Full Service Pool Routine: What Pros Actually Do

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (01:51):
Hey, welcome to the Pool Grey Podcast Show.
I just did an episode talkingabout doing too much overall on
your service accounts, you know,going back to the stop when it
was in your service day, thingslike that.
I'm going to touch a little biton what you should be doing when
you clean a pool and what's kindof overdoing it in some cases
and what should be done everyweek as part of your full

(02:14):
service kind of routine at yourstops.
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(02:34):
Learn more atswimmingpoollearning.com.
It's not a bad idea to havetiered services.
What I mean by this is differentlevels of service you can offer
the customers in your area.
Like in my area of SouthernCalifornia, not everyone needs
full service.
And if you offer tiered service,you can actually get more
accounts.
And this is a way to also kindof lighten your load out there

(02:57):
as well.
You can do chemical only whereyou just check the chemicals,
add the chemicals, and then thecustomer takes care of their
pool.
There's actually a big need forthis because a lot of customers
can do their own pool and theyjust don't want to do the
chemistry.
They find that it's difficult ortime consuming, and they rather
leave it up to someone else todo the chemicals for their pool.

(03:18):
And so chemical-only servicescan be a lucrative avenue for
you out there.
Then there's the chemicalservice plus skimming the pool
and also checking the baskets.
It's also a good service tooffer because you're one level
up, you're getting the debrisoff the surface for the customer
while you're checking thechemicals and you're cleaning

(03:39):
the baskets.
And then you can also do onemore level and do brushing,
skimming, chemicals, and basketcleaning.
And then, of course, the finallevel would be the full service
where you brush the pool, youskim a net, you vacuum the pool,
you clean the tiles.
And that would be what Iconsider a full service stop,

(04:03):
where those are kind of requiredof you in order for you to
consider that a full serviceservice.

(04:35):
So I'll check the chemicals,then I'll go.
Well, actually, the first thingI do, I'll back up is I'll you
know assess the pool visually.
I'll look at it, see ifeverything looks okay.
Then I'll go to the equipment,turn the pool on if it's not on,
and I'll also assess theequipment, check for leaks and
things like that.
This should be a basic routinewhere you do this week in and
week out.
So you're this is not somethingyou charge extra for.

(04:57):
Regardless of what service tier,you should always have an eye on
the equipment.
Even if you're doing chemicalonly, you have to turn the pool
on anyway to add chemicals.
So it's a good idea to visuallyinspect everything to make sure
nothing is leaking at theequipment pad.
So after you do those basicthings, which are included in
any tiered service at thispoint, you would move on to
doing the full service at thepool.

(05:19):
What I like to do is I spray alittle Dawn soap in there, mixed
with water, maybe like a 20 to 1ratio that kind of takes the
glare off the surface, and I cansee the bottom clearly, but it
also will push some dirt anddebris to the sides of the pool,
so it's really effective.
Jack's Magic makes a really coollittle drop you could put in
there.
It's called Jack's Magic SurfaceCleaner, and it kind of does

(05:41):
what the soap does to a nextlevel where all the dirt gets
pulled to the side.
It's pretty effective.
Now, there's some guys thatactually use like an electric
leaf blower and they bloweverything to one side of the
pool.
I I've never done that, but youknow, maybe it's worth a try on
your route, see if that'seffective.
But the dish soap usually willtake everything from the center

(06:02):
and kind of pull it to thesides, and then I'll walk around
with my leaf rake.
I usually skim the pool twicearound, sometimes three times.
Now, you skim first for a numberof reasons, and I think the main
reason is it'll dislodge debristhat's on the side of the tiles,
it'll drop whatever's floatingto the bottom.
So when you go to vacuum up,you're not going to have kind of

(06:24):
stray debris falling later.
So two or three times, two isusually sufficient, and I'll
skim the surface to get itreally clean, and then I'll of
course clean the tile to getanything else that's stuck on
there off.
I just use a clip-on tile brush.
I like the purity purity um pooltile brush, it clips on your
pool pole.

(06:44):
They have replaceable heads, soit's a really easy kind of tool
to use.
Some guys carry the woodenbrush.
I used to carry this around too,the wooden tile brush, but it
became kind of a pain to carrythat back with my pole and
everything.
So I just use the purity poolclip on one.
Now, for tile soap, there's lotsof choices.
There's some that you may wantto be cautious about.

