Jeff Knott started in the swimming pool business in 1974 managing Catalina Pools in New Orleans. In 1984 he decided to start up Crystal Pools and Spas and put into practice his own business philosophy. Jeff wanted to focus on quality and not quantity – to build 15 quality hands-on pools a year – not 100 pools a year.
Jeff was born on a farm in Northwestern Minnesota and has lived in New Orleans since 1972. He is one of 15 children and grew up in a 1200 square foot home with one bathroom!!! Jeff was vacationing in New Orleans and met his wife to be. He never moved back to Minnesota. He has two children, including Kevin. Jeff is a carpenter by trade and is a very hard worker. A home contractor whom Jeff worked for knew about a swimming pool company that needed an Operational Manager and mentioned the job to Jeff. Jeff had no prior knowledge of the swimming pool industry but had a strong work ethic and landed the job with Catalina Pools. In 1984, he decided to leave the company and start his own company – Crystal Pools and Spas. The focus of this new business would be attention to detail and customer relations – not on quantity. He would supervise the entire process under Crystal Pools and Spas, and plumb his own pools. Sometimes he even poured his own concrete decks and would even shoot the gunite. Jeff values working with his clients and not just trying to sell as many pools as possible. Jeff felt that if he would focus on the jobs he currently had instead of chasing every pool for his next job, he would be successful.
