From DIY to Done Right
For pool service professionals, understanding why homeowners choose, or resist, professional maintenance is just as critical as delivering clean water.
When (and How) to ‘Fire’ a Customer
Finding a new customer is 5%-225% more expensive than keeping an existing one, according to marketing experts. For pool service providers, especially those operating on slim margins, that’s a strong incentive to keep current clients around.
Día de Pago
Tracy Bond, co-propietaria de Great Valley Pool Service en Frazer, Pennsylvania, sabe que el tiempo es dinero y que encontrar la estructura salarial adecuada puede requerir mucho de ambos.
It’s Never Too Early
When the calendar flips to a new year and warmer weather inches closer, homeowners anticipate the upcoming fun they’ll have in their now-dormant swimming pools.
At the same time, pool service companies are already taking steps to meet the demand for reopenings. How they deal with this time and staffing crunch depends on the services they provide, the size of their staff and their system management tools. It’s a critical service for customers that begins long before the first signs of spring.
Power Women
Powerful women are reshaping the pool industry with their vision and expertise.
Women in the Industry Presents Founding Member Awards
On Mar. 23, the Penn-Jersey Pool & Spa chapter presented the Women in the Industry Founding Member awards at its 2024 Awards of Distinction event.
Incentivizing Excellence
Bonus pay can be a strategic way to encourage employee satisfaction and retention, which leads to higher-quality service for customers.
Pay Day — What Pay Structure Works Best?
Tracy Bond, owner of Great Valley Pool Service in Frazer, Pennsylvania, pragmatically shares the benefits and drawbacks of paying per job and paying per hour, explaining that, while paying per job seems to create more incentive for techs to maximize their time, hourly pay tends to produce better-quality work.
Up and Up
Chris Cavanaugh, Owner Cavanaugh PoolOwensboro and Madisonville, Kentucky After 2020, price increases were inevitable due to supply and demand. Most of our price increases were like a normal year, but there were several that hit harder than normal. Steel vinyl-liner pool kits are continuing to rise, due to lack of raw material and huge demand,…
Pandemic Curse
Tracy Bond, OwnerGreat Valley PoolFrazer, Pennsylvania We try to hire as many people as we can get in the spring. We are always looking for unskilled helpers to assist our technicians with openings and closings. We hope they gain skills and progress into a service technician. Depending how good they are, they may be able…
The Trichlor Shortage
Chris Cavanaugh, Owner Cavanaugh PoolOwensboro and Madisonville, Kentucky The 2021 trichlor shortage is on every retailer’s mind. [In 2020] between both of my retail stores, we sold roughly 25,000 pounds of 3-inch tablets. My manufacturer is promising 100% of what I purchased in 2020 to be available to me for 2021. I typically buy 75%…
Meet Our 2021 Panel
Ana Manning, Co-owner and COOManning Pool ServiceHouston, Texas Ana Manning started at Manning Pool Service in 2012, four years after her husband, David Manning, joined the company. She says it was chaotic until she came on. One of the first things she tackled was restructuring the pool routes. Manning worked at Manning Pool Service part…