Ten Things Wrong with the Pool Industry

0:00The cat tells the chemistry is good by looking at it in closing clear yesterday from the last time. The saltwater pool is a chlorine pool! This is the Talking Pool's podcast with pool pros from every region in the country. If it happens in a pool, you'll hear about it here. Everything from tips and hacks to the latest tricks and trends. Breaking news? We lay it on the line, we tell it like it is because we think you deserve to know. Welcome to Friday. This is the Talking Pool's podcast. I'm Rudy Stankwitz. I hope your week has been going well. Labor Day.

1:02Holy shit this summer went fast, didn't it? It seems like every year they go quicker and quicker and quicker. Listen, there is a lot that is right with the pool industry. We have great people. We've got good work. There's a lot of solid companies. There's a lot of great products. There's some fantastic education and there is opportunity out the ass. And thousands of men and women will take tremendous pride in what they do. So naturally, I asked a group of folks what was wrong with it. Because apparently I woke up and thought, you know what my week needs? Several hundred emotionally loaded opinions from pool professionals with smart phones. Like walking into a family reunion, placing a loaded handgun on a dessert table and asking, so, who thinks grandma was kind of a bitch? I told them I don't care if they name drop. If it's all good, say it's all good. Guess what? Almost nobody said all good. Apparently the pool industry is about as all good as a waffle house parking lot at two in the morning when somebody has already taken off a shoe.

2:11God bless the pool. Pull up on Monday, tailgate down, test kit out, pH, fact, TSCYH, runner out, salt, medals, do our balance, saw that. At the chlorine, by car, calcium, throw it in the stacks, in the tides and management tabs, a liquid picker lane, or peak calibration, saw some clean watching chlorine, gain skin, leaves, bugs, debris floating on the top, empty skim, my basket pump, basket pump. Don't stop, brush walls, depth style line, keep algae off the scene, calcium build up. Nah, nah, on my green. Back to manual, check the clean and make it dance, back wash, tea, tidal sands, walk cartridges, if I can't check equipment, pump motor leaks, noise, pressure flow, fill the door, hangar, gems, I add it, so you know. If it touches water, if it's chemistry, I'll get air, if it's still your piece of mind and I'm the one who's here. Yeah, soup the nuts pump the plug, I'm the pool pro, what green to blue broke the new I do it all soup the nuts. God, let's the pool pro test it, don't sit brush it, brush it, brush it down, means God, let's the pool pro turn its warmth in the pool, my getting green to clean.

3:11The sponsors of the 2026 talking pools podcast pool industry mentor recognition are Blu-ray XL United chemical Lamont company revved up a peril and aqua comfort water group. The 2026 top 10 mentors Jeff Hampe, Chris Kavanaugh, Tim McDowell, Lacey Davis, Jerry Wallace, John Poma, Greg Beard, Terry Taminin, Peter Weedermann. I've been getting service industry news since I first stepped into this business and every time it landed I did the same thing. Flip straight to the horror file, the weird installs the absurd finds the stuff only pool pros ever see, then I go back and read the articles. Service industry news is a twice monthly trade publication for pool and spa service text 24 issues a year emailed free to over 10,000 text and available on their app every issue covers nationwide industry news and real technical content you actually will use.

4:14Get your free subscription at serviceindustrynews.net again that service industry news.net. Do it now. The sponsors were overwhelming licensing education ego pricing builders manufacturers big box stores private equity unqualified technicians cheap customers cheap companies social media influencers franchises bad installations free labor old information no standards no respect and pen tear one person just said pen tear no explanation no supporting documentation just fired the name right into the room like a smoke grenade and crawled out under the comments but when I read everything the responses weren't random they were symptoms of a much larger problem. The pool industry wants to be respected as a skilled trade but too often we refuse to establish demand demonstrate or charge for skilled trade standards.

5:16We want that HVAC money electrician respect plumber licensing engineer credibility surgeon level trust and the entry requirement some markets is still a pickup truck up hole and the confidence of a man was never read the instructions that's the contradiction today what we're going to talk about it not because the pool industry is terrible. It's not we're going to talk about it because this industry is too damn good to keep accepting mediocrity is normally several responses pointed to the lack of licensing or minimum competency requirements for residential pool service I understand the resistance to the regulation nobody wakes up excited because the government is developed another form government paperwork is the only known substance capable of making a colonoscopy seem efficient but there is a legitimate question here. We are handling concentrated oxidizers acids electrical equipment gas heaters circulation systems and trap and hazards and water that families put their children into yet in many places the professional threshold is basically.

