December 2, 2025 • 36 mins
A runaway hose, a rooftop spa, and a driveway that cost $90,000 to fix—small choices can turn a routine stop into a six-figure claim. We dive into the three risks that quietly drain profits for pool professionals: water damage, chemical spills, and water chemistry mistakes. Along the way, we share hard-earned stories and the simple, repeatable habits that keep clients happy, claims rare, and premiums steady.
We break down why adding water seems helpful but often backfires, especially on elevated pools where gravity turns overflows into mudslides and property losses. You’ll learn when to say no, how to reset expectations with homeowners, and why a straightforward “no fill” policy protects both your route and your reputation. For draining, we walk through practical risk controls—drain waivers, documented owner instructions, city code checks, and a named person assigned to shut pumps off—so you’re never guessing eight stories up.
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If you want fewer claims and better retention, this is your playbook for risk management that actually fits a busy route: tighter habits, smarter paperwork, and a culture that screens for pros who care. Subscribe for more practical insights, share this with a fellow pool tech who needs it, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.
• water damage as the top loss driver
• overflow stories from elevated pools and rooftop spas
• drain waivers and shifting responsibility to owners
• city code differences and discharge pitfalls
• chemical spill risks on stained and stamped concrete
• the $90k driveway claim and truck policies
• slowing down on pristine properties and using containment
• water chemistry management and LSI discipline
• documentation for warranties and claim defense
• how screening and education keep rates flat
• ways to join chapters or enroll virtually for coverage
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
But uh because I'm now fifty, I I I do want to
share my memory only holds aboutthree topics.
And uh the the major themes,David, um, that we see on the
claim side are water damage,concrete stains, and really
water chemistry issues.
And so I'll I'll I'll start withthe water damage if that's okay.
(02:45):
Um so yeah, water damage for us,and this has gone back for, I
mean, since I've been workingwith the United Pool
Association, we go through ourclaims every quarter with uh the
board, and it without fail,about 80% of the dollars paid on
the claims are due to waterdamage.
And what historically that hadbeen was adding water to pools.
(03:08):
And everybody who's listening,or not everybody, but probably a
lot of the listeners are going,well, hey, I I always, you know,
I had water, but I my my keysare on the hose bear.
I know, and and without fail,you know, there's there's uh you
know, they've got a spare set ofkeys under their uh, you know,
visor, they're you getdistracted, there's cell phone
calls, whatever.
Um, but we had had a largeamount of folks that and
(03:30):
understandably, you know, Ithink uh a lot of people that
get in this business are there,they they want to run a
business, obviously, but youwant to help, you know, and and
you know, so you see the waterlow, you don't want the
equipment getting damaged, soyou start adding the water.
And so they drop a hose in, andand uh of course then you forget
about it, and just the uh waterfinds its uh lowest path, which
inevitably is in the livingroom.
(03:50):
And so uh we had uh we had asituation not too long ago where
it was a good-sized property umdown in Southern California.
The pool was at elevated level.
The uh uh uh pool tech noticedit was low, he added the hose
in, uh I forgot about it, left.
Now the homeowners were out oftown.
(04:11):
They didn't come back till fivedays later.
And so what basically hadhappened was the pool
overflowed, the flow of waterhad actually backed into uh,
they had one of those kind offour-foot retaining walls that
kind of snap into retainingwalls, um, push that out, all of
the basic mudslide down into thehomeowner's tennis court.
(04:31):
And so we ended up with this uhjust god-awful looked in tennis
court at the end.
Uh the claim could have been alot worse.
You you know, your your uhimagination could go, what if it
was a house down there?
What if, you know, what whateverwhatever could have happened?
It ended up being a$50,000claim, a lot of a lot of
cleanup.
But you know, one of the thingsto highlight in these situations
is you can, and I remember youhad an episode on uh uh customer
(04:55):
retention, I think, or you know,uh uh and and I'll tell you, 90%
of the time, you know, you havea claim, even if it's not your
fault, you know, the thecustomer is likely going to
blame you.
And it's uh and it ends up inthat account, whether the pool
technician just fires thembecause they don't want to deal
with them anymore, or more oftenthe technician or the uh the
(05:16):
homeowner says, Hey, look, I youknow, no thank you.
I don't want to deal with thisanymore, and they hire somebody
new.
So there's always that downside,too, of having a claim.
Uh another another water damageone, if I if I could share with
you, um, and this happened,we've had quite a few of these
where you have elevatedsituations where you have uh uh
a rooftop spa.
So we had this uh uh really nicehouse down in Newport Beach.
(05:40):
Uh it's just you know, fancydeveloper who was sitting on his
$20 million house.
Our our uh tech went out.
Notice the the spa was low,opened the fill valve, left it
open, and uh ended up uh thewater had got in.
The homeowner's uh uh maid orsomebody had caught it and uh
you know had had uh had you knowwas able to basically shut stuff
(06:02):
off, but the water had alreadydrained.
And this is an insurancebroker's nightmare, by the way,
when you have a huge, you know,expensive house or God knows
what kind of art.
You can only imagine the worst,right?
And um, it ended up being thenicest uh uh homeowner who you
know, probably he's been througha lot of insurance matters.
Um I can only imagine.
And he ended up only costing usabout$5,000.
(06:23):
But this is a very unusualbecause it's uh usually the
opposite effect.
It's usually people try toreally get what they can out of
this.
Um, but uh it it these uh theserooftop situations, though, are
really um uh scary.
And you can only imagine thehigher up the actual water
source is, the more catastrophicthe damage can get.
(06:45):
Um, which brings me to a thirdone.
We had a uh an uh uh apartmentcomplex down in Long Beach that
was on the eighth floor.
Uh and this one, we uh, and Ireally just call it dumb luck,
but our our technician wasbasically hired in to drain the
pool.
And uh so he was brought in, gotuh, you know, got escorted up to
(07:09):
the top of the pool.
He uh um couldn't find a uh a uhuh a drain to run the water.
So he had to actually get theon-site manager up there to
actually point out where to uhdirect this.
Um so in our in our fortune, uhthe you know, the property had
actually directed our technicianof what to do.
(07:31):
And uh so our guy had uhbasically put the uh um put the
ranch pump through the uh drainuh trap that they had up on the
the eighth floor, and it hadgone down, and there must have
been compromise on the way downbecause it ended up in five
different units.
And uh so it it uh it turned outbeing a pretty significant
claim.
(07:51):
Um, but because of the sort ofuh, and not to bore everybody,
but the the laws in Californiaas far as uh uh responsibility
goes, we were able to get offpretty inexpensively only
because our guy was directed onwhat to do.
Had that not happened, and ourguy had done what a lot of folks
do and just say found something,we would have ate that whole, I
(08:12):
mean, it it was it was up above$500,000 of damage.
So it was a very significant.
And what what I really like topoint out in these situations,
and you know better than I do,uh, you know, but it's uh uh
risk management, right?
It's you know, it's going intothese situations going, gosh,
I'm getting paid 500 bucks, athousand bucks to do this.
(08:34):
Is this worth the risk?
And you know, when you're whenyou're up eight stories high,
that question should be flyingthrough your head.
Like what could happen here?
And you know and it doesn't takea creative person to figure out
all the scenarios that could gowrong there.
Um uh but uh you know we try towe try to get our our guys, we
have uh drain waivers, we try toreally push our guys to to use,
(08:57):
you know, and it's it's reallyabout education, right?
For the homeowner.
If you you know, in a lot ofsituations, you're you're
draining these pools.
Uh you you don't know what theirplumbing looks like.
You don't know, uh uh half thetime probably don't even know
where their trap, their sewer uhuh clean out is, um, you know,
even throw it out there.
