Mark and Becky Jacobs - Owners
Setting the Stage…
Mark and Becky Jacobs live in Guyton, GA on a little homestead raising cows, pigs, chickens, and several new puppies. They previously lived in Pooler, GA for 18 years raising and homeschooling three children who are all now grown and starting their own families. One daughter and one son-in-law are active in the family owned plumbing and septic business (Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Savannah) and are now helping in the start-up of the new River Pools of Savannah. The other family members are pursuing their own careers of pharmacy, nursing, education, and the National Guard. All are active in their church families.
His Story…
Mark graduated from Harding University (Searcy, AR) with a BS and an MS in Accounting to begin his career as a CPA and then as a corporate controller and financial analyst spanning 16 years. Mark’s entrepreneurial spirit, which he felt from his pre-teen years mowing the neighborhood yards and his desire to make a positive impact on people’s lives, led him to leave the corporate world and pursue a handyman business. Mark had extensive home repair and improvement experience from the numerous personal homes he remodeled and several homes that he and Becky “flipped” or made into rentals. Mark supplemented his income by teaching computers and accounting at Savannah Tech for a few semesters while the new handyman business grew. A few years into the handyman business Mark realized that, due to the very personal nature of the relationships formed with customers and the difficulty in finding equally qualified employees, the handyman business would not likely grow into a sustainable operation. Mark searched for a longer-term opportunity and found the Mr. Rooter plumbing franchise which was started in 2006 and has operated for 16 years. Mark happily acknowledges that the very best thing found along the way was his wife of 34 years, Becky.
The Best part…
Becky grew up in central New York near Lake Ontario and, almost without saying, doesn’t miss the cold, icy, snowy, northern winters. She graduated with a teaching degree from SUNY Oswego before turning her education attention to business. She enrolled at Harding University to pursue an MS in accounting where she met Mark and, as they say, “the rest is history”. Instead of an MS in accounting, Becky was awarded her Mrs. degree when, on Mark’s graduation day, the two were married in a little chapel near campus and moved to Florida to start their family. As Mark’s career path took the family to different areas of the country and as the family began to grow, Becky worked as an insurance underwriter, as an office coordinator of a construction and development office, and as a real estate coordinator for a nationwide retail business. All of this was before moving to the Savannah area in 2001 and, at which time, Becky returned to her education roots to begin the full-time work of homeschooling three elementary age kids. In 2006, Becky would begin to apply her organizational and personal skills to the building of the Mr. Rooter business while continuing the education of the kids.
Coincidentally…
The River Pools seed was planted in 2020 when the family moved to Guyton and the new homestead was missing the one checkbox that Becky most wanted…a pool. As many people had already experienced, it was impossible to find a pool company with the availability of both time and product to install a new pool; therefore, the search was on to find a DIY pool company. Searching Google and YouTube led to River Pools. Coincidentally, River Pools was looking for people like Mark and Becky at the same time…not to buy a pool but to help River Pools reach more people by opening a River Pools franchise. Coincidentally, Mark and Becky were looking for an opportunity to diversify their existing business. Coincidentally, (last time) the skills and equipment used to excavate for sewer systems, septic tanks and drain fields are exactly the tools and skills needed to install a fiberglass pool. So, with the background of achieving outstanding levels of customer satisfaction in their Mr. Rooter business, Mark and Becky have combined resources with River Pools to bring an unmatched level of customer service to the greater Savannah area fiberglass pool installation market.
Catch the Wave!
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