You’ve been putting off replacing — or expanding — your service-vehicle fleet because of the economy. You’ve been diligent with maintenance and are pretty sure you can get by another season. You’ve had other things to spend money on. But maybe it’s just time: The old rig is on its last legs, theodometer has more…
For the last five years, I have struggled to sell vacuums to my customers due to Internet prices. This is no secret in our industry. But finally, the big manufacturers are coming to our aid. They are offering considerable rebates to the homeowners and not allowing Internet sales on some of their products. So now…
Two major factors cause companies to go out of business: The first is improper labor pricing. Let’s assume you know your costs of doing business and what to do as costs change. Proper labor pricing is critical, and you must change your labor rate as costs change. Understanding what to charge per hour is only…
In May of 1971, Canadian rock group the Five Man Electrical Band hit the Top 40 with the song “Signs.” While the song lamented the use of signs to dictate societal behavior — remember, this was the flower-power days the early ’70s — signs help us stop our cars at intersections; locate the street we…
When Zodiac looked at the variable-speed pumps offered by its Jandy brand, it knew there was a hole to fill when it came to replacement pumps. “We have a big variable-speed pump, which is the ePump,” says Mike Giddens, product manager at Zodiac. “But from a replacement pump standpoint, it’s not ideal because it’s bigger…
If you’re responsible for pool maintenance and management for a municipal or commercial aquatic facility, particularly in freeze-thaw locales across the United States and Canada, you’re probably uncomfortably aware of the annual ritual of repairing peeling plaster, cracks and leaks, all in anticipation of another summer of heavy use. And after the winter of discontent…
For my first three years at Horner Equipment, now HornerXpress, I was a partner. But in 1975, I bought out the other partner and became the 100 percent business owner. When I first started here, we had three employees; right now, we have 430. It’s been 43 years. I’ve always believed in continuous improvement. If…
My parents founded Johnson Pools in 1977. We started out as a custom concrete, block wall, vinyl-liner pool builder and slowly grew. Back in the ’80s, people wanted freeform pools, so we moved away from concrete walls and start doing steel walls. In the late ’90s to the 2000s, people went into debt up to…
As a new pool season gets underway, most savvy business owners are deciding how best to spend their marketing and advertisingdollars. So while you consider radio, TV, billboards, AdWords and other advertising opportunities, don’t forget about the low-costhidden leads that may be right under your nose. When it comes to new pool leads, for every…
Nonbillable time is the single highest cost of doing business in your service department. On average, the typical service tech only bills out about half their time each day. How is this possible? Let’s look at some numbers: VacationLet’s assume the tech gets two weeks of paid vacation a year. Vacation totals 80 hours a…
Maintaining the proper water level for swimming pools has always been a challenge for pool service companies. But with the help of a few products, it doesn’t have to be. Some of the major problems due to low water levels can cost the homeowner big money in repairs, so it’s critical the homeowner and the…
What do you want from your life? Such a loaded question and not easy to answer. Most have a general idea within a few minutes; a more detailed definition is usually a week or so away. The problem with this question is the societal and self-imposed walls and limitations we put on ourselves. As young…