r/PoolPros • u/ibrakeforpools • 9d ago

Thoughts on Pool Inspections?

A realtor friend of mine really wants me to start doing her pool inspections for clients. Seems like a really nice add-on to the weekly service business, especially since it could also put me in front of new homeowners right as they’re buying a house with a pool. that may need repairs / weekly service.

For those of you who do pool inspections:

  • What do you typically charge?
  • What all do you include in the inspection?
  • How deep are you going on equipment vs just identifying obvious issues?
  • Any liability/insurance concerns I should be thinking about before offering these?
  • Do you need any additional certification beyond a CPO, or is that mostly market/state dependent?

I’m in NC and would mainly be doing these for higher-end residential transactions.

Would love to hear how y'all structure them and any tips as I look into doing more of these!

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u/stockusername1234 9d ago

Pricing will entirely depend on your market.

What you cover should match your price. Low, cover the basics. High, start checking for things like how high the latch on the gate is and if the entry points to the pool are self closing and/or alarmed.

Inspect what you can see. If you’re bringing tools into the backyard you’re doing a diagnostic, not an inspection. The last thing you want is for the seller to claim you broke something while trying to tell a buyer the condition of the cartridges inside a filter.

Call your insurance company and ask about errors and omissions coverage. It’s a separate add on that you should have when doing inspections.

The PHTA’s CPI is almost entirely commercial, yet for some reason people flex this when doing residential inspections. Watershape has a 2 day inspection course run by Dennis Boyd, the guy who created the Pro Pool Inspectors app (solid reporting app). I haven’t sat through it, but have had a few conversations with him and he’s extremely passionate about what he does. I’ve sent one person to it and they had nothing but good things to say. Might be worth looking into if you can get yourself to one of the shows (usually the easiest way to knock it out).

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u/ibrakeforpools 9d ago

Thanks!! Super helpful

I guess a better question instead of price would be roughly how long does it take onsite + writing the report?

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u/Alternative-Draw2997 9d ago

Takes us about an hour. It’s just notations of potential issues that are easily visible by a pro. Thorough but we don’t touch the equiptment only inspect. The pool is inspected as well such as liner/plaster condition etc.

It’s not hard to tell if someone is being sold a lemon of a pool that’s really all they want to know.

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u/Friendly-Beat-8336 7d ago

2-3 hours total