By Stacy Fender More than 20 years after Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Department of Justice expanded the law’s scope with new standards governing accessibility for public pools. The rule was scheduled take effect in 2012, but implementation was extended to January 31, 2013, to avoid closure of pools around the country…
If you’re running your pool service company without a service agreement between you and your customers, you’re flirting with danger and loss of revenue and growth. “Service agreements are the foundation stone for profitable growth,” says Tom Grandy of Grandy & Associates, which works to teach contractors how to run profitable businesses. “It’s what ties…
Surprises during construction are never good. No pool contractor wants to bid out and start a job, only to start digging and realize there are soil issues that will increase costs or impact the project’s schedule. The risky business of soil “You want to make sure you’re putting the pool structure into competent soil,” says…
photos by Womna Agbaza Next year, 600,000 people are going to replace pumps, says Greg Fournier, senior product manager for controls and backyard synergies at Hayward. Some will replace old single-speed pumps with another single-speed, but many will upgrade to a variable-speed pump. “Most new pools, probably about 65 percent, get some sort of automation,…
If you had been married 25 years and were having relationship problems, would you schedule an appointment with a 21-year-old college graduate? I have a hunch the advice provided wouldn’t help a lot. On the other hand, suggestions from an older couple probably would. Last year, I spent three days providing free coaching sessions for…
Jennifer Clements Pla-Mor Pools Mechanicsville, Virginia What do you love, or hate, about industry trade shows? I have always enjoyed attending industry trade shows. It’s exciting walking the showroom floor looking for the latest, greatest innovation to make our work easier, or our customer’s pool more fun. It is also a valuable opportunity to have…
What’s keeping you from hiring the best? The lack of labor comes up a lot in the pool industry. We hadn’t done a story on it, and I figured it was time — and would be a good read for our show issue. I didn’t expect the article to partly become a debate over whether there…
In general, automatic pool covers are quite reliable. However, as with any piece of equipment, the system requires maintenance at some point. Some of these maintenance issues are foreseeable — small wear and tear or general upkeep issues, for example. Other issues, however, are unexpected. This unanticipated service can fall under two categories, electrical or…
For pool builders who deliver presentations to customers, virtual reality is, in a word, awesome. The technology fully immerses users in a digital environment that’s so lifelike they feel that they’re actually wandering through a backyard that doesn’t yet exist. The technology, however, is clunky and complicated, and it requires goggles, headgear and other expensive…
How much are you spending to mail invoices each month? Between the cost of paper, printing and postage, and the human resources expenses, it could be adding up. Billy Colquitt, owner of All About Pools in Sumter, South Carolina, was spending $400 a month just on postage — but after adding online bill pay, the…
Time to hold a mirror up to your business On page 35, we take a look at proper shotcrete procedures — it’s quite possibly an article you’ll glance at and then move on without reading. You already know everything you need to know about shotcrete. Not like your competitor down the road. He’s the one…
Chemical sanitizers will continue to generate sales for the foreseeable future, however, an ever increasing number of pool owners are concerned about chlorine exposure—over 80 percent according to Darren Hickman, CEO of Card on Guard, a floating, solar-based method of oxidizing pool bacteria. And that’s exactly the motivation behind Card on Guard’s development. Released in…