(07:06):
The Biodex tile soap, you know,has acid in there, so it can
stain actually the pool surfaceitself.
So you gotta be careful withthat.
I don't use that one, I don't Idon't recommend it for that
reason because it does it canstain the surface, the decking,
and so I think that's a that's agood tile soap by the way.
Works excellent, but it takes alittle extra effort and care

(07:28):
when you're using it.
I like the arrow, the red arrowtile soap that you get at your
supplier.
That's a pretty good tile soap.
It does have acid in it as well,but not nearly to the level of
the the biodex tile soap.
So the arrow scale off tilecleaner, the red one, is really
good.
It has a little bit of acid inthere, and just be careful

(07:51):
around the decking, you don'tget any on there.
You can all, of course, use theblue arrow soap, you know.
The biodex, I think it's thebiodex 300 is the one I'm
referring to.
It has more acid in there, sojust be a little careful with
that one.
And there's other tile soaps youcan pick up, those are the ones
that I'm pretty more pretty muchfamiliar with.
Geyser is another one by Hasa.

(08:12):
The geyser is like a kind of apaste that you mix with a little
bit of acid.
Again, the acid is used to helpkind of take the scale off, so
this is why a lot of the tilesoaps have the acid, just be
cautious with it.
The geyser comes in a gallon uhcontainer, I think it's still
readily available, and it'sspelled G Y S A R.

(08:33):
And this is Geyser F TileBright, and this is really good.
You want to kind of cut maybe achlorine uh gallon and use the
bottom of it, or just get acontainer, type of ore
container, and you put it, youput the geyser and a little bit
of bureaucracy acid, mix ittogether, and you have a pretty
powerful tile soap that kind ofsticks on the tile as you're

(08:55):
cleaning it.
So I recommend the geyser aswell, and just put a tiny bit of
acid in there, you don't need alot of it in there, and it works
really effectively.
So, definitely check out theirdownloadable use sheet so you
don't damage anything, but becautious with these tile soaps
and acid, of course.
And if you're you're paranoidabout it, just use a standard

(09:17):
tile soap with no acid in there.
So clean the tile, and thenother debris that was on the
tile will fall down to thebottom, and then you want to
vacuum the bottom of the pool.
Now, here is where you have alot of leeway, and I recommend

(09:50):
having a service agreement thatstates what you're gonna do
because sometimes the customeris gonna assume you're gonna
vacuum every time, and you caneasily vacuum the pool every
time if you have a vacuumsystem, and it's something to
consider is how you want tostructure your business,
especially with employees.
I would recommend that if youhave employees that you make it

(10:10):
a rule that they vacuum the poolevery time they're there.
Now they don't have to have themanual vacuum hook vacuum hose
and hook it up to the system,they can use the vacuum system
as well, and that qualifies asvacuuming the pool.
And I would recommend going thatroute versus manually vacuuming
the pool every week.
Unless there's a lot of dirt inthe bottom and there's no

(10:30):
automatic cleaner, then theywill have to vacuum the pool
each week.
Sometimes, if there's anautomatic cleaner, you just
simply take the cleaner headoff, put it on a deck, and
connect your manual vacuum headand use a cleaner hose to vacuum
to spot vacuum the pool, andthat qualifies.
I have a service agreement, youcan get that from me by emailing
me, David at swimmingpoollearning.com, and in that

(10:54):
agreement it says that it saysvacuum.
I'll vacuum the pool whenneeded.
So that gives you an out aswell.
So if you're kind of stacked andyou're busy and you can't you
don't want to really vacuum thatpool, you don't have to.
And typically you can drop inthe bottom feeder or drop in,
you know, your vacuum headconnected to the cleaner host,

(11:14):
and that qualifies as vacuumingthe pool.
And there are some instanceswhere you can just skim the
debris off the bottom and youdon't need to vacuum the pool
that week.
I really recommend having acleaner in every pool, suction
side cleaner, pressure sidecleaner if it's set up that way.
And and the last resort, ofcourse, you can sell the
customer a robotic pool cleaner.

