — it’s chaos.

Important Lessons Learned On My First Pool Build

Over the course of the build, I learned several lessons the hard way. One of the biggest was not relying too heavily on vendors for building knowledge. Yes, they should know their particular phase, but that doesn’t mean they always do it correctly. As the builder, I needed to know enough to recognize when something wasn’t right. That responsibility is non-negotiable.

Another lesson was just trusting my gut. Vendors love to say, “That’s how we always do it,” but that doesn’t mean it’s how it should be done — or how your design calls for it to be done. When you ignore your instincts, mistakes get expensive.

I also learned the importance of getting everything in writing. Verbal agreements evaporate the moment someone’s invoice doesn’t match expectations. Documentation prevents “mysterious additional charges” from becoming your problem.

One of the hardest lessons came from a cave-in that added sixteen extra yards of gunite to the overall job — and a battle over who should be the one to pay for it. That’s when I learned to either hire an excavation company that also performs gunite or create an agreement tying the excavator and gunite company together so someone is clearly responsible for over-digging. The finger-pointing can be brutal if you’re unprepared.

And finally, I learned to reach out to builders whom I trust and admire. Mike was right — the best builders in the industry are usually happy to share advice, talk through challenges, and offer their guidance. In the end, we all want the same thing: to build great pools and elevate the industry.

Ultimately, the whole experience of my first build was a whirlwind — stressful, exhilarating, frustrating, rewarding — but it confirmed something important. I was meant to build swimming pools. I was meant to create. And every pool since has only reinforced that belief.

Photo Credits: Legacy Pool & Spa

For more than six decades, Mission Pools has stood as a hallmark of excellence and integrity in Southern California’s pool industry. Founded in 1960, the company has evolved from a small regional builder into one of the most respected names in custom pool construction — a second-generation family business that continues to thrive through leadership, hard work, and careful planning.

Bruce Dunn, the company’s president, has been guiding Mission Pools through nearly every major shift in the pool industry since its inception. Speaking with Pool Magazine from Whistler, British Columbia, during the Master Pools Guild Fall Meeting (hosted by Alka Pool Construction), Dunn reflected on the company’s roots, its evolution, and how he’s preparing the next generation to carry the torch.

From Modest Beginnings to Market Leadership

Mission Pools began humbly. Dunn entered the business almost by accident when he was hired to conduct a business analysis for the company’s original owner.

“I went in purely to study how come they weren’t making any money,” recalled Dunn. “It became very apparent that there was more going out the back door than there was coming in the front. When that changed, there was nobody left. We let everybody go — and that put me in the pool business.”

Soon after, he and his brother purchased the company. The partnership worked perfectly. “It was probably the greatest part of my career,” Dunn said. “My brother Jeff is four years younger than I am. He’s retired now, but we had forty-plus years of working together every single day, including Saturdays. It was a real joy.”

Together, the Dunn brothers charted a different course from other pool companies of their era. “When we got involved, you had a few franchise companies and a fractionalized industry that predominantly used subcontractors,” said Dunn. “We took the other road and decided we were going to hire employees in all the different trades and have an in-house construction company. We were also going to do not just residential work, but commercial work, which led us into government projects and even water parks.”

That model helped set Mission Pools apart in one of the most competitive markets in the country. Today, the company operates throughout Riverside, San Diego, and Orange counties — with a reputation built on quality craftsmanship and enduring client relationships.

Building a Culture of Craftsmanship

Ask Dunn what differentiates Mission Pools, and he doesn’t point to marketing or technology first — he points to their people.

“If you want to know the real difference, you’d have to look at the quality of the people we have,” he explained. “That’s not just from a management standpoint — it’s construction. The swimming pool business is construction. So many people focus just on sales, but if you don’t know how to build it and build it correctly, all the sales in the world certainly aren’t going to do you any favors.”

That philosophy has guided Mission Pools’ internal culture for decades. While many companies outsource labor, Dunn’s decision to keep skilled trades in-house created a consistent standard of excellence.

Learning, Leading, and Staying Ahead

Part of what’s kept Mission Pools relevant for over 65 years is a relentless commitment to education and professional collaboration. Dunn credits the Master Pools Guild with much of that success.

“Being part of the Guild allows you to share information and learn different techniques,” he said. “Back in the day when vanishing edges weren’t even a thing yet, the Guild was building them and teaching people about flow rates and friction — the kinds of things you needed to know to design an artistic pool correctly.”

For Dunn, continuing education is not optional. It’s essential. The regular Guild meetings — both spring and fall — serve as an opportunity to learn what’s coming next, network with innovators, and stay on the cutting edge of design and engineering.

He recalled with fondness the way knowledge is passed around at Guild gatherings. “I remember meetings with plans rolled out on a piano to teach somebody how to build a pool with a surge tank,” he said. “The way the piping would go, the way the equipment would run.”

