Seasonal jobs, which vary across different regions, often contribute significantly to a service firm’s profit margin, especially considering that many pools remain closed for half of the year. In regions with distinct winters, there is ample profit to be made from both winterizing the pool and reopening it for the season.
Our 2023 Service Industry News Survey results indicate that pool service companies charge anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars for some of these services.
And why not? Some of these jobs can be backbreaking. Winterizing swimming pools is a lot of work. From draining, cleaning, and storing equipment and components and chemically preparing the water for a winter of neglect to rolling out and reinstalling the cover, closing a single swimming pool requires a lot of time and labor.
The Service industry News Survey, which was made available to 10,000 pool and spa service technicians over the 2023 summer, provided some information about what service professionals charge to winterize, or close pools in those areas that experience significant seasonal variation.
For example, in the Southwest, 24 percent of survey participants said they offer winterizing as part of their service package. There, the average charge to winterize a pool is $250; High $400; Low $225.
More than 70 percent of survey participants from the Southeast said they offer winterizing as part of their service package. According to service pros there, the average charge to winterize a pool: $325; High, $530; Low, $200.
In the Northeast, 100 percent of survey participants said they offer winterizing as part of their service package. There, the average charge to winterize a pool: $560; High, $625; Low, $325.
Meanwhile, in the Midwest, 100 percent of survey participants also said they offer winterizing as part of their service package. The average charge to winterize a pool in the Midwest is $350; High, $745; Low, $304.
But there’s another truly lucrative job that service professionals do, usually in preparation for the winter, and that’s installing a pool cover.
For installation charges, service pros approach pricing in a few different ways. Some charge per anchor drilled and installed, or per strap. That charge ranges from $14 to about $35, depending on the type of hole drilled (concrete, pavers, and water features like waterfalls).
For an average-sized (15’ by 35’) pool, some pool pros estimate their labor charges anywhere from $300 to $1,400, with an average labor charge of $800.
Others say for a pool that size, they would charge from about $3,100 to $4,000, including the cost of the cover. (These same people specify that they must be the person to sell, measure, order, and install.)
For any size pool, some say they simply double what they pay for the cover.
The point is, there’s plenty of money to be made in the jobs typically associated with winterizing or closing pools for the season in areas that experience seasonal temperature variations. And closing pools is what this special issue of Service Industry News is all about.