(09:17):
And you know, many of thesecities, uh, municipalities have
different codes on what you cando.
So sometimes you can't even usethe sewer clean out.
So enough you have to deactivatethe actual water and run it down
the street.
You know, all these unknowns areare um what it makes this so
challenging of a job.
And as much of that burden youcan put on the the actual
(09:39):
homeowner, which rightfully iswhere it belongs, um uh, you
know, is is is very helpful.
Um but I I mean these waterdamage ones I I think are really
important to highlight becausethey're the ones that are the
biggest dollar amount.
And what I what I would also umuh what I also kind of point
out, what we've been doing withthe United Pool Association is
(10:00):
really trying to shift thatparadigm, you know, you know, to
where it it, you know, and I I Icould think back five years ago
the pushback that our pool techswould say, hey, look, we have to
add the water.
I mean, it's you know, they'renot gonna add the water.
And so, you know, it got going,well, you know, we had a we have
a one of the uh gentlemen in inthe UPA, you know, he said,
(10:22):
Well, look, what do you thinkthe you think the landscapers
taking in the uh you knowgarbage?
You think, you know, what youknow, what what's what's all,
you know, why this feeling ofyou have to do all this stuff?
And just because it's tangentlyrelated, you know, you're only
at that pool for 15, 20 minutesa week.
Uh, you know, it's how muchownership of the water do you
really want to take?
(10:43):
And and over the years we'vebeen able to shift that.
We actually even gave guysflyers, you know, and basically
saying, look, if you don't wantto have a conversation with your
homeowner, show them this.
And we give them amount and justsay, look, because of insurance
reasons, we can't add the water.
And it's so funny because youknow, you know, 10 years ago,
people looked at you side-eyedand go, what do you mean,
insurance reasons?
(11:03):
Nowadays, everybody's so used toinsurance companies being
terrible that they go, ofcourse, of course, David, I
understand those insurancecompanies.
But getting away from theresponsibility of adding the
water, because once you set thatprecedent, it's on you, you
know.
Hey, David, you've been addingthe water for the past five
months, and you know, so yeah,why didn't you do it now?
(11:23):
Why are you stopping now?
That kind of thing.
So we've I feel likesuccessfully moved it.
And I re I respect the fact it'sdifficult in different areas.
I mean, obviously you get uhevaporation in potter areas.
So, you know, if you look up inBakersfield during the summer,
it's you know, you can lose alot of water very quickly, you
know, uh to Texas, you know,various areas where you have
(11:44):
that challenge.
But but I think the uh the uhthe point still remains.
It's it's it's a liability thatjust from a business risk
standpoint, insurance aside,just business risk, not not a
good use of time, not a good useof you know liability.
Um so uh yeah, the water damageones, again, there's I think to
(12:06):
break it down, two situations.
One is adding water in the pool.
Just if you can get out of it,don't do it.
It's just it never ends well.
I mean, maybe you get a highfive, hey, thanks, David, for
filling that pool, you know,occasionally, but nobody's uh,
you know, you're not getting ahuge benefit out of that, but
you are, there's a significantdownside.
Now that the second piece ofthat is removing the water, and
(12:27):
that can be a little morecomplicated.
And that's where I think tryingto get the belts and suspenders,
so using a waiver, a drainwaiver of some kind, you know,
that educates the homeowner.
Hey, what I don't know what yourplumbing looks like.
I don't know where you're, youknow, am I am I able to drain to
your your uh your sewer uh um II you know they should be
(12:48):
informing you of that.
Now, look, I I know a lot ofyour guys are very educated,
savvy in their loc locations,but we have a lot of guys that
cross cities.
So it's you know, you're you'rekeeping track of so much.
Uh so it's just uh again aneducation.
Nothing's foolproof.
And I speak in California onlybecause I'm here, but this is a
you know, it it constantly fallsinto the top three most
(13:12):
litigious hell holes.
So it's uh we've got morelawyers than we have anybody
else.
Um, but it's uh um so you canalways get sued for something
going wrong.
But as much as you can buttonthat up, the better.
So the drain waiver and justbeing aware, educating the
homeowner, hey, there's a pumphere.
This is how you shut it off.
I'm not gonna hang out of yourpool for a day on this drains.
(13:34):
So you gotta have somebody here,you know.
And and part of what at leastthe waiver that our UPA folks, a
lot of them use, has a wholeharmless uh portion of that to
where, hey, we're we're notresponsible.
Again, is it foolproof?
No, but it does helpsignificantly.
Yeah.
That was kind of the waterdamage theme.
SPEAKER_00 (13:52):
I is that yeah, I think the water damage is key.
Um, it's hard to tell again,guys, not to do this, and the
key trick does have fail pointslike you mentioned.
Um, I I think one thing that Ifound with a football that was a
(14:38):
blue, water, both of the four.
What if a four or the book?
SPEAKER_01 (15:07):
Hundred percent, one hundred percent, yeah, whatever
the one.
SPEAKER_00 (15:11):
Yeah, so let's talk about the chemical spills, which
I've unfortunately had theprivilege of doing myself.
SPEAKER_01 (15:19):
It's it's it you know, it it's uh purely I mean,
obviously it's neverintentional, it's purely just
oversight, uh, but it just canbe so catastrophic nowadays.
And you know, and the and thereason I say that is just the
amount of fancy stainedconcrete, uh, you know, just
(15:39):
stamped concrete, uh, you know,you look at pavers that are out
of circulation, so you can't getthe same paver colors anymore.
These claims never end well.
And and and so and it's uhsomething as simple.
I know not all of your listenersuse the carts, you know, but you
know, in Southern California,pretty much everybody has a cart
(16:00):
in the back of their truck.
They wheel that cart back intothe uh pool area, and if it's
not closed down right, thatmiriatic, you know, you get some
little splotches, and all of asudden their brand new
fancy-looking deck has got theseuh, you know, splotches on
there, and there's no fix.
I mean, it's you know, you couldtry to do whatever you can, but
(16:20):
it never ends up the way it wasbefore you did that little
oopsies.
And uh, and and of course, theuh um the the repairs in these
situations are are can be youknow awfully expensive.
And I I'll share a story withthe group.
Uh we had one not too long ago,uh Southern California.
(16:41):
They had a very impressive 50 to75 foot driveway that was uh
stained concrete.
And our um our our tech had uhuh somebody covering his pool
for him, and uh so he didn'treally know the property that
well, but he had uh taken histruck, drove it up the uh drove
(17:03):
it up the driveway.
Uh so he got up there and heopened the bed of his truck.
And you can only imagine, and sothat once the truck the bed
truck opened, a uh a jug of ofacid fell.
And it just did what it did on aslope and it rolled all the way
down that that uh nice driveway.
So this uh this turned into areally tricky uh claim because
(17:27):
insurance companies, and this isprobably worth highlighting, you
know, we're talking about ageneral liability policy for
everybody that's listening.
And so these policies are reallygeared to protect you for bodily
injury and property damage younegatively cause to others.
So it's uh, you know, so the thethe agreement is really between
(17:48):
you, the pool tech, and yourinsurance company.
The claimant who you damage isgoing after you and hence going
after your insurance company.
So it's adversarial in nature.
So they're they're going afteryour insurance policy.
So it automatically, the postureis one of defense.
It's one of, hey, the insurancecompany's looking at this.
(18:10):
Were you really responsible forthis?
And if you were, how do we getout of this, you know, in the
most reasonable way that is not,you know, gonna be the most
expensive way?
And that's usually the rub.
Because people generally wanttheir stuff to be exactly the
way it was before you, you know,caused the problem.
And it generally never happensthat way.
(18:31):
And that's because, as everybodyknows, concrete, you can't, you
know, there's no time machine.
