Weekly pool service: what does each stop really cost you? Free, no signup.
Everything below is measured against this rate. Set it to what an hour of your time is really worth.
Presets are starting points. Change any field to match your route.
Consumables: nets, reagents, wear on poles and vacs. Guess a number if you have never tracked it.
Overhead: insurance, truck payment, phone, storage. Split across every pool on your route.
Set your bar first: the minimum dollars per hour you will work for ($50 default). Everything downstream is measured against it. Pick a service tier: Chem only (12 minutes on site), Full weekly (30 minutes), or Biweekly. Each preset fills visits per month (4.33 weekly, 2.17 biweekly), site minutes, drive minutes between stops, average miles between stops, and chemical and consumable costs, and every field stays editable as a starting point. Enter your vehicle cost per mile ($0.70 default). In per-pool monthly costs enter chemicals per pool per month ($35), other consumables ($8), and fixed monthly overhead ($600), with the number of pools on the route (40) so overhead is split correctly. In your price card enter what you charge per pool per month and your target profit margin (20 percent default). The breakdown shows each cost line per visit: labor, drive, chemicals, consumables, overhead share, and total cost per visit. The big numbers are the break-even price per pool per month and the recommended price at your margin, with a LOSING MONEY, UNDERPRICED, or PRICED RIGHT verdict. The route goal planner takes a monthly take-home goal and shows how many pools you need and the weekly hours it costs; if your price sits under break-even it gates you with a fix-the-price-first message.
Example only, not typical pricing. Run the defaults: $50 per hour bar, 30 site minutes plus 10 drive minutes, 6 miles between stops at $0.70, $35 per month in chemicals, $8 in consumables, $600 overhead across 40 pools, 20 percent margin, weekly visits (4.33). Labor is 40 over 60 times $50, or $33.33 per visit. Drive is 6 times $0.70, or $4.20. Chemicals are $35 over 4.33, or $8.08. Consumables are $8 over 4.33, or $1.85. Overhead share is $600 over 40 over 4.33, or $3.46. Total cost per visit is about $50.93, so break-even is $50.93 times 4.33, or $220.52 per month. At a 20 percent margin the recommended price is $220.52 over 0.8, or $275.65 per month. Now run the Chem only trap: 12 minutes on site at the same $50 bar. Break-even comes out near $151.57 per month, so a $48 per month chem-only quote is firmly LOSING MONEY.
**Why is route density part of a pricing tool?**
Because drive time and miles between stops are real costs on every visit. Two techs with the same chemical costs can have wildly different break-even prices if one drives 3 miles between pools and the other drives 15.
**What counts as fixed overhead?**
Insurance, the truck payment, the phone, storage: everything you pay whether you clean zero pools or forty. The tool divides it across your pool count, which is why a denser route has a lower overhead share per pool.
**Is a $48 per month chem-only price really losing money?**
At a $50 per hour bar, the Chem only preset breaks even near $151.57 per month once drive and overhead are counted. Twelve minutes on site is never twelve minutes of your week once the windshield time is in the math.
**What does "fix the price first" mean?**
The route goal planner only works when your price clears break-even. If it does not, no number of pools can produce a positive take-home: every pool deepens the loss, so the tool refuses to plan and tells you to fix the price.
**Are the preset prices market rates?**
No. They are editable starting points, and the footer says prices vary by market. Set tier times and costs from your own route before trusting the verdict.