Cal Plastering Co.

Jay Eaton didn’t know much about pools when he started in the business. In a tale as old as time, Eaton’s father-in-law, Gordon Schmeiser, began a pool store and commercial chemical service company in 1974. Eaton had just gotten engaged to Schmeiser’s daughter, Barbara. 

“I didn’t know anything about pools other than that you swam in them,” Eaton says.

Schmeiser, Eaton and a third employee, Dave Orlog, made a go of it, eventually expanding into pool repairs and renovations until an opportunity came calling. 

In 1983, Schmeiser purchased local plastering company Cal Plastering Co. in Phoenix, Arizona, and never looked back. 

Welcome to the future

In addition to plastering new and renovated pools, the company became one of the first PebbleTec applicators in the country, providing aggregate finishes that infuse an array of pebbles and stones for a textured surface. 

“We plastered pools with white pool plaster — everybody did,” Eaton says, explaining that while textured finishes are common today, they were far from the norm in the 1980s and required a lot of education and practice to master the technique. “There was a big learning curve,” he says. 

Because of the longer process and additional steps, Eaton recalls sweating over the finances in those early years.  

“We had no idea how we were going to be able to ever do two pools in a day,” he recalls. “When you do a plaster pool, you can do three or four in a day, and here we struggled for most of the day to get one job done. And finally it got to where we could get two done.” 

Soon, Cal Plastering reached a fever pitch, servicing 10,000 pools a year with 270 employees in what Eaton calls the company’s “heyday,” between 2003 and 2006. After a small dip, the company now maintains a comfortable operation and manageable pace with a staff of 120.

Cal Plastering only serves as a subcontractor for licensed contractors, such as pool companies or homebuilders, but does not work directly with homeowners. 

Eaton adds that the company’s ability to communicate and fix errors also makes it stand out in a saturated market. 

“A lot of people — and it’s not just in the swimming pool business — once they do that initial installation, you’ll never see them again,” Eaton says. “That’s never been us. We will always go back and see what the issue is and come up with a resolution if there’s a problem.” 

A bit of insight

No matter the customer, Eaton believes success involves working together, giving back and educating oneself. He says getting involved with the National Plasterers Council is the best way to achieve all three. 

“At the very least, become members of the National Plasterers Council, go to the conferences and partake in the education and the classes that are offered on a yearly basis,” he recommends. 

As for advice he would give to someone starting out, Eaton sidesteps the narrow-mindedness of addressing those in the industry and goes straight back to his business sense. 

“Anybody that wants to get into a business needs to understand business … money and cash flow and costs,” he says. “A lot of people lower their price to get more work, but that means you’re going to lower whatever profits you’re going to make. And then you’re going to have to do more work to make the same profit. A lot more work.”

Instead, Eaton intends to hand off a financially sound operation to the next generation — his daughter, Laura, as well as nieces and nephews who will lead the charge into the next chapter for Cal Plastering. 

“We have a very good solid base here, and the next generation coming in to run things is knowledgeable and they’re doing well,” Eaton says. “The future is bright.”