Inside Latham’s Playbook To Keep Winning In A Tough Pool Market

There’s no question that the swimming pool industry has been navigating rough waters over the past couple of years.

Higher interest rates. Inflation. Softer discretionary spending. A cautious consumer environment. Builders across multiple regions have felt the slowdown as homeowners weigh large-ticket purchases more carefully than they did during the pandemic-era boom.

Yet somehow, amid all of that uncertainty, Latham Group continues gaining market share.

That was one of the central themes during a recent conversation with Sean Gadd, who recently stepped into the role of President and CEO at the industry giant as the company celebrates its 70th anniversary.

Fresh off ringing the NASDAQ opening bell alongside the Latham team, Gadd spoke candidly about the state of the industry, why fiberglass pools continue outperforming expectations, and where he believes the biggest opportunities lie moving forward.

For Gadd, the current environment presents challenges — but also opportunity.

“The business is an exciting one. The industry is dynamic,” said Gadd. “Yes, it’s going through a bit of a hard time. But Latham’s got a great brand. We’ve got great people. I feel really strong about our value proposition.”

That confidence comes at a pivotal moment for the company. Latham has spent decades establishing itself as the dominant force in fiberglass pools while continuing to maintain strong positions in vinyl liner pools and automatic covers. But according to Gadd, the company’s next chapter is less about protecting what it already owns and more about aggressively expanding into underpenetrated markets.

Most Deals Still Happen Across The Kitchen Table

Before joining Latham, Gadd held a leadership role at James Hardie Industries, one of the best-known names in the construction products industry. That experience, he says, shares more similarities with the pool industry than many people might realize.

“At James Hardie, we spent a lot of energy teaching contractors how to sell the home, how to quote a job, how to install a job,” said Gadd. “Small family-owned businesses selling a pool at the kitchen table, selling the value of the pool they’re putting in, selling the value of themselves as a dealer or pool builder — there are a lot of similarities.”

That “kitchen table” sales process became a recurring theme throughout the conversation.

In Gadd’s view, today’s successful builders aren’t simply selling construction projects. They’re selling an emotional vision of how a homeowner’s life changes after the pool is complete.

“I think if you can sell your pool to a homeowner, sell them their dreams coming to life in their backyard, and allow them to see the vision of not only them spending time with their families in the backyard, but their neighborhood, their friends, and their eventual grandchildren, that’s where the opportunity is,” said Gadd.

That mindset becomes increasingly important in today’s financing environment.

According to Gadd, the luxury cash buyer still exists, while lower-income buyers are struggling to secure financing. But the middle of the market remains the battleground where builders have the greatest opportunity to win homeowners over.

“They’re staying home, spending more time in their home,” Gadd explained. “If we can get them to a place where they can believe it’s affordable — which I think a pool, in most cases, can be — then we should be able to get a fair amount of that middle of the market to move.”

Fiberglass Keeps Gaining Ground

One of the biggest drivers behind Latham’s continued growth is the ongoing shift toward fiberglass pools.

For years, fiberglass was viewed in many parts of the country as a niche product category. Today, that perception is rapidly changing.

“I see fiberglass growing,” said Gadd. “I think people are becoming more aware of the benefits of fiberglass. Really beautiful designs, high durability, low maintenance — those are all good things for a consumer who doesn’t really want to spend their time maintaining, cleaning, and working on the pool.”

The speed of installation is another major factor.

“When a homeowner decides they want to do it, they don’t want to have to wait four months or five months to get into the pool,” said Gadd. “The shorter you can make that, the more attractive we feel it is.”

That speed-to-swim advantage has become one of fiberglass’s strongest selling points as consumers increasingly prioritize convenience and predictability over lengthy construction timelines.

At the same time, Latham continues investing heavily in educating consumers — particularly in regions where fiberglass still trails concrete and gunite pools in market share.

An Eye on Expansion Opportunities

While fiberglass pools have long dominated many northern and midwestern markets, the southern United States remains largely controlled by concrete and gunite construction.

For Latham, that creates one of the company’s biggest long-term growth opportunities.

“The number one challenge is awareness,” said Gadd. “In the southern states, the majority of pools go in with concrete or gunite. But I believe — and we’ve got evidence to show with our growth in Florida — that if you’re able to get the consumer to understand the benefits of fiberglass, and you get together with a good dealer network that can install it at a price that’s affordable and the product looks great, that you can go and win against the standard.”

Florida, in particular, has become a major proving ground for the company’s strategy.

Latham has been investing heavily in dealer recruitment, market development, and consumer awareness campaigns throughout the region. While progress is gradual, Gadd sees significant upside because fiberglass remains relatively underpenetrated across many southern states.

“The good news is our share is relatively small in the south, so it doesn’t really matter,” Gadd said. “We’ve got plenty of market share to go get.”

That approach also allows Latham to continue building brand awareness during a quieter market cycle when competitors may be pulling back on marketing investments.

“It gives us quiet time to go get our message out when no one else is investing,” he added.

A Bigger Global Footprint

Latham’s ambitions extend well beyond the United States.

The company recently strengthened its international position through its acquisition of Freedom Pools, further expanding Latham’s presence in Australia and New Zealand.

According to Gadd, the acquisition immediately elevated Latham into the number one position in the Australian market while also introducing a different operational model that the company believes could influence future U.S. growth strategies.

“Freedom has a different business model on how it goes to market,” said Gadd. “It not only sells pools, but installs pools as well. So I think there’s certainly learnings that we want to take and potentially bring into the U.S.”

The acquisition also aligns with one of Latham’s broader strategic priorities moving forward: identifying opportunities that expand the company’s geographic reach while complementing its existing product ecosystem.

Protecting The Core While Expanding The Future

As Gadd looks ahead over the next several years, he sees four major pillars driving Latham’s growth strategy.

The first is protecting and growing the company’s core business in the Northeast and Midwest, where Latham already maintains dominant market share positions.

The second is continuing to penetrate southern “sand state” markets where fiberglass still has room to expand.

The third centers around automatic pool covers — a category Gadd sees as dramatically underutilized.

“We’ve got a goal of auto covers on every pool,” said Gadd. “Every newly installed pool can essentially take an auto cover.”

In his view, automatic covers offer both practical and aesthetic advantages over traditional fencing while helping homeowners maintain cleaner, safer pools.

Finally, the company remains open to strategic acquisitions that either introduce adjacent product categories or expand Latham into new geographic territories.

“We want to look at businesses that give us something we haven’t sold before that’s adjacent to our current product line,” said Gadd.

Selling More Than A Pool

Despite all the discussion surrounding market share, acquisitions, automation, and geographic expansion, Gadd continually circled back to one core idea throughout the interview: pools remain an emotional purchase.

In uncertain economic times, builders who focus exclusively on price may be missing the bigger picture.

“I think selling the dream is really the most important part,” Gadd said. “Making people happy.”

For an industry built around family gatherings, memories, entertaining, and backyard living, that may ultimately be the strategy that matters most.

Ready to take a deeper dive?

Listen to our entire conversation with Sean Gadd, CEO of Latham, on the Pool Magazine Podcast.