Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Hageman.
Hi Amy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I come from a construction family and I guess I’ve always loved seeing things being built – going from nothing to… something! After college at St. Edwards University, I stayed fairly close to the built industry, working for a home builder and then a commercial real estate company. I then worked for over five years for Big Red Dog Engineering, now WGI. I learned so much about the business and people side of construction at Big Red Dog; the firm is an engineering firm touching all aspects of a project, including civil, structural and MEP engineering. I was responsible for marketing and then ultimately human resources for the company’s multiple offices. I was often the CEO’s right hand woman and got to see it go from an engineering start-up to the large firm it is today. So while my entrepreneurial itch was being scratched, I knew I wanted to be doing more. I love Austin but as we all know it gets HOT and I was over it. I am a long-distance runner in my free time, and I told my husband I was tired of coming home from a run dripping sweat and not being able to really cool down the rest of the day. We were either moving to Colorado or getting a pool! Well, the pool it was! We were living in South Austin and had a yard that did NOT scream “room for a swimming pool!” It was a super challenging yard – multiple City easements, overhead powerlines, tight on impervious cover and more. But I love a challenge so we figured it out, and Tiny Pools was born! Simultaneously, I knew I was also passionate about pool safety. My family lost a small dog to a pool drowning when I was younger, and I had also begun supporting the Austin non-profit Colin’s Hope on their amazing mission to prevent childhood drowning. So as we were building our first tiny pool in my own yard, I was also designing our patent pending sliding deck cover. The deck cover really brought our mission of building “smarter and safer pools” to life. The deck is a huge safety feature, but also an environmental one in that it prevents evaporation in our hot Texas weather.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Construction itself is challenging and risky! Add that to the face that we are digging MASSIVE holes in people’s backyards, their homes that they see EVERY day, and the challenges never stop! I also founded the company because we wanted to build smarter and safer pools, so not your typical every day cookie cutter swimming pool. I wanted to target yards like my own – small yards, with difficult access, tight code restrictions, power lines – you name it! So we are rarely going into a yard that is a wide open space that a pool can just be located anywhere in. We have to think critically and get creative to make these pools work for our clients in often challenging yards and locations. Add all of this to we are now in the midst of what are calling a “pandemic panic” around home improvement projects. Everyone is home and has been home for a while now, and no one knows how much longer the world will be like this. We live in Austin where it’s hot – lots of people want a pool, and not just from Tiny Pools! Pool building trades and materials are seeing a ton of inflation and vulnerability in this market. There is so much demand that we are all having to predict and respond to in our pricing, construction timeframes, and more.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Texas Tiny Pools?
Texas Tiny Pools is a woman-owned, Austin founded and based, pool design and construction company. We build custom concrete pools. We are a small, family run business that works to stay true to our TINY roots, through our personal relationships with clients as well as the pools we build. We love helping clients with challenging yards find their pool dreams come true. Our sizes typically range from 8×8 square feet to 12 x 25 square feet. We love working with landscape designers and other outdoor experts to transform people’s outdoor spaces.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Likes: Long-distance running Dogs Travel – I miss international travel so much! Hiking at my parent’s cabin in Idaho Jack Allen’s Kitchen and Matt’s El Rancho – my two faves Being able to cool off from the hot Texas weather in a Tiny Pool Dislikes: Dishonesty Being hot.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tinypools.com
- Instagram: @texastinypools
Image Credits
Texas Tiny Pools
