Knowing how much to charge for pool services is one of the biggest challenges pool businesses face. But when you get your pricing right, it can hugely impact your success.
We’ve put together a complete guide on how much to charge for pool services by showing you strategies for:
By the end of this guide, you’ll know exactly how much to charge for pool services to set your business up for the ultimate long-term success.
Do you know your ideal clients?
Check out these questions to help you figure out what their persona is:
Keep in mind, it’s important to be as specific as possible in your answers so you can find your ideal clients.
Once you've answered the big questions about your ideal client, you need to define what your clients want. The best way to discover what clients want is through surveys with questions like:
Next, figure out which pool services are the most common in your area.
Also, it’s important to know your local seasonality. This seasonality tells your business the best times of year to sell specific services.
Lastly, use these local target market insights to increase your conversions and improve your marketing strategies:
Now that you know how to sell more effectively to ideal clients, you're ready to find your break-even point.
In order to calculate your break-even point, you'll have to add up all of your costs:
Don't forget to add up ANY other costs associated with running your pool service business.
As always, verify your break-even point with your trusted CPA (i.e., certified public accountant).
Once you've calculated your break-even point, you'll know how much to charge for pool services to maintain profit goals.
Now that you've calculated your break-even point, you're ready to choose your pricing method.
When it comes to pool cleaning, many businesses choose to create everyday pool cleaning packages.
However, it's important to still make estimates and adjust pricing on an as-needed basis.
For example, if your client has obstacles that make the job take longer, then it's important to make adjustments to adequately account for the extra time and cost.
There are lots of different ways to structure your business model, and many new pool owners are turning toward the "plus chems" pricing model. Simply put, you charge separately for chemicals used in pool maintenance.
The upside is that you can stay profitable if/when the price of chemicals goes up. Your clients only pay for the chemicals they need, which will vary throughout the year.
Since every pool installation is different, and material costs are on the rise, time and materials pricing ensures all of your pool installations remain profitable.
By the way, did you know you can automatically track your time and materials using Service Autopilot?
Instant invoicing
Better scheduling
Manage your clients and employees all in one system
Once you’ve chosen your pricing method based on the information in this pool pricing guide, you’re ready to set conquerable profit goals.
Then, you can incorporate these profit goals into your pricing.
Before setting your profit goals, you’ll need to calculate your business’s net income using this formula:
Next, calculate your profit margin with this formula:
Find out what works best for your pool service business by testing out a few different profit goals.
Remember, as your profit margin goals increase, so do your sales goals.
Keep in mind, your main goal is to set ambitious, yet achievable profit goals.
By far, one of the best ways to stay competitive is by analyzing your top competitors’ pricing.
For example, if you’re setting prices way lower or higher than the competition, then you might need to make adjustments.
However, always remember that the competition’s goals and costs are different from yours. Though, knowing what the majority of competing businesses are charging gives you a good general idea if you’re in the right ballpark.
As always, it’s essential to consult with a trusted CPA (i.e., certified public accountant) to verify your new prices.
Since your financials are the lifeblood of your pool service business, you can’t afford to skip this financial consultation.
A great CPA will help you determine how much to charge for pool services by providing insights as well as accounting for any factors you haven’t considered.
Whether you’re cleaning or installing pools, you need a pool service agreement to set the right expectations with clients.
Your pool service agreement should include things like:
As always, consult with an attorney or legal consultant to ensure your pool service agreement protects your business as much as possible.
Pro Tip! Get IP signatures when you email contracts to clients using the right pool software.
After determining how much to charge for pool services, the best way to improve your price increase process is by gathering client feedback.
These are a few different ways you can obtain feedback from clients:
After raising prices on your least profitable clients first, it’s time to send out survey questions to ensure client satisfaction.
Then, make changes to the process as you receive client feedback. As a result, you can improve the process for more profitable clients.
Finally, you have everything you need to use this pool pricing guide to conquer goals and maximize profits.
Use this pool pricing guide to ensure you’re properly pricing your pool services.
With inflation and labor shortages, it's more important than ever to get your pricing right in the pool service industry. Smart businesses are using technology and data to make better pricing decisions.
In addition, you can use these strategies to help you begin implementing your new price increases in the best way possible.
When you implement these top strategies, you’ll have the power to grow faster and quickly increase profits. Take advantage of this ultimate pool pricing guide today!
Related: Pool Service PPC
Originally published Aug 5, 2021 7:00 AM updated on May 30, 2025 9:30AM
Tags: Business Operation, Featured Post
You must be logged in to post a comment.
