Founders Mark Doody, Evan Ferl, and Eric Johnston launched the platform in San Mateo to offer a departure from traditional private equity roll-ups. By retaining local management and neighborhood-level decision-making, the firm aims to professionalize service businesses without sacrificing the culture that defines them. The structure relies on the founders' own capital, bypassing external pressures for rapid, short-term financial optimization that often plagues standard acquisitions.
California Pool Partners Challenges Private Equity with Owner-First Model
Javier Payan spent nearly four decades building his San Diego pool service business, never intending to sell until he encountered an alternative to the industry's aggressive consolidation wave. California Pool Partners is now betting that its owner-centric platform, which prioritizes local autonomy over centralized control, can reshape the West Coast market.
Operations currently span Los Angeles and San Diego, with a third market expansion slated for this fall. The company integrates AI-driven tools for route optimization and water chemistry management while centralizing administrative tasks. According to co-founder Eric Johnston, the model flips the typical management hierarchy, positioning the platform to support general managers rather than dictating operations from the top down. With the recent acquisition of Payan Pools, the firm is testing whether this balance of technological scale and local independence can provide a sustainable blueprint for the regional service industry.
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