Are you thinking of starting a pool cleaning company? Swimming is one of the most popular leisure activities and sports across the globe. According to The Washington Post, there are about one million private pools in America. Within this, many households, rental apartments, hotels, and motels also look to regularly upgrade their pools and pay for a professional to come and maintain it for them. For that reason, the demand for pool services is increasing, and the market is expected to expand in the coming years.
Becoming an entrepreneur is no easy task, and you need to carefully lay the foundations to set the basis for long-term growth. Indeed, this can feel overwhelming at the start when you are trying to establish yourself in the marketplace. This article provides five practical tips to set you on the right path to achieving growth and success.
If you’re thinking about starting your own pool cleaning company, this article has just the tips and advice to get started.Click To TweetGo digital and modern
Statistics show about five billion online users in 2022, representing 65% of the world population. With this advancement in technology, customer behavior is now in a digitized environment. They’re demanding faster, more reliable, and more convenient methods of service delivery.
To improve efficiency and meet such customer expectations, businesses are going digital. Therefore, when you are starting a pool cleaning company, you need to work smart. Plan to effectively manage your business operations using automation tools and software, like the one developed by Jobber.
Below are the benefits of utilizing such digital technology to streamline your daily activities:
- Helps you adopt quoting best practices with the use of a customized pool service estimate template that is an effective way of winning you more jobs
- Facilitates effective management of most business obligations, including appointment scheduling
- It saves you time over manual approaches
- Minimizes computational errors
Evidently, going digital ensures you provide your customers with a seamless service experience.
Choose your service area
When you are starting a pool cleaning company, consider what skills and certifications you need. Will you obtain these yourself or hire someone to do this for you?
Don’t forget you have the service offering side of the business, as well as the business administrative side. Don’t forget, rather than hiring a full-time person to do your accounting, you can always contract a professional to help you with specific tasks.
However, you decide to set up your business, ensure that the service you provide to your customers is outstanding. Customer satisfaction is paramount to your growth and success.
If you are starting with no experience in the pool service industry, it’s recommended that you begin with the less technical services, like pool cleaning, maintenance, and chlorination. Then you can gradually expand your skillset, experience, and qualification level.
Also, note that your location is a great determiner of the kind of service demanded in your area. For that matter, evaluate your customers’ needs so you can work with them to meet those requirements.
Manage your start-up costs
When starting a pool cleaning company, there are items and expenses that you need to budget for. Your goal is to manage your costs to achieve your required level of profit margin. While at it, don’t forget to give your business enough room for growth.
Below are some of the start-up costs to bear in mind at the beginning:
- Register your business
- Obtain the applicable licenses and register for tax as per your local government’s requirements
- Depending on the pool service, purchase all the appropriate equipment like pool filter cartridges for pool cleaning.
- Hire the right team of professionals to work with
- Get general liability insurance
- Invest in legal protection, if you intend to go big
- Build your pool service business website
For more information on the above, consider consulting industry professionals. It’s also a good idea to join a relevant association, like the association of pool cleaners, to keep up with industry news and best practices.
Select a good pricing criteria
Note that your pricing criteria can affect the demand for your services. It’s natural for customers to go for quality but affordability. For that reason, you should neither inflate your prices nor charge too low fees, as this will result in losses.
While it’s advisable to use competitive pricing, below are some factors you must consider before fixing a price.
- The type of pool, whether in-ground or on-ground
- The size of the swimming pool
- The amount of dirt in the pool
- The type of materials. For instance, handcrafted fiberglass pools are cheaper to clean than concrete block pools.
Therefore, before providing a detailed quotation, you should visit the property for an assessment to determine the actual job at hand.
Market your business
Like every business, you need to make your service known to prospective customers, or people won’t know to hire you. Here’re some digital marketing strategies to consider.
- Have a social media presence
- Send emails to potential customers to promote your services
- Have a business blog
- Organize an event to launch your start-up
- Make use of online advertisements and local directories
Final Thoughts on Starting a Pool Clean Company
If you’re thinking of starting a pool cleaning company, we hope these tips will help get you started on the right foot. It can be difficult to get your business off the ground, but with hard work and a dedication to quality service, you can make your pool cleaning company thrive.