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Industry news, training & life on the road

Get started in the community! Check out the latest industry news & training, plus share your stories from the road.

97 Posts
code3pools_ops
Conversation Starter
code3pools_opsConversation Starter
asked in News, trends & training
Flooded Pools

This is our first time dealing with plodded pools after a storm. What are your best tips and recommended steps to effectively clean up flooded pools and ensure they are safe for swimming?

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code3pools_ops
Conversation Starter
nikiacosta
Team Skimmer
nikiacostaTeam Skimmer
posted in News, trends & training
Preparing for US port strikes and possible supply chain disruptions

I spoke with an exec at a major distributor today, and he expressed that his executive team has been discussing the potential impact of a potential strike and closures of east coast and gulf region ports. As we saw with Covid, port closures and supply chain disruptions can have a direct impact on pricing and availability of chemicals, equipment, and parts. It is premature to speculate on the potential impact of the strike, but keep an eye on your chem and equipment prices and adjust your rates accordingly!Here are some suggestions to prepare for the potential impact: Consider stocking up on equipment and supplies you know you’re going to need.  If you have outstanding quotes that your customers have not approved, give them a nudge to approve the quote. Let them know that pricing and availability may be uncertain.  Prepare to increase prices in the event chem and equipment prices increase, especially if you include chems as part of your service pricing. Check out the Skimmer Price Incre

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nikiacosta
Team Skimmer
Justine
The Pool Deck Community Team
JustineThe Pool Deck Community Team
published in News, trends & training
Winterization tips to help your customers get ready to RULE THE POOL next spring

As pool season comes to a close for those of us in the north,  I am sharing Pentair’s recent post on how to guide your customers through winterization and turn them into repeat customers this spring.READ ARTICLE  

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Justine
The Pool Deck Community Team
nikiacosta
Team Skimmer
nikiacostaTeam Skimmer
asked in News, trends & training
Salt shortages?

I’ve seen several posts in fb groups posting about salt shortages, and it looks like some folks are making a run on salt. Is this happening in your market? 

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code3pools_ops
Conversation Starter
nikiacosta
Team Skimmer
nikiacostaTeam Skimmer
posted in Life on the road
Pool Spa Patio Expo Dallas 2024 - Last day for early bird registration!

The conference portion runs from November 9th -14th, and the expo hall will be open November 12th - 14th.Attend the expo portion FREE! Use Skimmer’s VIP code, 119736 when you register for yourself or your team members! And if you decide to attend, come find us in Booth #1600, right up front. We’ll be co-located with our friends from Primate Pool Tools and BluerayXL!       Last Chance: PSP/Deck Expo Early Bird Rates End Tonight!   Unlock the Best Rates and Exclusive Offers Before Time Runs Out.   This year’s International Pool | Spa | Patio Expo™, co-located with Deck Expo, brings together professionals from across the pool, spa, patio, decking, and outdoor living industries for unparalleled education and networking. Early bird rates expire tonight—don’t wait to lock in the best deal for this must-attend event.   Special Offer: If you register for GENESIS® C201: Construction School: Concrete Pools before September 30 you’ll receive a compl

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nikiacosta
Team Skimmer
Happy Pools
General Member
Happy PoolsGeneral Member
asked in Life on the road
Stubborn Yellow Algae

Hey everyone, I am dealing with a pool that has what we think is Yellow Algae. The Chlorine level was 4.5 when we got there today and all of the rest of the chemicals were within range. We have been using yellow algaecide weekly and can’t seem to get it under control. The pump has been running 10 hrs/ day and we clean the filter regularly. This pool is on the beach so I am thinking that could be part of it.  Does anyone have any magic they can recommend? Thinking I might give PoolRx a try on this one… 

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ClearPoolPartners
New Member
Justine
The Pool Deck Community Team
JustineThe Pool Deck Community Team
published in News, trends & training
Smooth Out Seasonal Costs: Skimmer's New 12-Month Blended Rate Plan

