The Small Details That Quietly Kill Pool Route Profits

One missed step can turn a profitable pool route into a week of unpaid catch-up. I’m breaking down the “small stuff” that quietly costs pool service techs real money: getting pulled out of your routine, forgetting chlorine tablets or a planned shock, and then paying for it later with algae brushing, extra chemicals, and stressed-out stops. After 35 years in the pool industry, I’ve learned that consistency beats hustle, especially in summer when distractions and heat make every stop blur together.

We also talk route efficiency and the hidden pay cut of outlier accounts. If you’re driving 15 to 20 minutes for one pool, you’re burning the time you could use to service two or three nearby pools. I explain how to tighten your territory with a simple one-for-one rule, when it makes sense to market a new pocket of town, and why “just one far account” is rarely worth it long-term.

Then we get practical about boundaries and billing: return visits for real emergencies versus “quick favors” that steal your day. I share a clear policy you can use, including a one-time courtesy invoice approach that sets expectations without picking a fight.

• sticking to a consistent stop routine to avoid missed chlorine and missed shocks  
• adding chemicals at a deliberate point to reduce errors and fumes issues  
• doing a final look-back to confirm floaters, baskets, and gear are set  
• cutting outlier pools to reduce drive time and raise route efficiency  
• using the one-for-one rule to replace far accounts with closer ones  
• building a new service area only when you can cluster multiple pools  
• setting an emergency-only return visit policy for non-essential requests  
• using a one-time courtesy invoice credit to enforce future service charges  
• logging every small part installed so inventory and billing stay accurate  
• pushing back on Amazon price demands without selling below cost  
• stocking the right spare parts to avoid downtime and extra trips  
Learn more at Summingpoollearning.com.  

Support the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! 

HASA 
https://bit.ly/HASA

The Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100
https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/

Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:
https://getskimmer.com/poolguy 

Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA

Pool Guy Coaching: https://bit.ly/40wFE6y

Transcript

Welcome And Hidden Profit Leaks

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Hey, welcome to the Pool Gun Podcast Show. In this episode, I'm gonna go over some little things that can cost you a little money on your pool route, sometimes a lot of money on your pool route. And I'll go over some ways to prevent these things from eating into your profit and causing you to lose money out on your pool route. Are you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the pool guy coaching program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support from me. I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at Summingpoollearning.com. The first one happens to me on occasion, and it's really annoying when it happens, and it can't be prevented just simply by you remembering that your routine is really important and sticking to it is crucial. I've had occasions where I've and this has happened to me, I don't know, maybe a a few times, where I forgot to put chlorine in the pool in the summertime because I got distracted, or I was doing something else. I can pretty much pin down a few instances where this had happened because the customer came out and interrupted me, or I got a phone call and I went to go take it, or I had to go back to my truck to get something. Those are all things that get me out of my routine, and I've forgot to actually put the chlorine tablets in the pool that week, which caused, of course, the pool not to look too good the following week. So it's important to have this routine. And one thing that when I get out of my routine, I don't look back like I'm supposed to. And I like to always look back at the stop when I'm leaving to make sure I didn't, of course, leave something there, which I've caught myself doing, and to make sure that I put the floater back in the pool with the chlorine tablet. Now, if it's an in-line chlorinator and you forget to put it in, that's not going to help you too much. I've done that myself because I always add the chemicals at the end of the stop when I'm kind of wrapping things up. For one reason, it's easier for me to put the chemical in at the end because I know I'm leaving at that point, and it cuts down on some other problems you may have, like use cal hypo clouding up the pool, or if you're pouring the acid in there, you don't want any of the fumes to get you, and you've probably been hit by acid fumes before. So at the end, when I'm wrapping everything up, putting the skimmer basket back in and doing all the stuff I'm doing at the end, I'll put the chemicals in the pool at that point, and then I'll leave. And so that definitely is something that can happen. Now, of course, you can set it up differently, however, you want to set it up to know when you're gonna put the chemicals in the pool so you don't have this happen. How does it cost you money? Well, it costs you time because you're brushing that pool for algae the following week, and it costs you money because you're shocking the pool and trying to get it back into shape because of your blender. Now, this doesn't have to be trichlor tablets, it could even be shocking the pool. And I've I think I've only done this once where the pool had no chlorine and I had to shock the pool, and I for some reason got distracted, wrapped everything up, left. It didn't even shock the pool like I was supposed to. And sometimes it's the heat, sometimes you get busy, you're distracted. It's really hard to focus, you know, if something's going on outside of work and you're trying to do all these things because you really have to be focused out there because things kind of blur together, you know. Sometimes you might even forget what day of the week you're going to your pools. I've only done this on a couple of occasions where I show up on a Wednesday for a Thursday pool. I show up on a Wednesday and I'm actually at my Thursday pool because I had the days mixed up. It does happen, and that's why you have to be really focused out there because everything kind of is the same every week and every month. You go to the same stops, you look at the same things, and so it's hard for you to really remember everything unless you stay in that routine, and and this is the key thing. When you ever break that routine, chances are you're gonna forget something. Hopefully, it's nothing dramatic, like forgetting to put chemicals in, like I I've done. But definitely be aware that a break in your routine could cause you problems, whether it be a customer talking to you or a phone call coming in, and you just step away from what you're normally supposed to be doing, that could definitely be a problem. Here's one that many of us experience, and that is driving too far to do one or two pools. Maybe you have a pool during the week where you're driving about 15 minutes. Now, if you're in a rural area, of course, driving is part of your pool service. But here in Southern California, there's really not much excuse to go 15 minutes or 20 minutes out of your way to do one pool. That could just be three miles, by the way, based on traffic and you know side street congestion. So you want to be aware that if you're driving 20 minutes to get to one pool and then you're doing that pool, let's say you're spending 15 or 20 minutes there, and then you're driving 10 or 15 minutes back into your route to another pool. If you add up all that time, you can actually probably do two pools in the time it takes to do this one pool, sometimes even three pools, depending on how far out of the way it is. And so you definitely want to implement the one-for-one rule in this case that when you get a really nice account that's close by in your route area where it's only like a two-minute, three-minute drive, five-minute drive, then you just let the customer know that you're consolidating your pool route and you'll no longer be able to service his particular area. And if he needs a referral, if it's a good account, of course, tell him that if he needs a referral, you're gonna give him a referral. And then you put that new account in place and you've cut out 30 or 40 minutes of your day in your truck driving. It really does make a huge difference. And the sooner you get rid of those outlying pools, the better off you're gonna be. Because again, time is money, and if you're