Moments like that capture what Dunn loves most about the business: builders sharing their craft, not just their business cards. “That’s where the magic happens,” he said with a smile.

Succession Planning For The Next Generation

For Bruce Dunn, longevity has always been about preparation and adaptability. As Mission Pools continued to expand, he wanted to ensure the company’s strength would extend well into the future — not just through projects, but through people.

“I had the opportunity to take a course at Harvard,” he said. “During that three-year program, part of it was succession planning. That could mean you’re setting yourself up to be sold or setting yourself up for a legacy and continuation.”

Dunn and his brother chose the latter. “We made the decision that for those family members who wanted to be involved in the business, we’d make it available if they were qualified,” he said. “The succession plan we put in place in the late nineties was crafted off a number of case studies we had at Harvard.”

That plan proved both visionary and adaptable. “We found that a succession plan has to be flexible because the world changes, people change, and desires change,” Dunn explained. When his brother retired three years ago, the plan was ready to be executed — and the transition was seamless.

“My son, who had been working as our CFO, and Mike Roudebush, who was in charge of our large commercial projects, both stepped into leadership roles,” said Dunn. “They’re a mirror image of my brother and me — Jeff handled operations, I handled business. Brett handles the numbers, Mike runs operations. It’s a wonderful continuation.”

A Legacy of Quality and Reputation

After more than six decades, Dunn still arrives at the office by 6:30 a.m. and often works Saturdays. That level of dedication is woven into the company’s DNA — and it’s one of the reasons Mission Pools enjoys a reputation for craftsmanship and customer satisfaction.

“We sell an expensive product,” Dunn said. “The focus has to be on building correctly. Speed is not always necessary — quality is everything. You have to be driven to make the end product everything, if not more, than what the client expects. All the advertising in the world won’t get you through the front door as quickly as word of mouth will.”

That dedication continues to earn recognition. Mission Pools has been named a Top 50 Builder and Aqua 100 member multiple times — and at the very event we attended, Dunn added a few more Master Pools Guild awards to the company’s collection. But for Dunn, the real reward comes from seeing his team share in those achievements. “We’ll hang the awards in the back first, where the construction people gather every morning,” he said. “They’ll look at the photo and say, ‘I did the plumbing on that job,’ or ‘Look at the tile I installed.’ It’s important they get to share in the win.”

Building for the Future

Dunn’s philosophy on longevity and leadership can be summed up in one word: consistency. His team continues to deliver excellence year after year because they remain grounded in the fundamentals of construction, collaboration, and ethics.

“I think that’s what separates good builders from great ones,” said Dunn. “Good pool builders are in fact builders. You have to have sales to keep the door open, but if you can’t build and build correctly, it’s all for naught.”

His advice for younger professionals entering the industry is simple yet profound. “Dedicate yourself to becoming a builder,” he said. “It’s one thing to buy the equipment — it’s another to put it together correctly. Learn, and don’t worry about the money. It will come.”

That philosophy — grounded in craftsmanship, humility, and lifelong learning — has carried Mission Pools through generations. And as Bruce Dunn gradually transitions leadership to the next wave of talent, the company’s foundation remains unshakable.

“I’ve been blessed,” he said. “We’ve had a wide variety of projects, an incredible team, and a business built on integrity. Passing that legacy on to people who value it the same way — that’s the most rewarding part of it all.”

Photo & Video Credits: Mission Pools, Dan Kirksey – KDKC Productions

For decades, Marco Perrella has been the guy other elite builders call when they’re staring down a hillside, a seismic zone, or a technical design challenge that no one else wants to touch. He carved out that reputation early, having jumped from carpentry into high-end landscape and pool design in the late ’80s and then never looking back.

But the one constant in Perrella’s career has always been curiosity — curiosity about materials, engineering, technology, and better ways to build. That instinct is what pushed him deeper into plumbing, hydraulics, and structural problem-solving offered through Genesis. It’s aslo what drew him into the Tributary Revelation, the tight-knit circle of designers and builders who continually raise each other’s game. And it’s exactly the same instinct that eventually pulled him into ozone.

Perrella laughs, describing the Tributary group now, but it’s clear his involvement in the organization means a lot to him. “It is the most life-changing, business-changing, personal-life-changing group,” he said. “Everybody just wants to keep raising the bar. Somewhere along the line, if you’re gonna try something, somebody in this group has been there and done that.”

That collaborative energy is the same force that pushed him—slowly at first—toward a completely new way of thinking about water and how people use their swimming pools.