As summer winds down, we know that for many of you, managing your Skimmer software budget can come with seasonal challenges during peak and off-peak months.That's why I wanted to let you know about our new 12-month blended rate plan, which will make being a Skimmer customer even easier without any incremental cost.This plan is designed to help you manage your expenses more efficiently by evenly spreading your current Skimmer subscription costs throughout the year. Instead of paying higher fees during the warmer months when your business is busiest, you'll benefit from predictable, consistent billing every month—no matter the season.Benefits of Switching OverConsistent Monthly Billing: No more expense spikes during peak months by smoothing out your cash flow with one predictable monthly payment. Year-Round Access: Use Skimmer to help plan and prepare for the next season. Personalized Account Planning: Access to a dedicated Customer Success Manager to partner with you on using Skimmer to

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Justine
The Pool Deck Community Team
Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
Lauren BroomSkimmer Verified Partner
posted in News, trends & training
September CPO courses

Upcoming September CPO courses can be found herehttps://www.spacecoastpoolschool.com/100-online-cpo-class/

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Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
nikiacosta
Team Skimmer
nikiacostaTeam Skimmer
published in News, trends & training
Nominations for the Pentair Pool Pro Awards Open September 4th!

The Search for This Year’s Pool Professionals Is On! Pentair Pool will be searching for this year’s pool professionals who work tirelessly to make pool moments feel larger than life. Formerly known as the Pleatco Pool Tech Search, the Pentair Pool Pro Awards is a prestigious honor that recognizes and celebrates two stand-out pool professionals — one man and one woman — who are larger than life in their local communities. Other finalist categories that will be honored include the following: Lifetime AchievementYoung LeaderAdvancing TechnologySafety AdvocatePleatco Pioneer WHY ENTER THE POOL PRO AWARDS?If selected as one of the top two Pentair Pool Pro winners, enjoy the following perks:2025 Atlantic City Pool & Spa Show travel accommodations and special recognitionPersonalized excursion hosted by Pentair PoolEnrollment for a Genesis/PHTA training courseExclusive interview with an industry-leading publication, AQUA MagazineAnd more!AWARDS TIMELINENomination phase: Sept. 4 - Oct. 18,

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nikiacosta
Team Skimmer
Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
Lauren BroomSkimmer Verified Partner
posted in News, trends & training
Busy weekend for education!!

Exciting 4 CPO classes going on this weekend and I am not teaching. I am actually hosting a fantasy football draft at my house this Saturday.Four of my awesome instructor teaching between in person in St. Petersburg FL with Bill Hamilton or 2 virtual CPO English classes with Stephen Ely and August A Ursin or Spanish virtual CPO class with Clemente Jesus Rivera!! I am thankful for all of my instructors. They are awesome! This class here is in Saint Petersburg going on right now in Florida taught by Billy Hamilton  with full brand new awesome class room thanks to AquaServ Pool Service and Bryan Lee Lulucki!! Beautiful!! 

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Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
P
General Member
Pool MagazineGeneral Member
posted in News, trends & training
Podcast on Skimmer Service Rate Index with Pool Magazine

Had a great conversation with Niki Acosta and Jack Nelson about the service index rate. Really valuable info for pool pros that gives a 10,000 ft overview of what companies are charging in a given market. Listen in on the discussion on the Pool Magazine podcast.

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KerryS
Skimmer Verified Partner
nikiacosta
Team Skimmer
nikiacostaTeam Skimmer
published in Life on the road
The International Pool Spa Patio Expo is in Dallas this year! Attend the expo free!

 The International Pool Spa Patio Expo is taking place in Dallas this year, after two years in Las Vegas!The conference portion runs from November 9th -14th, and the expo hall will be open November 12th - 14th.If you’d like to attend the expo, use Skimmer’s VIP code, 119736 when you register for yourself or your team members! And if you decide to attend, come find us in Booth #1600, right up front. We’ll be co-located with our friends from Primate Pool Tools and BluerayXL! Are you attending? Let us know by leaving a comment below! 

