How Gold Medal Pools Grew During the 2008 Recession: The Josh Sandler Story

When the 2008 recession hit, most pool builders pulled back. They shortened crews, cut corners on warranties, and started short-paying subcontractors. Josh Sandler and Gold Medal Pools did the opposite: they doubled down on relationships, outworked the competition, and posted their biggest growth years on record.

The strategy came from lessons learned across three generations in the pool industry, starting with a 16-year-old who got kicked out of his house in New York City and built an empire one pool at a time.

A Legacy Built From Nothing

The Sandler pool story begins in the late 1960s in New York City, but it's not a typical family business origin. Josh's father grew up with an absent father and an abusive mother. At 16, he was kicked out of his home with nothing.

A family friend named Irma Alvarez changed everything. She worked for a scheduled pool company and got the teenager a job as a laborer. What happened next set the trajectory for three generations.

"He figured out quickly that he wanted to work, he needed to work. And school really wasn't for him. At 16 years old, after working for a couple of months for a pool company, he dropped out of high school and said, 'I can do this better' and started a pool company."

— Josh Sandler on his father, Pool Nation Podcast

That teenager built pools across the tri-state area, doing every facet of the business himself. He developed a reputation that would become the family's north star:

"He took care of people and he had a work ethic, still does to this day, that he will not be outworked."

— Josh Sandler, Pool Nation Podcast

The Move to Texas

In 1974, someone told Josh's father about an area in North Dallas, in Plano, Texas, that was getting ready to explode with growth. The timing was perfect for someone willing to take a risk.

As Josh describes it: "635 wasn't even there. It was dirt roads past 635, if you could imagine that." His father loaded everything he had into a truck and drove from New York to Texas. He started Sandler Pools, which is still around to this day.

After building Sandler Pools into a major operation, the company was sold in the early 1990s. The family moved to Colorado where Josh worked as a track hoe operator in commercial excavation, putting in utilities and pad sites.

When the non-compete expired, the family returned to Texas. Gold Medal Pools was born with just three or four people, and Josh started as a laborer.

Learning the Trade From the Ground Up

When Gold Medal started, Josh wasn't handed an executive title. He was a laborer, working alongside a skeleton crew. He learned every aspect of pool construction the hard way.

"Whether I was digging ditches or plumbing or sitting on a track hoe or digging pools or cleaning shells out or wiring pumps, you name it, we did it," Josh recalls.

"I always swore at that time as a teenager that I would never be in the pool business, but little did I know, it was very deep in my blood."

— Josh Sandler, Pool Nation Podcast

After college and business school, Josh was headed to law school. But he needed to work, so he came back to the family business. This time, he saw it through different eyes.

"I went to him and I said, 'Hey, I really think we have something here. This market's growing. Obviously, our family's built a wonderful name in this market for taking care of people. Let's grow this thing.'"

His father's response was telling: "I'll do it under one condition. I don't want to mess with it. I've been there and I've done that. I'll be here to help."

The Philosophy That Built Gold Medal

Josh brought a business school perspective to the company, but the core philosophy came straight from his father's playbook: treat every project as life-changing for the customer.

"When you think about it and you sit back and you get that email through your website at midnight and someone says, 'Hey, we'd like to talk about a pool design,' that's life changing for them. They've thought about that. And it's one of the single largest investments they'll ever make, not only in their home, in their lifetime, but also in their family."

— Josh Sandler, Pool Nation Podcast

This perspective shaped how Gold Medal hired and trained. They looked for people who shared their passion, particularly those from outside the industry who could be trained to understand what a backyard pool really means to a family.

Growing Through the 2008 Recession

By 2007, Gold Medal had grown to a decent size, focused entirely on residential construction. Then the recession hit, and the pool industry contracted hard.

The Sandler family held a meeting. The question was simple: do we pull back and protect ourselves, or do we go for it?

They went for it. The results were remarkable.

"Actually '08, '09 and '10 were our biggest growth years. The market was smaller, but our market share increased."

— Josh Sandler, Pool Nation Podcast

The Recession Playbook

While competitors scrambled to survive, Gold Medal executed a four-part strategy rooted in the same principles Josh's father had built his reputation on decades earlier:

• Out-Relationship: Deeper customer connections when others went transactional
• Out-Work: More effort when others were cutting hours and staff
• Out-Care: More attention to customer needs when others became indifferent
• Out-Warranty: Standing behind work when others started cutting corners

"When things got tight, we saw a lot of folks in the market start short paying subs. Simple things that you wouldn't think about where you give the homeowner the benefit of the doubt and it might cost you a little money, but it obviously keeps a happy customer. People are pulling their horns back on that and we were doubling down on that and really built a following doing that."

— Josh Sandler, Pool Nation Podcast

The math was counterintuitive but sound. Yes, the overall market shrank. But by maintaining quality and relationships while competitors degraded their service, Gold Medal captured a larger percentage of a smaller pie. By the time the market recovered, they had a dominant position.

The Multi-Generational Advantage

The Sandler story spans three generations and both coasts. It includes failure, reinvention, and growth through crisis. What makes it remarkable isn't the size of Gold Medal Pools today — it's the consistency of the philosophy that built it.

From a teenager kicked out of his home in New York City to a thriving pool construction company in Texas, the through-line is simple: take care of people, work harder than the competition, and maintain your standards when times get tough.

As Josh puts it, describing his father: "He's in his 70s now and he still works just as hard on his own projects. It's just in his blood. Therefore, it's in our blood."

Lessons for Pool Business Owners

Work Ethic as Competitive Advantage

Josh's father built his reputation on one principle: he would not be outworked. This isn't about grinding yourself into exhaustion. It's about consistent effort and reliability that customers can count on.

Learn the Business From the Ground Up

Even with a business degree, Josh started as a laborer. Understanding every aspect of pool construction gave him credibility with crews and customers alike. There's no substitute for hands-on experience.

Downturns Are Opportunities

When competitors cut corners, maintaining quality becomes a differentiator. Gold Medal's biggest growth came during the worst economic conditions because they stayed true to their values when others abandoned them.

Treat Every Pool as Life-Changing

Remembering that a pool represents a family's major investment and dream keeps perspective. It's not just a construction project — it's transforming how a family lives.

For pool professionals looking to build lasting businesses, that commitment to work and relationships might be the most valuable inheritance of all.

Related Resources

If Josh's story has inspired you, here are some resources to help you build your pool business:

• How to Start a Pool Service Business: Complete Guide
• Pool Route Valuation Guide
• Case Study: James Broderick's Referral-Only Business
• Case Study: Alyssa Serrano's Journey to 787 Serrano Construction
• Best Pool Podcasts — Including Pool Nation Podcast where Josh was featured