Wife and I am are in the process of getting bids for pools, but my question surrounds companies that come and maintain your pool. I have a number of friends that have pool maintenance companies come and clean their pools, they tell me they can't purchase the products for what these guys charge to do it weekly. I have no problem doing it myself, but if what my friends say is true then I may go that route. Any thoughts on pool maintenance and doing yourself compared to someone doing it for you.

nhayden said:

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they tell me they can't purchase the products for what these guys charge to do it weekly.

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not sure I understand what they're talking about. You can buy pool chemicals at Leslies, Pinch-a-Penny and even some at Lowes and Home Depot... not to mention online if you want.

I'd suggest going to TroubleFree pool website. A wealth of information. I do mine myself and i've never had a problem.

lots of factors into that discussion.

What do you have over the pool? Lots of Trees? or blue sky. If you have lots of cover i don't think once a week will be enough.

I have a friend that pays $40/week but he has no trees.

I do my own and my cost for chemicals from a combination of Leslie's (Shock and Perfect Weekly) and Costco (chlorine tabs) are about 1/3 what he pays. The only thing is - I've got to do something with the pool daily. Especially when leaves are falling and squirrels are tearing up the pecan tree over the pool. I hate squirrels!

Yard guys try not blow crap in the yard but they can't completely avoid it.

Basically when things are smooth - no problem. When things start to go wrong its hard and expensive to correct.

Flashdiaz said:

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nhayden said:

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they tell me they can't purchase the products for what these guys charge to do it weekly.

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not sure I understand what they're talking about. You can buy pool chemicals at Leslies, Pinch-a-Penny and even some at Lowes and Home Depot... not to mention online if you want.

I'd suggest going to TroubleFree pool website. A wealth of information. I do mine myself and i've never had a problem.

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Sorry I did not explain it right, essentially what they would pay in a month for chemicals and supplies, is more that what they what they would pay for a company to maintain a pool.

sushi94 said:

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lots of factors into that discussion.

What do you have over the pool? Lots of Trees? or blue sky. If you have lots of cover i don't think once a week will be enough.

I have a friend that pays $40/week but he has no trees.

I do my own and my cost for chemicals from a combination of Leslie's (Shock and Perfect Weekly) and Costco (chlorine tabs) are about 1/3 what he pays. The only thing is - I've got to do something with the pool daily. Especially when leaves are falling and squirrels are tearing up the pecan tree over the pool. I hate squirrels!

Yard guys try not blow crap in the yard but they can't completely avoid it.

Basically when things are smooth - no problem. When things start to go wrong its hard and expensive to correct.

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Thank you, and we do have trees, but they will not cover the pool, at least the size they are now.

I second troublefreepool.com. After Harvey flooded my yard and pool and I was gone for a week with no chlorine, I returned to a nice green pool. Balancing the calcium, alkalinity and getting chlorine back in line cost me about $100 and less than 4 hours of work over 4 or 5 days. That's correcting a major issue. there's another thread discussing a quote of $1500 or so for the this work. I may have my next job at that rate.

Pools are easy if you spend a little time each week and stay on top of it. Let it get out of hand and that can be another story, but even then its easy.

nhayden said:

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Flashdiaz said:

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nhayden said:

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they tell me they can't purchase the products for what these guys charge to do it weekly.

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not sure I understand what they're talking about. You can buy pool chemicals at Leslies, Pinch-a-Penny and even some at Lowes and Home Depot... not to mention online if you want.

I'd suggest going to TroubleFree pool website. A wealth of information. I do mine myself and i've never had a problem.

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Sorry I did not explain it right, essentially what they would pay in a month for chemicals and supplies, is more that what they what they would pay for a company to maintain a pool.

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Maybe 3rd time will be the charm?

if they're following Leslie's to maintain it themselves then i bet they are spending more than hiring someone. i suspect following troublefreepool would be less. it didn't cost me much to keep mine up on my own. bleach is cheap.

Our pool is probably larger than most and costs $60 per week to maintain. I bet you could find a deal for $20-30/wk.

I pay 25 a week for service. Its not so much the chemicals which is pretty easy, its my work load and trying to stay on top of it. Service is chemicals, vacuum, tile and pool/spa cleaning once a week, plus filter change out twice a yr. That gets me thru the week with minimal up keep on my part during the rest of the week.

I pay $300-400/year on chemicals (chlorine pool). No chance you get weekly service for anything close to that.

Quote:

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Pools are easy if you spend a little time each week and stay on top of it. Let it get out of hand and that can be another story, but even then its easy.

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so a different story of ease?

I invented the swimming pool. /Albert Gore

third coast.. said:

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Can my family start hanging out at your house

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I don't have a pool actually, maybe one day

I pay about $45/week for pool service. I can also get them to just do the chemicals for about $30/wk and I clean it. I haven't gone that route yet but probably should as it doesn't get that dirty. They also clean the filters once a quarter and ensure the equipment is running properly. I also like that I get an email after the service that says who was there, a before and after picture of the pool, and a picture of the pool condition sheet.

A few times after some hard rains the pool turned green and I just called them out and they corrected the issue at no additional charge.

We have a 40,000 gallon pool. We couldn't find a RELIABLE pool company to maintain it for less than $140-$160/month. So we started doing it ourselves. We use the liquid chlorine from pinch-a-penny & chlorine tabs. Polaris cleans the bottom, we brush the steps and sides, and scoop the pine needles out of the top when they're excessive (otherwise we just have to empty the baskets 2-3 times a day). We definitely pay less to maintain it ourselves. And if your pool is smaller than ours, you'd be paying even less to do it yourself.