In the early '80s, energy efficiency was on everyone's mind as gasoline, natural gas, and electricity costs were high. Swimming pool and spa owners were desperately struggling with the high cost of heating them regardless of what fuel they used. Floridians, with their twelve-month swimming season were spending more money heating their pools and spas than California and Hawaii combined.

Roy took a cue from the Florida Solar Center, new at the time, and used solar collectors to heat pools and spas. However, he discovered that solar power could not deliver what the customer wanted: a consistent way to keep a pool heated above 80 degrees in the winter. Disappointed but not discouraged, Roy investigated another new technology; air source heat pumps. Air source heat pumps were just beginning to emerge in the marketplace and they were a big improvement over solar power. They worked for many residential pools, but not so well for commercial pools as they only produced enough heat during fair and moderately cold weather.

While installing and servicing water-source heat pumps on houses, Roy noticed that the temperature of the ground water in Florida was very warm and that it didn't vary more than a degree or two all year. Roy thought, "Why not use a geothermal water source heat pump to heat the swimming pools?" This was a radical new thought and nothing like it existed in the market. So Roy went to work designing it on his own.

In March of 1983, Roy installed the first Symbiont, his geothermal water source heat pump, and it was a great success. As planned, it worked even in cold weather for a fraction of the cost of heating the same pool with gas.

Through his observations and invention, Roy was able to serve both his employees and his customers; his employees by giving them an income all year round, and his customers by providing them with a state of the art, energy efficient, money-saving way to enjoy their pools and spas all year round. Today Symbiont Service Corp is both an air-conditioning contracting company and a pool and spa heating company, but in all its affairs it holds to the same three values: always be energy efficient, treat our employees well, and delight our customers.

Roy and Karen King have comfortably retired and are living in Cincinnati,Ohio half the year and Englewood, Florida the other half.

Their daughter, Sandy L. King, is now the owner and president of Symbiont Service Corp. She is actively leading her company with the following principles:

Enthusiastic, helpful, friendly and passionate assistance for the products and services that the Symbiont Work Family provides!

Our Strategic purpose is to enable anyone who encounters Symbiont Service Corp. to experience a feeling of comfort and compassion in all of its dealings with us. A true recognition of our commitment to the environment, the community and energy efficient products and services will be evident in our daily operation. We satisfactorily deliver a symbiotic relationship throughout our growth.

As Symbiont Service Corp. moves forward over the next five years, we will provide energy efficient, state of the art, Air Conditioning and Pool/Spa Heating products and services throughout the state of Florida continuing to increase our customer satisfaction list. We will continue to be the largest, most professional and experienced commercial pool heating company in the state. Symbiont Service Corp. will deliver a comfortable, professional experience from the first contact through the completion of the product installation including maintaining an ongoing service relationship as long as the customer owns the product.

We will also continue to maintain mutually beneficial relationships (symbiotic) with everyone involved in the process including employees, customers, vendors, lenders, the community, owners and any other professionals needed.

Our competitive advantage will be to do things right the first time, backed by a strong service policy.  We will set realistic timetables and communicate them to our clients, enabling realistic expectations for them. We will then exceed their expectations with our commitment to superior service.

We will bring our vision to life through the careful implementation of systems at every level of the business.