Why a boutique LA pool builder switched from traditional banking to Bluevine

J Designs Pool & Spa is a boutique pool design, construction, renovation, cleaning, and repair business in Los Angeles, California. This business checking case study shows why JC and Liliana Escudero moved from traditional banking to fintech banking, then how they ultimately landed on Bluevine to make their day-to-day business finances easier to manage.

Business snapshot

• Business: J Designs Pool & Spa
• Location: Los Angeles, CA
• Industry: Residential pool design, construction
• Model: Boutique, high-end pool builder
• Bluevine customer since: March 2026

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From family roots to a boutique pool business

Since 2001, JC Escudero had been working for his family’s pool services business. In 2007, he and Liliana started J Designs Pool & Spa, combining his creative and technical experience with her administrative and operational background.

At one point, the business was built for volume. J Designs was working on nearly 200 pools per year before the market shifted and the business changed direction.

During the recession in 2008–2009, they focused more of their marketing within the city of Los Angeles instead of the surrounding area. That helped J Designs become a more boutique business specialized in higher-end projects—the only one-stop shop for pool design, construction, and ongoing service in LA.

“We wanted to be more niche and exclusive so we could create unique designs for our customers,” says Liliana. “Now, we build no more than 10 to 15 pools a year, but our projects are incredible.” 

Their smaller, more specialized business model still requires strong financial organization, especially when each project can involve customer deposits, vendors, contractors, materials, repairs, and ongoing service work.

Why J Designs switched from traditional banking to fintech banking

J Designs had previously used traditional banks for all their business finances. Those relationships gave the company familiar banking infrastructure, but they didn’t always give Liliana the day-to-day flexibility she needed. With traditional banking, resolving simple issues still felt frustrating, often requiring paperwork or trips to a branch.

For a hands-on business owner, those small moments add up. Liliana was managing incoming payments from customers, outgoing payments to vendors and contractors, and accounting tasks, all while helping to keep the business running. Any extended check holds or delays on availability could create major cash flow problems.

“Traditional banking made it so difficult for us to have the rhythm we needed to collect payments and pay subcontractors on our schedule,” Liliana explains. 

The issue was not the specific banks they were using. The real issue was that J Designs needed a faster, more flexible banking setup that fit the pace and structure of a modern, project-based business—and traditional banking did not match those needs.

As the business evolved, Liliana wanted a banking platform that matched how they actually worked: organized, efficient, digital, and easy to manage without constant branch visits.

With Bluevine, I save at least one to two hours per week on bill payments alone.”

– Liliana E., J Designs Pool & Spa

Why Bluevine stood out over Relay and other fintech options

Liliana was already thinking carefully about how to organize the business’s money. She was looking for more control, clearer structure, and a setup that could support a profitability-first approach.

Initially, that led J Designs to try Relay. The move made sense because fintech banking offered more digital control and account organization than their traditional banking setup.

When Liliana came across Bluevine, she didn’t necessarily intend to make another change. She was just starting to understand the value of fintech banking. But the benefits of moving from Relay to Bluevine were hard to ignore.

On the surface, Relay helped introduce Liliana to a more structured way to manage her cash flow. However, even though Relay is optimized for profitability, Liliana discovered that Bluevine has many of the same cash flow management tools to support a profitability-first method—including sub-accounts and automatic transfer rules—plus two things Relay doesn’t offer:

1. Up to 3.0% APY on checking balances^BVSUP-00166
2. Access to multiple business financing options if she needs extra capital^BVSUP-00151

“When I got introduced to Bluevine, I started moving all my money over from Relay,” Liliana says. “It’s nicer to have everything in one place.”

Immediately, Liliana saw a better fit for how her company operated.

With Bluevine Business Checking, J Designs uses sub-accounts and automatic transfer rules to keep money organized based on her profitability-first strategy. Built-in bill pay also gives her the ability to schedule outgoing payments to contractors and vendors.

“Any income comes directly into my Bluevine account, then every afternoon it gets distributed to different sub-accounts—like my profit account, owner’s compensation, taxes, operating expenses. And then on Wednesdays and Fridays, we send payments to our subcontractors.”

Liliana adds, “Plus, I love the fact that the Bluevine Premier plan earns us 3.0% APY on checking balances.”^BVSUP-00116 

All in all, Bluevine gives Liliana the structure she wants from fintech banking, while adding more of the tools J Designs needs to run the business from one centralized dashboard. Earning high APY on all of their balances—not just what they could set aside in a savings account—is an added bonus.

