Build It Right… Or Regret It Later (Mondays Down Under)

In this episode of Talking Pools Podcast, the Mondays Down Under crew takes on a topic that doesn’t get nearly enough honest discussion: building a swimming pool from the perspective of the people who actually have to service it later.

Because here’s the truth…

👉 Builders don’t always think like service techs
 👉 And homeowners don’t always know what to ask

That’s where things go sideways.

🔍 Inside This Episode

Lee and Nick pull back the curtain on what really happens during pool construction—sharing real-world stories, mistakes they’ve seen firsthand, and the kind of advice that only comes from years in the field.

From backward installations to impossible-to-service equipment setups, this episode highlights a simple but critical concept:

Always think about the next person who has to work on it.

⚠️ The Biggest Problems They See

•  Equipment installed with zero service access
•  Pumps and filters placed where maintenance becomes impossible 
•  Chlorinators and plumbing configured so they can’t even be removed
•  Builders choosing products based on convenience—not performance 

And the worst part?

👉 Many of these issues are completely avoidable.

🧠 Advice for Homeowners (and the Pros Guiding Them)

If you’re building a pool—or advising someone who is—this episode delivers some of the most practical guidance you’ll hear:

💡 What matters most:

• Shape, size, and color → You can’t easily change these later 
•  Equipment? You can upgrade that anytime 

💡 What to question:

•  Filter type (cartridge vs media) 
•  Plumbing size and flow design 
•  Future upgrades (heater, automation, sanitation systems) 

💡 What to avoid:

•  Choosing the cheapest builder without due diligence
•  Overcomplicated designs that create long-term headaches 

🌊 Real Stories from the Field

This episode isn’t theory—it’s reality.

•  A deck built directly over a filter… with no access 
•  A pool with no skimmer and constant circulation issues 
•  An infinity edge pool that drained a homeowner’s water supply—twice 
•  A brand-new pool left untouched for weeks… resulting in severe scaling 

These aren’t rare cases.

They’re happening every day.

🔥 The Big Takeaway

Building a pool is easy.

👉 Building one that works long-term? That’s the challenge.

And if you don’t think about:

•  Maintenance 
•  Hydraulics 
•  Access 
•  Water chemistry startup 

You’re not building a pool…

You’re building a future problem.

📩 Got a topic?

Send it in: talkingpools@gmail.com

Rudy will route it to the right host 👀

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Builders tend to go with what's convenient, maybe who they've got a relationship with, not necessarily the right product for the client, or maybe they're not aware of all options available. Good afternoon, good evening, good morning, good whatever time of the day it is. It is time for Mondays Down Under on the Talking Pools podcast. It's great to have you here with us. Thank you for listening along. And today I am joined by my esteemed colleague Nick in Queensland, Australia. How are you, Nick?

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Yeah, good thanks, Lee. How are you going?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good. I'm much better than Shane. Shane's a bit under the weather, so it's just the two amigos today, not the three.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Well, we're gonna miss him, but uh I'm sure we'll we'll we'll be okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

We'll get I think we'll be able to manage through it.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

So you're gonna have to look after me though. I'm still new.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

We'll be fine, we'll be fine. And we both like to chat, so that makes it easy. So today we thought we would tackle a subject that we actually haven't tackled before, and that is building a pool. So neither of us are full disclosure, neither of us are pool builders, are we, Nick? No, no, definitely out of my area of expertise. But we thought we'd give our perspective, I suppose, as being pool service technicians and being in the pool industry um about building our own pools, but also what advice we give to clients when they're looking at building a pool. Is that something you get asked about? Do you have people come into your shop and say, we're looking at putting a pool in? Where do I start? What do I do? Did you ever get that?

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Yeah, we yeah, we do get um, yeah, a lot of customers that would either have been regular customers before and maybe move wanting to put a pool in and sort of just looking for advice. What we would typically say to them is to bring in their contracts, bring in everything. Well, let's have a look at it, see what we, you know, this this sounds good, this this, you know, you could probably leave um and just offer a bit of advice.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah. I think the thing is as pool service technicians and as retailers, we have a different perspective about equipment than builders necessarily do. I think builders tend to go with what's convenient, maybe who they've got a relationship with, not necessarily the right product for the client, or maybe they're not aware of all options available. So that's what I found in our market anyway. Sometimes builders like to do what's easy and what's convenient.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

