It’s a Beautiful Thing Because It’s Done Right

Investor and mathematician Jim Simons taught business leaders and investors to be “guided by beauty.” Why? Because, as Simons tells us, to create beauty you must “do something right.” Done right is the beauty, the essence of the art in every outdoor living project built by Budd Pools & Spas.

Why “done right” is the essence of beauty

If you’ve visited our website and blog, followed us on social media, or seen “Built Well by Budd,” our new 48-page custom pool guide, you probably know of our commitment to doing things right. If you’ve visited our blog before, you might also have come across our views on the art of the pool.

In his 2010 MIT lecture “Mathematics, Common Sense, and Good Luck: My Life and Careers,” Simons provides a deeper understanding of the essential links between beauty and things done right:

“Now, you might think, ‘Building a company that’s trading bonds? What’s so aesthetic about that?’ What’s aesthetic about it is doing it right. Getting the right kind of people, and approaching the problem, and doing it right. And if you feel that you’re the first one to do it right, that’s a terrific feeling. It’s a beautiful thing to do something right.”¹

 

The founder mentality at work and at home

Like the question posed in his MIT lecture, you might ask at this point, “What does math, common sense, and good luck have to do with me, or with choosing a pool company?”

Call it a founder mentality that works equally well at work and at home. Over time, Simons’s three values became the company values for Budd Pools & Spas. It didn’t happen by writing a “corporate values” page for our website. We built a culture that has developed organically and grown over 70 years and three generations.

This is how a South Jersey pool company has come to apply those same values Jim Simons propounded in his MIT lecture:

Do the Math: Doing a pool right starts with doing the math. Math is the starting point for every budget we develop for a new pool project. Math is the foundation of our pool design specifications. Math is an essential step with every careful measurement we take—and take again—when building a new pool. Finally, after the new pool is opened, you can’t possibly get the pool water chemistry right without the math.

Uncommon Common Sense: Common sense is easy to comprehend, but its practice isn’t easy. Though widely recognized, you won’t always see common sense employed in the pool business. Like in all businesses, people and companies can stray from tending to the details.

Be Grateful for Good Luck: Recognizing good luck when it comes your way helps keep you humble enough to keep doing the math and staying in touch with common sense. For the Budd family and the Budd Pools & Spas company, those are the things that helped us thrive. By us, we mean all of us: all those families we serve, and all our employees and their families.

The three pillars

Those insights shared by Simons and the values reflected in the pools we build are the three pillars that our company honors. Beyond serving the needs and aspirations of our employees and customers, we seek to serve the needs of those who simply wish to learn more about the arts of craftsmanship. The art of the pool. The healthful benefits of pools, spas, and outdoor living.

We provide these stories because we believe it’s the right thing to do. It’s almost as hard for information seekers to find the right information about pools and outdoor living as it is to build them. To help correct that deficiency, Budd Pools & Spas will continue adding more stories on our blog and educational videos on our YouTube channel.

We do this for those of you dreaming of having your own pool and for pool owners looking for help maintaining or renovating their pools. It takes time and effort for you to find and learn everything you should know to become a savvy pool reader. It takes time and effort for us to produce those stories.

If you’re one of those information seekers, we’re glad you’ve read this far. And we think your time will be rewarded as we take a closer look at how building and maintaining an in-ground swimming pool is in the details.

‘Done right’ is in the details

In “Three Inches that Matter” (WaterShapes Magazine, April 2026), Paolo Benedetti uncovers a seemingly small detail. It represents one of many details you can’t see, but your pool builder better care about.

“There are moments in construction,” Benedetti says, “when the smallest decisions carry the largest consequences. In swimming pool construction, one of those pivots happens quietly, almost invisibly, at the bottom of the deep end when the drain sump is set in place.”

He explains how there’s a right way and a lazy way to set this fixture before the concrete is applied. Do it the careless way, and the surrounding concrete eventually cracks. “This is not a materials failure. It is not a mystery of chemistry or an unpredictable act of nature,” he says, “It is a case of improper installation, which too often boils down to insufficient care.”

Care, like art, is found in the details

Sometimes, as Benedetti demonstrates, doing the details should be easy. But you have to care. Just as an artist obsesses over the details in a painting, the art of caring about the details helps make a Budd custom pool a greater value than the generic gunite pool.

The art of caring demands more time and effort from the builder and the homeowner. For the pool builder: to know and care enough to do it right. For the homeowner: to know enough and care enough to make the right choices.

There’s a popular quote attributed to the philosopher Howard Thurmond, where he talks about what people need most:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive. Because what the world needs most is more people who have come alive.”²

 

Knowing enough to care is particularly important for those homeowners who think they’ll save by buying a generic gunite pool. The same goes for those thinking about dropping a preformed fiberglass pool into their backyard.

The Budd Affordable Luxury option

If you’re thinking the lowest-cost gunite pool or a pre-formed fiberglass pool is your only option, consider the possibilities of our Affordable Luxury Vinyl Liner pools. Budd vinyl liner pools are built with concrete and steel, and finished with a precision-fit liner.

You can’t see many of the important details that go into your Budd Luxury Vinyl Pool. But because the details are done right, you can experience the satisfaction of pool ownership over many seasons to come. You may also enjoy your pool’s added value if you sell your home.

By this point, you’ve invested the time to read more than 1400 words. We hope you’ve found it time well spent. If you happen to be in the market for a new pool, please continue to invest the time to find the right pool builder for your project. And learn more about how the right builder can build things right for you. When you find the right builder, your pool project can make things come alive for you and your family.

More about the featured projects in this blog

Photo 1 – “My Inspiration”: You can learn more about Chris Volk’s backyard experiment–and lots more photos–on this Featured Projects Page.

Photo 2 – “Art of the Pool”: When it came time to talk design, Chris Volk recalls, these homeowners, “told me to do my own thing.” For this project, Chris took his inspiration from the colors and patterns of the pre-existing patio tiles. Chris says he first connected the home and patio to the new poolside patio with four strategically placed sun umbrellas. The poolside patio tiles and pathway pavers reflect some of the colors found in the main house patio but are set at a contrasting angle. The umbrella shapes and other details add further contrast and texture. Everything lines up–including the pool to create a sense of movement that catches our eyes and provides visual cues to help us move through the entire outdoor living space.

Photo 3 – “Modern Balance” and a Balanced Budget: This was one of our early Affordable Luxury projects. In our initial meeting, we discussed the cost/value differences between comparable gunite pools and Budd Vinyl Liner pools. Our modular forms let us build a custom-designed poured concrete, steel-reinforced pool. The deluxe vinyl liner provides a smooth finish that never becomes rough.