How Allan Learned the Trade That Built Pool Patrol

By the Pool Patrol Team — Based on an Interview with Pool Patrol Founder Allan Horwood

Pool Patrol founder Allan Horwood has been in the pool business his whole life. Around 95’ he struck out doing his own thing, doing basically everything for pools. Maintenance, fixing, building, you name it! A few years after starting his business, Allan started running into pools that had automatic covers on them that were starting to break down. Nobody seemed to have the parts or the knowledge to fix them.

Dedicated to his work on pools, Allan and one of his clients tracked down the manufacturer directly. He was invited out for training and met Rick Clark, the owner of that system. He flew to Salt Lake City, spent 3 days learning the trade, came home, and sold 8 automatic pool covers in his first year. He'll tell you he stumbled into it, which is the kind of thing you can only say honestly when what followed the stumble turned into 26 years, thousands of installations, and a trusted company.

The Mentor: Rick Clark

The contact in Salt Lake City was a man named Rick Clark, and his own path into the trade says something about the kind of knowledge he had and how seriously he took passing it on. As a teenager, Rick applied to a pool cover company, got turned down, then worked his way in anyway. Eventually, Rick bought out the ownership with a colleague, having been compensated in shares along the way. 

Rick built an innovative business out of a trade most people had never heard of, and when Allan showed up in Utah circa Y2K, Rick took a chance on him: 3 days of knowledge transfer, how the systems work, what they need, and where they fail.

Recently, these two pool experts had dinner together. Rick told Allan "I'm very impressed with how you've grown your business, and always wishing the best for you." It’s pretty cool to sit for a meal with the person who handed you a trade, then watched what you built with it over decades of dedication.

Pool Patrol founder Allan Horwood standing on an automatic pool safety cover in the early 2000s, demonstrating the cover's load-bearing strength during one of his first installations in British Columbia.

How People Learn Pool Cover Installation

In a trade with no school, no certification, and no formal structure, the quality of what you learn and who you learn it from shows up directly in the work, and that lineage sits underneath every Pool Patrol installation in BC today.

"Our guys are so good. My team is unbelievable. We've had some guys with us for 17 years. Pool Patrol's covers are unique, and our team knows how to install them. They're experts, they're extremely experienced, and they're professional." — Allan Horwood

The person who shows up to your pool in Kelowna or Nanaimo or West Vancouver has done this hundreds of times, on pools that were straightforward and pools that weren't, and they know the difference thanks to the mentorship of Rick Clark and Allan Horwood.

"There's no school for installing pool covers, so people learn on the job. Do you want two people in your driveway who have no idea what they're doing? We don't have those people,” Allan explains. “Our people stay with us, and they do a really good job for our customers."

Automatic Pool Cover Installation at its Best

A cover fabricated to specification can still go wrong if the installation is rushed, the site isn't read carefully, or the team leaves without explaining the system to the owner, and that last part is where a lot of installs quietly fall down: the cover works fine, but the owner doesn't know what to watch for or when to call.

As Allan puts it, “the guys clean up, they install right, they give instructions, and we respond when there's a problem. That's the experience. That's why you choose us.” Pool Patrol installs automatic pool covers for new pool builds and covers for existing inground pools across BC, with teams in Vancouver and Kelowna. Covers are processed and assembled in Canada.

"If a pool is a good fit for an automatic cover, we'll say so. If a retrofit has limitations, we'll say that too. We'd rather be upfront than tell people what they want to hear and create problems later."

"I would not own a pool without one [Pool Patrol automatic cover] now. The safety, energy and water savings, and overall amazing quality the cover provides is certainly worth every penny. Pool Patrol's service at the time of install, and after-sale follow-up has been over the top. Anytime routine maintenance or adjustments are needed, they are there in no time, and show up when they promised they would." 
— Trevor Pollon, Google Review

 The original Pool Patrol van, 30+ years ago in Vancouver, BC.  

A Legacy of Pool Cover Knowledge

Rick Clark took a chance on Allan, and Allan built his team the same way: paying people well, teaching them the trade, and holding standards that run from how the track sits in the deck to how the phone gets answered when something isn't working.

"We get ahold of you. We answer. We're experts. We're not perfect, but we're here for you."
— Allan Horwood

That's what moves through a trade with no formal structure, not just how to set a motor or work a difficult pool shape, but how to show up, how to explain it, and how to still be reachable years after the job is done.

Work With a Pool Cover Specialist in BC

Pool Patrol serves the Lower Mainland, the Okanagan, and Vancouver Island from hubs in Vancouver and Kelowna. If you're a homeowner thinking about a new cover or a retrofit, or a builder who wants a specialist on the project from the start, meet the team or get in touch.

Vancouver: 1-604-329-7077
Okanagan: 1-250-801-1980

Pool Patrol is BC's automatic pool cover specialist, with teams serving the Lower Mainland, Okanagan, and Vancouver Island. Covers are processed and assembled in Canada and installed by technicians trained in the trade. Learn more about Pool Patrol.