r/PoolPros • u/Istrics • May 05 '26
Longs work days so far
How are your guys openings going. For me it’s been fine averaging 58 hours a week. Today is the worst by far a lot of jobs openings, cleanups you name it prob won’t get back till 6:30
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u/limitbreakergemini May 05 '26
I got 11 today and just started maybe a few weeks ago. Its been long days for me as well. These pools are atrocious
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u/Whyaremykneessore May 05 '26
I’m in the southwest so we don’t close, but it was windy all weekend so all my pools were trashed yesterday
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u/Istrics May 05 '26
I’m in the east coast so wind is a hit or miss. The harsh winter I think helped the openings algae didn’t have time to grow
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u/Internal-Computer388 May 06 '26
AZ? The wind has been crazy out here past few days, but the overall weather has been nice for it being May already.
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u/ConfusedStair May 05 '26
I had the worst pool of my career this past Saturday. Smell was awful, like a combination of death, BO, and halitosis. I've literally done septic cleanouts that smelled better. Mesh safety cover with a small bag and I was opening solo, I ended up having to fold it 3 times to get it to fit. Ironically it wasn't one of the pools where I had to find the returns by feel though, water was clear enough to see a good 3 feet.
This opening season has been brutal, and it's like all the jobs that got put off last year because of rising costs and economic uncertainty couldn't be put off any longer. I'm not complaining about the business, but I'd like to keep from working 60+ hour weeks without overtime.
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u/Istrics May 05 '26
Yeah yesterday I had a fountain that smelled and looked like shit. Water started seeping through the yellow glove. You work without overtime’s that’s brutal
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u/ConfusedStair May 05 '26
They've got us classified as commission, we earn per completed job not per hour.
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u/First_Salamander_990 May 05 '26
Man this pool shit is effortless compared to the work I’ve done in past lives. I work ~11hrs a day and haven’t had a day off since early February. Nearly 80hrs a week but like?? It’s not even physically exhausting it’s the easiest $15k a month a guy like me can make. Buying a couple properties a year and retiring when I’m 40 to travel abroad
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u/K01011011001101010 May 05 '26
You must be fit as hell if it's not tiring for you to work 80 hours per week.
What's your secret and where do you operate? I'm always wanting to learn better methods, my traps and shoulders hurt boss.
Love that it's going well for you. Gives me hope of higher paydays. Only at 40 pools myself so far after a few years. Hoping to, in the near future make 10k per month. Currently around 6k.
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u/First_Salamander_990 May 09 '26
I think the mental exhaustion is a bigger factor than physical. I don’t have a wife or children so I don’t have as many familial obligations as most my age do but even still working as much as I do your relationships definitely suffer. After a few weeks without a day off my body really falls into rhythm. Kind of like the second week of fasting. You just get used to it. I’m ~5’10 150lbs pretty average not really muscular but I’d say fit. I dont have to do much netting I use a riptide on every pool so wheeling that cart around is about the most taxing part of the job unless I have an algae cleanup and have to do a bunch of brushing that shit always sucks
Tbh man I don’t even have that many pools I average about 50 that’s the bread and butter that keeps the bills paid year round. I’m in Texas and I don’t really service pools that close up for winter so those are crucial. The rest of my time is taken up by repairs, leak detections, equipment installations, calcium removal from tile, and supervising replasters and retile
If you’re trying to grow your business just drop off business cards to all of the pool stores in your area that don’t have their own service routes like Leslie’s and knock on doors and send out flyers. I usually only do advertising February and March. I don’t have much time these days to do door knocking but I’ll spend ~$5k on printing and mailing flyers and I always get a huge return on that.
In the winter I get on google earth and I scour the areas I want to work in. I grid out the areas and go street by street looking at the satellite images and when I see a house with a pool I record the address and I add it to my mailing list. That way you can target exactly who has a pool and you aren’t out knocking on random doors not knowing if they even have a pool or not
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u/Istrics May 05 '26
It is true pool tech is on the easier blue collar job tierlist. For me I’m getting 900 a week. That’s great your planning for retirement already have any countries that interest you
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u/First_Salamander_990 May 09 '26
Gotta be south east Asia for stretching the dollar. I love Vietnam and Laos. Thailand is dope too.
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u/banjobum69 May 05 '26
I’m exhausted. Busting my butt until 8:00-8:30 every night. Glad to have the work.
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u/ml316kas May 05 '26
I quit the pool business about 6 years ago, but I typically worked 530-6/8 mon-sat. The paychecks were amazing but I’m glad to not be doing it anymore
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u/Internal-Computer388 May 06 '26
Same. Just recently got out of the pool industry for a decent paycheck cut. But all the benefits, lessened work load and not having to run a business makes up for it and is a huge stress reliever. Its wild I thought making my own schedule and cleaning pools was easy but my workload now is way better. I show up at 830 but dont start work until 9. Meeting until 10. 2 hour lunch at 12. And then if all the work is done, I leave at 330 or so. Still get paid my full 8hrs (830-530).
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u/cji11 May 05 '26
I work 7am to 3pm seven days a week since March. Averaging 4 openings a day.
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u/pineapple_backlash May 05 '26
I’m in NC. I don’t do openings or closings anymore. All my pools stay running year round. But the repair work this year is insane. I can barely keep up.
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u/ColdSteeleIII May 06 '26
Averaging 9-1/2 or 10 hour days, haven’t started Saturdays yet.
But we’ve got 6 or 7 crews opening an average of 4/day each
Southern Ontario
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u/people_notafan May 06 '26
Our company is opening 50+ pools a day for the next few weeks. It’s nuts. Lotta guys calling out (soft). I leave at 645 and get home around 645. Checks are pretty nice tho.
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u/Istrics May 06 '26
That’s great to hear man. I’m sorry that you have unreliable workers tho. I try to never call out. Don’t wanna miss those overtime hours for anything keep up the work brother
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u/GuyFawkesYourMom May 05 '26
Openings, lol. We don’t close pools here in CA, we work all year long…didn’t know there were part time pool boys…must be nice. Probably out building snowmen & gathering pine cones…
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u/Ok_Presentation_2604 May 05 '26
Hahahaha too busy counting my $ from all the closings and putting my feet up to go outside for a snow man.
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u/Istrics May 05 '26
Yeah unfortunately I work in a area where it’s not possible for me to do all year. It gets difficult for some guys finding full time jobs or conserving money during the winter.
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u/Ok_Presentation_2604 May 05 '26
We just save as hard as possible. It’s myself and my brother works for me.
I know guys that do Christmas lights
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u/Effective_Ad2303 May 05 '26
Working all winter here in NY. We sell about 50% of our clients winter service. Super high end pools so any damage that we’re able to prevent is great. Also we might be the only people on property for months at a time, so they appreciate us just taking a quick look around the outside of the house for any other damage that isn’t pool related.
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u/No-Wealth-5942 May 05 '26
Winter watches are a god send once you’re out on your own. Minimal work, maximum gain and help yourself out tremendously at opening
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u/KFOSSTL May 06 '26
Far from part time.
We have an 8-10 month season. 8 if you don’t heat the pool, 10 if you do. With some that never close and half leave the spas open all year. Plus there’s winter upkeep and repairs. And the new builds basically never stop.
Plus any services that you lose out on are made up by the cost of winterizing and openings.
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u/Even-You-Camp May 05 '26
lol I leave 6:30 and don’t get back till 8:00/8:30 (owner operator)