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nikiacosta
Team Skimmer
Justine
The Pool Deck Community Team
JustineThe Pool Deck Community Team
published in Life on the road
Shining a spotlight on our members 🩵

At Skimmer, we are fortunate to have amazing customers. We find inspiration in hearing their stories about how they got started in business, how they are evolving, and what keeps them motivated. So, I wanted to share our latest customer stories for a bit of summer reading that highlights two of our members in The Pool Deck @dazzlepools @ohanapoolsoffl. Their family stories and journeys of growth and learning are sure to bring a smile to your face...and give you insight into some of the talented and motivated members of our community.Enjoy!Read About Dazzle PoolsRead About Ohana Pools 

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O
Rookie Member
DavidSPL
Skimmer Verified Partner
DavidSPLSkimmer Verified Partner
published in News, trends & training
Revolutionary Method for Treating Phosphates in Your Swimming Pool

I love new ideas and innovative products, and these phosphate tablets make treating phosphates easier than ever. Just drop one or two tablets into the skimmer, and you're done. Do they work? Yes—thanks to their main ingredient, lanthanum, they're highly effective. Watch a complete month of testing the Swim Check Fix™ Phosphate from begining to end here:  

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DavidSPL
Skimmer Verified Partner
Justine
The Pool Deck Community Team
JustineThe Pool Deck Community Team
published in News, trends & training
More Skimmer help is now available in The Pool Deck 🤓

Our goal for The Pool Deck is to make this your one-stop shop for everything you need to help you run and grow your business. And a key part of this expanding knowledge hub is supporting you on your journey to becoming a Skimmer power user to get the most value from your subscription. So, to help you quickly find the answers to your Skimmer questions, we have added all of the videos and how-to articles from our Help Center into the community.You can access the Skimmer Help Center from the mega-nav, and the available resources are organized by functionality to make it easier for you to find what you need.   These resources will also appear as options in your search results based on your keywords. Each article will have "Skimmer Help Center" in the title to differentiate the content from other post options and help you choose the best resource link for your search.  Check out this article to learn more about using The Pool Deck’s universal search function. 💡The Pool Deck Community Tip -

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Justine
The Pool Deck Community Team
alex
Team Skimmer
alexTeam Skimmer
published in News, trends & training
Skimmer's Integration with the Orenda Calculator™News

Exciting news! Skimmer has launched our long-awaited integration with Orenda’s Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) calculator. The calculator is a powerful tool for maintaining balanced water chemistry, which is crucial for customer satisfaction in the pool service industry. This integration makes it easier than ever for Skimmer customers to deliver great service. It gives technicians comprehensive water quality insights to achieve optimal water balance and pool health, all in Skimmer. Unlike other LSI solutions available on the market, Skimmer’s integration with Orenda is simple and intuitive, minimizing switching between apps. It offers a very close replica of the Orenda experience within the familiar Skimmer app, minimizing technicians' learning curve. Features an intuitive interface with features like sliders for easy value input, meaning fewer clicks for your techs and more workflow efficiency. Works both online and offline, which is perfect for remote pool locations. Techs are able

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MicahShaw
New Member
DavidSPL
Skimmer Verified Partner
DavidSPLSkimmer Verified Partner
posted in Life on the road
How to Take 4-Weeks Off Every Year

Memorial Day is just around the corner. Is this one of your days off? I am often asked if you should take these significant holidays off. It depends. If your Mondays are light, you can easily make up the pools during the week. Or if you want to skip the pools entirely, you can, but then you will use up one of your days on your four weeks off. How does a Pool Pro take four weeks off each year? It's simple. There are months when there are five service weeks, and you charge monthly for four weeks. May 2024 has 5 Wednesdays, 5 Thursdays, and 5 Fridays. You explain to the customer that you don't charge extra for the 5th week during these months, which adds up to 4 weeks off for your company. I usually take two straight weeks off during the year and then use the other two weeks for random times. To avoid conflicts, have this written in your service agreement: "Sick Day/Vacation Policy: In case of a sick day or injury, we will do our best to make up the service day for you. If we cannot make

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Bluefish
New Member
Pool Man Mike
Specialist
Pool Man MikeSpecialist
asked in News, trends & training
Algae and warm weather

Hi all. Curious as to what some other pool pros are doing to combat this issue especially you pool pros in warmer Climents? Right now, we are aiming for about 5ppm in all of our accounts as well as keeping chlorinators with the appropriate number of tablets however, we are still getting calls from homeowners that they are experiencing signs of algae. I’ll further add that the chemistry is all with in tolerance levels including CYA. Do you guys just use an algaecide treatment when this happens that helps cure it and keeps it at bay during the summer months?  For those of you that use Pool RX how are you selling this to your customers? Do you just ask them to buy it or do you provide it? It's hard for us to mark up the cost of Pool RX when it can be purchased for less on Amazon then I can buy it from Pool Corp. I would like to implement it into our service but just want to know the best way how that is working for the consensus. 

