Pool Pros Are Done Babysitting Clients Who Don’t Listen

When It Rains, It Pours: Real Problems Pool Pros Actually Deal With

In this episode, hosts Wayne & Steve pull back the curtain on what really happens behind the scenes of running a pool service company—because it’s not all crystal-clear water and perfectly balanced chemistry.

Fresh off a wedding weekend (and still recovering), Wayne passes the mic to Steve, who walks us through a week where everything that could go wrong… did.

And not in theory. In real, messy, business-impacting ways.

🔥 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

The Reality of Running a Pool Company

•  Why even well-run operations still deal with constant “fires” 
•  The difference between working in the business vs. on the business 
•  How quickly things unravel when you step away—even briefly 

Commercial Pools Are a Different Beast

•  Managing multiple bodies of water, spas, and fountains at a single property 
•  The hidden workload behind automated systems and chemical feeders 
•  Why one small mistake (like an injector adjustment) can create a massive chemical imbalance 

When Communication Fails, Everything Fails

•  Warranty work getting completed… without anyone being notified 
•  Clients, contractors, and manufacturers all operating on different timelines 
•  How poor communication creates liability—even when the problem is fixed 

Insurance, Liability & Covering Your Ass

•  Why every subcontractor should be listed as additionally insured
•  What happens when something goes wrong and no one takes responsibility 
•  How to protect your business when working with third parties—even one-time vendors 

Documentation is Everything (No Exceptions)

•  Why photos, timestamps, and records are your best legal defense 
•  Real-world example: proving service visits when clients think you “never showed up” 
•  How poor reporting—even from a good employee—can damage trust instantly 

Employee Management & Operational Breakdowns

•  The importance of consistent reporting—even on busy days 
•  Why “I know they were there” isn’t good enough without proof 
•  How small gaps in documentation turn into big client issues 

Client Challenges You Can’t Avoid

•  New management taking over and resetting expectations overnight 
•  Clients resisting necessary maintenance like draining pools 
•  High-demand pools with structural limitations that cannot be solved with chemicals alone 

The Business Side No One Talks About

•  Handling unpaid invoices and difficult clie

California Pool Association
Pool Industry Trade Organization

LaMotte Company
LaMotte Company is a leading manufacturer of water quality testing products & pool test kits

CMAHC
The Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code promotes health & safety at public swimming pools

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_13 0:53

But, you know, my issue is that the director of engineering basically had to stop what he was doing for the rest of the day and drain the spa because like we couldn't come back at that point. Like he wasn't, you know what I mean? Like it was too late for us to come back. Like he'd already done it. But to like drain the spa and fill it back up and then like rebalance the water. It's just like a total bit pain in the ass. You know? So he was just kind of like, hey, like, do we need to have like a meeting about this or what?

SPEAKER_09 1:16

And happy Thursday, everybody, and welcome to the Talking Pools podcast. You have Steve and Wayne here, your hosts for Thursday. Hope all everybody's listening has done well over the past week or so. Just a little bit of personal news. I've been in Philly all weekend. My son got married Saturday night. And uh let's just say I'm still recovering. Both my body and my liver are recovering. It was uh, excuse me, it was interesting. They um they have a Malamute that that I'm watching for while they're away this week. His name is Ozzie, and they they love this dog. We love him too, but they they particularly love this dog. They had an ice sculpture of him during the cocktail hour. Um, they had him, his face imprinted on the cocktail napkins. They brought him in for pictures, wearing a little tux across his furry chest. It was really, really cute. But we had a good time. Uh the wedding was gorgeous and beautiful. I'm I'm very happy and pleased and and I love my new daughter-in-law to death. She's she's a wonderful person. How my son ever got somebody that good, I have no idea. But uh no, we we we had a good time. So I'm gonna pass everything over to Steve today because uh apparently Steve has a lot of things that got fucked up the past week or so, and uh we're gonna be talking about some of them. So, Steve, take it away, sir.

SPEAKER_13 2:39

Sure. So, Wayne, congratulations again. Thank you. Um, and then uh, you know, there's some there's been some some shifts in talking pool stuff, right? So we want to welcome Andrea Brack on Tuesdays, right? So she's back from her hiatus, and then uh also there's Nick now that's on that's on Mondays with uh that their show actually just came out today. I'm gonna listen to it later today with Shane and Lee. So wanted to welcome him to the team. So everybody, all you listeners out there, we have a new guy on Monday who's uh with the Down Under show. So check him out as well, too. And with Andrea, and Andrea just named her show, so it's Andrea Unfiltered, and it got me thinking. So I want you to start thinking about it.

SPEAKER_09 3:15

Appropriate for Andrea.

SPEAKER_13 3:17

Of course, yeah. So I wanted you to start thinking about a name for our show. Maybe we're gonna name our show pretty soon. So we'll have a little uh countdown for that. I got some ideas, but we'll uh we'll hold those. No, they're awesome ones. I've told it to you before.

SPEAKER_11 3:29

You did, you did.

SPEAKER_13 3:30

I really like that one.

SPEAKER_08 3:37

PH. This is the measurement of the hydrogen ion concentration in the water. pH stands for potens hydrogen. I'll say it without the emo accent. Potens hydrogen, which is Latin for the power of hydrogen. The effectiveness of free chlorine is directly linked to pH, which greatly affects water balance and user comfort. So human tears typically have a pH of around 7.5, and that is the reason we shoot for the ideal range of between 7.4 and 7.6, which is what 7.5 is so an acceptable range extends from 7.2 to 7.8. And please have people that I hear saying the seven the pH was 7.8. Why don't you lower it? Because it was 7.8, and that was that's acceptable. And it stays at 7.8, it's a whole thing. 7.8 is acceptable. I'm not saying you shouldn't lower it, I'm just saying you don't have to if it's 7.8. If it's eight, sure, lower it. I won't get into it. We lower the pH by adding acid. There are several different types available. You have muriatic sulfuric, you have dry acid, sodium bisulfate. Sulfuric acid should not be used in salt pools. It's bad for the cell.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Look, it's it's a really thing to uh difficult thing to navigate. We need fuel. We can't get away from it. So while everybody goes out and panic buys fuel and maybe not needed, we unfortunately have to join them because we we just need it to operate the business. So on our meeting this morning, we sat down and discussed some strategies. Hey, where it is now, where it could potentially go, what we're gonna have to do just so we can keep everybody rolling on through the job. So we have asked them to fill up every day or every other day if they see fuel to just grab it just to keep us and give us at least a little bit of a buffer that if the fuel is difficult, we've got to, you know, three, four days until we can get it. And we've got a mix of diesel and petrol cars. So yeah, it's um spread across those two types. Um you know, we'll start looking at scheduling, we'll start looking at um where yeah, everything's on the on the table. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 6:02

So we had a situation a couple of years ago where our prices rise quite unexpectedly and definitely started to look like it wasn't going to reduce anytime soon. And I thought, okay, I've got to be proactive here. I can't sit here and watch my margin get squeezed.