And then they sometimes walk away. True.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yep. Um they don't think about things from an ongoing maintenance perspective. And I think we've all seen those doozies of filters installed in situations or even pumps installed in plumbing setups that make it damn near impossible to service and maintain.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

So I've I've seen plenty of horror stories of things that were installed backwards or back to front, or heaters installed incorrectly. Yeah. Whenever a new customer comes in, so bring me some photos, because yeah, we'll always double check it.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Yeah. I think I've seen a cartridge installed backwards, cartridge filter, I should say, installed backwards, a heater installed backwards, plumbed plumbed backwards. So yeah, you get some some doozies. But even the most simplest of installation problems, no, like not allowing enough ventilation for your pump. So having the pump smack bang up against a brick wall, having the plumbing run straight over the pump lid so that you can't get it off or the basket out. And I think one of the worst ones is somebody putting a lid over a cartridge or a roof over a cartridge filter so that you can't get the top off and the cartridge out.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

So we've seen a couple, even recently, that have had a chlorinator cells that plumbed in such a way that they are unable to be removed. So, yeah, you go to unscrew the cell and pull the cell out to clean it, but you can't because it's the house is in the way or a fence is in the way, or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah, absolutely. Crazy things and so easily avoided.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

JD Monday morning. Feeling like a dog. Pools are looking green like the grass and vin mode, but then it shows up with his case. So cold turns a green. The blue like he's got the gold, we got a tree. Now that's we gotta drink, we gotta get the step up the cool of the speed. We gotta do it. All day all day wow, out of gone from fire and baby the first, they're all on the hype. Next to four go with the stickets, with the skills, YouTube got it back with tutorials galore. Next on the when you want more.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Always think of the next guy. Think of the guy that's gonna have to come along and service it so it's nice and easy for them.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Um I actually have to say I couldn't help myself one day on social media, and it was not on anybody pool industry related, it wasn't on any of their pages. I definitely wouldn't do that. But this particular person was a a carpenter and had been in our local area and had moved for some reason that will remain undisclosed. But they moved to an area where they were doing a deck for a person and they put up they were bragging, they put up this photo of this beautiful deck. Great deck, except that it was built smack bang on top of the top of the filter, the multiport head of the filter, and there was no wriggle room at all. You would be lucky to even fit your hand under the deck to actually rotate the valve. And I made a comment on it and I said, I hope the deck, there's a lid or something on top of that deck to make it removable for easy access for the pool maintenance people, and I got a very nasty reply back from the carpenter. And I thought, well, that goes to show a lot about you as opposed to me. I was actually quite nice about the information I was giving. I could have actually been an absolute bitch, but no, I was worded it nicely. Lo and behold, I got, yeah, a very nasty comment back. And I just wrote back and I said, your response says more about you than it does about me. But um, yeah, so Nick, you yourself and your family have put your first pool in.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

I never think I I never thought I would see the day. I didn't think I'd ever be silly enough to put my own pool in, but here we are. I've lost the the battle with my wife and my children. But no, it's it's been very, very enjoyable so far. But it was a little bit of a daunting process uh to go through to get that pool in there.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

And so tell us about the pool.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

What what did you go? I decided to go with the pebble creep pool, the pebble greet in ground with a um saltwater chlorinator, but with also with ozone. So um sort of put a lot of questions. Hey, you know, being in the industry, knowing what tricks could I use, what could I do? Obviously, still working with the pool builder. Even wanting 50 mil plumbing, he was shocked. Shocked that I would want 50 mil plumbing.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Almost I thought it was standard now.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

No, he he definitely I I did suggest that we should do a 65 mil for the suction, and he he just laughed at me.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Well, no, look, completely agree with you. 50 mil suction, look occasionally you see still 40 mil returns, but just definitely yeah, 50 mil suction and um 50 mil returns. Or yeah, 50 mil and then tee it off to 240s if you've got two or more return lines, go for it. But yeah, um 40 mil is really unusual these days, unless it's for a heating system or an old pool setup, really. You want to maximize your flow opportunities and your hydraulics.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Yeah, well, definitely with the energy efficient pump. That was the that was the plan. But the the thing that uh confused most of the boys was the decision to go cartridge filter. Yeah, no one no one liked my uh decision to go cartridge filter.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Okay, tell us why.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

Mainly for the backwashing. It's only 30,000 litres, so it is a small-ish pool. But being run on minerals, I wanted to, you know, eliminate wasting too much water. And that was probably the main decision.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Did you um think about putting in a centrifugal filter between the pumps?

