From Trucks to Borates: Pool Service Questions

Pool pros face a strange paradox: the products that make pools easier and cheaper to maintain are often the hardest to find at local stores. Boric acid is a prime example. Add it to 50 ppm and you stabilize pH drift in saltwater pools, use less chlorine, reduce muriatic acid demand, and deter algae. Yet many retailers don’t stock it or even test for it. The reason isn’t a mystery. Borates reduce sales of profitable consumables like algaecide and acid. That short-term logic clashes with how customers actually buy. If a client can order boric acid online and test it with strips from LaMotte or Hach, the store loses both the sale and the relationship, along with future big-ticket items. The smarter move is to meet demand, win trust, and become the default source for parts, repairs, and gear.

When sourcing boric acid, pros often skip the supply drought and order directly from reputable online vendors. Duda Diesel ships boric acid powder quickly at fair prices, and test strips on Amazon make verification simple. The business lesson extends beyond chemistry: you can’t corner the modern buyer. Try to block a useful product and they’ll route around you, just like IKEA routed manufacturing boycotts. For service companies, embracing tools that save clients money also saves you labor, improves consistency, and cuts callbacks. That value echoes in reviews, referrals, and retention, which matter more than an extra jug of acid sold at the counter.

Fleet decisions follow the same practical math. The badge on the hood matters less than the odometer and upkeep history. A used Silverado with 91,000 miles at a good price may out-earn a higher-mile import at the same cost because service trucks rack up 15,000 to 20,000 miles a year. Lower starting mileage extends your replacement horizon and delays major repairs. New trucks tie up cash and face the same wear. Cosmetics matter for client perception, but real ROI comes from reliability, manageable maintenance, and time on the route. Paying a premium for brand loyalty can make sense, yet the strongest predictor of uptime remains mileage and condition, not the logo.

Vacuum systems are another place where practicality beats spec sheets. Carts like Riptide and Power Vac offer serious thrust and fast coverage, but cords and bulk slow you down and complicate transport. Cordless options such as the Bottom Feeder trade raw power for speed of deployment and freedom from cables. For most debris and day-to-day cleanups, you don’t need 38 pounds of thrust; leaves, acorns, and typical fallout lift fine with lower thrust if your technique is dialed. In wildfire ash or storm loads, carts still shine. For weekly optics and efficiency, cordless wins because you can drop, vacuum, and stow in minutes without fighting cords or carts.

That speed matters when you consider whether to vacuum every visit. Clients judge value by what they see. Skimming and brushing can look routine, but a quick pass with a vacuum signals care and thoroughness. A cordless unit can clear a small pool in two to five minutes, which turns a perceived premium service into an efficient habit. Write “vacuum as needed” into your agreement to retain flexibility, then default to short visible vacuuming unless the pool is spotless. Train staff to do the same. On routes with light debris, this tiny ritual pays dividends in satisfaction and retention without blowing up your schedule.

Parts procurement brings its own tradeoffs. Generic components for cleaners like the MX6 or MX8 on Amazon or platforms like Temu can be a fraction of OEM prices. Some generics perform well; others fail fast. Manufacturers fight generics to protect revenue and reputation, and brick-and-mortar suppliers often can’t stock non-OEM due to contracts. Pros should weigh downtime risk, warranty impact, and total cost. Use generics where failure won’t cascade into bigger issues, keep a tested list of reliable vendors, and reserve OEM for mission-critical assemblies. The goal is not ideology but uptime, client trust, and predictable cost per stop.