You can't go back and and andmake it the way it was unless
you completely redo it.
And so what uh what ultimatelyhappened on this driveway was
$90,000, which I I I was blownaway.
I, you know, I I remember uhwhen the claim adjuster was
calling me freaking out saying,I thought this was a driveway.
(18:52):
And I said, it was, it was justa very nice driveway.
And and so we ended up we endedup having to uh to pay this, but
it it highlighted some reallygood practices.
And actually it was it wasreally um, I felt bad for our
our tech because he said, Look,it's a my guys know, like they
do not drive on the driveway.
It's and and this is, I mean,just and he made it for obvious
(19:15):
reasons.
Look, it's you know, we'reobviously concerned about acid
or you know, chemical spills,but I just I don't want oil.
I don't want, I don't wantanything, I don't want any sort
of problem where our guy bumpstheir dry, you know, their
garage door.
And so it was just one of thesethings that, yeah, had had the
guy, and I get it, it's a 50,75-foot hike.
Nobody wants to do that either,uphill.
(19:35):
But uh, but you know, when yougo up and you make you take this
uh risk on, that's that's whatcan happen.
So so that one, I I highlightthat one just because it was a
big one.
And it and it and it wascontentious.
You know, the homeowner wasn'thappy because you know the
initial uh offers were not youknow satisfactory.
And this is also worthhighlighting, David.
The insurance companies, theydon't go out and fix this stuff,
(19:59):
right?
So so what happens at the end ofthese claims is if you're found
liable and the damages areestablished, the insurance
company writes a check.
They send a check to thehomeowner.
And, you know, and for a lot ofus, you know, it's you know,
hey, great, I got a you know,$90,000 check.
What do I do with, you know, whoam I calling to get my drop?
You know, you know, so itcreates this other
(20:20):
administrative headache for theclaimant, you know.
So, and this is it probably addsto that what I mentioned earlier
and what you were highlightingin your earlier episode, that
these tend to often end up inthe tech getting fired.
And it's just because of theheadaches, and it's nothing to
do with the tech beyond justcausing the incident, but it's
uh um, you know, the theinsurance process is not a fun
(20:41):
process.
And uh, you know, my job, I tryto help usher our our tech
through that process, because II know you highlighted it too,
but communication is so soimportant, you know, trying to
keep that communication lineopen.
Um, you know, and so we try todo our best in that.
Um so the concrete, the otherones are a little less, you
know, I think uh alarming, butthere are more common, and those
(21:04):
are the ones that are by thedeck.
And you're you know, and I Iknow you've talked about this in
the past, but these are theseare the ones where you're
opening the jug, and you know,you're not over the water, you
you know, you get a littlesplatter on the deck, and we end
up with probably one or two ofthose, you know, every year.
It's um we try to get our guysto not move as quick, but
(21:25):
everybody's everybody's movingquickly.
And so it's uh it's a challenge.
And you know, and I think itgoes back to what we were
talking about earlier on therisk management side, right?
If you go in and the guy's decklooks absolutely horrendous,
you're probably just gonna go,hey, I'm not gonna be overly
concerned.
I'll I'll move at my quick rate,you know.
But if you go in there and youcan eat off that deck and it's
you know brand new, that's whereyour kind of spiny senses should
(21:49):
be going up and going, allright, let's let's be extra
cautious here.
SPEAKER_00 (21:52):
I had uh uh one of my pool guys in my group, he um
he took over this new pool,brand new pool built beautiful
stone concrete.
And the co-owner left thoselittle blue booties uh the
entrance of the of the pool andwas like, Can you wear these
every time you towards the pool?
Well, that for him was like,Okay, I'm moving everything in
(22:13):
my truck.
I'm gonna like pull thingspiecemeal over, nothing's gonna
go on this deck.
So that was a good giveaway thatyes, you don't want to spill
nothing on this customer's deck.
SPEAKER_01 (22:25):
No, no, absolutely, absolutely.
And I so I mean that that's onthe on the concrete side.
You mentioned the uh uh I Ithink you mentioned the the
water chemistry is is as well.
That was the third issue we seevery commonly.
And this one is tougher, as asyour listeners know better than
I do, honestly.
Um it's you know, and I I'llpull the start I'll put the
startups aside, but you know,really just the servicing of the
(22:48):
pools, you know, when whenyou're in there, it's um I mean,
plaster, I'll speak of plaster,you know, it I mean it's it it
you know, for lack of a betterway of putting it, it's uh
effectively alive, you know.
So you have this sort ofconstantly changing uh uh
surface that is constantlyexposed to a changing
environment.
(23:09):
And, you know, and obviously thejob of the pool tech is to make
sure that environment is asstable as possible.
Uh and and most R guys, I cansay, do this very well.
I mean, we do a very big amountof education.
I say this the United PoolAssociation, you know, does a
very large amount of educationto its members as far as, hey,
how to manage the LSI, how tohow to kind of make sure things
(23:31):
are uh um the way they shouldbe, in a way that's not gonna
cripple your business spendingthree hours at a pool every you
know, stop.
So it's it's how to do itcorrectly but efficiently.
And you know, where we tend togo wrong is you know, is is that
uh uh some of these older pools,they get etched, they get
scaled.
And a lot of times it is.
(23:52):
It's just fault of uh, you know,the you know, the pool tech just
overlooked, didn't, you know,maybe got sloppy, uh, maybe was
just too much tabs, not enoughuh, you know, uh uh actually
paying attention to where thechemistry actually was.
Um, but there's a lot ofsituations where our guys are
going, look, I I test it everyweek, you know, and and so the
(24:13):
next question is always, well,hey, what do those records look
like?
Do you have anything you canshow me that you've actually
been doing this?
It's like, no, Sean, I don't.
But I I mean, I look, I can tellyou, I remember it being, you
know, the pH was at, you know,6'4.
It was, you know, I have calciumheart, all this stuff, you know,
but you don't remember, youknow, it's all in his memory.
He doesn't really remember, andof course, can you imagine
(24:35):
you're handling 75 pools?
How you how are you reallyremembering this?
Um, so just the logs.
And so we try to emphasize tothese guys, you know, hey, like
keep the records.
I know you mentioned skimmer,it's a great product, you know.
Just if there's, you know, andand and what a great way to
show, you know, your value thatyou're doing to these
homeowners, you know, when youhave an app like that to, you
(24:57):
know, push notifications, uh,but at a minimum, just keep the
logs of what you're doing.
And so we end up in thesesituations.
We had one not too long agowhere it was exactly this.
It was uh uh adamant that the uhum you know that he was managing
the water chemistryappropriately.
And the crazy thing is the costof now actually having to
(25:21):
re-plaster a pool.
And you know, and that's the waythese tend to go is you know,
when you overly etch the pool,it's it's no longer uh uh you
know, sand it down, you know, wecan try an acid wash, we can try
and do whatever we can to remedythis little portion.
It's it's now turned intosituations where we you you're
basically re-plastering thepool.
And this used to be an$8,000claim.
(25:42):
Nowadays, you know,$25,000gallon pool, I mean, it's it's
it's$25,000, you know, to to getthis done.
I mean, it's uh it'sastronomical.
That's probably why we see a lotmore uh of techs trying to get
into the building side ofthings, just because of the just
the crazy inflation on ongetting a pool built.
But uh these claims have becomevery expensive.
And again, these claimsultimately end up in the firing
(26:05):
of the pool tech because it'snow you're talking about you
know the pool getting redone.
And you know, God forbid thetiming is gonna overlap into
summer, you know, the thehomeowners out of their pool for
you know the all the timethey're gonna want to be using
their pool, they get it redone.
Uh, but we have yeah, so justrecently this one was about 25
grand.
Um, and of course it did endthat way where he uh he ended up
getting getting let go.