SPEAKER_09 6:20

I want to take you straight to breaking developments in the US right now.

SPEAKER_13 6:26

When it rains, it pours. Mm-hmm. And it's that's just rained so true the last week because we got I got back from my honeymoon last uh Monday, right? Um I think it was like Sunday, like really late at night. So like kind of Monday, because it was Monday Switzerland time, right?

SPEAKER_11 6:43

Right.

SPEAKER_13 6:43

Um, and since then I've just had nothing but fucking problems. And some of them are my fault, some of them are just like nobody's fault, some of them are my guy's fault, some of them are the clients' fault, but it's all just like weird situations. And, you know, what it really comes down to is I'm fortunate. We're fortunate. Jen and I are fortunate enough that like we get to own the company, but we get to work mostly on the business. You know, Jen works a lot more in the business with the finance part of it, but I get to like oversee stuff. And, you know, when we're here and we're not moving around so much, like we were in, we were gone for three weeks for our honeymoon. Right. So normally Jen and I will kind of just like back to back, we'll go see all of the commercial clients. And sometimes we'll do it together. Sometimes one of us will go. And it's not in place of our employees going and seeing the pool and doing the visit. This is us just going and like making sure that the acid buoys are filled, making sure that the that we have enough chlorine buoys for the next few weeks, making sure that we don't need to, you know, order anything. Um, taking a look at all the duck bills and making sure turning on all the automated machines, right? The IntelliCam machines or the IPS machines. Because like at our one client, it's a commercial client, but like they have an indoor and an outdoor spa. They have an in sorry, they have an outdoor and an indoor spa, which is like part of the hotel thing, right? Then they have a spa which is separate, and in the spa, it's got a men's and a women's cold plunge and spa. Okay. So that's six bodies of water already. Then there's five fountains outside, and these aren't like little fountains, these are like decorative rock fountains that like hold tens of thousands of gallons of water.

SPEAKER_09 8:25

You know, make sure there's corn in there and sanitizer because especially in the public area, because I mean, we I mean, like Disney World, for example, all those fountains that they have, you see kids playing in them, and and you still gotta keep them safe for everybody to be around or maybe stick a finger in, kind of deal.

SPEAKER_10 9:52

In an industry built not just on skill but on those willing to teach it, there's a call to recognize the people behind the professionals. The Talking Pools Podcast is now accepting nominations for its 2026 Mentor of the Year Award, honoring those who don't just have the answers, but teach others how to find them. If someone helped shape your path in this industry, now is the time to return the favor. Visit cpoclass.com. Click on the Talking Pools Podcast Mentor Award tab, and submit your mentor's name up until May 15th, 2026, because behind every great pool professional, there's someone who showed them how to think.

SPEAKER_13 10:33

Hey everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Insurance Interlude with your host Steve Sherwood, and as always our guest, Pat Grignon. Pat, thanks so much for having you on. We always appreciate you being here. Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Steve. Thanks. So today I wanted to talk a little bit about, you know, my job and what I have going on. And, you know, most of the time, Pat, I don't I don't work with a lot of different people. Like it's like I I you like for me to even give you that first time, like I I I either really need what you're what you're set, like what you're doing, you know, like I don't do that, and like I need you to do it because like I got a plaster, and like he does plaster and he does tile and he does coping and he does expansion joints, and then he does everything up to there. And then if it's the deck, we use a decking company because decking has just been you know went through the roof and it's too easy to fuck up and something happened, and now you get this crack, and now they're coming back and looking to sue you and stuff. So, like, we don't want that. My plaster doesn't want that. Like, we don't do decks, so we got a deck guy that does that, right? But my plaster, they're on my insurance as an additionally insured, right? Because I use them for multiple jobs throughout the year, right? So, my question to you is I had a weird situation because I also have a leak detection guy. And Darren, bless his heart, he's the best leak guy that I've ever come across. He finds all of the leaks, he does a really good job. He, you know, allows me to make some money on the job too, which is which is amazing. But like, he doesn't like to leave the LA area. And I totally respect that because somebody had me come up to Santa Monica the other day at 2 p.m. and I was like, I'm sorry, you want me to meet you when? And I had to because it's a new client, but I was like, oh man, this is gonna be four hours to do that drive. Yeah, it was like a three and a half hour round trip. So my question is I have a client and they're not in the LA area, they're more in like the Orange County area, so like 40-minute drive, but in the opposite direction of LA. So my leak guy, he's not going out there, and I I totally get that. So it took me a really long time to I actually went to the Western show and I found a leak company at the at the show, and they're going out to do a one-time job for me. Like, I'm never gonna use this company again, whether they do a good job or a bad job. Like, I'm not using them in LA unless my guy says I don't want it. So my question is do I need to add them to my insurance? Should I add them to my insurance? And what are the benefits of doing that? And then what happens if I don't do that and something happens?

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Yeah, definitely. Well, look, I think um it's a good question and it happens all the time. But yeah, if if anyone's ever been asked for a certificate of insurance that lists, you know, the primary company's additional insured, uh, that's that's super common. We pump out hundreds hundreds of those every every day. So it's it's definitely not out of the ordinary. But what I would recommend is that, you know, you actually get on their insurance as additionally insured. And uh, and that way it doesn't necessarily give you, it doesn't give you like the same the same ability to like make changes and do stuff to the policy, but what it does allow you to do is is put in a claim on their insurance if they're the ones that screwed up, right? So you have a contract in place, you know, with the pool that is going to be inspected. You know, if this other company goes out there and something happens or they cause damage or injuries or something like that, you aren't able to initiate a claim on their policy unless you're listed as additional insured, and they could just say, like, we're not putting a claim in, we're not taking responsibility for it. And um, I've seen that happen frequently where you know they just they they wouldn't that they're not taking responsibility for the for the damage, and you know, it's like, and so you've seen no you've you've seen that happen before.

SPEAKER_13 14:16

Yep. I would say that like 90%, I'm not gonna give you percentages, but most of the time the company is gonna say, prove it. They're gonna be like, We're not taking, we're not taking fault for this. Like, okay, cool. Bring us to court and prove that it was our fault.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Yep, yep, yeah. It happens a lot more than than you would expect for sure. So that just gets rid of it, right? Where you're able to, you know, you have a copy, you're lit, you have a copy of their insurance policy, you have contact info, you're additional insured. It's really just a quick form. Almost all the policies out there on general liability, they have like blanket additional insurance, so there's not like extra costs or anything associated for the leak detection company for it. I mean, it just puts the ball in your court if they're not taking responsibility. You weren't on site, so clearly you're not taking responsibility. You're using your insurance for it. You want it, you want it to go through theirs, and if there's a claim, it should hit theirs and affect their rates and their insurance standing, not yours.