Going All-In on Ozone

During a Tributary event in Colorado in early 2020, water became the central theme. That’s where Perrella was first introduced in depth to ozone by consultant and educator Beth Hamil, whom he jokingly calls “the Queen of Ozone.” She agreed to speak at the event, and by the end of her presentation, Perrella made a decision: “I said, okay, I want to get one of your systems and try it out in my pool and spa.” Two weeks later, as the country locked down, the units arrived at his doorstep.

With normal business on pause, he took the opportunity to replumb his equipment pad and run ozone at home.

“I had a traditional setup and a small UV system,” he explained. “I put that ozone on and it was a complete game changer.”

“There was absolutely no chlorine smell at all. I said, ‘Oh my gosh, look at this water,’” recounted Perrella. He suddenly found himself using his spa nightly. He joked with friends that he was going out for his “COVID cleanse” in the spa, but behind the humor was a serious realization. “I would just get in and the feel of the water, the clarity… it was another level.”

He had seen enough. “That’s when I decided I was all in,” he said. He began specifying ozone on new projects and offering it as a key differentiator in his builds. It quickly became integral to what he considered a truly finished, high-end pool.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Perrella’s early ozone journey almost derailed when Microplasma — the company behind his initial system — struggled during COVID. “There were a lot of hiccups,” he said. “They ended up shutting down… and that was a huge disappointment because I was so in love with ozone and committed to it.”

That’s when Beth made a timely introduction to Joe Cannavino, a commercial ozone veteran whose systems were designed for surf parks and water parks, not backyard pools. He had zero interest in the residential market, but Perrella saw something bigger.

Making The Next Big Leap, Bringing O3 Tech to Market

“ I knew I still had friends in Tributary who loved ozone, and I said to Joe, ‘What if we brought your tried-and-true machines to the residential market?’” recalled Perrella. That conversation would become the foundation of O3 Tech, a new company Perrella formed in 2023 with technical input from Beth Hamil and the engineering expertise and design skills of  Joe Cannavino.  

“After I put it in my pool and tried it for a while. I wanted to make sure this thing was as bulletproof as you could get,” said Perrella. So he had his friends and fellow Tributary members test units out in their own pools, and the feedback was phenomenal.

Today, O3 Tech units are on projects with firms like Red Rock and Premiere Paradise in Arizona, Design Ecology in Texas, Basin Pool Designs in Tennessee, Ozzie Kraft in Las Vegas, and Live Chlorine Free in Florida, just to name a few. “It’s catching on very fast,” he said, even as he acknowledges that some builders have “a little PTSD” from underperforming ozone experiences in the past.

“To be clear, these aren’t new machines,” he said. “They’ve been around forever.” What makes them unique is their size, output, and reliability — industrial-grade ozone re-engineered for elite residential builds.

Making the Case for Ozone to High-End Clients

Ask Perrella why ozone is worth the conversation, and he comes back to one word: reduction.

“The chemical reduction,” he said. “When you can have something that can take chlorine use down to a minimum, we’re living in a healthier world. People are more conscious about what they’re getting into, what’s on their skin.”

In his market of the North Bay area, that message resonates immediately. “I bet you nine out of ten of my pools that we design and build have our system on it,” he said. “It’s the easiest sell ever. The minute you start saying, I can reduce your chemicals to virtually nothing, that’s the end of the conversation.”

He also spends time demystifying salt systems. “The first thing you typically have to tell people is, do you realize that a salt pool is actually converting to chlorine?” he said. “That opens their eyes right out of the gate.”

Behind the sales conversation is a strong technical stance on what effective ozone actually requires. Perrella is candid about the limitations of many smaller systems on the market. “There are other systems out there that are really like toys,” he said. “You’ll see these AOP units dosing at, say, 500 milligrams. That’s barely enough for a spa, but you’ll see marketing that says that system is good for up to a 25,000-gallon pool.”

By contrast, he notes, “our smallest machines are fifteen and twenty-five grams at five percent weight. That’s a big difference.” For truly effective performance, he said, “the optimum is one gram per 10,000 gallons.”

Equally important is simplicity. As a designer-builder who does not run his own service company, Perrella knows his systems must work in the real world. “Our system is at the mercy of service outfits, so it has to be something that doesn’t overwhelm them,” he said. That criterion is a core fundamental of O3 Tech’s residential ozone units. “I didn’t want to end up being a tech and service center with the phone ringing all day,” he said. “I wanted something easy to plumb in, easy to program, and then easy to step away from and just watch it do its thing.”

For a designer who has spent decades perfecting structures, details, and environments, ozone represents something more elemental: better water, achieved through better engineering. Perrella sees it as an extension of the craft itself — a way to bring the quality of the water in line with the quality of the spaces surrounding it. And in his view, that alignment is long overdue.

Ready to take a deeper dive?

Listen to our entire conversation with Marco Perrella on the Pool Magazine Podcast.

Featured Photo Credit: Basin Pool Designs | Jimi Smith Photography