(26:28):
But also I would add to thisthat the the the the equipment,
right?
The water chemistry obviouslyimpacts the equipment as well.
And so we oftentimes will seewith the heaters, you know, the
heat exchanger failures, andit's the same conversation, you
know, where hey, where are youwhere are you managing this
right?
And I and most of the time it'sa smoking gun.
(26:48):
You know, you got holes in thatexchanger, it's uh leaking, and
you know, it's uh it's hard tohard to argue.
And it and it and and what tendsto happen, the the flow is if if
it's a relatively new exchanger,you know, they typically have a
warranty, right?
So they're they you know theyget a uh so whoever it is, you
know, Pentair gets a warrantyrep out there, and one of the
(27:09):
first things that warranty guy'sdoing, wild guess.
SPEAKER_00 (27:12):
Check the chemistry.
SPEAKER_01 (27:15):
So so what if you were uh you were there, you
know, last uh, you know, uh, youknow, last Thursday.
It's been six days since youwere at that pool and he goes
out and tests that.
Whoops, you know, you can onlyimagine what that water
chemistry is going to look like,you know.
So there goes that warranty.
Um it so it it's it it ends uplanding on the pool tech, you
(27:35):
know, the majority of the time.
Uh, but it's a tough job.
I mean, again, I think this isone of the hardest uh of the
trades, you know, having tomanage all this.
And the water chemistry isdefinitely one of those things
that uh it's it's difficult touh do it consistently, but it's
the job, you know.
So it's uh it you know needs tobe done.
SPEAKER_00 (27:54):
So I was again I'm gonna say this like in a perfect
world, and this is like a lot ofcircular logic, no cool text
would fill the customer's pool,no one would fill out on the
deck, or no one would have abalance pool.
Well, of course that doesn'thappen because we call it as
(28:31):
well, or called too.
But rates are called the claim.
If more people have claims, whenyou pay insurance, the rates are
gonna go up.
Is that a correct kind of waythings work in the insurance
business?
SPEAKER_01 (28:44):
It's a correct statement, and we've seen this
with uh some of our you knowcounterparts out there.
You know, one of the things Iwill say the United Pool
Association has historicallydone a very good job of is
really being selective who theylet in.
And part of the uh, you know,and I I've, you know, you've met
Steve Homer.
Uh, you know, his uh uh you knowgetting a relationship going
(29:05):
with you is such a good synergybecause you know that it's it's
the 80-20 rule.
You know, there's there's a lotof bad pool techs out there, but
there's a lot there's there's alot of good ones.
And we've just done a good jobof finding the ones that are the
good ones.
And you know, so we we doscreen, I think, you know, you
the folks that listen to you,it's they take their they take
their business seriously.
I, you know, and that's that'swhat we're looking for.
(29:27):
And it provides the consistency,and that's the big thing, is you
know, being able to predict whatyour costs are gonna be.
And that that is probably one ofthe biggest challenges in the
insurance industry is whatthings are gonna look like next
year.
And so what we've done is try tominimize that risk as much as
possible by getting the rightpeople in the program that are
(29:50):
gonna look at it to as somethingto preserve.
You know, we we have had ourrates flat for five years.
I mean, that's that's not even,I mean, I mean, my coffee is
like, you know, twice the priceas it used to be five years ago.
So it's uh it's uh uh you know,it it it's it's it's not and
trust me, I'd love to pat myselfon the back, but it's not that.
(30:11):
It's it's the guys we have, youknow, that take their their jobs
very seriously.
They take what they doseriously, they want to help
their customers the best theycan, and they, you know, and
they have the highest retention,I'm sure, as far as their pools.
Um so your statement's correct.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (30:28):
So there's two different ways you can get the
insurance view people.
You can join a chapter onmeeting uh on the ground
coverage and coverage of benefitthere.
But we also open it up to ourlisteners by having just the an
online kind of service wherethey have to, but they're not
(30:50):
part of a local you know, bootson the ground chapter.
Is that a correct uh way ofexplaining?
SPEAKER_01 (30:56):
It's a correct, yeah, absolutely correct.
Um, you know, and I you know, wecaught you know, you know, uh
keeping time in consideration,you know, what I would share is
that you know, there's twotracks it's the chapter track.
And it's you know what we call avirtual chapter where your folks
are.
But I would go out there that ifany of your listeners, you know,
are in an area and hey, they'vegot you know, five guys that
(31:19):
hey, we're you know, we're allwe all meet at the supply houses
all the time already, you know,definitely reach out.
I mean, it you know candefinitely start a chapter.
You know this as well as yourlisteners.
I mean, this is an agingdemographic.
We, you know, the average age ofthe pull tech, I mean, is
somewhere in the mid-40s, youknow, and and and it's it's you
know, trying to get theseyounger guys in there, you know,
the you know, 20s and 30s, youknow, it's it's um uh it's such
(31:44):
a benefit to get them around theguys who've been doing this for
25 years.
And I I will tell you, David, Inever have I seen people more
generous with their time than Ihave with these folks at the
UPA.
So it's uh, you know, the theyoung guys have just gained so
much experience.
And like you said earlier, it'sbest to uh learn from other
people's mistakes.
(32:04):
And uh and that's what theseguys do is they try to pass that
stuff on.
But yeah, two tracks.
It's uh chapter format or uhjoining virtually, which um, you
know, which uh I know there's alink, I think, on your your uh
your podcast to get that processstarted.
SPEAKER_00 (32:19):
And I always tell people, you know, not having
insurance for your pool rider islike driving around with no car
insurance, basically.
And yeah, I was in an incidentwhere I was backing out in a
parking lot, and this guy was ascammer because he was backing
out, he saw me backing out, sohe backed his car into mine.
It was late at night, and I knewexactly what happened because I
(32:40):
where I stopped was not farenough back to hit him because
it was parked, so he pulled backin.
Um, so my insurance company uhfarmers insurance my own super
experienced was like thishappens all the time.
You can be out of red light,look at back into record all the
time where people took advantageof you.
Don't worry, we'll fight this.
(33:01):
You know, rest assured that thisguy's not gonna get this claim
any money from you at all.
And sure enough, three or fourmonths later, it was settled as
a no-fall accident.
Um, the guy didn't get anything,I didn't have to do anything,
and so it worked out perfectly.
But without that insurance,well, your pool route, if you
were to spill asset on adriveway and it's$90,000, you're
(33:24):
pretty much out of luck at thatpoint.
SPEAKER_01 (33:27):
You you are you are out of luck, you're likely
closing up shop.
And I what what I would say is,you know, if you think about all
your expenses, you know, this isyou know, 64 bucks a month.
Uh this is, you know, I mean,people spend more now, I hate to
say it, a jack in a box.
You know, it's it's I mean itit's it's a level of protection
(33:49):
that if you take your businessseriously, and again, I part of
UPA, you know, I I I UPA isgreat, but even if it's not UPA,
just do your business, doyourself, do your family a
favor.
Get the protection you need.
Because, you know, it's I mean,your livelihoods depend on your
business.
And it's uh, and yeah, you endup, I mean, again, the acid
(34:11):
things are one thing, but Imean, God forbid, you leave the
gate open.
You, you know, you can't.
I mean, again, not to you knowturn this morbid, but you know,
sadly, there are there arefatality claims.
There are claims that are notfatalities, but you know, people
who leave being uh permanentlydisabled, you know, because of
the risks having to do with theyou know body of water.
(34:32):
And so it's it's seriousconsequences to uh you know to
accidents.
And insurance is almost like uhyou just have to do it.
If you ever run out of contact,look, insurance tends to put
people to sleep, but I'm happyto come back on every need it.
SPEAKER_00 (34:49):
Yeah, sounds great.