SPEAKER_02 10:44

I did. Yeah, I did. I I didn't do it, but it will probably be something I add later. Um, there is a new style of filter that's actually um encompassing both of the centrifugal filter and the cartridge in one. Oh. So I don't know if you've seen those.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Is that from Waterco?

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Yes, I think it's called a full uh I'm not too sure. Yeah. But it has it has it inbuilt into one one basic tank.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Okay. And that's that's what I would have probably have liked to have gone um obviously to eliminate tobacco the need for cleaning that cartridge as often.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Yeah. The only thing I would say with the centrifugal filters, because I'm a big fan of them, like if it reduces water loss and it's a pre-filter for your filter, then less crap's going into your filter, let's face it. But the problem is sometimes things need to go into the skimmer box and we don't want them to drop out of suspension in the centrifugal filter. So we always used to plumbing a bypass. Just so then people had the option of uh turning the valve, sending the water straight into the filter, or take the cartridge out and then be able to send it in. I suppose with those new ones, you probably won't be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

No, maybe. Maybe Scott will have a good way of setting up a bypass.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Nick and I Nick and I are laughing because we both remembering back to a client that insisted on having a bypass installed. He had a cartridge filter too, didn't he?

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Yeah, it was a cartridge filter.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

But he wanted to bypass not only his cartridge filter, but also his self.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Yes. Yes, that is correct.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

And it was it was the craziest setup that this fellow wanted to do. And he was some sort of engineer, wasn't he?

SPEAKER_02 12:25

He was a water a water engineer. I don't know. He used a lot of big words, but he was the he was of the opinion that whenever his water looked clear, it was fine. And that was that's all you need to know.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

So we all know that Furfee, don't we? So yeah, and look, I can understand I supp well, I can understand bypassing the filter. Well, bypassing the filter, you can just take the cartridge out. Like you don't need to put plumbing and valve. Bypassing the cell, the only time you do that is if you're pouring salt into your skimmer, wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Yes, I think so. Uh which is definitely not recommended. So I'm not too sure why he wanted uh that option.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

And really not necessary with the fine-grade salts these days and how fast they dissolve. So go figure. He pay he wanted the job done, he paid for it.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

And the customer is always right.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

And now he's confused the absolute shit out of the new owner of the property that he has since sold since this plumbing was done. So go figure. But anyway. Um, okay, so you went salt, sorry, you went low salt with ozone and a cartridge filter.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Yes, yes. So you know, the the decision to go a low salt chlorinator, like I'm obviously having a lot of standard chlorinators out there, but you know, for swimming comfort for the girls, my kids, it was definitely um, you know, something that we're seeing more of, not only from customers, but even for myself. It was like I really want to go something, you know, low salt that's gonna give a little bit better swimming experience.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

We have um I've I have, I have to say, too. Um, and we have had the same chlorinating cells on there the whole 11 years. Nick has just supplied me with replacement cells. Thank you very much. But ours is a a low salt unit as well, or as they say, low TDS unit. It's a mineral claw, so it operated originally, it was actually straight magnesium on that particular unit. But over the years we've used straight magnesium, we've used salt, we've used mineral, the dense sea minerals. And I have to say, like I love having a low salt pool, and I particularly love having minerals because especially with long curly hair, full salt or full chlorine does not do well with my hair. Um, obviously it's still a chlorine pool. We know that. I'm not saying it's not a salt, uh it's not a chlorine pool, but we keep our cyanuric acid level quite low, and therefore, so we keep it around that 20 mark and we keep a lowish chlorine residual. But that's like we're keeping a good eye on our pool, as I know you will too. So it's not it doesn't go green, but like it's not it's not for everyone. It depends on the level of maintenance that everyone wants to look after their pool if they want to ro ride that lower chlorine level, the lower sinuic level. Obviously, we can't do that for all customers. Most customers get us because they don't want to look after their pool, let's face it.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

It is it is such a big investment. And I think after having my own and starting it up from scratch, especially with the pebble creed, and how important it is to control that pH and chlorine in the first month. Definitely be recommending more customers to take their own test kits and and test it regularly when they first get that pool. We've just had a a new pool go in over on one of the islands, and the scaling is that bad that it has formed the calcium with the dirt in it, and it's unable to be brushed off. It is just the worst scaling I have ever seen.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

And it's only a new pool?

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Yeah, it's only a month and a half old.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

And is that because of the calcium in the water on the islands?

