My first customer as a pool cleaner

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lelandapple

0
Jul 12, 2012
103
Winter Haven, FL
I have recently received a request to clean someones pool, it's an outdoor pool with no screen. I have one nearly the exact same at my own house, so I would be familiar on how to keep it clean. However, the guy cleaning it prior "gave up" on it, because he can't get it blue, which worries me a little bit as he does this full time from what I understand. But I know with TFP methods I can get it blue, as long as the pump/filter is in good shape.

I have never done this before, even though I am very passionate about my own pool's maintenance, and it is something I enjoy and could see myself doing full-time. I understand the chemical aspect, but I am wondering on what type of price range I should be charging for an outdoor pool w/ no screen.

One thing that worries me is my current pool has no screen, I was calling around to get estimates on how much it'd cost to clean my pool, 3 companies wouldnt touch it, and one would but wanted to charge 140 a month.

I assume 2 trips a week minimum without a cage over the pool, the guy is older and can't really clean it much, so I would probably have to go a little overboard on the chlorine to ensure it holds enough until I return.

The pool is approx. 12k gallons I believe, it's slightly small, square shaped, has a kreepy krauly, with a sand filter and hayward pump. I want to do this as I am trying to get a pool maintenance company going on the side, so this could get me on the right track as this guy lives in a subdivision with alot of other pools.

Current equipment: Pickup truck, Long cleaning pole, skimmer, brush, leaf net, 4 liquid chlorine 12 gal jugs, plenty of muratic acid, extra vacuum lines with a manual vacuum that I never use.

I believe I could transition to this easily, but I'd like a pool professional's opinion on where to start, what type of pricing should I offer (i know this is a hard question to answer accurately, I live in FL btw), anything I am missing here? Thanks for your help in advance.

-Leland

(Admins: I wasn't sure which forum this would go in, please feel free to move this if need be.)
 
It's extremely hard to get any kind of pricing structure for caring for a pool. This, for the most part, is a owner forum and as a rule we don't pay people to care for our pools.

The first place to start before you even talk prices, is to get a set of good test results. That will tell you how much work you're going to have to do to begin with.

If you have to visit the pool twice a week you should figure an hour a visit. You also want to stipulate whether you provide the chems or they provide them. Also a charge for extra visits and chems above normal.
 
Thanks for the reply! I agree, as a pool owner, I would not pay someone to do it either! I enjoy the process, which is why I'd like to do it as a side job since I live in an area where pools are at every other house.

I think my biggest concern is the no screen on the pool and how that would affect pricing. I will contact some pool companies locally and prod them for some pricing maybe and see what they would charge and go from there. It just worries me a little bit that the bigger pool maintenance companies won't pick up a pool with no screen! Haha. I've seen the pool and no trees at all around it, so that is good.
 
Prices are highly subject to area and even then they can vary a lot. To just give you an idea I charge around $42 per cleaning which includes: Vacuuming, cleaning baskets, back-washing and adding sanitizer. Balancing chemicals are additional if needed.
 
X-PertPool said:
Prices are highly subject to area and even then they can vary a lot. To just give you an idea I charge around $42 per cleaning which includes: Vacuuming, cleaning baskets, back-washing and adding sanitizer. Balancing chemicals are additional if needed.
Click to expand...

Thanks alot for the info! I am a little nervous about this, yet very excited!

Do you charge the same price for a pool with a screen than a pool without?
 
lelandapple said:
the guy cleaning it prior "gave up" on it, because he can't get it blue, which worries me a little bit as he does this full time from what I understand.
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I don't know squat about pools, but just a hunch -

some guy coming by every couple weeks (or even once/week) on a pool where you're already behind the 8-ball wasn't enough to get ahead of it. It may take a visits every day / every other day to get the pool back where it needs to be.
 
You're going to need a test kit. I'd bet large sums of money that the CYA is way into triple digits, which is why the other guy gave up. He couldn't get FC high enough to get ahead of the algae. He might have even made things worse, if he used dichlor shock instead of bleach!

You'll be working blind without test results. Sure, you can dump gallons and gallons of bleach into the pool, but you may still not get FC high enough.
 
I have a TF test kit already, was one of my first purchases for my pool :) so I am good on that front. But good point, I bet the CYA is through the roof. I live right down the road from this place, so a visit 2-3 times a week shouldn't hinder me too much. Thanks guys.
 
I'm curious as to what not having a screen means to you? Most of the rest of the country have pools without "bird cages" over them (something I've seen in FL but rare elsewhere). Does this pool have massive trees or something around it that will leave a lot of debris causing you more time in labor than usual?

Do pool cleaners charge just on a "per visit" basis so that if it requires more attention it costs more, but ideally if well maintained it will cost the owners less hence they keep the service ongoing?
 

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I constantly think about how much I would love to get paid to balance my neighbors pools. The cleaning part isn't as interesting to me, but it always seems that it would be tricky to get started and come up with an efficient schedule that provides the quality we obtain with our own pools. I definitely hope this venture goes well for you!
 
Just an FYI since you're in FL, you may need to check on your state's licensing board. I know FL is one of those funky states where you have to have a contractors license for just about anything, and I believe read somewhere they're trying to enforce you to have one just to add chemicals and clean pools now.

yup http://www.poolspanews.com/2012/012/012n_florida.html

not yet passed, at least to my knowledge YET
 
Richard320 said:
You're going to need a test kit.
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Not only a good test kit, but if you're going to do this as a business, that test kit should be a dedicated pool business use only one. You'll have to keep records of your business expenses (refills on reagents for example) for your taxes.

side note: I recommend the TF-100 kit.
 
Plus - as discussed in other threads - the way recommended here for daily maintainers of pools doesn't work well for those who go only weekly. You can't get the proper FC levels to hold over a week using these methods - just because this works for us - doesn't make it the way you will need to do things.

You can however be the pool whisperer to those pools no one else can solve...
 
I thought about this as a business. I think the only way to do it is to install a chlorine pump system. Otherwise you are going to have to go out there too much. At $40-50 a visit, normally you are talking at least 30 minutes of travel time and then maybe 30 minutes on the pool itself. Plus chemicals are still going to cost 60-80/month. So you are only making like 15-20/hour for your time.

You will also need liability insurance in case you do something bad (or your client does but blames it on you)
 
YippeeSkippy said:
I'm curious as to what not having a screen means to you? Most of the rest of the country have pools without "bird cages" over them (something I've seen in FL but rare elsewhere). Does this pool have massive trees or something around it that will leave a lot of debris causing you more time in labor than usual?

Do pool cleaners charge just on a "per visit" basis so that if it requires more attention it costs more, but ideally if well maintained it will cost the owners less hence they keep the service ongoing?
Click to expand...

The pool does have trees near it, which can cause issues with keeping it clean. Let me give you an example.

My pool has no screen, and i have 2 large oaks that are next door to me in my neighbors yard and he just loves them :roll: I asked if he would think of trimming them and I would even go in on the price of it to help out. Where I live is nearly tropical, every neighbor has large trees, but my neighbor right next door has the 2 oak trouble makers for me. I see debris from multiple types of trees in my pool everyday.

Anyways, this requires A LOT of leaf cleaning, literally daily. Also, my vacuum will get clogged much quicker than a pool with a screen. I have to carefully time when to run my vacuum or else I come home and it's jammed up with leafs. Leafs can also cause increased algae growth if not cleaned. Not having a screen causes multiple issues. Also I believe having no screen is more direct sunlight where with a screen you would have a 15-20% sunlight reduction potentially saving more chlorine/chemicals (I just heard this but it makes sense). Frog eggs in my pool daily as well (ANNOYING!). It's just more maintenance than a pool which has no outside environmental debris going into the pool :)
 
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