Building Backyard Dreams

Guiton’s Pools, A North State Legacy…

Swimming pools have come a long, long way since the days of Granny Clampett and her Beverly Hills “cee-ment” pond, and in the past 57 years, the staff at Guiton’s Pool Center has seen, designed and built them all.

In fact, the Beverly Hillbillies was still on the air when Richard “Dick” Guiton established the pool center in 1968. A pool decking and concrete contractor who moved up from Southern California’s San Fernando Valley in 1967, Guiton slowly built his business to where it was responsible for more than 3,500 North State pools by the time he passed in 2015.

Dale Simpson, who was a 20-year-old from Fortuna fresh off a budding career in the grocery business and enjoying the recreational offerings around Redding, joined the Guiton’s team in 1975 when he started work as a laborer. (He had recently met his future wife, Guiton’s daughter, Vicki, while coaching her softball team. The couple have three children—Kaci, Blake and Kori—and five grandchildren.)

Three years later, Simpson was a partner in the company and eventually, thanks in large part to his developing skill as a pool designer, he became Guiton’s sole salesman by age 26. “I had 17 families relying on me for a living,” Simpson says of the pressure he felt.

He needn’t have worried. Swimming pools go hand-in-hand with the North State’s overly warm summers and mild winters, offering owners an extended swimming season and making pools more of a practical investment. Redding’s climate is well-suited for taking advantage of energy-efficient features like solar heating.

Simpson became the general manager in 1989 and bought the business in 2007. Guiton’s Pool Center currently has a 62-member workforce. Back when he was strictly in sales, Simpson says a pool would typically cost $10,000 to $11,000. Prices have gone up (six figures is not uncommon), but so has the degree of complexity. 

Pools now are more sophisticated,” Simpson says. “They have evolved into water features and have become the center for family entertainment.” 

  Design features can include swim-up bars, vanishing edges, rock waterfalls, pebble finishes, gently sloping “beach” entries, splash pads and laminar fountains that send perfectly clear glass-like streams of water arcing into the pool. (Think of a miniature Fountains of Bellagio in your backyard.)

Fire bowls and gazebos can be added, along with exotic materials like granite, marble and glass tile. In-floor cleaning systems can take the place of roving robotic sweepers and lighting options can enhance the mood and extend the pool’s use into the evening hours—and everything can be controlled from a cellphone, Simpson says.

Guiton’s has a retail center at its Larkspur Lane location that features a large line of spas and woodstoves. Its service department takes care of 1,200 pools on a weekly basis.

Simpson says he’s been in the pool business for 48 years and has designed and sold more than 1,000 pools; Guiton’s has been in business for 57 years. During that time, the company has worked with its share of North State notables, including Merle Haggard, Bing Crosby and Clint Eastwood (“a very nice man,” Simpson says).

“The clientele has been a lot of fun. It’s been all over the roadmap,” Simpson says. •

Guiton’s Pool Center
2305 Larkspur Lane, Redding
(530) 221-6656
www.guitons.com