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glorifiedpoolguy
General Member
Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
Lauren BroomSkimmer Verified Partner
posted in News, trends & training
IF you need virtual CPO....here it is for August

 August Virtual CPO classes:08/03  Fusion08/17  Fusion08/17  Spanish Fusion08/17-08/18  Full 2 day Virtual CPO08/31  FusionCheck out full schedule here:Virtual CPO Class Schedule

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Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
Lauren BroomSkimmer Verified Partner
posted in News, trends & training
St. Petersburg FL in Person CPO Class

August 17-18, 2024 (Sat. & Sun.)8:00 am to 5:00 pm each dayAt     Aqua Serv Pools Location         5150 66th St. N         St. Petersburg, FL 33709Cost $350/personRegister Here:   August 17-18, 2024 (Sat. & Sun.)- Full 2 Day In Person CPO (St. Petersburg, FL) - CPO Certifications, CPO Training, Pool Consulting, Residential Training, Homeowner Pool School (spacecoastpoolschool.com)

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Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
Lauren BroomSkimmer Verified Partner
posted in News, trends & training
Chlorine and acid on your pool cart

Do you think it is safe to store muriatic acid next to your liquid chlorine on your pool cart that hangs on the back of your truck or trailer like pic below?What could happen if they are rear ended?What about the license plate not visible? 

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Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
Justine
The Pool Deck Community Team
JustineThe Pool Deck Community Team
published in Getting started in the community
Why You Should Start With Search 🔍

One of the main goals of The Pool Deck is to help you find the information you’re looking for as quickly as possible. So, starting with a search is the best way to help you understand what’s already posted in the community that might have the answer you need. Our library of information is expanding daily, creating a growing archive of expertise to draw on! Before you ask a new question, enter your keywords in the universal search function. This powerful engine will quickly give you all the available resources on your topic to save you time. Plus, you can ask additional questions or share your expertise on these existing posts to add to the knowledge sharing on that topic.Review your results in the search dropdown to select the best content option for what you need. There are different icons to indicate the different types of posts:ArticlesQuestionsConversationsTo explore your options further, click “🔍 View all” to open a search results page that aggregates and organizes all of the pos

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Justine
The Pool Deck Community Team
Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
Lauren BroomSkimmer Verified Partner
posted in News, trends & training
New Workplace Health & Safety Pol Industry course

Pool pros!!If you are ready for an awesome class about workplace safety and want to pass that info to your employees then this course is for you!!https://www.spacecoastpoolschool.com/event/july-20th-july-27-2024-sat-sat-live-virtual-osha-10-class/

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Lauren Broom
Skimmer Verified Partner
Justine
The Pool Deck Community Team
JustineThe Pool Deck Community Team
published in Life on the road
Team Skimmer in Action

I just wanted to share a photo from our team meetings this week...we even had our very own pool school session 🤓The energy was fantastic and I feel lucky to work with such a brilliant, innovative, collaborative, passionate, and fun crew. You might recognize some faces from your Skimmer meetings or The Pool Deck contributors, but as a whole, this group works hard every day to ensure we keep improving your Skimmer experience.It's been an action-packed few days, so stay tuned as we start to work on the second half of the year!We're sending you all some good vibes as we get ready to head into the weekend!   

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alex
Team Skimmer
FlaviaSwims
Team Skimmer
FlaviaSwimsTeam Skimmer
posted in News, trends & training
HURRICANE BERYL PREP

Gulf Coast Pros - and especially our friends in Houston! Some tips on maximizing your use of Skimmer in managing customer communications. be proactive - use broadcast emails to notify customers that their service will be rescheduled. Sample text: "Valued customer, We hope you are staying safe as Beryl approaches/touches down. If you can, do a sweep of your backyard and secure loose items, and keep potted plants far away from your pool. Be apprised we are likely to reschedule your service this week; you may not see your regular technician as we juggle routes to ensure we tend to everybody. If you have significant damage, do reach out to us immediately and we will address issues in the order of severity." How to here (Even if you lose power, you can still access our web app from a mobile device. It will be a little less UX friendly, but it works in a pinch!)  prepare your work orders; consider having post hurricane check-ups for customers with significant damage to assess issues; work

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FlaviaSwims
Team Skimmer

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