SPEAKER_13 15:09

So, okay. So, yes, so we we want to put them on our insurance as an as an additionally insured. So we have that much in retrospect here. My question, I guess, now is like, how do I go about doing that? Because like there's a guy that I met at the show, like happens to maybe be like a regional manager or something. This is like a real big company. This isn't like a mom and pop leak leak leak company. It's like uh USA leaks or something like so, you know, he hooked me up with a guy who's the one that's coming out, but like I've only text messaged with him. Like, I don't think this guy is the he'll write up the report. And then like I also talked to somebody in the office who was like, hey, like setting up the appointment. So like I've got three different fucking contacts for this for this company. So how like what's the best way to to go about that? And how do you ask that? Or like, you know, do I just come to you first and then we have something because like you're saying to go to them and say, hey, I want to be additionally insured on your insurance.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 16:05

Yep. What if they what if they tell me to fuck off? No, we don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

It's certainly a red flag. It's really easy. Like, if you have someone in the office just say, Hey, do me a favor, can you get get me a certificate that shows uh Sherwood Pole Consulting as uh additionally insured? Here's the bus here's the business name and the address. If someone called me and said, hey, opposite, like I need to get added on to Steve's general liability policy as additional insurance. Obviously, I would call you and make sure that you were okay with that. And then if that's the case, click, click, click, click, boom, you're you're off and running and have a certificate out in less than three hours. It's like, cat, why am I on 200 people's insurance for these people that keep going?

SPEAKER_13 16:45

Okay, cool. So that's that's that answered my question on on that. Um, and then my other question is like I had one of the manufacturers go out. So, okay, that my client got her pool re done, right? Was built by this builder who was the contractor. And then I came in and I took over the pool for the service because they didn't want to do service. So they they started it up. We actually restarted up the pool because we didn't trust that they did, so we started up the pool as well. Um, and then now like the M drive went on the the pump or something like that. But I kind of said, hey, I'm not the one that installed this. This is definitely still under warranty, but like you need to go through the proper channels. I know that like the big manufacturers like Fruidra, Hayward, um, and Penthair, like they're not just they're they're not taking your word for it anymore. Um, they're not just saying, Oh, like the M drive is broken, we'll just send you another one. Like they don't like in you know, in 2011, like I could just call them and be like, hey, the M drive is broken. Can you send me another one? And they'd be like, Yeah, it's in the mail, we'll get it to you tomorrow. The days of that is is gone, right? So or gone, right? So now they want to send out their own warranty company. Well, I'm like two, I'm the service company, but I'm not the one facilitating the warranty work. And I'm I don't know the the exact company that's coming out because they've got fucking seven companies in L in LA that it could be. Yeah. So it could be one of seven companies. And like my problem is I called them. I mean, it took forever, like, because I wasn't in charge of it. So I wasn't like, because I'm I'd be up the manufacturer's ass and be like, hey, like you guys said you were coming next week. Like, you know, it's the end of the week. Like, can we get a date for this? So I just let it go for a few weeks and then three weeks had gone by. I called them and I'm like, I called the contractor, and I'm like, hey, like, and he was like, Oh, they're supposed to be sending someone out. And I'm like, okay, well, just to let you know, like, I changed the one pump to the spa jet pump, but if this pool had been down, it's been three and a half weeks down. And he's like, Yeah, I know, but we just found out about it last week. And I'm like, okay, I'm like, so I called the manufactur I called the manufacturer, my rep, and I was like, dude, can we can we just get this done? What like I mean, I gotta like, why about why do I have to step in for this, right? So he says, Look, I'm on top of it, I'll get it done for you, no problem. So I went on my my honeymoon that I just got back from last week. So it's been a month now that since I've talked to them about it. I called the guy this morning on Monday morning, and I'm like, do we have a status report on this? And he was like, Oh, yeah, like we did it last week. And I'm like, Okay, cool, but like nobody said they were going, nobody told the client, nobody told the contractor, nobody told me, and then they just went and fixed it, and like they're the manufacturer.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

So do I need to do anything in that aspect?

SPEAKER_13 19:25

Or I just I I just cross my fingers and hope that everybody did what they were supposed to do. Like, what could I have done better? Or what could you know, the listener out there in this type of situation where they need to do warranty work, should they? I mean, you can't you can't fucking call Fluidra or Hayward and be like, hey, I want to be additionally insured. They would laugh at you.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

Maybe not at least You're not sending an email to to Pandere to tell them that you want to be on their insurance.

SPEAKER_13 19:49

The guys that are on their insurance is the warranty guy, and you've talked about this before, yeah, you know, in in other previous interludes, but you know, in in some closing remarks here, like was there anything that I should have done better to just protect myself in case in case shit hits the fan, is really what it goes down to.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

Yeah, yeah. I think so you can ask the and those companies. I mean, shoot, I've I've done a a million certs for um, you know, for for the opposite. So they they for sure have have certificates of insurance for all of their warranty companies. So it isn't hurt to ask. They could say kick rocks, but you know, ultimately the question gets posed the same way, right? Like, hey, you know, listen, you know, I'd like to get a certificate of insurance that's showing, you know, I'm sure what full consulting on your policy is additional insured, and you can email it to here, that'd be great. And uh, you know, I I wouldn't be surprised if they if they would do that. Um, also wouldn't be surprised if they said no, thanks. Uh and then yeah, you're somewhat ish rolling the dice, but you know, like the Haywards of the world have an insurance policy, right? And so I mean they have the biggest insurance policy. Exactly.

SPEAKER_13 20:53

This is not even this is not even close. They have they have insurance policies where if they burnt the place down, like they would just be like, uh, well, I mean, they would wind up settling out out of court anyway. Yeah. Which is really what winds up happening all of the time, right? So it's kind of a daunting thing, Pat, because I I have a really awesome relationship with, you know, my rep from from Hayward, which is Sergio, my rep from Fluidra, which is Mike, you know, Mike Crum. Uh, and like I have a really good relationship with this guy, but like I I would I would be hesitant to ask that. But you're saying this is what you're supposed to do when you have people go out to jobs for you and they're they're doing the warranty. But you know, now that you think of it, like there's just so many people that I send out without thinking about that. Yeah. Um, you know, where someone's like, hey, like I'll go check it out for you, and you're like, okay, cool, like give me a quote, you know, or whatever. And then they touch something and something breaks.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Yep.

SPEAKER_13 21:43

I had I had an inspection that I went to and I uh they were like, Could you tell us what this goes to? This like uh it was like a weird, it looked almost like uh this line that came off from the pump on the pressure side and it went to the filter, or you could make it go another way. So it had a jandy valve where you could not make it go to the filter and it goes somewhere else. And I opened it up and it turned on this like uh swim spa thing. Like everything got directed to the swim spa, so it made like a really nice jet. And then I was like, Oh, it's the swim spa. Yeah, and then I turned it off and the the pressure side of the pump started leaking. And I was like, dude, I'm like, I didn't touch that. Um, you know, I'm like some like fuck. Yeah, so I had to like note it in the inspection that like it was leaking, you know, but like uh it was a visual inspection. Like, I didn't touch that, and I sure as hell am not gonna try and fix that because then you make things you make it worse or something like that. And now, you know, now they were like, this thing wasn't broken before.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Yeah, but it's your problem as soon as you tell as soon as you go to fix it for sure. You're kind of taking your hands on, you're taking responsibility.

