RAW Custom Coatings Is Bringing a Different Standard to Municipal Waterslide Maintenance
After nearly two decades in the field, the family-owned company is helping aquatic teams better understand their assets, prioritize what needs attention and plan for what comes next.
TULSA, Okla. — When the gates open for summer, families see a waterslide ready for another season. Behind it is an aquatic team that spent months getting there.
They are responsible for knowing whether the slide is ready to operate, what needs maintenance, whether a change in the surface deserves professional attention and what may need to find its way into next year's budget.
And those decisions rarely happen in isolation. A pump goes down. Another part of the facility needs repairs. Capital dollars are limited. Suddenly, a waterslide is competing against a long list of other needs.
For nearly 20 years, RAW Custom Coatings has worked alongside the people making those decisions.
Built in the Field
RAW Custom Coatings is a family-owned specialty coatings and restoration contractor based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, serving aquatic facilities across the country.
Its work has taken RAW from municipal pools and community aquatic centers to large-scale attractions and nationally recognized projects. Along the way, the company has built its experience in waterslide restoration, fiberglass and gelcoat repair, protective coatings, structural steel coatings, inspections and ongoing maintenance.
But some of the work that matters most to RAW happens long before a crew mobilizes.
It happens when an aquatic director calls because something doesn't look right. When a city is trying to determine what belongs in next year's budget. Or when a municipality has several proposals in front of them and isn't sure whether they are actually comparing the same work.
Those conversations have shaped the way RAW approaches the industry today.
Start With What the Asset Actually Needs
Not every condition requires restoration.
Some need attention now. Some belong in routine maintenance. Others should be documented and monitored from season to season. Some need to become part of a future capital plan.
And sometimes the answer is simply: not yet.
“The goal isn't to create work for the sake of creating work,” said Brent Brockhaus, owner of RAW Custom Coatings. “We want to understand what the asset actually needs and help the people responsible for it put their resources in the right place at the right time.”
That means RAW may recommend maintenance instead of restoration. It may recommend watching a condition for another season. And when restoration, fiberglass repair or protective coatings are the right next step, RAW has the field crews and technical experience to perform the work. For the company, being a good contractor starts with being willing to make the right recommendation, even when that recommendation doesn't create a project today.
A Scope Should Mean Something
That same philosophy carries into public procurement.
A city may receive several proposals that all say “waterslide restoration,” but that doesn't necessarily mean each contractor is proposing the same work.
Surface preparation can be different. Repair methods can be different. Materials and coating systems can be different. Application requirements can be different.
Those differences matter.
Yet aquatic directors and parks professionals shouldn't have to become fiberglass technicians or coatings specialists just to determine whether three proposals represent three comparable solutions. RAW believes that conversation needs to begin earlier.
A well-defined scope gives a city a clearer understanding of what it is buying. It gives qualified contractors a consistent standard to price against. And it makes it easier for municipal teams to evaluate more than the number at the bottom of a proposal.
Before comparing the numbers, municipalities should know whether they are comparing the same outcome.
Building Better Standards Around the Work
The same field experience is also shaping RAW Standards, an initiative focused on bringing greater consistency to aquatic asset evaluation, documentation, maintenance and planning.
The idea started with a simple problem RAW sees repeatedly. Aquatic professionals inherit responsibility for significant infrastructure, but they don't always inherit the specialized knowledge needed to manage it.
They know their facilities. They see these assets every day. What they may not know is what a change in gelcoat means, what should be documented at the end of a season, when a joint needs closer attention or when a coating condition has moved beyond routine maintenance.
RAW wants to help close that gap.
Through training, better documentation and a more consistent approach to condition evaluation, the goal is to give aquatic teams better information before they have to make maintenance, budgeting or procurement decisions. It also creates a better starting point when professional work is needed.
RAW has the capability to mobilize nationally and execute complex restoration and coatings projects. That experience matters. But scale isn't what makes the work meaningful.
A municipal waterslide may never be the largest project RAW completes. It may, however, be one of the most important investments a community is asking an aquatic director to protect. Because on the other side of every maintenance plan, scope of work and capital budget are the people who actually use these facilities.
Families spend their summers there. Kids work up the courage to ride the big slide for the first time. Communities gather there year after year. RAW is family-owned and operated. Its own families use these facilities too.
“At the end of the day, somebody's kids are going down that slide. Ours included,” Brockhaus said. “We want the people responsible for these facilities to understand what they're looking at, know what actually needs to be done and feel confident that when the work is needed, it's being done the right way.”
That is where RAW sees its role moving forward.
Help aquatic teams understand what they have. Help them identify what actually needs attention. Give them better information to maintain it, budget for it and advocate for it. And when it is time to do the work, do it right.
Understand what you have. Know what it needs. Plan for what comes next.
About RAW Custom Coatings
RAW Custom Coatings is a family-owned specialty coatings and restoration contractor based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, serving municipal aquatic facilities and attractions nationwide. With nearly 20 years of field experience, RAW specializes in waterslide restoration and maintenance, fiberglass and gelcoat repair, protective coatings, structural steel coatings, inspections and aquatic asset planning.
Learn more: rawcustomcoatings.com
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