Did you know?

You can also seamlessly accept customer payments directly into your Bluevine checking account through built-in invoicing, payment links, and Tap to Pay tools—powered by Stripe.^BVSUP-00180

See all the ways you can get paid

How J Designs uses Bluevine today

Today, J Designs uses Bluevine to manage nearly all of its day-to-day business banking. The business has started moving away from Zelle to pay contractors and vendors, and Liliana now handles most outgoing payments through Bluevine’s convenient accounts payable tools, including free standard ACH transfers. Instead of juggling multiple apps and manual payment methods, Liliana can schedule and manage bill payments in a more organized and automated way.

“Now that I pay my bills with Bluevine, my life is so easy,” says Liliana. “I save at least one to two hours on Fridays just not having to do manual payments.”

J Designs also syncs their Bluevine account with QuickBooks Online for faster reconciliation and accounting.^BVSUP-00056 For a company managing varied project costs, multiple contractors, and incoming customer payments at any given time, a reliable QuickBooks integration helps keep the books clean and business humming.

Liliana raves about Bluevine’s cash flow management tools, too. As mentioned above, she can add up to 50 sub-accounts and create automatic transfer rules to implement a profitability-first structure, which means she can set aside a specific percentage of money for profit, expenses, owner’s pay, and more without lifting a finger.

Together, these tools make banking effortless for Liliana, and make Bluevine a perfect fit for J Designs Pool & Spa.

“There’s been such a boom in software solutions, it’s difficult to pick and choose. So, unfortunately you get used to what you have and don’t test anything else out there. I love that the platforms I’m using today keep growing—to the point that I don’t need to look anywhere else.”

Did you know?

You can easily add bills and payees, streamline payment approvals, send and schedule payments, and sync with your accounting software—all without leaving your Bluevine dashboard.

Explore accounts payable tools

Using Bluevine as a future safety net

In addition to the powerful checking and payments features she uses regularly, Liliana sees Bluevine’s lending options as another way the platform can grow with J Designs. The Bluevine Line of Credit—or a line of credit or term loan from Bluevine’s partners^BVSUP-00151—could help the business do a variety of things:

• Cover unexpected expenses
• Purchase new equipment or materials
• Hire staff or contractors
• Expand operations or move offices

Liliana says, “When thinking about a line of credit, I always view it as a ‘just in case.’ Right now, we’re growing and adding to the team. We might need to move offices. So that’s where I’d find a credit line most useful in the near future.”

For J Designs, the appeal is simple: Bluevine gives Liliana a business banking platform that can support checking, bill pay, accounting integration, customer payments, and potential future financing options as the business continues to evolve.

What other small businesses can learn from J Designs

JC and Liliana’s decision to switch bank accounts offers a few practical takeaways for other small businesses comparing traditional banks and online-only business banking platforms.

• Fit matters: Your banking platform should match how your business actually operates. For many businesses, traditional banking setups are outdated and come with too many fees or restrictions.
• Friction adds up: Switching from traditional banking to a fintech makes sense when branch-based workflows slow down routine tasks.
• Consolidation helps: The ideal fintech platform combines cash flow management, accounts payable and bill pay, accounts receivable, bookkeeping tools, and even financing opportunities.
• Manual work is expensive: The more time you spend on manual banking tasks, the less time you have to focus on what matters most—providing your customers excellent products and service, and keeping your business running smoothly.
• Growth needs structure: The right banking setup should support where your business is today, and what you’re building toward. Fintech platforms like Bluevine are designed to scale with you as you grow.
• It pays to try new tools: Even if you’re comfortable with your current banking setup, you could be missing out on opportunities like high APY on checking. Just because something isn’t broken for you doesn’t mean it’s helping you make the most of your time and money.

Simplify your cash flow management and more with Bluevine

J Designs moved away from traditional banking because legacy systems and technology created unnecessary friction. First, Liliana tried Relay as a potential fintech solution, but the setup was not ideal for the way J Designs worked—and Relay doesn’t offer interest on checking balances.

Bluevine helped Liliana and JC consolidate more of the company’s finances into one easy platform, including business checking, bill pay, sub-accounts, a reliable QuickBooks Online integration,^BVSUP-00056 invoicing capabilities, and potential future access to financing options.

For J Designs, the switch was about making business banking simpler—and more profitable—without losing structure and control. For hands-on small business owners like Liliana, that’s the real lesson: the right platform should help you spend less time working around your finances and more time running the business.