6:23Have you ever seen water yeah can you operate a motor vehicle yeah congratulations here are 70 pools. So much as a pool professional work goes to Walmart by the poll and OTO kit chemicals diluted to the strength of a croix and suddenly he's under bidding the company that has 20 years of training insurance calibrated test equipment and employees he has no business plan no chemical understanding no insurance no clue what signer gas it does. But he made a logo in canva featuring a cartoon dolphin wearing sunglasses so now he is the chief aquatic officer of splash daddy luxury water solutions is not an attack on new people every one of us was new ones problems not. In experience the problem is unsupervised and experience disguised as professional competence one respond and describe large companies hiring people off the street training them for a week or two and then send them out alone that is not training that's abandoned what a company shirt.

7:30Technician is not necessarily the villains somebody handed that person a route a test kit and a schedule designed by saintens regional justics manager. They are trying to learn water chemistry while Mrs. Henderson is asking why one wet foot print appeared near the gate betting for stops and a German shepherd named cupcake is determining whether the company dental plan covers reconstructive surgery then. And something goes wrong. The industry points at the tech maybe we should point at the company that decided 14 minutes of orientation and a branded hat constitutes an apprenticeship one of the most thoughtful responses came from someone who with comprehensive pool service and repair education were available locally through community colleges that comment makes sense because we do have excellent education. We have certification courses manufacturer schools trade shows association programs online instruction podcasts books mentors and hands on training but it is severely fragmented.

8:35The aspiring professionals handed a bucket full of puzzle pieces and told somewhere in there is a career good luck asshole there is no broadly recognized path that says here's what an entry level technician should know here is what I'm going to do. Here is what a competent service professional should know here is what a repair technician should demonstrate here is what a builder installer or renovation specialist must understand here is supervised field experience here is continuing education here is accountability. Instead we sometimes behave as though taking one class means the student has absorbed the instructors entire career through osmosis certification is evidence of education it is not a papal declaration of invalability I teach certification courses I believe in them I know their value but passing a course does not instantly make someone qualified to perform every repair redesign every equipment patch rewire control panel and.

9:42And then argue with an engineer on Facebook it's really morning certification should be the beginning of professional development not the graduation ceremony from ever needing to learn another thing and manufacturer education can be outstanding but understand what it is spoke about that last week a manufacturer class teaches you about equipment through that manufacturer's perspective. Strangely the seminar rarely ends with the instructor saying after examining the evidence our competitors product is clearly the better option please enjoy the complimentary donut that doesn't make the manufacturer education dishonest it makes it manufacturer education use it learn from it then continue learning from independent structures field experience technical literature and people who are not trying to guide every problem. The same item number in a catalog Gregory Wilker wrote what may be the best thesis of this entire episode he said the greatest problem in the pool industry isn't that technicians don't know enough it's that we've taught them to stop questioning what they think they know that's it not ignorance will full ignorance ignorance can be fixed ignorance simply means you have not learned something yet will full ignorance is when the information is directly in front of you

11:05supported by evidence explained by qualified people and you reject it because accepting it would require admitting that something you said in 1997 might have been wrong the official mating call the willfully ignorant pool guy is I've been doing it this way for 30 years. Congratulations people smoked on airplanes for decades longevity does not convert stupidity into best practice if you perform the same procedure incorrect me for 30 years that is not 30 years of experience that is one year of experience repeated 30 times which tremendous confidence science changes because our ability to measure observe and understand improves equipment changes products change standards change materials. Instructions change water does not read your resume and say well he's been there since 1989 I guess equilibrium no longer applies the best professionals I know question themselves constantly they can say I don't know they can say I need to look that up they can say I used to believe that to but better evidence changed my mind they can say I was wrong

12:25here's the correct information that's not a sign of weakness those are signs that the person gives a shit about being accurate meanwhile the least informed person in the Facebook group arrives with the confidence of Liam Neeson except instead of a particular set of skills has a screenshot from a YouTube video and a cousin who once worked at Leslie's he will fight to the death over chemistry he cannot spell he has never performed a controlled comparison never opened the list of the most important things that he can do is to do the most important thing. The technical literature never investigated why his methods supposedly works but he has capital letters and seven exclamation points so the scientific community had better brace itself several people named Ego is the problem they're right a lot of times it seems like everybody thinks they're an expert. This industry has some colossal egos for a group of people we all have egos I have one you have one you need some ego to start a business make decisions and stand behind your work the problem begins when confidence becomes a substitute for confidence you are not always right.

