32 years - Same Business, Same Location

Mark and Mary Carvell- owners of Tri-State Pool & Spa, LLC know- their customers on a personal level. Three generations of PoolCo customers are among the thousands customers that PoolCo has served since 1979.

What keeps them coming back? Fun is their secret to good customer service. “We hire fun people and try to have fun with everything we do,” Mark Carvell says. “If you let your customers know that you’re enjoying what you do, they will see it and appreciate it."

A significant proportion of the PoolCo staff are students from Southern Illinois University and John A. Logan College. Even though they may only be with us for a few years, we appreciate what they bring to our establishment. Our student workers fit in so well with our team. Our Poolco staff is intelligent with friendly, helpful attitudes. Each and every one on our staff has that “mid-western work ethic” and is very driven to achieve their goals. . the very same traits that the original owners John and JoAnn Carvell used to begin and established PoolCo.

Customers have been appreciating the service they get at PoolCo since 1979 when Mark Carvell’s parents started the business. Mark and Mary purchased the company when his father retired in 1993. Their daughter, Maria Carvell has worked with his parents for 3 years thus making three generations of Carvells who have served the public. Customers appreciate the many years of employment by most of PoolCo’s staff.

Pool Installation Supervisor Sterling Jeffro states, “I constructed and installed pools with Mark’s Dad back in the day.” Mr. Jeffro puts it best, “John taught us to do things a certain way and we still maintain the quality of workmanship that John Carvell began.”

Alex Barrett, graduating this fall with a major in chemistry, has worked summers at PoolCo since he was a high school student at Carbondale Community High School. He says, “I enjoy coming back every summer. I enjoy helping customers and getting reacquainted with the folks I’ve missed talking to since last year.”  

What else keeps them coming back? We offer our customers products that last. PoolCo offers its customers everything they need for an “outdoor oasis”: Esther Williams brand of above ground pools; Hot Spring brands of hot tubs; quality pool and spa maintenance accessories, and Big Green Egg outdoor grills.

Francine Stephens, Sales Manager is often heard to say, “How fun is it to own something that just doesn’t endure? Our customers all work too hard to waste their money on cheap products that don’t last.”

What else keeps them coming back? They install & service what they sell. “In 30 years we have seen many new pool & spa retailers come and then go”, adds Mark “they just didn’t last. Even though they said they had customer service, they just didn’t take care of the customer on the level that we do. People in southern Illinois expect a high level of customer service. We are proud so say that we are the only pool & spa retailer in our area that provides a very high level of service. New customers often tell us that they were instructed to come here and not even shop anywhere else!”

What else keeps them coming back? Knowledge. PoolCo goes to great efforts and expense to stay current and keep our employees technically trained. Every new employee receives a minimum of 30 days in house classroom training before we “turn them loose”. Sonnia Loucks, Water Analysis & Lab Manager, supervises the instruction. A tremendous amount of testing and mentoring is required to ensure that high level of customer service is maintained.

Our spa service technicians attend rigorous off-site training and must take 21 different tests to become qualified. James Halstead, chief technician, still recalls the trip to California, “difficult, very difficult, but extremely rewarding.”