Thanks, Sean.
And if you're looking to sign upfor insurance, again, you go to
my website,swingingforlearning.com.
Um in the web page itself on thehomepage, just scroll down,
click on the UPA banner there,and that'll take you to the
spreadsheet to sign up for theinsurance.
Um, you'll be notified within afew days to a week if you have
(35:11):
it accepted.
You can also find other podcastson my website.
Just click on the podcast icon.
You can actually find part oneto this where John talks about
some horror stories andinsurance claims that he's
repeated.
Or if you're looking for thepodcast, of course, over 1800
podcasts are free to listen to.
If you're following the coachingprogram, If you can learn more
(35:32):
at blue guycoaching.com, pleaselisten to this podcast for week.
God bless.
But uh because I'm now fifty, I I I do want to
share my memory only holds aboutthree topics.
And uh the the major themes,David, um, that we see on the
claim side are water damage,concrete stains, and really
water chemistry issues.
And so I'll I'll I'll start withthe water damage if that's okay.
(02:45):
Um so yeah, water damage for us,and this has gone back for, I
mean, since I've been workingwith the United Pool
Association, we go through ourclaims every quarter with uh the
board, and it without fail,about 80% of the dollars paid on
the claims are due to waterdamage.
And what historically that hadbeen was adding water to pools.
(03:08):
And everybody who's listening,or not everybody, but probably a
lot of the listeners are going,well, hey, I I always, you know,
I had water, but I my my keysare on the hose bear.
I know, and and without fail,you know, there's there's uh you
know, they've got a spare set ofkeys under their uh, you know,
visor, they're you getdistracted, there's cell phone
calls, whatever.
Um, but we had had a largeamount of folks that and
(03:30):
understandably, you know, Ithink uh a lot of people that
get in this business are there,they they want to run a
business, obviously, but youwant to help, you know, and and
you know, so you see the waterlow, you don't want the
equipment getting damaged, soyou start adding the water.
And so they drop a hose in, andand uh of course then you forget
about it, and just the uh waterfinds its uh lowest path, which
inevitably is in the livingroom.
(03:50):
And so uh we had uh we had asituation not too long ago where
it was a good-sized property umdown in Southern California.
The pool was at elevated level.
The uh uh uh pool tech noticedit was low, he added the hose
in, uh I forgot about it, left.
Now the homeowners were out oftown.
(04:11):
They didn't come back till fivedays later.
And so what basically hadhappened was the pool
overflowed, the flow of waterhad actually backed into uh,
they had one of those kind offour-foot retaining walls that
kind of snap into retainingwalls, um, push that out, all of
the basic mudslide down into thehomeowner's tennis court.
(04:31):
And so we ended up with this uhjust god-awful looked in tennis
court at the end.
Uh the claim could have been alot worse.
You you know, your your uhimagination could go, what if it
was a house down there?
What if, you know, what whateverwhatever could have happened?
It ended up being a$50,000claim, a lot of a lot of
cleanup.
But you know, one of the thingsto highlight in these situations
is you can, and I remember youhad an episode on uh uh customer
(04:55):
retention, I think, or you know,uh uh and and I'll tell you, 90%
of the time, you know, you havea claim, even if it's not your
fault, you know, the thecustomer is likely going to
blame you.
And it's uh and it ends up inthat account, whether the pool
technician just fires thembecause they don't want to deal
with them anymore, or more oftenthe technician or the uh the
(05:16):
homeowner says, Hey, look, I youknow, no thank you.
I don't want to deal with thisanymore, and they hire somebody
new.
So there's always that downside,too, of having a claim.
Uh another another water damageone, if I if I could share with
you, um, and this happened,we've had quite a few of these
where you have elevatedsituations where you have uh uh
a rooftop spa.
So we had this uh uh really nicehouse down in Newport Beach.
(05:40):
Uh it's just you know, fancydeveloper who was sitting on his
$20 million house.
Our our uh tech went out.
Notice the the spa was low,opened the fill valve, left it
open, and uh ended up uh thewater had got in.
The homeowner's uh uh maid orsomebody had caught it and uh
you know had had uh had you knowwas able to basically shut stuff
(06:02):
off, but the water had alreadydrained.
And this is an insurancebroker's nightmare, by the way,
when you have a huge, you know,expensive house or God knows
what kind of art.
You can only imagine the worst,right?
And um, it ended up being thenicest uh uh homeowner who you
know, probably he's been througha lot of insurance matters.
Um I can only imagine.
And he ended up only costing usabout$5,000.
(06:23):
But this is a very unusualbecause it's uh usually the
opposite effect.
It's usually people try toreally get what they can out of
this.
Um, but uh it it these uh theserooftop situations, though, are
really um uh scary.
And you can only imagine thehigher up the actual water
source is, the more catastrophicthe damage can get.
(06:45):
Um, which brings me to a thirdone.
We had a uh an uh uh apartmentcomplex down in Long Beach that
was on the eighth floor.
Uh and this one, we uh, and Ireally just call it dumb luck,
but our our technician wasbasically hired in to drain the
pool.
And uh so he was brought in, gotuh, you know, got escorted up to
(07:09):
the top of the pool.
He uh um couldn't find a uh a uhuh a drain to run the water.
So he had to actually get theon-site manager up there to
actually point out where to uhdirect this.
Um so in our in our fortune, uhthe you know, the property had
actually directed our technicianof what to do.
(07:31):
And uh so our guy had uhbasically put the uh um put the
ranch pump through the uh drainuh trap that they had up on the
the eighth floor, and it hadgone down, and there must have
been compromise on the way downbecause it ended up in five
different units.
And uh so it it uh it turned outbeing a pretty significant
claim.
(07:51):
Um, but because of the sort ofuh, and not to bore everybody,
but the the laws in Californiaas far as uh uh responsibility
goes, we were able to get offpretty inexpensively only
because our guy was directed onwhat to do.
Had that not happened, and ourguy had done what a lot of folks
do and just say found something,we would have ate that whole, I
(08:12):
mean, it it was it was up above$500,000 of damage.
So it was a very significant.
And what what I really like topoint out in these situations,
and you know better than I do,uh, you know, but it's uh uh
risk management, right?
It's you know, it's going intothese situations going, gosh,
I'm getting paid 500 bucks, athousand bucks to do this.
(08:34):
Is this worth the risk?
And you know, when you're whenyou're up eight stories high,
that question should be flyingthrough your head.
Like what could happen here?
And you know and it doesn't takea creative person to figure out
all the scenarios that could gowrong there.
Um uh but uh you know we try towe try to get our our guys, we
have uh drain waivers, we try toreally push our guys to to use,
(08:57):
you know, and it's it's reallyabout education, right?
For the homeowner.
If you you know, in a lot ofsituations, you're you're
draining these pools.
Uh you you don't know what theirplumbing looks like.
You don't know, uh uh half thetime probably don't even know
where their trap, their sewer uhuh clean out is, um, you know,
even throw it out there.
(09:17):
And you know, many of thesecities, uh, municipalities have
different codes on what you cando.
So sometimes you can't even usethe sewer clean out.
So enough you have to deactivatethe actual water and run it down
the street.
You know, all these unknowns areare um what it makes this so
challenging of a job.
And as much of that burden youcan put on the the actual
(09:39):
homeowner, which rightfully iswhere it belongs, um uh, you
know, is is is very helpful.
Um but I I mean these waterdamage ones I I think are really
important to highlight becausethey're the ones that are the
biggest dollar amount.
And what I what I would also umuh what I also kind of point
out, what we've been doing withthe United Pool Association is
(10:00):
really trying to shift thatparadigm, you know, you know, to
where it it, you know, and I I Icould think back five years ago
the pushback that our pool techswould say, hey, look, we have to
add the water.