13:33I am not always right you do not always have the best design your plumbing is not automatically beautiful because you posted 17 photos of it from flattering angles sometimes that equipment pad looks less like hydraulic engineering and more like the blue man group had an orgy behind a home depot. Social media has changed the hierarchy visibility can look like authority the person who posts the most becomes the expert there are highly knowledgeable people producing excellent online content there are all. Also people whose primary qualification is that their ring light is never challenged them I say that as a person with podcast I am standing in the blast radius to do not trust somebody nearly because they have a microphone a following a polo shirt with a logo or the ability to say hydraulics while pointing at PVC research the speaker. Did they learn through field experience. They investigate the subject independently can explain the mechanism can they tell you the limits of what they know do they revise their position when evidence changes or are they repeating their employers approve talking points with the emotional want to the airport evacuation announcement.

14:46The answer does not have to be one or the other book knowledge matters field knowledge laboratory research manufacturer knowledge matters what matters most is honesty about where the information came from and what the person actually knows Michael radar made a point that this industry desperately needs to hear swimming pools are giant unnecessary luxury items. Pool service is a luxury service that does not mean every pool owner is wealthy it means the pool itself is not food insulin electricity or shelter nobody has ever kicked in the door of a UN meeting and screened we have a humanitarian crisis the bar has calcium scale. Yet service and repair companies sometimes price the work is though every pool belongs to a struggling orphanage operated by a sweet elderly none who has only twelve dollars and a coupon we drive a vehicle to a private residence for five times a month.

15:51We carry insurance we purchase equipment we test and treat the water we inspect circulation and safety conditions we communicate with the customer we absorb fuel chemicals payroll training software credit card fees workers compensation break downs and call backs then somebody charges a monthly price that would barely cover for door dash delivery some wonders why the business has no money. We include filter cleaning we include specialty chemicals we include minor repairs we include green to clean we include therapy for the homeowners divorce we include a Saturday morning consultation because the polaris made a different little wiggle at this point we're not pool professionals. We are an aquatic concierge service finance by our own declining credit score. Then we blame the customer for not respecting us who taught the customer what our services worth he did every time we performed work for free because we were afraid to send an invoice we taught them every time we apologized for a legitimate price we taught them every time we let somebody speak to a technician like hired help we taught them every time we put our hand in a cup.

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19:20Blue Ray XL the real mineral purifier visit them at blue ray XL dot com. Blue Ray all day. The pool industry is obsessed with arbitrary numbers. How many pools do you service? How many trucks do you have? How many employees? How much revenue? How fast are you growing? You have 100 pools? The guy with 200 must be better. You have 300 better get 400. You reached 400. Apparently 600 is where enlightenment begins. At 1000 pools the Dalai Lama personally appears at your equipment pad and gives you a skimmer basket made of pure consciousness. May pool count is not a measure of craftsmanship revenue is not profit. Growth is not quality being busy is not the same as being successful. Sometimes we grew 40% means we found an even faster way to exhaust everyone while producing work we would not put our name on the industry advice is always grow higher good people pay them well systemize scale terrific.

20:35How do I hire the right person what questions do I ask how do I train them how do I measure workmanship how do I know whether a route is profitable how do I prevent my best technician from leaving and keeps treating him like a room bought with the driver's license. That's where advice becomes fogger than hot tub of swingers convention maybe maybe we should hear more from the person gluing the pipe the technician cleaning the filters. The employee handling the customer who swears the pool was perfectly until the pool service company arrived despite the security footage showing three laboratories a birthday party. And what appears to be a half a sheet of cake entering the water the CEO has a useful perspective. But so does the person doing the work and accompany with 80 well priced tightly routed beautifully maintained pools may be a stronger business than one with 500 pools 12 exhaustive technicians non existant margins and an owner who is not slept since Obama's first term staying small is not failure craftsmanship is not lack of ambition profitability is not determined by how many logos you can fit into the staff photo.

21:46The response is also named manufacturers whole sellers big box stores apps franchises private equity this is where the working pool professional begins to feel like the last organism in the food chain. The manufacturer sells the product the distributor makes its margin the big box stores sells equipment directly to the homeowner private equity discovers a fragmented market and starts buying companies like a drunk monopoly player. Then the service professional supplies the labor the truck the insurance the expertise the chemicals the call back and the customer's anger when something fails. And everybody looks at the service companies mark up like they just found cocaine and a kindergarten cubby why does it cost more than home depot. Because home depot is not driving to your house removing the failed equipment correcting the plumbing abortion installed in 2006 setting up the replacement programming it testing it, why aren't you installation and then returning next Tuesday because you change your wife I pass word to cool guy sucks the box is not the job.

