Today we’d like to introduce you to Bill & Dominique Kerins. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Billy has been working with epoxy coatings since 18, doing large and small residential and commercial projects in and around Boston, and ever since 2004, as a business owner. Dominique joined his 20-person crew in 2017, shortly after marrying and having their first child. While neither of them were strangers to the values of perseverance and hard work in their personal and professional lives, they shared a new mission, which was to convey these values, among others, to their (now three) young children. Clear communication, long hours, meticulous attention to a budget, and their love for one another have helped them to model a healthy work-life balance; spending quality family time and breaking bread together has always been a top priority, even if it meant working weekends and leaving home at 4:00 am. However, at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, their quality of life required reexamination. Despite their joint efforts, they realized their freedoms, quality of life, and success were limited. Just one year later, they uprooted their family to Saint Augustine, where freedom and opportunity abounded – not to mention the beautiful beaches and sunshine!
It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
While most people we know ask how we can survive the heat and humidity of Florida’s summer, it has yet to be a problem. Billy argues that it is much better to sweat than to cope with the seized engines and freezing limbs common to a cold winter’s day in Boston. Our family loves the heat, and we love Saint Augustine, in part, for that reason. However, our business has been presented with many problems and challenges! For instance, in 2021, concrete supplies were critically low shortly after moving to St. Augustine, and the cost of materials was incredibly high. Budgeting and bidding became a challenge, and networking in this new environment with three young children was even more difficult. With no family or friends to help, it was a challenge to “get out there,” especially due to the unfamiliar landscape, and the tech-heavy nature of social networking and digital marketing. Previously, Billy had successfully grown his network and client base up north “the old-fashioned way,” and Dominique was familiar with books, chalkboards, and her podium at the university, where she taught philosophy. Point being that neither of us were shy about engaging in face-to-face interactions, presentations, or talks, but “getting out there” in the digital world proved more challenging than we anticipated!
Thanks for sharing that. Can you tell us more about your work next?
We are a small, family-run business whose primary service is concrete coating installation. While our specialty is pool deck coatings, most of our clients use our services for coating concrete driveways, garage floors, patios, and walkways. Whatever the area that needs coating, our products involve top-of-the-line, polyurea, and polyaspartic materials and our service values quality first.
While some coating companies apply epoxy coatings, our products are more durable, 4x stronger, and more flexible than epoxy alternatives, which are known to fail in outdoor settings. Unlike those epoxy alternatives, our materials are antimicrobial, slip-resistant, chip-proof, peel-proof, and fade-proof, with UV-stable properties. They come in various colors and textures, and our commitment to quality and client satisfaction means that we walk our clients through every decision and question during (free) face-to-face consultation, with real-time samples, honest answers, and on-the-spot verbal quotations.
The service industry fails to provide quality services and products to the people, and we are proud to separate ourselves from that trend. We understand that individuals and families are paying the penalty for poor service, inexperience, and inattention to detail – in all service sectors. Yet, instead of succumbing to subpar service and cheap products, we are proud to participate in a trend of excellence—high-class, upscale solutions.
We refuse to make empty promises like “one-day installations” and “lifetime guaranteed products.” “Quick and fast” should be a thing of the past, especially when dealing with people’s homes and businesses. Unlike many concrete coating companies, we don’t rush our projects and stand behind our service and product with knowledge, understanding, and respect. We treat every pool deck, driveway, garage floor, and patio as our own, with great care. We recognize the importance of pool decks and patios as intimately shared spaces for personal enjoyment and entertaining; after all, what other floor in your home will you be sitting on, in “barely” to literally no clothing? It’s a space that needs pristine attention, hence the name of our company, Pristine Pool Decks.
To ensure a “quality first” approach at Pristine Pool Decks, our installers have been through a rigorous vetting and training process, unlike other installers, whose only requirement is a driver’s license and access to a truck. In addition, Billy is a certifiable concrete wizard; beyond handling concrete in all weather conditions, for projects both large and small, he has been in business long enough to see the long-term impact and positive effect of doing things right. As such, he can determine when, how, and why others have done things the “fast and easy” way, and he can explain why cracks, shifts, heaving, and settling occur, drawing from his 20+ years of knowledge and experience in the field of installing concrete as well as concrete coatings. When problems arise, honesty is key and is what we value. As such, we offer a maintenance package that no other coatings company has yet to offer. Beyond warranties, we extend our service to a monthly follow-up over 5 to 10-year periods. For a small monthly fee, our clients can call upon Pristine Pool Decks for inspection, follow-up, and detailed work as needed.
In closing, choosing a company to do business with is not about which company has the best advertising or gimmicky sales pitches; it’s about the people in the company: who they are and what they stand for.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
We love Saint Augustine for so many reasons. We love that it is named after Saint Augustine, as the name helps to recall the city’s rich history and European flare. We fell in love with the city after walking down the cobblestone-paved streets beneath the mossy live oak-tree canopy off St. George St. The quaint shops and narrow streets reminded us of Strasbourg, France, where Dominique lived for some time before marrying Billy. Not to mention our love for the “Nights of Lights,” festivities which certainly rival the Christmas displays of Strasbourg, France, labeled the “Christmas Capital” of the world. We also have come to love the people here; there is a real sense of community in Saint Augustine, and we appreciate and value all the people we have met. Perhaps most of all, we love the pristine beaches and endless summer sunshine in Saint Augustine, as the weather encourages a healthier “outdoor-focused” lifestyle, which we all enjoy. That being said, we wish there were more off-road commuter-friendly bike lanes and walking paths in the region. That we live ½ a mile from Publix but happen to drive there by car is plain silly. Though several attempts were made to keep three kids in tow by bicycle along the back streets in St. Augustine, the car traffic and congestion made it unsafe. The traffic is getting worse daily, and parking spots are more difficult to find! If only we could bicycle to the store and school, this would be ideal!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pristinepooldecks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pristinepooldecks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=profile§ion=username
