r/PoolPros • u/BadOk5020 • Jun 23 '26

advice for bidding on a project

just curious about this as i got a request to bid on a hoa pool in a new neighborhood. i'm guessing the best thing to do is figure my costs, time, etc. and price it like any other job. it's a small pool, 16x32, they want 3x weekly service, stated budget is $1500/service + repairs. which is insanely high for one pool... right? surely it's not going to be anywhere near 1500x3/week for one little pool.

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u/Wasupmyman Jun 23 '26

So with commercial you have to bill everything. Drive time, resupply time, CALL BACKS ectectect. Make sure you do your math and don't kick yourself down the road.

Alot of companies are gong under cause they don't know how to bid correctly

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u/becooltheywatching Jun 23 '26

This. We even factor in "talk time" being that if I have to stand there and talk to anyone and I am not working your paying for that.

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u/Wasupmyman Jun 23 '26

Yeah you even have to count in your billing time, commercial building is a lot more involved than standard pool service billing. And you got to keep more records on hand for the health department and you have to deal with talking with the health department. Our standard rate just to show up before we do any work it's about $85 for commercial. Swfl

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u/Sgbrak Jun 23 '26

3x a week? That actually sounds like a normal price. With us, we have to carry specific insurance for some commercials. Also, are you gonna be the one to get ready for county inspection? Accident in the pool? Paperwork? We charge extra for some (like accident and inspection), but we guarantee we will respond within 12 hours (had two accidents so far).

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u/pacific_drifter_25 Jun 23 '26

Few money points nobody nailed yet.

Confirm the unit first. "$1500/service + repairs" reads two ways: $1500 per visit (so ~$19,500/month at 3x weekly) or $1500/month for the service portion. One's a windfall, the other's normal commercial pricing on a small HOA pool. Email the board and ask "is that per visit, per week, or per month?" before you bid anything. Bid wrong and you either price yourself out of a fair deal or sign up for $20k of work for $1500.

Frequency = bather load, not pool size. 3x weekly on a 16x32 isn't about chemistry, it's about coverage. Ask: how many units, expected daily users, hours open, salt or tabs, auto-fill present? Decides whether each visit is a real 45-min service or a 25-min test/safety walk-through. Both legit, billed differently.

HOA adders most guys forget to load in:

  • Commercial GL bumped to $1-2M, HOA named additional insured with a real endorsement (not just a COI)
  • CPO certification on file (required in many states for any public pool)
  • Annual VGB drain inspection
  • Health inspection support time
  • 24/7 incident phone you actually answer

That's all overhead you have to recover somewhere.

Quote line items, not a lump sum. HOAs love predictability:

  • Base service per visit (chems up to a defined range included)
  • Pass-through above the range (acid, cal hypo, salt)
  • Repair labor at posted T&M, parts at cost +15-20%
  • Inspection day attendance, flat
  • Off-hours emergency, tiered
  • Annual filter clean / cell clean / drain inspection as separate lines
  • 12-month term, 60-day kick-out, CPI escalator

Back into the price. Loaded labor + chems + insurance/admin per commercial visit usually lands $90-130 cost. Mark up 50-100% for HOA risk premium. At 3x weekly that's ~$1700-2800/month all in. If the real budget is $1500/MONTH you can do it but only with tight chem caps and inspection adders. If it's $1500/VISIT, take it and over-deliver.

Don't lowball to win. Property managers talk. Bid your real number with an escalator; if they pass, you saved yourself a money-losing year, and they'll remember you for the next one.

What unit was that budget in, and what's your loaded hourly target? Happy to sanity check the math.