SPEAKER_13 22:45

So what I'm hearing what I'm hearing here is that basically anybody that you work with, it's totally appropriate for you to ask them to to for you guys. To not only have them be on your insurance, but for also you to be on their insurance. And that that basically protects everybody and covers everybody's ass. And just makes sure that, you know, if something does go wrong, and it's a one in a you know, a one in a million type thing that something bad's gonna happen, but it always seems like the more the more stuff you do, the more chance you you have of this uh something going wrong, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Something will happen inevitably, it's just a matter of time, right? So but yeah, it really is par for the course. Like it's insurance agents, like we we deal with the stuff all the time. You know exactly what you're talking about. And you know, it's like there's a couple things, right? Like, like, like the Hayward example, like Pinter, they have insurance, you know they have insurance, but maybe it's just some guy doing a leak detection for you, right? And and maybe they don't have any insurance, right? So you get to verify that they have active coverage as a part of it. You know, B, you know, you're able to initiate a claim on their policy if they're responsible for something and they don't agree with taking responsibility for it, you don't need their thumbs up to put a claim in, you know, and and so there's there's a couple different things, but it really is par for the course. And you know, I think, yeah, everything, everything's a little bit of roll in the dice. But if you've got a big company on site with their warranty company that they use, like warranty company has insurance, hey WordPentier has insurance on top of insurance, you know, and so you really wouldn't have anything to worry about outside of you know, they're not wanting to take responsibility for causing damage or or injuries while on site. So it really isn't it really isn't a big deal at all. Just ask for a certificate, you know, list my company's additional insured, and you're off and running. It's uh, you know, it it's it's really not not that much work for the insurance agency, and they should be doing those all day long every day. Um, I know that we do for sure. And we have all the endorsements and everything's already included on a blanket coverage on our standard policies. Yeah, there are some that have a charge for it, and that you know might be a different ballgame, but uh most of them don't. I know for sure ours include all those endorsements to where even if you get asked for a bunch of different things, like our policy has blanket coverage for all that stuff that they're looking for for additional.

SPEAKER_13 24:53

Oh, that's why it's amazing to have coverage with CPA. So if you guys want to check out California Pool Association, I know we say this all the time, but California Pool Association doesn't just do insurance in California, they do it in all 50 of the states. So they're licensed for pretty much everything. They're licensed for like auto insurance. I have my auto insurance through them, I have my general liability from them, I have all of my riders through them. So, and we have a ton of coverage because our commercial clients make us uh have insurance out the wazoo. So, Pat, thank you so much for coming on. If you do mention the Talking Pools podcast, uh they'll give you one month free on your general liability. So definitely check them out. And if you have any insurance questions, please feel free to reach out to us at talkingpools at gmail.com and we will feature you on the show and we'll send you some cool swag. So, Pat, as always, thanks for coming on and we'll uh we'll catch you guys next week. Thanks. Thanks, Steve.

SPEAKER_07 25:47

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SPEAKER_01 27:30

Make your voice heard. Join the council for the Model Aquatic Health Code. Lend your expertise to the math, science-based guidance from the CDC, and the only all-inclusive national pool code that addresses current aquatic issues. Learn more at cmath.org. That's cmahc.org.

SPEAKER_09 27:56

People don't realize that with fountains, you still need to maintain them. You still need to sat, you know, make sure there's corn in there and sanitizer. Because especially in the public area, because I mean, we I mean, like Disney World, for example, all those founders that they have, you see kids playing in them, and and you still got to keep them safe for everybody to be around or maybe stick a finger in kind of deal.

SPEAKER_13 28:17

What it is is it's just it's time. And when I first went and picked up this client, I always do like a walkthrough, you know, and I'm like, okay, like let me take really take my time here and see like how long it takes me. And I was there for three and a half hours. Wow. So I knew that if we had one guy go and do all of this stuff, it was even if he was hustling, it was gonna take him two, two and a half hours. If you have to change some duckbills and some injectors on because again, you gotta look at 12 machines, you gotta make sure that all these machines are working. You gotta there's 12 there's six different canisters of acid that you need to make sure are filled up with water and acid, you know. So what happened at this place is we went and he went and cleaned the pool, the guy that was there, cleaned the spa, and then he went and checked the injector, and the injector seemed to be messed up. It wasn't working properly, it looked like it was just going back and forth, so it was clogged. So he opened up the injector and he poked a hole in the injector and made the hole super wide again, which is what he's supposed to do. But I'm not 100% sure that he went back and recalibrated the box. And the reason that I say that is because he did the rest of his rounds and he left, and then we got a text from the director of engineering there, and he said that the you know he tested the water in the spa and the pool was at 42 parts per parts, the body of water was at 42 parts per million. And like when I tell you this spa is 800 gallons, like I shit you not, it's 800 gallons. It is like the smallest hot tub that you have ever seen. It's it's four people would be you'd be like, all right, that's it. Like I think you can hold five, but four is actually like, whoa, that's a lot.

SPEAKER_11 30:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 30:01

So if this was a thousand gallons or twelve hundred gallons with all of the plumbing and all that stuff, like that would still be stretching it.

SPEAKER_12 30:07

Right.

SPEAKER_13 30:07

So I can totally see how it could go because when my guy was there, he did the record keeping of it and it was at 14 parts per million. But what we should have done is we would have we should have gone back and we should have calibrated the box and we should have put the set point number way higher than whatever the number was to tell the machine, hey, but I don't know what it was because he couldn't answer that question. So that was that was probably the problem. But you know, my issue is that the director of engineering basically had to stop what he was doing for the rest of the day and drain the spa because like we couldn't come back at that point. Like he wasn't, you know what I mean? Like it was too late for us to come back. Like he already done it. But to like drain the spa and fill it back up and then like rebalance the water, it's just like a total bit pain in the ass. You know, so he was just kind of like, hey, like, do we need to have like a meeting about this or what? And like I, you know, I spoke with him and like we're all good, but like uh we just need to communicate better with that, you know. And I would much rather tell them like anytime we find a body of water that's at 14 parts per million. Like big red flag needs to go up where we're saying, Hey, what do you want us to do about this? Because they might uh they might ask us to drain so off some of the water.

SPEAKER_12 31:17

Right.

SPEAKER_13 31:17

You know, like this is a commercial spa, like this isn't a residential pool. Like, I know they have a lot of people and stuff, but like at the same time, like uh 14 parts per million is is four over what the health department is saying that they want. So that's not something that we really should be messing around with.

SPEAKER_09 31:32

How do they measure 42 parts per million?

SPEAKER_13 31:34

So we use we use the FAS DPD powder. Okay, and that goes up to about that'll go up to like 50 or 60 parts per million. No? Nope.