I mean, it's you know, they'renot gonna add the water.
And so, you know, it got going,well, you know, we had a we have
a one of the uh gentlemen in inthe UPA, you know, he said,
(10:22):
Well, look, what do you thinkthe you think the landscapers
taking in the uh you knowgarbage?
You think, you know, what youknow, what what's what's all,
you know, why this feeling ofyou have to do all this stuff?
And just because it's tangentlyrelated, you know, you're only
at that pool for 15, 20 minutesa week.
Uh, you know, it's how muchownership of the water do you
really want to take?
(10:43):
And and over the years we'vebeen able to shift that.
We actually even gave guysflyers, you know, and basically
saying, look, if you don't wantto have a conversation with your
homeowner, show them this.
And we give them amount and justsay, look, because of insurance
reasons, we can't add the water.
And it's so funny because youknow, you know, 10 years ago,
people looked at you side-eyedand go, what do you mean,
insurance reasons?
(11:03):
Nowadays, everybody's so used toinsurance companies being
terrible that they go, ofcourse, of course, David, I
understand those insurancecompanies.
But getting away from theresponsibility of adding the
water, because once you set thatprecedent, it's on you, you
know.
Hey, David, you've been addingthe water for the past five
months, and you know, so yeah,why didn't you do it now?
(11:23):
Why are you stopping now?
That kind of thing.
So we've I feel likesuccessfully moved it.
And I re I respect the fact it'sdifficult in different areas.
I mean, obviously you get uhevaporation in potter areas.
So, you know, if you look up inBakersfield during the summer,
it's you know, you can lose alot of water very quickly, you
know, uh to Texas, you know,various areas where you have
(11:44):
that challenge.
But but I think the uh the uhthe point still remains.
It's it's it's a liability thatjust from a business risk
standpoint, insurance aside,just business risk, not not a
good use of time, not a good useof you know liability.
Um so uh yeah, the water damageones, again, there's I think to
(12:06):
break it down, two situations.
One is adding water in the pool.
Just if you can get out of it,don't do it.
It's just it never ends well.
I mean, maybe you get a highfive, hey, thanks, David, for
filling that pool, you know,occasionally, but nobody's uh,
you know, you're not getting ahuge benefit out of that, but
you are, there's a significantdownside.
Now that the second piece ofthat is removing the water, and
(12:27):
that can be a little morecomplicated.
And that's where I think tryingto get the belts and suspenders,
so using a waiver, a drainwaiver of some kind, you know,
that educates the homeowner.
Hey, what I don't know what yourplumbing looks like.
I don't know where you're, youknow, am I am I able to drain to
your your uh your sewer uh um II you know they should be
(12:48):
informing you of that.
Now, look, I I know a lot ofyour guys are very educated,
savvy in their loc locations,but we have a lot of guys that
cross cities.
So it's you know, you're you'rekeeping track of so much.
Uh so it's just uh again aneducation.
Nothing's foolproof.
And I speak in California onlybecause I'm here, but this is a
you know, it it constantly fallsinto the top three most
(13:12):
litigious hell holes.
So it's uh we've got morelawyers than we have anybody
else.
Um, but it's uh um so you canalways get sued for something
going wrong.
But as much as you can buttonthat up, the better.
So the drain waiver and justbeing aware, educating the
homeowner, hey, there's a pumphere.
This is how you shut it off.
I'm not gonna hang out of yourpool for a day on this drains.
(13:34):
So you gotta have somebody here,you know.
And and part of what at leastthe waiver that our UPA folks, a
lot of them use, has a wholeharmless uh portion of that to
where, hey, we're we're notresponsible.
Again, is it foolproof?
No, but it does helpsignificantly.
Yeah.
That was kind of the waterdamage theme.
SPEAKER_00 (13:52):
I is that yeah, I think the water damage is key.
Um, it's hard to tell again,guys, not to do this, and the
key trick does have fail pointslike you mentioned.
Um, I I think one thing that Ifound with a football that was a
(14:38):
blue, water, both of the four.
What if a four or the book?
SPEAKER_01 (15:07):
Hundred percent, one hundred percent, yeah, whatever
the one.
SPEAKER_00 (15:11):
Yeah, so let's talk about the chemical spills, which
I've unfortunately had theprivilege of doing myself.
SPEAKER_01 (15:19):
It's it's it you know, it it's uh purely I mean,
obviously it's neverintentional, it's purely just
oversight, uh, but it just canbe so catastrophic nowadays.
And you know, and the and thereason I say that is just the
amount of fancy stainedconcrete, uh, you know, just
(15:39):
stamped concrete, uh, you know,you look at pavers that are out
of circulation, so you can't getthe same paver colors anymore.
These claims never end well.
And and and so and it's uhsomething as simple.
I know not all of your listenersuse the carts, you know, but you
know, in Southern California,pretty much everybody has a cart
(16:00):
in the back of their truck.
They wheel that cart back intothe uh pool area, and if it's
not closed down right, thatmiriatic, you know, you get some
little splotches, and all of asudden their brand new
fancy-looking deck has got theseuh, you know, splotches on
there, and there's no fix.
I mean, it's you know, you couldtry to do whatever you can, but
(16:20):
it never ends up the way it wasbefore you did that little
oopsies.
And uh, and and of course, theuh um the the repairs in these
situations are are can be youknow awfully expensive.
And I I'll share a story withthe group.
Uh we had one not too long ago,uh Southern California.
(16:41):
They had a very impressive 50 to75 foot driveway that was uh
stained concrete.
And our um our our tech had uhuh somebody covering his pool
for him, and uh so he didn'treally know the property that
well, but he had uh taken histruck, drove it up the uh drove
(17:03):
it up the driveway.
Uh so he got up there and heopened the bed of his truck.
And you can only imagine, and sothat once the truck the bed
truck opened, a uh a jug of ofacid fell.
And it just did what it did on aslope and it rolled all the way
down that that uh nice driveway.
So this uh this turned into areally tricky uh claim because
(17:27):
insurance companies, and this isprobably worth highlighting, you
know, we're talking about ageneral liability policy for
everybody that's listening.
And so these policies are reallygeared to protect you for bodily
injury and property damage younegatively cause to others.
So it's uh, you know, so the thethe agreement is really between
(17:48):
you, the pool tech, and yourinsurance company.
The claimant who you damage isgoing after you and hence going
after your insurance company.
So it's adversarial in nature.
So they're they're going afteryour insurance policy.
So it automatically, the postureis one of defense.
It's one of, hey, the insurancecompany's looking at this.
(18:10):
Were you really responsible forthis?
And if you were, how do we getout of this, you know, in the
most reasonable way that is not,you know, gonna be the most
expensive way?
And that's usually the rub.
Because people generally wanttheir stuff to be exactly the
way it was before you, you know,caused the problem.
And it generally never happensthat way.
(18:31):
And that's because, as everybodyknows, concrete, you can't, you
know, there's no time machine.
You can't go back and and andmake it the way it was unless
you completely redo it.
And so what uh what ultimatelyhappened on this driveway was
$90,000, which I I I was blownaway.
I, you know, I I remember uhwhen the claim adjuster was
calling me freaking out saying,I thought this was a driveway.
(18:52):
And I said, it was, it was justa very nice driveway.
And and so we ended up we endedup having to uh to pay this, but
it it highlighted some reallygood practices.
And actually it was it wasreally um, I felt bad for our
our tech because he said, Look,it's a my guys know, like they
do not drive on the driveway.
It's and and this is, I mean,just and he made it for obvious
(19:15):
reasons.
Look, it's you know, we'reobviously concerned about acid
or you know, chemical spills,but I just I don't want oil.
