Gardner Collins graduated from Cornell University in 1958 with Bachelors in Science Degree in Civil Engineering.  He moved down from New York after college and started his career in the Pinellas County Building Department.   He eventually became the Pinellas County Engineer and started gaining knowledge in pool engineering and design.  In the early 1970’s, he started designing commercial pools for local pool contractors and developers, before there was any demand for a “pool engineer”. His experience grew over the next 3 years, and he started becoming the expert in pool design and recirculation systems. 

In the 1985, after hurricane Ellena, the west coast of Florida was heavily damaged.  The business grew after the hurricane, so he decided that his home wasn’t big enough to handle the day-to-day work that the pool business demanded and he opened his office on Cleveland Street in down town Clearwater, and left the County for good.  He was working with over 30 pool builders and developers before he started his own business. 

He was a founder for the USPA (United Pool and Spa Association) and became President in 1992.Through UPSA, he initiated a standard that was adopted by the state and eventually became part of the Florida Building Code, which is used to this day.  Gardner (Gar) was a pioneer for the industry and his knowledge and experience is unmatched. 

Over the past 40 years, Gar has worked on every pool you can image.  He’s done work for all the YMCA’s, major theme parks in the area, numerous hotel chains, dozens of municipalities, resorts, condominiums, townhomes, high rises, and large developments.   All-in-all, Gar has worked and completed over 5,000 commercial pools throughout the state of Florida.

In Loving Memory of Gardner Collins 1935 – 2016