Bluevine is designed to be a quiet but critical foundation for your finances, one that scales with your business while keeping everyday tasks as simple as possible. That’s why more than 1 million small businesses have chosen Bluevine, with access to FDIC insurance up to $3 million through Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC and program banks.^BVSUP-00108

Frequently asked questions

Why did J Designs Pool & Spa switch from traditional banking to Bluevine?

J Designs Pool & Spa switched to Bluevine because the owners wanted a more organized, easier way to manage their business finances online. Traditional banks created friction for simple tasks, and their previous fintech setup did not fully meet their needs, especially with QuickBooks Online syncing.

With Bluevine, J Designs has sub-accounts, flexible automatic transfer rules, bill pay tools, accounting integrations, accounts receivable capabilities, and the ability to consolidate even more business banking in one platform.

Why did J Designs choose Bluevine over Relay?

J Designs tried Relay as part of a profitability-first banking approach, but Liliana felt she could be getting more elsewhere. Bluevine offered the account organization tools she valued, including powerful sub-accounts and automatic transfer rules, while also adding built-in bill pay, invoicing and payment links, a smoother QuickBooks Online integration,^BVSUP-00056 the opportunity to earn APY on checking balances,^BVSUP-00166 and future access to business financing options through Bluevine.^BVSUP-00151

How does Bluevine help J Designs pay contractors and vendors?

Bluevine helps J Designs pay contractors and vendors through built-in bill pay tools. Instead of relying on Zelle, Liliana can manage outgoing payments through Bluevine, which gives her a more centralized, organized, and secure way to handle bills. This matters for a project-based business that works with vendors, contractors, and service providers across design, construction, renovation, and pool maintenance.

How much time does J Designs save with Bluevine?

Liliana estimates that Bluevine saves J Designs at least one to two hours per week on bill payments. The time savings come from moving bill payment workflows into Bluevine instead of relying on more manual or fragmented payment tools. This result is specific to J Designs and does not mean every customer will save the same amount of time.

Can Bluevine help with profitability-first banking?

Bluevine can support a profitability-first approach by helping business owners organize money across sub-accounts and use automatic transfer rules to separate funds for different needs. For J Designs, that structure helped Liliana continue prioritizing profitability while simplifying day-to-day banking.

What are Bluevine sub-accounts?

Bluevine sub-accounts are additional accounts with dedicated account numbers that businesses can use alongside their main Bluevine Business Checking account. Sub-accounts can help businesses organize money by purpose, such as profit, taxes, operating expenses, vendor payments, or project-specific budgets.

You can use sub-accounts to separate money-in and money-out from your primary operating account. You can also issue physical and virtual debit cards for specific sub-accounts to make sure expenses are coming out of the right place, especially if you’re issuing cards across your team.

In this case study, sub-accounts helped Liliana keep structure—i.e., optimizing her cash flow for profitability—without adding more financial tools.

Does Bluevine integrate with QuickBooks Online?

Yes, Bluevine supports accounting software integrations, including QuickBooks Online.^BVSUP-00056 For J Designs, that integration helped support more streamlined accounting and reconciliation after the business moved away from Relay. The benefit is easier syncing and cleaner financial organization, not a guarantee that every accounting workflow will be fully automated.

Can Bluevine replace Zelle for business payments?

Bluevine is not integrated with Zelle, but businesses can use Bluevine to send and receive money in several other ways, including ACH, wires, and checks.^BVSUP-00078 For J Designs, Bluevine became the preferred way to pay contractors and vendors because it centralized outgoing payments in the business banking platform.

If you’re paying a vendor that also has a Bluevine checking account, you can use Bluevine Pay to instantly send money from your Bluevine account to theirs.

Is Bluevine a good fit for construction and home services businesses?

Bluevine can be a strong fit for many construction and home services businesses because these companies often manage contractors, vendors, customer payments, project expenses, and cash flow across multiple jobs. J Designs is a useful example because the business needed a more organized way to manage payments and finances while operating as a boutique pool builder in Los Angeles.

Does Bluevine offer APY on business checking balances?

Yes, Bluevine Business Checking customers can earn APY on checking balances with any one of Bluevine’s checking plans. Premier and Plus plan customers automatically earn annual percentage yield (APY) on their available balances. Standard plan customers will earn interest if they meet a monthly eligibility requirement. You can learn more here.^BVSUP-00166

For J Designs, APY was an additional benefit Liliana saw in Bluevine—not the main reason for switching from Relay.