Super Demands, Super Supply Chain Shortages, Super Raw Materials Shortages
If the past year and a half wasn’t hard enough dealing with the COVID-19, masks, where you can go, who you can see, shutdowns, and more, we are now starting to feel the strain in all areas of the pool industry. With the rise in demand from homeowners wanting private pools and outdoor living spaces, coupled with the struggle to hire quality employees, increase in material costs, and delayed shipping times, we as pool builders are urging customers to sign up now or put their pool dreams on hold for months, even years at a time.
Running a small business is hard enough without having to forecast in an industry no one thought was needed in order to rightfully meet their customers’ needs. From pumps, heaters, automation systems, pool shells, to even simply chlorine, everything is now backorders. Typically, if you have a good pool builder working for you, they would have ordered all your products months ahead of your job just to have it on time, or, they stock the product. Nowadays, you can no longer go to your fiberglass pool manufacturer and simply order a new pool and expect to receive it in under 40 weeks. In fact, some popular pool shells are taking up to 50 weeks, with the waiting list only growing. The worst part? This is the same with pumps, heaters, and salt systems. Right now, long gone are the days where you can just go purchase at the suppliers since manufactures are now at “made to order” capacity, thanks to supply chain woes.
During a normal, pre-covid season, our process takes a total of roughly 3-4 + weeks (depending on the scale of the job.) That’s a signed contract with a deposit, where you’re placed inline in the order it was received, permitting, scheduling, ordering, construction, and pool school. Now? We are 4-5 months booked out, and we are only having to increase that because of the increased lead time on materials. We don’t see the supply chain shortage correcting itself anytime soon or even with the next season or two. So, we are telling (re: urging) potential customers that if you’re very motivated in building that pool and outdoor living space you want, please start planning now. We are as transparent as we can be, so please expect long lead times on materials, and we ask that you be patient as we work to make your pool dreams a reality. When you build with us, you can be sure we will have everything needed to complete your project, no matter the wait time!
How do you dive into your new pool and outdoor living space? With our company, one of the first things we tell prospective customers is our base pool cost and an average of what our customers have spent on their projects and ask if they are ready to make that commitment. If you’re ok with that budget analysis, we move forward with a quick property and utility search to identify if your property is a candidate for a pool by making sure it is clear of any easements, unmovable utilities, permanent property restrictions, which would make it unable to install a pool. If the property passes, we move forward with an estimate. The estimate will give you a very close price to your final number without needing to step foot on your property. After estimate approval, we schedule one of our estimators to stop by and perform a proper site evaluation taking measurements, elevations, etc. to provide the customer with the final project number. Once the final product price is approved, you sign the contract and submit your deposit. Then, you’re placed inline in the order it was received, and you can sit back and relax, while we handle everything else!
We offer financing!
