Two Hard Seasons
LEE RUSSELL BY JOE TRUSTY Photos: Jimi Smith Photography
B
aton Rouge pool builder Lee Russell and his family have been building pools for three generations. As such, they’ve garnered a lot of respect in the industry as well as within their own community. In Baton Rouge, Russell Pool Company has established themselves as one of the top pool construction firms in town. Although Russell’s expertise in pool construction is in higher demand than ever before, the last two years certainly haven’t been without its challenges. Simply finishing the pools while waiting for essential materials has been a series of hurdles for the Baton Rouge builder who explained to us that just about every single material that he orders is taking weeks longer than it normally would to arrive. “As far as materials go, I think it’s worse today than it was a year ago,” said Russell, “I’ve got Poolcorp lagging behind getting their orders in
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from manufacturers for equipment. “I’ve got one pool where I’ve got the coping on but the deck is not finished, but they’re swimming,” said Russell. “We get a lot of pressure from our clients. Something that used to take me 6-8 weeks to finish now I’m looking at 10-12 and that makes it tough. You don’t want to lie to your clients.” Russell said explaining to customers the logistical issues that builders are facing with getting materials is paramount. He’s been letting clients know that their pool is going to take longer to complete, that some materials may be unavailable and that what items are available may cost more. Undoubtedly, this has produced some hard conversations, not just for Russell but for thousands of builders in a similar predicament. We asked about the ongoing labor shortages many have faced last year and wanted to know if this was still an issue for his company this year.
