Believe it or not, there seems to be a stigma about servicing commercial swimming pools.
Pool service companies want to stick to just residential pool service routes because they are “easier”. Commercial pools require all the same things you do on your residential pools. The pool walls need to be brushed. The water needs to be netted. You need to vacuum. You need to make sure the equipment is in good working order. Most importantly, you need to test, test, test the water to ensure proper water balance.
Commercial bodies of water do have some additional tasks. For one, they are typically much larger pools so they can take more time. You have to make sure safety equipment is in good repair such as ADA chair lifts and life-saving devices such as a life hook.
Depending upon the state, you are likely required to log the water test results in some sort of pool log book or system. Basically, you need to ensure the water is safe to be used and to pass inspection by local health department authorities. You also need a dedicated person, whether it's you or an employee, to be accountable for the property.
So why add commercial pools to your service route?
One benefit is they require more stops. This can be as little as twice a week to as much as seven days a week. Each property may have multiple bodies of water such as kiddie pools, splash pads, and fountains that you can be in charge of maintaining. More pools equals higher value customers with less travel!!
Adding commercial service accounts to your route is an excellent way to generate additional revenue from services, parts and chemicals.
Commercial pools are also typically open year-round. You will use more chemicals so if you mark up your chemical cost, you can make additional profit margins from that. This depends on the region of course, but you have the potential of guaranteed money in the colder months as well.
There’s also bragging rights. As a homeowner, do you want to work with a pool service company that also is taking care of the local hotel and college pools? Probably, it means you’ll probably receive a higher level of service and professionalism.
Stand out from your competition ⭐️
Once you do add a commercial account to your route, you’ll want to make your job as easy as possible. One tool would be a corporate Pool Shark H2O account. The corporate Pool Shark H2O account allows you to give access to on-site maintenance teams and lifeguards to easily enter water test results electronically. This can be beneficial to your company as you are now able to monitor pool chemical levels remotely, in real time, and dispatch service teams to locations that need attention before the regular maintenance date or bring a special chemical with you. Since you are now providing them with a digital software solution and monitoring the water 24/7 this can potentially be an up-charged service to the customer.
Simplified - 60 Second - Level 1 Water Testing
The Pool Shark H2O App when paired with the LaMotte Spin Touch is the dynamic duo! All you do is take the provided syringe and grab a small amount of water from the pool or spa. Inject the water into the spin disk slowly up to the fill line. Then, place the disc into the spin touch. In just 60 seconds the results are sent to any device the Pool Shark H2O App is installed on. Since the App is fully customizable for each individual commercial body of water, it gives you proper dosing instructions, saving time and reducing errors and the costs of over-treating and using more chemicals than needed. The dosing instructions utilize the most accurate way to treat water: The Langelier Saturation Index (LSI).
This method takes a bit of time to do by hand. So does figuring out doses of chemicals with your EZ Dosing chart. Saving time equals saving money. With no drops to count, test tubes to clean, or reagent expiration dates to check, this makes it much easier for staff that are not full-time pool professionals as well.
Digital NSF 50 Level 1 test kits are the way to go with commercial pools and will most likely be required by law eventually, so why not get ahead of the curve? The water test results are digitally stored. No need for your commercial property to have old-fashioned paper log books taking up space, getting wet, getting lost, or going unused.
Speed Up Health Department Inspections
If the health department were to visit one of your commercial properties with the corporate Pool Shark H2O App, the maintenance crew or whoever is in charge could easily access all water tests to show compliance. There is even a pump room sign with a QR code so the health inspector can see the logs on their own phone or tablet. No login required. This has been shown to speed up inspections and make things go a lot faster for everyone.
We Could Use A Reminder Now and Then
Since commercial bodies of water are require to be tested daily, if a pool or spa is not tested every 24 hours, the app will send out a reminder to test the water. VGB drain cover compliance is also a thing that needs to be maintained on commercial bodies of water. The Pool Shark H2O App will remind you when it is time to change it.
So, what’s stopping you now from taking on those scary commercial properties and increasing your revenue? Nothing since it's Pool Shark H2O to the rescue! Contact us to book a demo and see it in action for yourself. See you poolside!
