That includes a 7,020-square-foot storage building to add more boat and RV storage, a 6,000-square-foot shop building dedicated to Buckeye Pools’ constructive service teams and a 2,482-square-foot office building next to Sheehan Road.
“We’ve always kept our eyes open for an opportunity to set ourselves up for the growth, the expansion,” said owner Chris Durbin. “We continue to build and service pools and would like to continue to grow that while maintaining the customer service levels.”
The office building will be constructed in place of the existing residence and, using landscaping incorporated into the site, will preserve an appearance of a single-family dwelling, the company said in a Planned Development District application.
“That’s been the goal from Day One, just through all the conversations with township and some neighbors is just to definitely maintain that residential feel,” Durbin said. “To drive by and not drive by and not look over and see an eyesore.
The project represents an estimated $1 million investment, Durbin said. Construction is expected to start in early 2025 and be completed in about a year.
Washington Twp. Zoning Commission at its Oct. 15 meeting recommended the company’s planned development request for approval. Washington Twp. Board of Trustees voted to approve that measure at its Nov. 4 meeting.
Buckeye Pools has been in business since 1974. It has built over 3,000 custom swimming pools across the region with more than 400 return customers, said Durbin, who started with the company in 2004 and became its owner in 2014.
The company purchased the Sheehan Road site in 2019. It also has a location at 671 Miamisburg-Centerville Road, Washington Twp. Since then the business has added three storage buildings totaling 32,400 square feet.
The new addition will give the company 48,400 total square feet at the site.
The business employs 25 during peak season, with an average tenure of about 20 years. Some have reached 30 years. “I think that speaks for itself,” Durbin said.
Buckeye Pools serves a 50- to 60-mile radius, including customers in Cincinnati, Dublin, Lima and Richmond, Indiana. Its business consists of not just installing new pools, but also modifying existing ones, said Andy Kummerer, who became co-owner in 2022.
The pool construction market, which saw significant gains during the pandemic, has cooled down a bit since then, Kummerer said.
“Luckily for us, you saw a lot of new-to-market installers that maybe didn’t have the history” that Buckeye Pools has, Kummerer said. “There was so much of a demand during that time that people were just trying to find any way to install a pool, where we’ve been able to maintain that consistency.”
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