Icehouse provides springboard for Aquanort's next level business success

It’s summer in Marlborough and the team at Aquanort Pools are busier than ever. The family-owned company has grown exponentially since Micky Norton started the business back in the 60’s.

Now run by third generation Tom and wife Nicola, the business is the first pool company in the South Island to be Climate Care certified and spans both the Marlborough and Nelson regions. The staff numbers have doubled in the last three years and the plans for future growth include using Tom’s technical expertise as a consultant for pool installs around the country. Icehouse programmes and an advisor have guided the family on their fast-paced journey and there’s no sign of anyone slowing down, with the exception maybe of Tom’s parent’s Greg and Nicola who have navigated a well-deserved exit plan.

When Covid shut down New Zealand in 2020 Tom Norton had just completed the Owner Manager Programme and the plans to accelerate growth were underway including expansion into Nelson. There’d been a period of rapid growth in the years leading up to Covid with the Kaikoura earthquake resulting in an upswing of insurance assessments and claims. Work stretched as far as Cheviot from the Blenheim head office.

Nicola Norton shares her insights into this family business success story:

Our immediate thoughts were, oh my gosh we’ve just lost the business - six pools got cancelled overnight. However, it actually turned out to be a really good opportunity because no one could travel overseas and people wanted to invest in their properties. At one stage we had an 18-month lead time for pool orders and spa sales increased by 200 per cent! During lockdown the opportunity came up to be the new Nelson installer for Compass Pools.

It feels like a bit of luck that the opportunity came up then because it’s widened the net for us.

Maybe it was because Tom had just come out of the Icehouse and he had the confidence to correctly identify it as a good stepping stone but having the Nelson business has meant we’ve had the options to keep everyone working when things have quietened down a bit in Marlborough. We are a Marlborough builder but we also have to build where the work is and that needs to be all year round.

Nelson is quite a distance from Blenheim so there must be some challenges with managing the work locations?

There’s some juggling to do but the tricky part is finding the labour. The wine industry sucks up a lot of the workforce and we sit in an awkward spot where we’re in construction but we’re also plumbing and electrical. So, we have to find people who have those skills and then train them up.

The business now carries 20 on the payroll including Tom and Nicola and Tom’s parents – Greg and Nicola (yep, there’s often some confusion!)

Those numbers have doubled since Tom was in the Icehouse with two of the contractors now full-time salaried staff.

As a family, how have you navigated the succession planning and any tips for others in family businesses?

We’ve been working closely with an Icehouse advisor Derek Young and he’s been excellent- he’s been a bit like a mediator for us, working through all the scenarios. Greg had said he wanted to retire but together with Nicola they have been the owners since the 80’s, and a huge part of the business - they couldn’t just walk out the door.

We have all completed team profiling with Derek so we understand how we work best together and how we communicate best. We’ve been very lucky with Tom’s parents – for example no idea is a dumb idea. There have been times though when we needed to address things that hadn’t worked in the past but we wanted to give a try now and Derek has helped to guide those conversations through to a result.

What made you decide to do the Owner Manager Programme?

Tom was the driving force behind that decision - he was adamant I do it too. I didn’t feel like I needed it. I thought I had been to university and maybe I didn’t need the Icehouse as much as Tom had, because he hadn’t had that Uni commerce background.

But Tom had got so much from the Icehouse, he wanted me to experience it and I’m so glad I did because the support and the insight from the other business owners has been amazing and as a woman it’s been empowering. Now Tom and I will be working on our growth plan together and really thinking about our “why” – why we’re in business.

I’ve realised the importance of bringing our team with us on the journey and so one of our key managers Cory has been through the Icehouse leadership programme. His project, while on the Programme, was to bring us into the future and research new project management software.

We’ve since landed on software SimPRO and that will eventually allow us to integrate our inventory, projects and service work and hopefully eliminate a lot of our pain points.

What have been some of your other big win’s in the past year?

Getting the Climate Care Certification has been the cherry on the top. With tough Council restrictions around water and the environment it’s been awesome to offer people the ideas to make their pool climate Care Certified. It’s opened up a lot of opportunities for us and made us think about our carbon footprint across our business and our supply chain.

Do you have an incredible pool?

Ironically, no! We have one in the plans! We just built a house so that will be coming next in the landscaping plans. But when we do build a pool it will most likely be a French Grey finish. That colour has most definitely been a recent trend.

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