In this session, @nikiacosta sits down with Hal Denbar (career pool operator, former CEO of National Pool Partners, Skimmer board member) and Megan Kendrick (publisher, PoolPro) to break down what the latest industry data is telling us—and what to do with it as we head into busy season.
Using insights from Skimmer’s latest industry report (built from 1,600+ industry responses plus anonymized platform data from 1M+ pools), we dug into:
- Disciplined growth: Why the conversation is shifting from more pools to more profit
- Operational consistency: How repeatable systems reduce chaos as you scale
- Technology as a force multiplier: Turning software and integrations into real leverage
- Pricing discipline: Why “price is free profit” (and how to approach it without panic)
- Labor & staffing realities: Why there’s no “quick solve,” and what does differentiate winners
- Marketing benchmarks: What it realistically costs to play the digital game—and why speed-to-lead wins
- Consolidation & PE landscape: What’s changing, what’s not, and how to build a business that’s always “sell-ready”
Watch the replay 👇
Key takeaways worth rewatching:
- The post-COVID ripple effect is real: more “DIY-to-outsourcing” cleaning demand, plus repairs spiking as warranties expire.
- Annual pricing = compounding gains: small, consistent increases are easier on customers and add up fast across an entire route.
- Repairs can quietly erode margin: if you’re not adjusting parts/labor pricing as costs rise, you’ll feel it later.
- 2–10 trucks is the “valley of death”: scaling gets harder before it gets easier—especially when you hire your first non-revenue roles.
- Culture is marketing: every phone call, every field interaction, every follow-up becomes your brand.
Helpful Links:
📘 Download the State of Pool Service 2026 report
📚 Books mentioned:
- Managing by the Numbers, by Chuck Kremer
- The Profit Problem, by Martin T Holland
- Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz
🧰 Hiring resource: Work in Aquatics job board (PHTA)
Keep the conversation going:
Drop your biggest takeaway (or your biggest 2026 challenge) in the comments—especially if you’re working through pricing, hiring, or breaking through that 2–10 truck stage.
And if you’ve got an idea for a future webinar, reply to the invite email and tell us what you want to dig into next.