Run Away Inflation, Mega Pool Companies and the State of the Pool Industry with Scott Roberts of NPRS

 Scott Roberts from National Pool Route Sales (NPRS) started as a pool service professional and ran a large route in Florida for over 6 years. His background in business also includes owning and running other small businesses before he settled in as a Pool Route Broker. You can reach Scott at his office number or through email.




 NPRS: www.poolroutesales.com
(561) 708-4744 (My Direct Office - no text available here)
Email: Scott@poolroutesales.com

Buying a pool route to get started in the industry is not a bad idea, nor is buying a partial route to expand if you have the cash to do it. You will get a jump start on your business and instant income in your pocket. When jumping into any industry you need to be aware of the current events and in the Pool Industry inflation, competition, and fining labor are the big three.

The annual inflation rate in the US accelerated to 7% in the last month of 2021, a fresh high since June of 1982, the highest level in almost 50 years. What does this mean for the swimming pool industry? It means price increases on some products and chemicals of over 100%. In layman's terms, the price for many things has doubled and prices are approaching tripling in 2022. A 50 lbs bucket of tablets in 2020 retailed for $130, sometimes you could get it for $110.00.  Prices are approaching $300 in 2022. Will prices ever drop? Maybe a little but has the price of gas dropped back to $1.50 in your area, ever? I am going to say they may pull back some but never back to the levels before 2021.

If you take the construction industry as an example, lumber prices skyrocketed and pulled back about 20% from their peak. But the cost of drywall and windows has gone up as well as labor. In 2019  a thousand board ft of spruce 2x4 lumber was $499. At the peak, it was selling for $1,288. This caused the price of a 1,700 sq ft home in Southern California for a new build minus the lot to go from $280,000 in 2019 to $395,000 in 2022 - if you break ground today. And even with a drop of 20-30% in lumber cost that 1,700 sq ft house still cost $395,000 to build because the cost of labor and finishing materials has gone up. My contractor said even if lumber went back down to 2019 levels, the cost would only drop fractionally because all other costs remain high. 

All I am saying is that if you think prices will drop back to the 2020 levels in the swimming pool industry they likely will not. Higher prices are here to stay in one form or another. It is the new normal. 

The swimming pool service sector is being squeezed from two sides now. In the last couple of years, National Pool Partners (NPP) has been buying up large pool service companies and merging them into giant regional pool service companies sometimes taking over entire communities. Now PoolCorp has thrown its hat into the pool service arena by their recent purchase of the Pinch A Penny franchise parent company Porpoise Pool & Patio Inc, and Sun Wholesale Supply Inc. 

What does all of this mean for your pool service company? That all depends on your region and company size but in a nutshell, these two entities are going to create more cooperate-run competition for you. NPP is expanding mainly in employer-friendly states like Florida and Texas and they are actively purchasing large pool companies with 1,000 or 2,000 or more accounts. Gobbling up the big fish companies in the areas they operate in. But NPP is not a discount pool service and they will be charging premium rates. Think Terminix vs your local mom and pop pest control.

Finding anyone good to work for any particular company in any particular industry is difficult right now. Will things ease up? I think they will. The pool service industry has a lot to offer. Great pay, great hours, weekends off, holidays off, and more. Once you learn the job it becomes very easy to keep a pool blue and safe to swim in. I think the best way to recruit an employee is by constantly reinforcing the benefits of being a pool service tech. 


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