driving out there, you're not getting paid for driving out there, and you're losing time and money because now with this new pool that you just picked up, you can actually pick up one more pool that day, and you'll have two pools for the price of one basically that you were driving a long distance to. Getting a tight route takes time and effort, and you know, there are some cases where if you do have a pool that's 20 minutes out of the way, maybe leave some flyers on the neighboring doors so that you can get a few more accounts out there, because then it'll pay off actually to drive 20 minutes to another region. You have four or five pools over there, then it's actually worth it and logical to do that. But just going out there for one pool and then coming back to your regular route is not smart. And a lot of pool guys will limit their territories as they get bigger, you know. If they have a pretty full account, service route with a lot of accounts, I should say. They don't take any outlying pools, they'll just give it to a buddy or you know, pass it on, pass on that particular pool. But you definitely don't want to have too many outliers because that does take a lot of time out of your day, and eventually it will cost you money. Here's another one that will cost you some money and time, and that's a return visit with a customer asks you to come back to do something at their pool. And you have to implement a policy that, yes, if there's an emergency, you're gonna come back there and take care of it. Like, you know, let's say their offline chlorinator tubing broke and water is shooting out of the black tube from the rainbow chlorinator and the pool is draining down. Yes, of course, that constitutes a return visit. But if the customer says, Oh, can you come back over? Because I forgot to message you the other day to reset the pool. So I like the pool to come on, you know, from noon till 7 o'clock so I can see the spillway or I'm having dinner or whatever, and they want you to come there and readjust the timer. To me, that is unnecessary. And if you go back and do that, and if you make a habit of going back for different things, like a customer calling you saying that their hey, we're navigator, isn't moving on the bottom of the pool. You were there yesterday and you're today the notice wasn't moving. Can you come back and get the cleaner working? Now, of course, that's to your advantage to have the cleaner working all week long, but it's to your disadvantage to have to go back across town or to another area or spend 15 or 20 minutes getting to that pool just to do that without getting compensated. So one thing you can do is have a strict policy that you'll return if there's an emergency, but if not, you'll have to they'll have to wait till the following week. If they insist on you going out there for a non-emergency call, then the simple thing to do is to invoice the customer for$90, which is gonna be your service rate for a you know changing the timer or whatever, and then simply give them a credit on that same invoice for$90 and zero it out, letting them know that you gave them a one-time courtesy service to fix the timer on their pool. But in the future, if they call you out for non-emergency, anything that's not vital, that it will be a$90 service charge, and you just gave them a courtesy visit and they can see the invoice that it was$90 and you zero it out, and that way in the future they know that they're not really gonna call you back out there unless there really is an emergency. So set that strong boundary that you're not gonna go back out there for every little thing that needs to be adjusted. Now, if there's something that you made a mistake at the pool, certainly you have to go out there and fix that mistake. If you left it in service mode and the pool's running 24-7, that's something you have to go out there and fix. But if it's something minor that can wait for the following week, certainly changing the timer can wait another week, then you would have to charge the customer for those return visits because you're actually losing a lot of money by going back to these pools without charging anything for that. Here's one that kind of adds up over time. If that is not remembering, when you put something into the in for the customer or change a cleaner part, pump basket, things like that, do add up over time. And an app like Skimmer is great because you can track everything you put at the pool. You can also track what your employees put there because little things fall through the cracks all the time. You may have noticed that the customer had a crack pump basket. You have spares in your truck because you're prepared for these things, and so you just go out your truck and put a whisper flow basket in, but you forget to note it down and charge the customer for it. When you're doing inventory, maybe a month or two down the road, you're missing a basket, you're missing an O-ring, you're missing, you know, a jandy knob for the handle. All these little things are missing because you're putting them on the customer's pool, or your employees doing this, and you're not logging in in any kind of app to track what you're putting into the pool. This is a problem because a lot of times you, if you're doing it paper and pencil, you forget to write it down. And it's something that you're like, okay, I put the skimmer basket in Mr. Smith's home, I'll make a note of that later, and I'll order one and replace it. You may get busy, distracted, forget about it, and then it just kind of falls through the cracks. And sometimes you get so behind with these small little parts that you're putting in everywhere without logging in properly, but you even forget that you put them in, and this this does happen, and believe me, I've been in that little trap before. We're really busy in the spot summertime, especially, and I'm mainly using spare parts because I carry just about everything on my truck, and I forget to log what I'm putting in in for the customer, and this could add up to quite a bit of money over the course of a year. It could also drain your inventory, you have to replenish that, of course. And so, this is a something that could add up to hundreds to even thousands of dollars out there by you or your employee not logging what you're putting into the customer's pool or you know, equipment, whatever you're doing out there. It's this could be a