Voted "Perfect Pool Guy" for 2018!
Pleatco Award: The Perks of Perfection
by AQUA Editors | August 2020
After a lifetime spent working across many facets of the pool industry, Dick Abare is still most inspired by new opportunities to learn and grow.
Crowned 2018’s Pleatco Perfect Pool Guy, he says the best part of everything — beyond the presentation gala, and thousands of dollars’ worth of Pleatco products — was the education opportunities. Each year, winners are granted fully-funded participation in training provided by sponsors Genesis and PHTA.
“One of the most amazing benefits was to take the Genesis class. It was wonderful,” Abare says. “It’s something that pushes you to the limit. Even if you think you’re good, when you take that class, you’re going to be better.” READ MORE
Meet the 2018 Pleatco Perfect Pool Guy
by AQUA Editors | December 2018
Dick Abare embodies the "love what you do" mentality — even after an impressive 45 years in the pool and spa industry, he's nowhere near ready to quit. Abare owns Algae Busters, a Tampa, Fla.,-based service company with only three employees on the payroll: his wife, his brother and himself. While the company may be modest, Abare's reputation in the industry is anything but. He prides himself on an extensive body of product knowledge acquired from years in the field as well as time beta testing products for major industry manufacturers — in that respect, he's helped shape the service field on a global scale. READ MORE
Meet Pleatco's 2018 Perfect Pool Guy: Dick Abare
December 17, 2018
Abare is amon the chosen few who gets to test pool equipment before it goes to market.
Dick Abare was only a teenager when he got his first job in the pool industry. He was promised good pay and a tan.
He's still at it 45 years later. To his way of thinking, why stop a good thing? READ MORE
Pleatco Names 2018 Perfect PoolGuy and PoolGal
Posted on October 22, 2018 by PoolPro
Pleatco, LLC, with longtime co-sponsors GENESIS and the National Swimming Pool Foundation, announced the winners of the 2018 Perfect Pool Guy and Gal Search: Dick Abare of Tampa, Florida, and Andrea Nannini, from Port Saint Lucie, Florida. The annual Pleatco PoolGuy/Gal Search honors the hard-working men and women of the pool and spa service industry. The 2018 search had 70 entrants. “When we made the calls in the final judging stage, every single person commented on Dick’s passion, honesty, leadership and integrity,” says Howard Smith, CEO of Pleatco. READ MORE
Pleatco Crowns the 2018 Perfect PoolGuy & PoolGal!
Euro Spa Pool News
In response to winning the award, Dick Abare replied, “It’s an honor and a privilege to be chosen Pleatco’s ‘Perfect Pool Guy 2018’. It’s very exciting to be part of the Pleatco Family, and I’m looking forward to our adventure together. I’m overwhelmed and very grateful for all the support from my family, friends and this outstanding industry that I’m lucky enough to be a part of. Thank you...All!.” READ MORE
The Industry Association You’ve Never Heard Of In Tampa, Fla.,
a group of industry professionals have formed an alliance to “keep each other in the backyard.”
By Nate Traylor
You’ve heard of Ocean’s 11. Meet Dick’s 11. Or is it Dick’s Dozen? It’s kind of hard to say. No one is keeping a head count.
This group of a dozen or so pool professionals — competitors, actually — operates with a simple code: “I’ll help you. You help me.”
The ringleader, if there is one, is Dick Abare. You recognize the name because he is this year’s Pleatco Perfect Pool Guy. READ MORE