I don't want, I don't wantanything, I don't want any sort
of problem where our guy bumpstheir dry, you know, their
garage door.
And so it was just one of thesethings that, yeah, had had the
guy, and I get it, it's a 50,75-foot hike.
Nobody wants to do that either,uphill.
(19:35):
But uh, but you know, when yougo up and you make you take this
uh risk on, that's that's whatcan happen.
So so that one, I I highlightthat one just because it was a
big one.
And it and it and it wascontentious.
You know, the homeowner wasn'thappy because you know the
initial uh offers were not youknow satisfactory.
And this is also worthhighlighting, David.
The insurance companies, theydon't go out and fix this stuff,
(19:59):
right?
So so what happens at the end ofthese claims is if you're found
liable and the damages areestablished, the insurance
company writes a check.
They send a check to thehomeowner.
And, you know, and for a lot ofus, you know, it's you know,
hey, great, I got a you know,$90,000 check.
What do I do with, you know, whoam I calling to get my drop?
You know, you know, so itcreates this other
(20:20):
administrative headache for theclaimant, you know.
So, and this is it probably addsto that what I mentioned earlier
and what you were highlightingin your earlier episode, that
these tend to often end up inthe tech getting fired.
And it's just because of theheadaches, and it's nothing to
do with the tech beyond justcausing the incident, but it's
uh um, you know, the theinsurance process is not a fun
(20:41):
process.
And uh, you know, my job, I tryto help usher our our tech
through that process, because II know you highlighted it too,
but communication is so soimportant, you know, trying to
keep that communication lineopen.
Um, you know, and so we try todo our best in that.
Um so the concrete, the otherones are a little less, you
know, I think uh alarming, butthere are more common, and those
(21:04):
are the ones that are by thedeck.
And you're you know, and I Iknow you've talked about this in
the past, but these are theseare the ones where you're
opening the jug, and you know,you're not over the water, you
you know, you get a littlesplatter on the deck, and we end
up with probably one or two ofthose, you know, every year.
It's um we try to get our guysto not move as quick, but
(21:25):
everybody's everybody's movingquickly.
And so it's uh it's a challenge.
And you know, and I think itgoes back to what we were
talking about earlier on therisk management side, right?
If you go in and the guy's decklooks absolutely horrendous,
you're probably just gonna go,hey, I'm not gonna be overly
concerned.
I'll I'll move at my quick rate,you know.
But if you go in there and youcan eat off that deck and it's
you know brand new, that's whereyour kind of spiny senses should
(21:49):
be going up and going, allright, let's let's be extra
cautious here.
SPEAKER_00 (21:52):
I had uh uh one of my pool guys in my group, he um
he took over this new pool,brand new pool built beautiful
stone concrete.
And the co-owner left thoselittle blue booties uh the
entrance of the of the pool andwas like, Can you wear these
every time you towards the pool?
Well, that for him was like,Okay, I'm moving everything in
(22:13):
my truck.
I'm gonna like pull thingspiecemeal over, nothing's gonna
go on this deck.
So that was a good giveaway thatyes, you don't want to spill
nothing on this customer's deck.
SPEAKER_01 (22:25):
No, no, absolutely, absolutely.
And I so I mean that that's onthe on the concrete side.
You mentioned the uh uh I Ithink you mentioned the the
water chemistry is is as well.
That was the third issue we seevery commonly.
And this one is tougher, as asyour listeners know better than
I do, honestly.
Um it's you know, and I I'llpull the start I'll put the
startups aside, but you know,really just the servicing of the
(22:48):
pools, you know, when whenyou're in there, it's um I mean,
plaster, I'll speak of plaster,you know, it I mean it's it it
you know, for lack of a betterway of putting it, it's uh
effectively alive, you know.
So you have this sort ofconstantly changing uh uh
surface that is constantlyexposed to a changing
environment.
(23:09):
And, you know, and obviously thejob of the pool tech is to make
sure that environment is asstable as possible.
Uh and and most R guys, I cansay, do this very well.
I mean, we do a very big amountof education.
I say this the United PoolAssociation, you know, does a
very large amount of educationto its members as far as, hey,
how to manage the LSI, how tohow to kind of make sure things
(23:31):
are uh um the way they shouldbe, in a way that's not gonna
cripple your business spendingthree hours at a pool every you
know, stop.
So it's it's how to do itcorrectly but efficiently.
And you know, where we tend togo wrong is you know, is is that
uh uh some of these older pools,they get etched, they get
scaled.
And a lot of times it is.
(23:52):
It's just fault of uh, you know,the you know, the pool tech just
overlooked, didn't, you know,maybe got sloppy, uh, maybe was
just too much tabs, not enoughuh, you know, uh uh actually
paying attention to where thechemistry actually was.
Um, but there's a lot ofsituations where our guys are
going, look, I I test it everyweek, you know, and and so the
(24:13):
next question is always, well,hey, what do those records look
like?
Do you have anything you canshow me that you've actually
been doing this?
It's like, no, Sean, I don't.
But I I mean, I look, I can tellyou, I remember it being, you
know, the pH was at, you know,6'4.
It was, you know, I have calciumheart, all this stuff, you know,
but you don't remember, youknow, it's all in his memory.
He doesn't really remember, andof course, can you imagine
(24:35):
you're handling 75 pools?
How you how are you reallyremembering this?
Um, so just the logs.
And so we try to emphasize tothese guys, you know, hey, like
keep the records.
I know you mentioned skimmer,it's a great product, you know.
Just if there's, you know, andand and what a great way to
show, you know, your value thatyou're doing to these
homeowners, you know, when youhave an app like that to, you
(24:57):
know, push notifications, uh,but at a minimum, just keep the
logs of what you're doing.
And so we end up in thesesituations.
We had one not too long agowhere it was exactly this.
It was uh uh adamant that the uhum you know that he was managing
the water chemistryappropriately.
And the crazy thing is the costof now actually having to
(25:21):
re-plaster a pool.
And you know, and that's the waythese tend to go is you know,
when you overly etch the pool,it's it's no longer uh uh you
know, sand it down, you know, wecan try an acid wash, we can try
and do whatever we can to remedythis little portion.
It's it's now turned intosituations where we you you're
basically re-plastering thepool.
And this used to be an$8,000claim.
(25:42):
Nowadays, you know,$25,000gallon pool, I mean, it's it's
it's$25,000, you know, to to getthis done.
I mean, it's uh it'sastronomical.
That's probably why we see a lotmore uh of techs trying to get
into the building side ofthings, just because of the just
the crazy inflation on ongetting a pool built.
But uh these claims have becomevery expensive.
And again, these claimsultimately end up in the firing
(26:05):
of the pool tech because it'snow you're talking about you
know the pool getting redone.
And you know, God forbid thetiming is gonna overlap into
summer, you know, the thehomeowners out of their pool for
you know the all the timethey're gonna want to be using
their pool, they get it redone.
Uh, but we have yeah, so justrecently this one was about 25
grand.
Um, and of course it did endthat way where he uh he ended up
getting getting let go.
(26:28):
But also I would add to thisthat the the the the equipment,
right?
The water chemistry obviouslyimpacts the equipment as well.
And so we oftentimes will seewith the heaters, you know, the
heat exchanger failures, andit's the same conversation, you
know, where hey, where are youwhere are you managing this
right?
And I and most of the time it'sa smoking gun.
(26:48):
You know, you got holes in thatexchanger, it's uh leaking, and
you know, it's uh it's hard tohard to argue.
And it and it and and what tendsto happen, the the flow is if if
it's a relatively new exchanger,you know, they typically have a
warranty, right?
So they're they you know theyget a uh so whoever it is, you
know, Pentair gets a warrantyrep out there, and one of the
(27:09):
first things that warranty guy'sdoing, wild guess.
SPEAKER_00 (27:12):
Check the chemistry.
SPEAKER_01 (27:15):
So so what if you were uh you were there, you
know, last uh, you know, uh, youknow, last Thursday.
It's been six days since youwere at that pool and he goes
out and tests that.
Whoops, you know, you can onlyimagine what that water
chemistry is going to look like,you know.
So there goes that warranty.
Um it so it it's it it ends uplanding on the pool tech, you
(27:35):
know, the majority of the time.
Uh, but it's a tough job.
I mean, again, I think this isone of the hardest uh of the
trades, you know, having tomanage all this.
And the water chemistry isdefinitely one of those things
that uh it's it's difficult touh do it consistently, but it's
the job, you know.
So it's uh it you know needs tobe done.
SPEAKER_00 (27:54):
So I was again I'm gonna say this like in a perfect
world, and this is like a lot ofcircular logic, no cool text
would fill the customer's pool,no one would fill out on the
deck, or no one would have abalance pool.
Well, of course that doesn'thappen because we call it as
(28:31):
well, or called too.
But rates are called the claim.
If more people have claims, whenyou pay insurance, the rates are
gonna go up.
Is that a correct kind of waythings work in the insurance
business?
SPEAKER_01 (28:44):
It's a correct statement, and we've seen this
with uh some of our you knowcounterparts out there.
You know, one of the things Iwill say the United Pool
Association has historicallydone a very good job of is
really being selective who theylet in.
And part of the uh, you know,and I I've, you know, you've met
Steve Homer.
Uh, you know, his uh uh you knowgetting a relationship going
(29:05):
with you is such a good synergybecause you know that it's it's
the 80-20 rule.
You know, there's there's a lotof bad pool techs out there, but
there's a lot there's there's alot of good ones.
And we've just done a good jobof finding the ones that are the
good ones.
And you know, so we we doscreen, I think, you know, you
the folks that listen to you,it's they take their they take
their business seriously.
I, you know, and that's that'swhat we're looking for.
(29:27):
And it provides the consistency,and that's the big thing, is you
know, being able to predict whatyour costs are gonna be.
And that that is probably one ofthe biggest challenges in the
insurance industry is whatthings are gonna look like next
year.
And so what we've done is try tominimize that risk as much as
possible by getting the rightpeople in the program that are
(29:50):
gonna look at it to as somethingto preserve.
You know, we we have had ourrates flat for five years.
I mean, that's that's not even,I mean, I mean, my coffee is
like, you know, twice the priceas it used to be five years ago.
So it's uh it's uh uh you know,it it it's it's it's not and
trust me, I'd love to pat myselfon the back, but it's not that.
(30:11):
It's it's the guys we have, youknow, that take their their jobs
very seriously.
They take what they doseriously, they want to help
their customers the best theycan, and they, you know, and
they have the highest retention,I'm sure, as far as their pools.
Um so your statement's correct.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (30:28):
So there's two different ways you can get the
insurance view people.
You can join a chapter onmeeting uh on the ground
coverage and coverage of benefitthere.
But we also open it up to ourlisteners by having just the an
online kind of service wherethey have to, but they're not
(30:50):
part of a local you know, bootson the ground chapter.
Is that a correct uh way ofexplaining?
SPEAKER_01 (30:56):
It's a correct, yeah, absolutely correct.
Um, you know, and I you know, wecaught you know, you know, uh
keeping time in consideration,you know, what I would share is
that you know, there's twotracks it's the chapter track.
And it's you know what we call avirtual chapter where your folks
are.
But I would go out there that ifany of your listeners, you know,
are in an area and hey, they'vegot you know, five guys that
(31:19):
hey, we're you know, we're allwe all meet at the supply houses
all the time already, you know,definitely reach out.
I mean, it you know candefinitely start a chapter.
You know this as well as yourlisteners.
I mean, this is an agingdemographic.
We, you know, the average age ofthe pull tech, I mean, is
somewhere in the mid-40s, youknow, and and and it's it's you
know, trying to get theseyounger guys in there, you know,
the you know, 20s and 30s, youknow, it's it's um uh it's such
(31:44):
a benefit to get them around theguys who've been doing this for
25 years.
And I I will tell you, David, Inever have I seen people more
generous with their time than Ihave with these folks at the
UPA.
So it's uh, you know, the theyoung guys have just gained so
much experience.
And like you said earlier, it'sbest to uh learn from other
people's mistakes.
(32:04):
And uh and that's what theseguys do is they try to pass that
stuff on.
But yeah, two tracks.
It's uh chapter format or uhjoining virtually, which um, you
know, which uh I know there's alink, I think, on your your uh
your podcast to get that processstarted.
SPEAKER_00 (32:19):
And I always tell people, you know, not having
insurance for your pool rider islike driving around with no car
insurance, basically.
And yeah, I was in an incidentwhere I was backing out in a
parking lot, and this guy was ascammer because he was backing
out, he saw me backing out, sohe backed his car into mine.
It was late at night, and I knewexactly what happened because I
(32:40):
where I stopped was not farenough back to hit him because
it was parked, so he pulled backin.
Um, so my insurance company uhfarmers insurance my own super
experienced was like thishappens all the time.
You can be out of red light,look at back into record all the
time where people took advantageof you.
Don't worry, we'll fight this.
(33:01):
You know, rest assured that thisguy's not gonna get this claim
any money from you at all.
And sure enough, three or fourmonths later, it was settled as
a no-fall accident.
Um, the guy didn't get anything,I didn't have to do anything,
and so it worked out perfectly.
But without that insurance,well, your pool route, if you
were to spill asset on adriveway and it's$90,000, you're
(33:24):
pretty much out of luck at thatpoint.
SPEAKER_01 (33:27):
You you are you are out of luck, you're likely
closing up shop.
And I what what I would say is,you know, if you think about all
your expenses, you know, this isyou know, 64 bucks a month.
Uh this is, you know, I mean,people spend more now, I hate to
say it, a jack in a box.
You know, it's it's I mean itit's it's a level of protection
(33:49):
that if you take your businessseriously, and again, I part of
UPA, you know, I I I UPA isgreat, but even if it's not UPA,
just do your business, doyourself, do your family a
favor.
Get the protection you need.
Because, you know, it's I mean,your livelihoods depend on your
business.
And it's uh, and yeah, you endup, I mean, again, the acid
(34:11):
things are one thing, but Imean, God forbid, you leave the
gate open.
You, you know, you can't.
I mean, again, not to you knowturn this morbid, but you know,
sadly, there are there arefatality claims.
There are claims that are notfatalities, but you know, people
who leave being uh permanentlydisabled, you know, because of
the risks having to do with theyou know body of water.
(34:32):
And so it's it's seriousconsequences to uh you know to
accidents.
And insurance is almost like uhyou just have to do it.
If you ever run out of contact,look, insurance tends to put
people to sleep, but I'm happyto come back on every need it.
SPEAKER_00 (34:49):
Yeah, sounds great.
Thanks, Sean.
And if you're looking to sign upfor insurance, again, you go to
my website,swingingforlearning.com.
Um in the web page itself on thehomepage, just scroll down,
click on the UPA banner there,and that'll take you to the
spreadsheet to sign up for theinsurance.
Um, you'll be notified within afew days to a week if you have
(35:11):
it accepted.
You can also find other podcastson my website.
Just click on the podcast icon.
You can actually find part oneto this where John talks about
some horror stories andinsurance claims that he's
repeated.
Or if you're looking for thepodcast, of course, over 1800
podcasts are free to listen to.
If you're following the coachingprogram, If you can learn more
(35:32):
at blue guycoaching.com, pleaselisten to this podcast for week.
God bless.
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