22:54The product is not the service and a wine tea that reimburses a $12 part after three unpaid trips is not support this is a scavenger on sponsored by accounting. Private equity is more complicated investment is not automatically evil capital can improve systems it can provide resources and it can create opportunities. But when the primary mission changes for maintaining pools and serving customers to manufacturing a financial event something important can get lost. The spreadsheet does not smell chloramines it does not see the leak it does not know that Mrs. Alva has been a customer for 18 years. It sees route density labor utilization acquisition cost and exit multiple those numbers matter. But when the numbers become the entire business to craft becomes an inconvenience one response summed it up perfectly. Customers not respecting the position and guys in the position not respecting the position that's the mirror nobody wants to look into.

24:01Yes, some customers are unreasonable. Some think owning a pool is a constitutional right maintaining it should cost less than Netflix they purchase an $80,000 backyard luxury and then react to a filter cleaning charges though you repossess grandma's oxygen tank. They call on Sunday because there is one leaf in the shallow end they text at 10.47 pm because the water looks wet in a different way. They accuse the technician of leaving muddy footprints on an outdoor driveway an outdoor driveway. Apparently the pool professional was supposed to levitate from the truck float over the garden and service the pool dressed like a fucking tooth fairy. But boundaries are a part of professionalism clear scopes are part of professionalism written assumptions and executions are part of professionalism. Charging for additional work is part of professionalism firing abusive customers is part of professionalism and living work worthy of the price is absolutely hard professionalism.

25:12We cannot demand premium rates for slash and dash. We cannot call ourselves a skilled trade in place tri-claratabits in a skimmer because walking 12 feet to the feeder was inconvenient. We cannot demand respect while leaving equipment paths that look like PVC was installed during an earthquake. We cannot condemn uneducated newcomers while refusing to mentor them. We cannot complain that young people do not see this as a stable career while offering them poor training, brutal schedules, weak pay and a management philosophy developed by a plantation owner with quick books. Respect travels in both directions. The company must respect the employee. The employee must respect the craft. The customer must respect the professional and the professional must respect the customer enough to provide competent honest work. So what's wrong with the pool industry? Short answer is us, not all of us, not equally and not because we're bad people.

26:17It's because we have allowed contradictions to become culture. We want skilled trade respect without universally demanding skilled trade competence. We want premium compensation while apologizing for our prices. We want better employees while rushing their training. We want better information while rewarding whoever speaks most confidently. We want craftsmanship while worshipping volume. We want customer loyalty while treating some customers like account numbers. We want manufacturers to support us while we continue to absorb their failures quietly. We want young people to enter the industry while presenting with them with a career path, drawing a crown on the back of a chlorine bucket. And we want respect. Everybody wants respect. But respect is not something you declare on a canvas graphic. You cannot add professional to the company name and make it legally binding. You earn respect through competence, through education, through honesty, through pricing that supports good work, through training, through accountability, through admitting when you are wrong, through refusing to tolerate practices that harm customers, employees, or the reputation of the trade.

27:36That means establishing minimum competency standards. It means building clearer educational pathways. It means training technicians before setting them loose. It means charging for the work we perform. It means measuring profit and quality, not just pool count. It means listening to the people in the field, holding manufacturers, distributors, and ourselves accountable. Questioning information, even when that information came from somebody we respect. Every once in a while, it means looking another professional in the eye and saying three words most terrifying to a pool industry ego. I was wrong. And guess what? Maybe the pool industry is not ready for that just yet. Maybe when you say, I was wronged, you will be dragged. But that's okay. Because you have to be strong to ensure the correct information is out there. The pool industry does not have a shortage of opportunity. It does not have a shortage of great people.

28:38It does not have a shortage of knowledge, innovation, or products. It has a shortage of consistent standards and an oversupply of confidence. This is a great industry. That is why we should stop making excuses for the parts of it that are not great. If we want homeowners to respect us, manufacturers to value us, regulators to recognize us, and young people to see this as a legitimate career, then we have to earn that. Not with slogans, not with follower counts, not with truck counts, not by screaming professional louder than the guy underbiting us by doing professional work. My charging professional prices by developing professional people and by having professional standards. The pool industry wants respect. Good. Now let's earn the fucking thing. That's all I have for you this week. I'm Rudy Stankwoods. This is the Talking Pools podcast. Until next time, be good. Be safe.

29:48I just wanted to say thank you for listening today. I'm hoping you enjoyed the episode as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you. Listen, it's been a couple of wacky, crazy screwed up years from pandemic to pool again. I just want you to know that we are all in this together. If there's anything that we can do for you, send me an email at TalkingPools at gmail.com. Again, that's TalkingPools at gmail.com. We're here. This is your podcast. We are the Pool People's podcast of the pool people for the pool people by the pool people's podcast. This one is about you. So thank you for tuning in and listening. Do me a favor. Click subscribe before you go. That way you don't miss an episode.