AQUA Magazine's dedication to the pool and spa industry

AQUA Magazine has always been guided by a simple philosophy: We are here as your partner and committed to your business over the long run.

Our success at AQUA starts and ends with our ability to focus on putting you first. Every month we aim to provide useful, interesting and fun content in a well-designed, attractive package. Our goal is to help you better your business — whether you are a multi-store retailer, a sole proprietor service company or a builder creating 100-plus pools a year.

This month we have stepped away from our normal format and created our first State of the Industry issue to give you an in-depth look at where things are in the market. It all started nearly a year ago with the commitment to survey our loyal readers. Months of planning, meeting and preparation culminated in February when we sent out thousands of specialized surveys to the three major sectors in the industry — builders, retailers and service/maintenance.

As the surveys came pouring back in (over 750 total), the editorial staff was floored at the engagement our readers showed. Scott Webb, co-editor, whose face and words you have seen on this page before, said after perusing the returned surveys, "I've been just amazed at the amount, depth and thoughtfulness of the survey responses, almost entirely from the open-ended questions, which were a huge hit. There's more really good material here than I typically can get into 10 stories. I'm learning more about the industry in days than I did in years."

The results, comments, graphs and Q&A's all form an interesting picture of where we are as an industry and where we may be headed. We are extremely excited about this issue and hope you find it as fascinating reading it over as we did while putting it together.

Check it out, and give us your feedback. We are already starting next year's State of the Industry issue and your input is critical. What did you like, what did we leave out? What is important to your business?

While this may be our first State of the Industry issue, it will not be our last — as we are committed for the long-term.