(11:36):
I'm not a big fan of those onservice routes.
They're fine for homeowners thatdo their own pool, but on
service routes, there's a littlecaveat about them putting the
cleaner in during the week oryou putting in while you're
servicing the pool.
And it's not quite as convenientas a suction side cleaner that's
in the pool all the time,vacuuming out the dirt and
debris.
So, in a lot of cases, you don'tneed to vacuum the pool, and you

(12:00):
want to spend extra time doingthe other things.
Now, I left brushing to the end,and I'm gonna go back to
vacuuming in a minute, but Iwanted to touch on brushing the
pool.
I really think it's imperativeto brush every pool thoroughly
every time.
I did a podcast recording withRudy Stinkowitch a couple years
or a few years back when he cameout with his new algae book, and

(12:24):
it's really imperative that youdo follow this to prevent algae
in a pool, and it works highlyeffectively if you implement
this.
And I know it's one of thosekind of getting lazy doing pool
service kind of things, brushingthe pool thoroughly, every pool
on your route, you know, 14-15pools a day.

(12:44):
It's good exercise, and it'sactually effective in preventing
algae.
And if you brush the steps, thewalls, everything thoroughly,
algae, microalgae doesn't tendto stick on the walls as much.
And just by brushing the pool,you can prevent algae blooms or
algae growth, and it's somethingthat you should be implementing

(13:05):
on all the pools on your route.
You can get either a poly brushwith the stainless steel
bristles in there.
I like the sweepies brushmyself, and I like the poly
stainless steel mixture becauseit gives you that little extra
leverage on the plaster andpebble tech pools.
Now, you don't want to use thison a fiberglass or vinyl pool,

(13:25):
you just want to use a standardnylon or poly brush without
stainless steel in there.
And in some cases, you may justwant to use a pure stainless
steel brush on Pebble Tech orsome plaster pools out there.
You can get the A and B, youknow, 12-inch or whatever,
10-inch stainless steel brush,and use that on those pools.

(13:46):
I find that to be reallyeffective as well in preventing
algae.
You just have to know that thestainless steel product cannot
really be used on fiberglasspools or vinyl pools because
it'll damage the liner, it'llscratch the fiberglass.
So only use that in a polymixstainless steel brush on a
plaster or pebble tech pool.

(14:06):
And I find that brushing thepools, and there's some pool
guys that have that gigantic48-inch pool brush.
I tried that one time for like aweek and I couldn't use that
thing, it was just gigantic.
I understand the speed of it,but to me it was kind of
useless, and I couldn't get thehang of it, so I just use a
regular pool brush at thispoint.
But brushing the pools arereally critical, and I brush it

(14:28):
after you vacuum because if youmiss a spot here and there,
brushing it gives that pool areally clean look.
I wouldn't recommend brushingthe pool before vacuuming
because it takes about 10minutes sometimes for all the
dirt and debris to settle backdown, and it really doesn't pay
to brush before you vacuum.
Brushing is something thatyou're doing to prevent algae

(14:49):
and to kind of give that pool afinal polish so that you don't
leave any spots of dirt here andthere.
Now going back to vacuuming onemore time here, I don't think
it's a good method to brush thepool to the deep end and then
maybe vacuum the deep end.
Doesn't make any sense to dothat, nor do I think it's smart
to put it on main drain andbrush all the dirt to the drain.

(15:13):
Invariably there's gonna be dustin the air that's you know in
the pool, I should say, stillfloating around.
I don't know why I said air, andit just settles to the bottom,
and then you leave the pooldirty.
So that's not a good method, Iwould just say that doesn't work
and it's not effective.
You want to physically drop avacuum in there.
There are times when you'regonna have to set a put a manual

(15:34):
vacuum in the pool to vacuum itif it's got a lot of dust and
dirt in there.
So you have to, of course,eventually manually vacuum the
pool either with your 50-footpool hose with the vacuum head
or with the automatic cleanerhose, and you connect it to that
cleaner and vacuum the pool.
The vacuum systems are greatbecause a lot of times when you

(15:55):
have these suction cleaners,there's really not much in
there, but some leaf debris hereand there, maybe a little bit of
dirt that the cleaner misses,and having the bottom feeder to
drop it in there is great.
The riptide is good as well, thevacuum the pools.
You know, employees they theylike either of these systems
because it just makes their lifeeasier, you know, than system

(16:16):
vacuuming the pool with the poolhose and the vacuum head.
A lot of pool companies like theVac Daddy for their employees as
well.
Give them a Vac Daddy, they canvacuum the pool without having
to get the pool hose out andconnecting it and vacuuming it.
So all these things, you know,if you have a little coqueto
vacuum that also will satisfy alot of customers that you're
vacuuming the pool.