SPEAKER_09 31:44

Nope. The FAS DPD test has only got up to about 20.

SPEAKER_13 31:47

Okay. Yeah. So then what do you do there? Dilution test? So he definitely didn't do a dilution test, but he was saying that he like so he tested it like three or four times, and that's what he came up with.

SPEAKER_11 31:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_13 31:57

So, but I have had it where like I have had it go to like 30 before, where I was like at a like small fountain or something like that. But you're just saying that it's not you're not saying that it doesn't go higher than that. You're just saying it's not very accurate. Got it. It's high. If it got hit, either way, either way it was too either way it was super high. Right. Um, and like if you're saying it's 42 or it's 22, I don't really give a fuck. That's way too high. Right. You know, is really what it comes down to. And if it's that high, uh even if it was 22 or 25, I would just say, hey, just drain it off. Like there's so little water in there that you just fill it back up and rebalance it. But anyway, like uh not a good look for us, right? Sir, with that. So that's that's the first thing. Um the second thing is we had a commercial spa, their light went out. So they told us, hey, our light went out. So we looked at a light, Jen looked at a light. We're in Norway where you know, she's like, Hey, is this light okay? I like gave it a quick once over. I was like, Yeah, seems okay. And then my guy went and picked up the light, and then we installed the light, and it's a color light. It's not a white light. And like with commercial, you have to put in white LED. And like you can make it white LED, which is fine, but like every time it turns off, then you would have to turn it back on. Like it should every time go to white, but like that is not what they asked for, you know, and that's not what we were supposed to put in. So, guess who's gonna eat this light? We are, you know what I mean? So we're gonna have to go back and we're gonna have to put in a new light. So that was kind of a pain in the ass. And then also at this same client, it took me like a year to get this client. Okay. Like uh, I had gone there, I had written up an inspection report for them, I had told them everything that they were deficient in, that they needed to drain the pool, the spa at both places because there's two places across the street from each other. And uh, the guy who was their general manager, I just was like having a really hard time always getting in touch with him. You ever like have one of those clients where like anytime you call them, like they just don't answer their phone, they don't answer text messages.

SPEAKER_03 33:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 33:50

And like he he was better at responding uh to emails, but like there were certain things that were coming up where like uh you know, my service manager's there in the morning, he tells me something's wrong. I want to call somebody or text somebody and be like, hey, what do you want me to do about this? What do you want us to do about this? Like, we want to fix this now, as opposed to me sending an email and then like hearing back from you later or tomorrow. Like, I'm not checking my email every five minutes. Like, uh, if you send me a text, like I'm on it. So it was super frustrating that I was getting not getting in touch with this guy, and then like they were having problems that were coming up. But like we started taking care of the pool and spas, and like they weren't on board with draining it anymore. I'm like, now we're taking care of it, and your TDS is at 4,500. There's salt in the pool still, and there's no, there's no salt cell working anymore. It's like, what are we doing? Like, we have to drain the pool and the spa. So I get uh an email from somebody in finance, and they're like, hey, like, can we have a meeting? And I'm like, okay, cool. Like I can come up and have a meeting. When do you want to come up? And she's like, Can you come up at Friday, 2 p.m.? And this place is insane amount. Okay. And I was like, 2 p.m. Like, Wayne, that's like a death sentence for me coming home. Like, no joke. It it turns your hour trip into two hours. You know, that's why I only make appointments between 10 and 1. But I was like, okay, cool. Like, I need to get we need to get some some stuff squared away here. Let's meet. So I go up there at two and I meet with this finance lady and a couple of their like uh engineering guys, and I find out that the general manager doesn't work there anymore. So, like, literally, my point of contact for the last you know year, and we just got this client two weeks ago or three weeks ago, and now there's like a whole new, whole new regime in there. And her first question is she's like, you know, 10 minutes into the meeting, she's like, I gotta go. She's like, I have other stuff I need to do. Can you just recap me later? And I was like, Recap you on what? I'm like, on all like I had already sent you a full email with six 60 bullet points on it of the different things that we need to get that were deficient and that we need to fix here.

SPEAKER_12 35:51

Right.

SPEAKER_13 35:52

But like none of that stuff has been fixed yet, right? So I I just said to her, I was like, I'm just gonna I'm literally just going to for you forward you the email that I had sent to, you know, Roger or whatever his name was, and uh I'll update it and I'll send it out to you, you know. So I was just kind of like, oh man, I was like, I just kind of like not the best feeling in the world that you're working with somebody, you go over all of these things that, you know, they're like, okay, cool, we're on board to to fix that and to we like I want to make this easy for for the guys that are working there as it is easy for for us. And part of the problem is like it's in the middle of downtown Santa Monica. So there is no off time with them, you know, like these pools and spas are are ridiculous. Like high bather load would be an understatement.

SPEAKER_11 36:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 36:37

And the first question that the lady, you know, the lady says is like, uh, why do we have to drain the pools and the spas? She's like, that you know, we don't want to do that. That's gonna cost a lot of money. And it's like a 12,000 gallon spas or pool. So like I had to tell her, like, it's probably gonna be like$60,$100 in water. Like it's not gonna be that that crazy. So that was just kind of like, okay, cool. Like, we really need to regroup here and we need to like prove ourselves to like a new management, you know, which is like never the the best feeling in the world. So there was that. Then I told you a couple shows ago that I had a like a pump and the pump went down. The M drive shut off, right? So I had my service manager go there, Carlos, and he swapped the the original pump with the jet pump because they were the exact same pump. So just to just to have our client, you know, be able to have circulation, we swapped over the pump and we told, you know, and it was Fluidra, we told Fluidra, we were like, hey, this is what we're gonna do. And they were like, okay, cool. But something got lost in translation of like getting the warranty station out there because Fluidra makes a company come out and look at it, which I'm totally fine with. But like I had said to my client, like, we didn't install this, so like I can't, I'm not gonna really reach out to Fluidra on my behalf. Like, you know, your contractor is the one that installed it, he's the one that needs to get the warranty. Like, uh, he should reach out to them. So I get like a month went by. I checked in like at three weeks, and they were like, Oh, like we just heard about this last week. And then like I went to on my honeymoon, which was three weeks, and then we got back, and then like my client just texted me this morning and she was like, Hey, like, did we did they change the pump? You know, so I called my rep from from Floridra, and he was looked at it and he was like, Oh, yeah, like we actually fixed that last week. But he was like, I want to show you some pictures of like the way that the pump was wired up, like it wasn't wired up correctly, and that's what fried the M drive. But like we didn't wire up the original pumps, you know, like and the M drive was already done by the time we got there.

SPEAKER_12 38:35

Right.

SPEAKER_13 38:35

So it was like, you know, this guy doesn't know if it was us, if it was the other company, and like we didn't really do any of the wiring, really, you know. Um, but it's kind of hard to explain when they send you a picture of like what was wrong, you know what I mean? Um, so like I need to have a follow-up conversation about wiring with them just to make sure that we're all on the same page. But like, you know, they went out there, they didn't tell me they went out there, they didn't tell the client they went out there, they didn't tell the contractor that they went out there, they just went out there and they just fixed it and like didn't hit us up and say, hey, like this is fixed. So I'm like, okay, thank you. You know, so again, like communication is is key here, right? And then this one, I have a fountain and it's not a pool, it's a fountain, and it's been leaking like crazy for the last like four years, right? And I've just where this client is located, it's not an area where a lot of people from LA want to go. So I've I had a really hard time finding somebody who would be able to go out there to do leak detection. So I went to the the Western show and I'm at you know, American leak detection. They were like, we go in that area, and I was like, oh my god, perfect. Like, you know, so I don't know if I had told you, but they send someone out there and they were like, We we didn't find the leak. And I like looked at his report and his pictures, and I was like, You did what? I'm like, you pressure tested all the lines and you I'm like, you didn't need to do any of that stuff. I'm like, the bottom trough is empty all the time, like it's in it's one of the troths is the problem. And I'm pretty sure it's the bottom. So I like called them and I was like, I'm not super happy about this, you know. And they were like, okay, they were like, he actually didn't listen and like he's not having a great attitude about it. So like we're just gonna send somebody else out. And I was like, okay, perfect. Thank you so much. So they were like, Can you make sure that you have the the bottom trough has like 200 Traventine bricks on it that you need to remove? So I'm like, okay, cool. I'm like, my guy's gonna go out there because they said he was gonna go there last week. My guy went out there, he took all the things off, he filled it up with water, all prepped for them. And then like a week and a half go by and they don't go. So I like called them last week and I was like, hey, like, are you guys going out there or when are we doing this job? You know, and they were like, Okay, cool, we're gonna be there on Monday. So I'm like, okay, can you just have the guy text me so I can have my client fill up? Like it's not near us, I'll just have my client fill up the bottom trough, right? So client fills up the bottom trough, the guy texts and he's like, Hey, like, I need the trough to be clean and clear, and you know, no bricks in there. So my client texts back and he's like, it's filled up with water, but he's like, it's got algae all over. And the guy's supposed to come today. So I had to call the guy and be like, hey, like I apologize, but like you guys were supposed to come last week. That's why I had the guy come. Like, please don't tell me on Saturday that you're coming on Monday. Like, that that only allows me to go there on Sunday. I'm like, let me know as soon as you know in advance so I can go out there and I can do whatever I need to do, and we can leave this thing on 24-7 for you and shock it. You know, but like we only go once every other one, we only go twice a month because it's a fountain. It doesn't need to be serviced every week. But like, uh, thank God that he didn't go out there before, like at least we communicated, like, hey, don't come out because it's not something's not right. Because that would have been the second time that someone would have came out and I would have been like, I'm not willing to pay you guys, you know? So that's kind of been like what's on my plate, and just you know, well, actually, there's one more, I guess. So had a client text today, this morning, and she was like, Hey, she's like, Did you guys stop coming to this house? And she's the house manager, she's located in like Oklahoma or Texas or somewhere. So she's she doesn't live at the house. The person that lives at the house has full-time care, and so there's two live-in caretakers. So the person that lives in the house is not going in the pool ever. Like they have not gone in the pool ever since we've started with them. So literally, this is just like a decorative pool. Okay. So all we have to do is go there, clean it, do a good job, make it, make sure it's clean and clear. So before I call her or I call the guy that's going there, I look back at like the group text messages, and like the group text messages kind of fell off. And like uh, we have a lot of clients, so I get a lot of text messages. So like I'm not, I wouldn't notice if you didn't text somebody one week or or whatever. You know what I mean? Like, it's just I'm getting it's constant text messages of like, hey, and I go through skimmer and I can check and see that they they went there and that they have their pictures and and all that stuff. So I go back through the records and I'm looking, and my guy went and I see the pictures, but like he just his reporting wasn't that great. Like he didn't say like when he went in and when he left, and like it says that he, you know, what he put in, but like it's like a 30,000 gallon pool, and the the chlorine was at like four, and he put in one gallon. And I know what happened. They have a salt cell bit. So over the winter time, one gallon was enough because every time he was coming back, he put in one gallon and then he'd come back and it would be at four parts per million. If you look it through the history, it's just four, four, four, four, four. I'm like, he's not making it up, it's really at four every time. So, what happened is the last week and a half in California, we had a heat wave and it's been a hundred degrees, you know, where they're at in the, you know, they're inland a little bit. And uh, it's been really hot. And then over the course of this weekend, we had like 25, 30 mile per hour winds on Saturday for like four hours straight. So apprehensive to see because he's on his way there now. I was I called him and I was like, Hey, like you have to go back to this pool. I'm like, so not only that, the two caregivers said to the the lady who's the house manager who doesn't live in the state, she's like, We're not convinced that this guy has been coming. Like the pool doesn't look that great, you know? So in my mind, like the pool has algae, but I don't think the pool has algae because the guy was there on Thursday and the pool looked totally clean and clear. So what I think is there's just probably a lot of leaves in the pool, and we're just having a bit of a misunderstanding here. But I had to call my, you know, my employee and explain to him that, like, hey, like if somebody tells you, somebody tells us that they think that you're not coming, I need to be able to go through the notes and tell them the exact time that you showed up, how long you were there for, what the chemical readings were, what you put into the pool. And I need a picture of before and I need a picture of after. And like, that's something that we're supposed to do at every single pool. And all it does is it just allows us as the business owners to protect. You, the employee, you know? And it's just it was really frustrating because like in every week there was like something missing, whether it was his like out time or his in time, or and he this is my employee that's actually the best at reporting. He's actually usually really good. But like I understand that like there's days where you have 11 pools and you might be doing a commercial pool in the in the morning, and then like it's really you know, like you're busy and you got a lot of stuff going on. And like sometimes I'll be in the car and I'm like, I don't want to go back to the pool and take a picture. So like I'll take a picture like in the car because it won't let you close out for that job and go to the next job until you take an actual picture. And the reason that I know that my employee, because I was like, Did this kid go and not tell me? Like, did he not go to the pool and saying that he went to the pool? And he's he had to have gone because you're not allowed to in the app, they make you take a live picture, like you can't pull a picture from like before or anything like that. So I I absolutely know that he was there, but he's not making it easy for for me to protect him, you know. So, and that just brings me to another point of like, and this is something that I talk about all the time, but it is so, so, so super important when you when you fix something or you sell someone something and something's broken. Like if it's a a pump basket that's broken and you're replacing it with a new one, like I always take a picture of the old one. Right. And then when I install the new one, I always take a picture of the new one. Because I can't tell me tell you how many times that at the end of the month I charge somebody for a basket or something like that, and then they're like, I went out and checked the basket. Like, basket looks like it has leaves in it, like it doesn't look new, and I got now. I gotta explain to the client that like the only thing that the pump basket does is grab leaves and pebbles and twigs and stuff, like that's its actual job. But if I don't have the picture to prove to them that, hey, you know, we actually did this now. People in their mind, and it doesn't matter what actually happened, Wayne. You know, when someone assumes that you're that you didn't come, or like there's really nothing that you could tell them that's gonna tell them that's gonna make them think otherwise, unless you can give them solid proof. And I did send to her the pictures. I s you know, I put the last three weeks, I sent her the pictures. I was like, hey, this is what the pool was, this is what we put in. Um, and then you know, how we're gonna fix this moving forward is we're gonna text every single time that we went. And part of the problem is that my guy didn't text for like the last month, and I just hadn't been checking because I've been away. But how we're gonna fix all this for this client is my employee, every time he goes, he's gonna text me and her. And then when he gets there, he's going to announce himself to, you know, he's gonna knock on the door or ring the bell and let the caregivers know that he's there.

SPEAKER_12 47:32

Right.

SPEAKER_13 47:32

And then Jen and I, we're gonna have to, you know, and we do do this once a month. We try and get out to all of our commercial clients just to help out and see like, do we need to fill this? Does this need to be done? Do we need to order this? Whatever it is. But we weren't able to do it last month. And that's obviously our fault. We've had a lot of shit going on. Um, and we were on, you know, our honeymoon, which is no excuse. But it just goes to show you that, like, even though we worked on our honeymoon and we tried to not have the wheels fall off, you can still come back and there's still a bunch of dumpster fires, you know? And no matter how well you run your business, problems like this are gonna pop up. And I always say that like we try and we try and do preventative maintenance all the time, but with this type of stuff, you have to be able to also just, you know, do good reporting and different things like that to make sure that you can kind of cover your ass. And I always tell my guys, and I'm gonna tell all the listeners out there, if you can't prove to your client otherwise, like they're never gonna believe you.

SPEAKER_09 48:27

No, and that's why documentation, like you're doing, is is your it should be ingrained in you. I mean, in order to show exactly what was done to a custom uh what show your to your customer what was done or not done or something like that. But you know, and that holds true not not just in in your area of expertise, but uh in pretty much any area. I mean, uh even like for example, when um when I was handling all the technical calls for for them, um and and I I kept a spiral-bound notebook of every text call tech call I've ever done. And I by the time I left here for 32 years, I had 23 thick, big spiral-bound notebooks with the date, the time, what who the customer was, what they wanted, what the solution was, that kind of thing. And that turned out, and as messy as my handwriting is, was it was still the documentation. And and legally that they accepted that when we had an issue with with a couple of customers years ago. But still, if documentation is important, even if it's as simple as something I was doing versus something more involved as what you're trying to deal with, it's important to have some kind of a record, some kind of documentation that shows what happened and what the solution was and and what was done. It's in it's invaluable, invaluable information. Right.

SPEAKER_13 49:45

And I I just think that like, you know, not only that, but just what I was talking about before, that like if you if you can't prove that person wrong, and even if you do sometimes, like people are still gonna think what they're gonna think, you know, and if they're like, hey, this caregiver like never lies to me. They always, you know, they always are on point. Like, why would they lie about this? Right, you know, and like they haven't seen them there and that they're there 24-7. So I I know that my guys are are there, but like with the commercial pools, there's just there's so much stuff that you have to cover, Wayne.

SPEAKER_12 50:20

Right, right.

SPEAKER_13 50:21

I really do feel for the guys that have to go out and do the commercial pools, because like with the commercial pool, like you have to go and check 60 different things during the day to make sure that this is okay. And like it's a time, it's it's not waste, you know, it's not a time waster, but it's it takes up a lot of time in that aspect, you know, where you aren't in and out of these pools in 30 minutes or 40 minutes. Like it takes you sometimes two, you know, sometimes three hours. And then like we showed up today at one of our commercial clients, and like uh the spa was like smurf blue, you know, and like we hadn't been there since Friday. We have no idea what happened, but like we're the ones that are now tasked with draining it. Yeah, you know, so it's just uh it's hard to keep up with all of this stuff, but like the only way that you can do it is through documentation. And I actually need to be a little bit better as well, too. Like, I try my best to go through Skimmer, you know, like almost every day, but like it's hard, you know, and then like okay, like the guys didn't finish Skimmer today. Like you you text them about not finishing, you know, Skimmer, hey, could you could you finish this up? You know, and then like you go back again the next day and it's still not, and then sometimes there's like a glitch where like they did actually do it and it's not closing on its own. So it's just like it's uh it's a never-ending uh like chase to try and you know stay on top of all of this stuff. But like if you want to run a good business and if you want to do good business, like I expect nothing less than a hundred percent, you know, and that's why I don't you know I don't like talking all this negative shit, but like uh it's this is this is what really goes on in a pool company, you know, and it's just it's it's real stuff and like uh some of this stuff is my fault too, you know. But like if you're running a pool business, like you you your goal is to to try and be one and speaking of 100%, remember those two people that I told you about the bills that uh they started getting nasty and they were like, Well, like we're not gonna pay this or blah blah blah. And then like I just stopped, I just wrote them and I said, Hey, this is your bill, and if you don't pay by this date, we are going to send you a certified letter, and then if we don't hear back from you, we are going to you know start the proceedings to either go to collections or basically we're gonna take you to small claims court.

SPEAKER_12 52:30

Right.

SPEAKER_13 52:31

And as soon as we sent the certified letter, we got paid the next week from both of them. So you could don't if so if a client is trying to like bait you into going back and forth with them about getting paid or anything like that, don't do it. Especially because then they might say something that like is crazy. And like the one client, I was so upset with them because they sent us a letter of that they weren't going to use service anymore. And it was, we loved you guys so much. You guys have been so amazing through giving us discounts. And when my husband was sick and like, you know, wrote this like charming, lovely email of like that we were the best thing since sliced bread, but monetarily they need to move on. And I was totally fine with that. I wrote them back, I said thank you so much, and then they didn't pay their bill for three months. And then we, you know, we reached out to them and we were just like, Hey, like, you still have an outstanding bill here. You know, can you please pay it? Like, we don't want to have to take any other action. And they wrote back and they were like, the tone of your email. I'm I want it to be like, what we just literally asked you to pay your bill, like the tone of our email. We said, like, can we get paid for services that we already rendered? You know what I mean? But then like that was them trying to get like a rise out of us, and for me to write back and say, Well, well, you know what I mean? Like, I no, I didn't engage in any of that. So anytime anybody owes you money, like if you know, if you have the record of it, I've been to small claims court once and this guy totally lied about basically what went on. And I went into court and I had all of the documentation. He didn't even let me speak. He literally opened up the thing and read it and was like, okay, guys, he's like, I need you to go into the hallway and see if you can figure get this figured out. He's like, if not, come back in for my, you know, for my proceeding. And we went out in the hallway and the guy was like, There's no way that I'm paying for this, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, okay, cool, let's go back inside and see what the judge has to say. I'm like, I sent him all the documentation. And we went back in and he was like, I'll let you guys know within three weeks. See you later. And I was like, what the fuck was that? I was like, I thought we were getting out of here getting paid, and like, uh, now he says three weeks, and he like looked over all the stuff and like basically dismissed it. So, you know, if you have the documentation, and documentation these days doesn't have to be a certified letter, it can be an email, it can be a you know, a text message, it can be a voicemail, it can be pretty much anything, right? But there's certain people out there that are going to try and take advantage of you. And it's really hard because, like, for you, Wayne, like you never sent out test kits to anybody before you got paid that you didn't that you didn't trust.

SPEAKER_09 55:08

Exactly right.

SPEAKER_13 55:09

So I I got I got a I got 60, 80 different people that I'm working with, right? You got to trust all these people that they're good that they're gonna pay. But we do the service first and then we charge at the end of the month. I know there are companies out there that do, and this is a valid point. You could say, like, well, why don't you just charge them at the beginning of the month? And you know, and the reason is like there's so much other stuff that goes on that like maybe we changed a pilot, or maybe we changed a pressure switch in their heater, or maybe we put in a pump basket. So every month, like this person pays whatever,$220 a month,$100 a month, whatever their their their bill is, right? And then I gotta come back and be like, well, you owe us another$62 for a blah, blah, blah and time, you know, or whatever. So like every month you would be, you would be uh, you know, taking bills and making them look different, right? You'd be changing, changing the bottom dollar on it. So that's why we just do the service first, and then at the end of the month, we say, hey, we added extra chemicals here. But also with that, it's super important that you, if on week two you change out something and you fix something, it's important that you let the client know then, like that day. Like, hey, we didn't want to bother you, but the pump would have been down without the pressure switch on there, you know, the or the pressure gauge on the the filter. Right. You know, not the PSI gauge itself, but like the bleed thing start was leaking. You know, we couldn't leave the pump on like that. We had one on our truck, we fixed it. It's gonna be$60, you know, because then at least when that person gets the bill at the end of the month, they understand exactly what's going on. They understand, hey, you know, well, I do remember talking to you about this. I've had people where we've talked about it, and then at the end of the month, Wayne, they still ask me, like, hey, like, what's this? And then I'll literally send them the message and I'll just be like, hey, like, you know, I had told you, you know, I had said to you on uh, you know, three weeks ago that we had put, you know, extra time. And the biggest one is the the, you know, when you go to a client and there's there's algae in them. And I don't know, I mean, there's like a couple pools that I have, Wayne, that just I have such a hard time with. And it's because it's a pool that's 36 feet long by 18 feet wide, and there's two returns that are in the, you know, in the deep end of the pool. And it's like we can run this thing 24-7. We could put as much chlorine as we want in there. It's just over the course of a week, like there's so many leaves and shit that gets in there that like we're gonna come back and it's gonna be at zero chlorine and there's gonna be algae. And like they don't have phosphates. We already have a you know, a Blu-ray XL in there. Like, we've already done the we've already gone through the steps of it, but like I how am I gonna turn over the water more unless we, you know, put new returns in the pool or we change the plumbing size or whatever, you know? So it's it's just a bit frustrating when you come into situations like that where you're like, hmm, like we're doing everything that we can. And uh, like all we could really do is start doing two visits a week.

SPEAKER_12 58:07

Right.

SPEAKER_13 58:07

But we're doing two fucking visits a week anyway, because we go there, we you know, it has algae, we have to blast it with chlorine, we gotta come back the next day or the day after, we gotta blast it with chlorine again, and then like it's good for that next week. We come for that next week's visit and we put it to 10, and like 10's never enough. But like, how much chlorine do I get? How much chlorine do I give away for free? Yeah, you know, yeah. No, I I don't mind giving away a little bit once in a while, and like we're totally fair. Like, if I came back three times, I'm probably not, and you're my client, I'm probably not charging you for three individual visits. I'm probably giving you one of them for free. Um, and I'm gonna eat some of it, which I I don't mind, but it's just a weird situation because like there's really no answer to to this because what needs to happen is the you know, the the filter in the middle of the week needs to be backwashed. Like somebody would have to come back and backwash the filter and like you know, brush the pool again and stuff. Um, so I have a lot of these pools that are like kind of problem pools, and uh, I don't know, I gotta figure out something because it's we're coming to the like it just was a hundred again this past week in some areas of Los Angeles. So I really have to think about what we're gonna do with this and and sit down with the client and say, like, hey, like what we've been doing isn't really working. So what do you what do you want to do? Do you want us to start putting in more chlorine at each visit, which I don't mind? Right, but like it's a 20,000 gallon pool. I'm giving you two gallons a week. Like that's all I can give you. I'm not gonna give you I'm not gonna give you a case of chlorine per week when you're when you're put when I'm when I'm paying forty dollars for it and uh you know per visit, it's uh I mean it's more than forty dollars, but it's you know, it's not crazy. I still gotta pay a guy to go there. These are like the logistical things that that that that that rack that rack my brain of you know keeping these clients happy and making sure that we're doing a good job and uh being able to keep these pools clean and clear and swimmable for everybody.

SPEAKER_09 59:57

Yeah. Um and and you're doing a great job about it too.

SPEAKER_13 1:00:01

Doesn't seem like it.

SPEAKER_09 1:00:02

Well, this is coming from a retired person, so eventually you will get there. But no, you're absolutely right. And and the the insight that you give about having to deal with these kinds of clients, both the good and the bad, is is helpful to everybody, to all of our listeners.

SPEAKER_13 1:00:15

I don't want to like harp on my guys. They do do a great job and they have a lot of work, and you know, we're all really busy out there. So I do love to focus more on the positive than the negative, but it would be a bullshit show if we if I just told you about every good thing that happened to me every time, you know. So, but I also like usually get a few days to think about this stuff and like all this shit happened today. So I just came in and I'm like, this is what we're talking about today. Uh so I do appreciate the listeners out there, I do appreciate you guys listening to both the good and the bad. And you know, obviously, if you guys ever have any questions, feel free to reach out to us because there's a lot of different things that happen out there, there's a lot of weird stuff, and uh, you know, we love talking about it on the show. And if you uh if you ever want to reach out to us, just reach out at talkingpools at gmail.com and it'll get to us.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:00

Right, exactly right. And with those kind, profound words, that's it for today, guys. Uh, as always, like Steve mentioned, we appreciate your comments and your suggestions and things like that. So talkingpools at gmail.com is the way to get in contact with us if you absolutely need to or to send an idea or whatever. We do greatly appreciate it. Steven, thank you. As always, I have found out there in uh Colorado uh Colorado, right? California land, where it's you know, like like you said, very warm. Right now it's fifty one and rainy here in the Baltimore area. So we don't know what heat is yet. Yet. So we'll take care, guys. Everybody, we'll see you all next week. Take care, everyone.