Software to manage pool service business. reviews?

[pbloomberg]

Hello!

I'm new to this forum and enjoying very much the resources. Am curious if anyone uses software to manage their pool routes & client billing (parts/labor). If so, any particular software products that you could recommend?

Appreciate any help....

Best,

Pierre

 

[bdavis466]

Welcome!

You won't find a whole lot of pool service professionals around here since the methods are aimed at homeowners taking control of their own pools.

With that said, Quickbooks is a very good option for accounting and PoolPal is an Android based phone app that allows for the storage of multiple pool's testing parameters and provides calculations for chemical additions based on target values and the pool volume.

 

[Divin Dave]

Like Brian said, most folks on the forum are homeowners, however there are a couple of pro's on here too.
Just curious why you are asking. Are you in the pool service biz?

 

[pbloomberg]

Hello,

Thanks for the info, didn't realize this was mostly for homeowners -- the info here is very useful for pool service businesses too. Yes I manage routes for clients and have one service tech who helps me.


Best wishes,

Pierre

 

[Donldson]

Thanks for the info, didn't realize this was mostly for homeowners -- the info here is very useful for pool service businesses too.

No question there, the information on this site can help anybody who owns a pool. As such everybody is welcome, pool owners and industry members alike. The only issue that must be careful to run in to is when industry members stuck in their ways give advice that is counter to what is taught here. Keeping an open mind that is ready to teach and be taught is key to this site.

That out of the way, I looked over the two sites you posted (the third link goes nowhere). PoolTrac looks quite extensive but there are a few problems I see. First, if you look you see that they are promoting additional features coming in 2014. Not updating a site in two years is reason for concern. Also a lot of the features they include (chemical calculators, route planners, GPS tracking) are all available for free on separate apps. I typed route planner in to the Play Store and got a dozen free ones. Some of the accounting features are likely better handled with Quickbooks. Finally a lot of the features appear to be better suited for companies with a large number of employees. With all of that I don't think I would pay $35 a month for it.

PoolHero is in beta at the moment, so it could have bugs or features missing or that will be left out when it goes to version 1.0. Again, route planners and chemical calculators are available for free. I really don't see a lot of helpful features exclusive to this one, but that could change when they get to version 1.0.

But I am more of a pen and paper kind of guy anyway, despite being a techie. That is just personal opinion of course, I still pull up PoolMath on my phone when I can't figure out doses in my head, but having a physical copy helps me to review things simply. That and I don't have a computer telling me that an FC of 6 is dangerously high (if you don't get that, make sure you check out this: Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart )