Call a Pool Pro to your pool and least you'll pay is the call-out charge. Currently, this runs an absolute minimum of $30 - £30 or €30 depending on where you live. That's a minimum of six times the price of The Pool Bible. It can be as high as $100.
The Pro will be on-site for around 30 minutes - if you're lucky. A good Pro can solve many problems, bewildering to the pool-owner, in minutes.
Next comes a bill for any extra time on-site, any additional work the Professional does and any spares or chemicals.
Oh, yes. You'll also pay full retail for spare parts and consumables.
Your Pool Pro might even sell you a $25 pool chemical that you can get at the hardware store for $2.50. (The only difference being that the $2.50 variety is 'food grade' and purer than the $25 pool chemical.)
Has your pool ever needed the attention of a Pool Pro? Most pools have at some point but if your pool hasn't needed such visitors yet; don't feel neglected, because one day it WILL! When it does - Professional Services don't come cheap.
One California-based Pool Service company proudly advertises a call-out charge of 'only' $65 and Labour charges of 'just' $80 per hour. I wonder what their out-of-hours rates are?
If you have your pool cleaned by the local Pool Guy you'll be parting with a minimum of $/£/€1200 a year, plus chemicals. Servicing and seasonal work like winterising, acid-washing, filter re-fills, etc. are extras and are charged in addition to the maintenance costs Taking care of your own pool could reduce chemicals and maintenance costs by 90% or more - and your pool will be perfect; ALL the time.
Maintaining your own pool gives you three immediate benefits: -
1 - Your pool is always in top condition
2 - There are less harmful chemicals in the water
3 - You'll have an extra wad of cash to spend on your family, every year, forever!
I'm not suggesting that there is any sort of rip-off or scam going on here!
Pool Service Companies do an excellent job at a fair price. Call in a qualified Pool Pro and you'll get the service you need, perfectly executed, 99% of the time. It'll cost you, though.
These folks are Professionals and they charge for their time accordingly. They do this because they have 2 things that the average backyard pool-owner doesn't have - Overheads and Specialist Knowledge. Their Overheads mean that they have to charge a high hourly-rate and their Specialist Knowledge is the reason why they can!
Why not go absolutely crazy and buy yourself a copy of The Pool Bible? It costs less than 0.5% of the annual running costs of an average pool and can save a pool-owner a small fortune every year. If it does not save ten times the cover price in the first year I'll refund your money.
The Pool Bible teaches you how to DIY your pool and make huge savings.
Arm yourself with the knowledge of how to carry out 99% of operations to your own pool, with detailed information on cleaning and dosing.
With instructions for making repairs, acid-washing and much more, coupled with knowing where to source trade-price spares and how to get discounts on chemicals, etc., you'll avoid wasting sacks of money that could be better spent elsewhere.
You'll have the benefit of our decades of experience and advice on hand - anytime you need it. You'll have the Specialist Knowledge to clean, service and maintain your own pool (or all the pools in the neighborhood if you want to get into the pool business!)
The Pool Bible also has a large section on Pool Safety, covering over 30 different aspects of this vital subject, to help you make your pool the safest place it can be for family, friends and pets.
All this for the price of a pizza and fries? If that's not a bargain - I don't know what is!