8
Florida Pool Pro
sm
• March 2014
THE SCOOP ON SERVICE
Being a service professional in today’s
pool industry
By Rick Howard, Rick’s Pool Service /
In today’s pool service market
what makes one stand out as a service
professional? The dictionary says, “a
professional is someone engaged in a
specific occupation for pay.” So how does
one stand out among so many others
claiming to be professionals?
I operate a pool service company.
My business is focused on pool service,
repair and maintenance. We specialize in
knowing how pools work, what makes them
work, how to fix them when they don’t, and
how to properly maintain them. We don’t
build pools.
When we are called out to bid a pool
project, whether for repair or maintenance,
we first look at the pool and filtration
system. What kind of equipment does it
have? Is it properly installed and sized
correctly? Is it working correctly? Is there
potential for failure due to the way it’s
installed? Is it safe for folks using the pool
and those maintaining it? Is the equipment
proper for the task(s) at hand?
What makes one stand out as a
professional is being able to make these
determinations and being ready to defend
your opinions. More often than not when
we go out to bid a pool for either repair or
maintenance we find other serious issues
that need to be addressed. In most cases
the main issues are from work done since
the pool was built, by people who didn’t
know how to do what they were asked to do.
For example, I was asked to bid a
filter grid replacement job on a commercial
pool. It had a vacuum DE system that
seemed fairly straight forward, except when
I opened the lid I discovered someone had
installed a heating system and had cut
into the return plumbing and ran the pipes
directly over the tank where the grids had
to come out. I quickly noticed the required
isolation valves were not there, the flow
meter spacing was now wrong, no required
thermometer, and they had totally covered
the access to the grids for proper cleaning
and replacing. Now as a professional
service company my bid had to include
basically gutting the plumbing and properly
installing the heater plumbing pipes before
we can even begin to address the bad grids.
Almost every commercial pool we
look at for bid includes a list of mandatory
repairs that are needed for us to properly
service the pool. If the equipment is broken
there is no way to properly maintain the
pool and, as professionals, we want the
equipment working effectively to make our
job easier and us look better! Sometimes
the required repairs will take you out of
consideration against many others who are
content to band-aid things back together;
either because they simply do not know
how to identify and fix problems or are just
not totally aware of how pools really work
or how to make them work.
We look at every residential pool
before we give a price. Why? We want
to see the equipment, especially the filter
and plumbing. Many times the filter is
simply too small to handle the pump or
pool size. That’s a headache waiting to
happen. Sadly some of the filters we see
are newer filters that are too small. We’ve
gone as far as telling the homeowner for us
to take over the maintenance it will require
a system upgrade.
Again, as professionals we need to
know how to identify systems for proper
operation and, if they are inadequate, how
to remedy them. Also, we have to be ready
to defend our opinions. As professionals we
don’t sell folks what they don’t need, we’re
the ones who should know what they need,
how to install what’s needed, and how to
convey the need. I often hear “nobody has
ever told us that” when I find and let them
know of a problem with their system. Well
I can’t speak for other companies but as a
service and repair professional we know
how things work and how we do things.
We try our best to stay up-to-date, stay
involved with other pool professionals in
associations like the FSPA, stay informed
of industry changes, and stay educated on
how things are done right.
That’s what makes us all pool industry
professionals!
