How much would a pool service guy/company, on average, to go onsite and do a water test and make necessary adjustments? Just testing and adjustments, no cleaning or other servicing. How often do people have their water tested by an outside company if they don't do it themselves?
how much does a service company charge to test water onsite?
- Thread starter rastoma
- Start date
I usually take mine in once a month for kicks just to see what they try to sell me, but I do not buy. The rest of the time I test myself.
Not really sure. Probably the amount for a one-hour service call which is just about enough to pay for a TF-100 test kit.
Before I learned to do it myself (many pools ago), I'd have someone come out from a pool company to do that check once in a while. It ran $100-150 each time, depending on where I was living at the time.
For the company I work for to do it, it would be $85, just to show up for < 31min. + the cost of whatever chems I used (at the standard 200% mark-up).
If I had to pay that to have someone else test my pool, I'd do it myself!
If I had to pay that to have someone else test my pool, I'd do it myself!
- Apr 26, 2009
- 419
I do it for free.
Odds are, that if they're calling me, they're not the TFP type and looking for someone to care for their pool. Most of the time I'll do a full site/pool analysis (water included) while I am there. That, along with follow-up, and I win about 90% of the people I do this for (over competitive pool care companies).
And in the few cases I don't win, I feel good that I've given someone a valid test and good advice.
Odds are, that if they're calling me, they're not the TFP type and looking for someone to care for their pool. Most of the time I'll do a full site/pool analysis (water included) while I am there. That, along with follow-up, and I win about 90% of the people I do this for (over competitive pool care companies).
And in the few cases I don't win, I feel good that I've given someone a valid test and good advice.
Costs for testing vary somewhat by geographical area. As the costs of fuel rise, so do the costs of water testing service. Each company may test for different chemical levels. In Northern California, I used to pay $65 a month for weekly pH and chlorine testing and the addition of muriatic acid. I have an SWG, so no chlorine addition was necessary. I found I was having some huge swings in pH level when adding muriatic only once weekly, and they did not test for CYA. After finding the TFP website, I continued to test my water for a month until I was sure I had it, then sent the company a letter indicating their service was no longer necessary. They were actually very professional, answered my questions about equipment operation and chemical levels. TFP set me free.
I test for free (how else do I know what I have to deal with or how long it will take?). Like Jeff (taekwondodo) said, it is good for getting the business and makes me feel good that I can give an honest, accurate report on their water. Heck, I'm already there, and I'm only going to burn a couple minutes of time and pennies of reagents doing the test; why try and lose the business by trying to get paid for a little work when I might get the whole job just by being "fair"?