(16:36):
I mean, it looks like a toy, Iunderstand that, but they can be
effective in spot vacuuming spasand pools.
The water tech devices are greatas well.
I'm a big fan of the precisionversion 10.
You know, you can vacuum entirepools with it or spot vacuum it,
or you can get their largervolt, their larger volt fx fx a

(16:56):
cleaner, and that's also apretty good vacuum for the spas
and pools.
Bottom line, you can implement avariety of different ways to
vacuum the pools out.
I would really caution you tonot leave any debris in the pool
after you service the pool andleave.
That that's like kind of youknow going to a car wash and
they leave the windows dirty.
It's something that you reallywant to emphasize with your

(17:19):
employees and of course get thatingrained in yourself.
That when you service the pooland clean it, you're not leaving
debris on the bottom.
You're either brushing it sothat it'll kind of settle evenly
if it's a little bit of dirtleft over from vacuuming, if
there's any leaf debris.
You do want to get it all out ofthe pool.
You don't want to leave it withautomatic cleaner to get because
what's gonna happen?

(17:39):
The cleaner is gonna get stuckon a pebble or something, and
then the pool looks half cleanedat that point.
It's gonna happen, so leave thatpool as clean as you can leave
it, you know.
And then, of course, this goesinto the last thing I'm gonna
say here, which is there is atime limit that you should spend
at these pools vacuuming them.
If there's a windstorm, thisshould be in your service

(18:01):
agreement as well.
Or if there's something like atree trimmer that leaves the
pool messy, you can't spend anhour there vacuuming the pool
and getting it cleaned up atthat point.
You have other pools to attendto.
So set a 25-minute time limit atall your pools so that you know
once you reach that time limit,you can move on.
You have to move on and leave itas clean as you have left it.

(18:21):
In most cases, you know, if youhave pools that are big, you
want to give yourself more time.
The 25-minute limit is mainlyfor like Southern California,
Florida, parts of Arizona wherewe have smaller pools.
But if you're in Texas, ofcourse, 25 minutes is not gonna
do it, and you chargeaccordingly to pool size.
So if you have one of those35,000 or several of those

(18:42):
35,000 or 4040-gallon pools,you're gonna spend more time
there, of course, because you'reyou're doing two pools in one
basically.
So you're you're buildingaccordingly.
That's why in Texas you cancharge 250, 350 for monthly pool
service because some of thesepools are gigantic.
So you're not charging based onthe pools per se just across the

(19:03):
board.
You have to account for heavydebris pools, larger pools.
You set your service rate andyou set your timer for those
pools based on the size.
But for an average pool, 20minutes, 25 minutes should be
your maximum.
You should be able to clean a15,000 gallon pool in that time
limit, no problem.
Usually less than that, 15minutes, and you should not be

(19:26):
spending 40 minutes cleaning a15,000 gallon pool.
So I want to emphasize that it'snot technically based just
strictly on time, but the poolsize is a factor.
And I'm kind of basing this offa 10 or 15,000 gallon pool,
which is typical here inSouthern California.
There are 35,000 gallon pools,but they're not super typical in

(19:46):
my area.
And you want to make sure thatyou're not spending too much
time cleaning these pools andnot getting paid for your time.
If you're spending 40 minutesagain at a 10,000-gallon pool,
you're overdoing it at thatpoint.
And if you're spending an hourat a 40,000 or 50,000 gallon
pool, that's probably typical,45 minutes to an hour of those

(20:06):
larger pools.
So don't feel like everythinghas to be done at a certain
time.
There is factors like pool sizeas well.
I'm just saying you're kind ofyou kind of know when you're
spending too much time at a pooland you want to kind of stop
doing that, otherwise you'relosing money on your pool route,
and you should chargeaccordingly based on heavy
dream, heavy debris pools, andlarger pools as well.

(20:27):
If you're looking for otherpodcasts, you can find those by
going to my website,swingpoollearning.com.
On the banner, there's a podcasticon.
Click on that.
There'll be a drop down menu,over 1800 podcasts for you
there.
And if you're interested in thecoaching program that I offer,
you can learn more atpoolguycoaching.com.
Thanks for listening to thispodcast.
Have a rest of your week and Godbless.

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