pretty big drain on your profit over time. On the flip side of that, something else to be aware of are those customers that are trying to get the product at cost or below your cost from you. What I mean by this is you put a Whisperflow basket in, you charge the customer, I don't know,$25 for it. They come back and say, Well, I see this basket on Amazon for$9.98. You know, can you give me that price? And then you have to kind of explain to them that your supplier only carries original manufactured products. There's a premium for that because they actually are better quality than Amazon. The customer is gonna say, Well, it's just plastic, how can it be a different quality? Can you give it to me for$10, like the Amazon price? So this is a kind of a problem with small parts, sometimes with big parts as well. So, what I usually do with this case is I'll tell the customer, and you don't want to lose money in this case, that go ahead and order the basket on Amazon, leave it at the pool equipment area, I'll put it in for you, I'll take my basket out and reverse the charges. This does cost you money because there's some profit and markup there, but at the same time, you're not losing that product. You're not gonna say to the customer, I'll give it to you for ten dollars or whatever, because then you're actually losing money and you're giving the customer a kind of sense of empowerment that they can do this continuously with everything you're gonna order for them. And so maybe explain to them that this is a better part, that's why it costs more. There's also some costs involved in you picking it up and putting it in, and explain to them that aspect as well. But if they're really insistent about getting the Amazon one and using it, take yours out, clean it up, save it, and use it for another customer in the future. As long as too much time hasn't passed, usually that'll be like a two-week period at the most because they'll see the bill and want you to refund them or credit them or give them the difference in price. And we really can't do that because we don't really know the parts where they're coming from when they order them online. And we can't sometimes match a generic part price because our suppliers can't carry them in most situations or most circumstances. They can't stock generic parts at their store, at their warehouse. Here's one that is kind of related to the what I talked about earlier, and that's having a lot of spare parts on your truck. This is something you're gonna have to invest in over time. You should know what pump baskets to get, depending on what particular pumps are on your pool route, what little O-rings, what pressure gauges to get, all these things you should have on your truck, you know, backwash O-rings, bat backwash pistons. These should all be stocked up, and it does again, it's gonna cost some money to invest in these small parts because you're not gonna get a lot of return on them at first. You're buying inventory to stock up on them, but this really saves you a lot of money and time having to go to your supplier to pick up the part. Sometimes you can't actually leave the pool running without that part, and you're gonna need to get it. You know, if you have a pump that has a bad O-ring and you can't get it primed, if you don't have a whisperflow o-ring on your truck, that's a problem because now you have to leave the pool off, go back, get the O-ring, maybe come the next day to put it on. And so this is really critical. But you do have inventory. I think I have a YouTube video that's pretty old where I show all the bins, I keep all my spare parts in my truck in. I have a four-door truck, so it's really good to keep these bins in there. And then you would have every part you're gonna need based on the needs of your pool route. You wouldn't need to buy, you know, jandy pumplet o-rings, you don't have any jandy pumps in your route, it doesn't make any sense. But if you have some superflow and some Pinter Intelliflow or Whisperflow pumps, you definitely want to have three or four O-rings on your route. There are occasions where I've used two pumplet O-rings on the same day, so it doesn't hurt to overstock and have extra of everything out there. I even have a clear lid for a whisper flow pump that I carried for a long time in my my little bin. Never had to use it until one time I had this pool that was below sea level and it actually formed a hairline crack in the lid. Never saw that before. I think it was all the pressure being built up in there, but I went to my truck and sure enough, I had the whisper flow lid, fist and teleflow pump as well, and I put it on there and I was like, well, I had this thing in my truck for four years and it actually paid off. I also carry generic skimmer lids with me because you there may be a pool party or the gardener may crack the skimmer lid, and you really can't leave the pool without the skimmer lid on there because that is a hazard, especially if someone steps in there and breaks their ankle or if a kid sticks their hand in there. So the skimmer lids are important. I always carry I carry a few of the pentare because a lot of the skimmers here in my area are pentare, but I do carry generic ones. I had one for many years in my truck also that I never use, but it was for an autofill on the deck, and it was kind of just a generic autofill lid, and never thought anyone would break the autofill lid, but they actually did one day, and I had this on my truck and it worked out perfectly. Of course, black tubing for chlorinators, because when those get brittle in the sun and crack, the water will shoot out and drain out of the pool. And if you have the six-foot black tubing in your truck, you can easily replace the offline chlorinator tubing and get that pool running without having to go to your supplier, wait in line, get the part, and go back and do that. So, again, try to collect as many spare parts as you can. And if you're gonna use a spare part on your route, definitely, definitely replace it and build a customer for it. So that way you don't actually lose twice on that with the inventory and not billing the customer. Looking for other podcasts, you can find those on my website, swimmingprolearning.com. And if you're also looking for at the coaching program, you can learn more at PoolGCoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have your rest of your week. God bless.