18/08/2026
Yesterday was a rough day for me 😔 Two things happened, and both made me think a lot about running my company.
First, I received an email from a potential customer. He decided to order his swimming pool from another company because I answered too late, and my communication was not professional enough 📧
I always say to myself that if a customer chooses another company, then I have failed in what I am doing. There can be many reasons for this, but when we both speak English, the communication should be good enough.
I always try to offer the right price—not cheap, because a cheap swimming pool is normally not a good swimming pool, but also not unnecessarily expensive. I honestly try to find the correct price for the quality we deliver ⚖️
There might be other good companies building swimming pools, but because of the language, our long experience and the quality of our work, I want us to be the first choice 🏊♂️
I believe we deliver very good quality. We care about how every swimming pool is built, and we continue taking care of our customers after the pool is finished.
One of the most important things we offer is our monthly service program 🔧 This is handled by my serviceman, Sam, and it provides very good value and support to our customers.
That email was difficult to receive. I don’t only want to be professional—I need to be as professional as I possibly can. Every customer deserves good service and clear communication. But when I try to explain why I sometimes answer late, it easily sounds like I am making excuses.
The truth is that we are building three swimming pools at the same time, with 22 employees depending on me 👷♂️ We have just finished three pools, and before they are completed, I must already prepare the next three.
The customers are waiting for us to start, and my employees need steady work so they can earn the salary they deserve.
Very often, I have six projects in different stages at the same time 🏗️
I must be the salesman, designer, purchasing manager and foreman. I order the equipment, prepare the materials, organise deliveries and make sure every swimming pool is built to the quality we promise ✅
Then there are new customers asking questions, requesting prices and waiting for quotations. This communication needs proper attention—not only a quick answer while I am sitting in the car using my phone 📱
Messages arrive through email and many different modern messaging platforms. Quick messaging is much easier for me to handle and organise. Unfortunately, emails are easier to overlook sometimes. This is not good enough, and I know I need to find a better system.
Several times during the 12 years I have been running this business, I have tried to set up an office with employees who could help me with communication and organisation.
Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. Finding good and reliable workers can be a big challenge in Thailand, especially people who understand the business and can communicate properly with customers.
I have not given up on the idea, but until I find the right person, much of this work still ends up with me.
The second thing that happened yesterday was that a customer needed to cancel his swimming pool and asked for his deposit back.
In 12 years, this has only happened to me once before.
His swimming pool was next in line, so we had already prepared for the project. Much of the equipment is already in stock, and most importantly, we had already ordered and imported his tiles from another country.
His deposit was around ฿40,000, but I had already committed and spent more than ฿100,000 preparing for his job 💰
It is difficult to return a deposit when materials have already been purchased specifically for that customer.
However, it now looks like he might change his mind again, and we will probably start building his swimming pool within the next two weeks. I still need to clear up exactly what happened in this case, but hopefully everything will work out 🙏
Yesterday reminded me that running a company is not only about building good swimming pools. It is also about communication, organisation, responsibility and sometimes making difficult decisions.
I am proud of what my team and I have built 💙 But I also know there are things I need to improve.
I will not pretend that I am perfect. I am still learning, even after 12 years.
