David Smithwick The Pool Tile Co
What’s new in swimming pool tiling?
How and when did the Pool Tile Co begin?
“Greys are really popular right now, so we have rapidly expanded our offering. A very popular colour is a marble-look tile called ‘Carrara’.
The Pool Tile Co began about seventeen years ago by Robert and Amanda James who identified a niche in the market for pool tiles. They started sourcing tiles from tile wholesalers that are no longer around today. We now direct import from overseas suppliers with a team of 60 and we continue to expand.
While grey seems an unusual choice for swimming pool tiling, you would be surprised at how blue the pool water can look with grey tiles. We have dark, mid, light and ash grey as part of our range, and each shade of grey will give a different coloured water. Dark grey will give a natural, sea water look – like ocean water. Mid greys can give almost a denim blue look. More recently we added 4 new timber look porcelain pavers - the TileDeck series. Our timber look porcelain has many advantages over wood, including longevity and coolness underfoot. TileDeck takes the total porcelain coping options to 16 colours in a multitude of sizes with matching drop face, bullnose and square edge. We’ve also expanded our range into commercial pool tiles for Olympic-style pools and hotels. We listen to our clients for what they want. Even our architects and pool builders inform us of market demands, such as a new shade. We then take our requests back to our supplier and before you know it, we’ve got a new or expanded range. Victoria is very industrial, with greys and blacks, whereas the QLD market is very earthy with lots of browns, sandstone and natural travertine colours that lend themselves to blues and whites. Having said that, our ice blue tile is probably our biggest selling tile Australiawide as it stays the same colour regardless of the weather.
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Ensuring a seamless process end-to-end
About two years ago we opened up a new showroom and warehouse in Keysborough, Victoria. The showroom worked well in Brisbane as it relieved the pool builders of going through the tile selection process by allowing consumers to come in and go through it with us, so that they could make an informed decision. We go through all the tile colours and shades, as well as all grout colours with customers, and we advise them of how their pool water will look with each selection. We have replicated that showroom model in Victoria with great success. We don’t just do pool tiles, we also do pool coping and paving. We’ve got natural stone and a huge range of outdoor porcelain tiles. Our team have been trained to only discuss retail pricing with customers, so we don’t affect the builder’s or landscaper’s bottom line. The plan was to try to make it as easy for the builder and customer as possible, so it’s a seamless process, end-to-end. Our showroom team all have design backgrounds and they get excited when people bring their plans in so that they can gush over the options available and what they think will look good for each client. Everyone in our company is very passionate about what we do and that makes The Pool Tile Co a great place to work.
What are the challenges of being an industry supplier? The last twelve months has been the biggest challenge for us. Mainly just keeping up with demand. The industry has really ramped up beyond any expectation. We did have some supply and shipping issues with getting stock in from overseas, but mainly we managed to keep up. It’s very rare for us to say ‘no’ to anyone. We managed to get through the bumpy ride that was COVID. This January and February, we continue to break records. With international travel stopping, rather than people spending $10,000+ on an overseas trip, people are investing in their homes including their back yards. It was amplified even more during lockdown because everyone was at home! What does innovation look like at the Pool Tile Co? With such a niche market, innovation can be tricky. We’re proud to have made a substantial investment in our glue formula and machinery in order to offer ‘meshless’ glass mosaics. We have invested substantially in plant and equipment to cut and edge outdoor porcelain tiles and natural stone to our customer’s requirements. We have many long-term relationships with our overseas suppliers. Our relationship with them is very strong and they have a great understanding of what is required by the Australian market and our expectations. People spend a lot of money on swimming pools in Australia so the expectations are high. Our quality control has always been excellent and if there is ever an issue, we rectify it straightaway. We’re about solutions not problems.