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Potentially. Like my calcium's jumped up um a little bit. But I think it because no one's touched this pool, because it's a holiday home, the the builder left and and no one touched it for about four to six weeks. So I think it was left to its own devices. It just, yeah, went very, very, very scale forming.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

So I wonder what the calcium content was in the concrete, because my understanding is they increased the calcium chloride content to help it go off faster.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

Cure faster, yes. So yeah, that's sort of what we put it down to potentially the the mix. But I know my calcium has jumped up, yeah, significantly within the last two weeks. Just yeah, it's jumped up about a hundred parts per million.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

What minerals are you using?

SPEAKER_02 16:56

None yet. It's fresh at the moment.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Oh, okay. So had you put any calcium in the water?

SPEAKER_03 17:02

Nope. No, no.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

And you've been maintaining the pH. So the water's probably pulled some calcium out of the s out of the concrete because it's trying to balance itself.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Did the pool builder tell you not to put calcium in the water?

SPEAKER_02 17:16

The pool builder, so the actual builder said just balance it up, do everything, just do it the same day. Salt everything. But the pebble creeder said to wait a month to do it, which is is my general recommendation for most customers. I'll always say to just go back to buy the pool builder. But I would always recommend at least 28 days to help that surface cure before doing any minerals.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

And I've I was gonna say, I've definitely heard that about salt minerals, without a doubt. But they told you not to put calcium in it either.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Um so with with the calcium, um, they said to maintain it somewhere between 150 to 180. And yeah, when I tested it out of out of the pool the first day, it was around 145. Oh, wow. That'll do. Because our tap water is generally about 80 or 90, so must have come a little bit off the surface, but brushing it, yeah, it's it's it's spiked up there a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Wow. Yeah. It's interesting to see that whole process because I know some surfaces too have more lime in them. And so therefore you get a very big increase in your pH, and you can often struggle with that too. That's interesting. Any scale formation?

SPEAKER_02 18:21

No, no, it's been it's um so far, it's probably the most tested pool um in Brisbane. It's probably more tested than wet and wild, I would say. So no, it's been it's been pretty good. It's been pretty good. So been testing it twice a day, and yeah, didn't think I'd enjoy coming home after a long day of testing every other person's pool to do my own, but hey.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Well, at least you let's say face it, you've got an infinite amount of discs, probably a tester and uh and and chemicals to boot. So why not? And the girls are out there giving it a flogging as we speak.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Yeah, they they were in it just yeah, ten minutes ago, shivering. Uh it's a little bit cold here for Queensland. I think it's around 26 degrees, so yeah, it's a little bit cold for us up here.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

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SPEAKER_02 19:41

I know you are. Well, I must say, for 11 years old, your pool is aging gracefully. It looks pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Thank you. I gave Nick a tour of our pool before because our pool we did build ourselves as well, vinyl lined. I have spoken about it on the podcast before. So a very modern shape, vinyl lined with the black antique marble liner, which with the water in it looks like a sort of a dark green-grey colour, which is beautiful. So we were very happy with our pool. But yes, after 11 years, finally the cells, something had to give up, didn't it? The cells needed replacing. So so far that's touch wood, need to touch wood very quickly. That's the only thing I've had to replace in 11 years. So it's did replace the liner once, but that's a long story.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Maybe if Scott gets a few minutes, maybe a media change might be on the cards.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Yeah, very much. We even put in a backwash tank. So we actually backwash into a tank. And I know you can't do this to especially commercial properties. It's actually illegal to recycle your backwash water. But the way we do it, we treat it, we separate it, and that water goes back into the pool. So it actually works really, really well. Saves us a lot of water. It's only a 900,000 litre tank, but uh it's it's good.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

So is it glass in your filter as well?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Yes, glass in the filter. I did actually say to Scott we need to replace the the meat look at replacing the media in the filter or at least do a filter clean and degrease. Our pool is very low use. Like it's a very low use pool. But he did actually say when we sold our business, he did actually keep enough filtered media to do a media change. So that's probably on the cards to be done soon. But so would you do anything differently having built your own pool?

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Look, I'd probably I would have liked to have done some type of water feature, I think, now, some type of deck jets, which I could potentially add in the in the future. Yeah, deck jets, some some type of water feature to make it a little bit fancy. I probably couldn't afford a grotto or something like that. So deck jets might be enough.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yeah, but you did put some spa jets in it, you said.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

No, no, no spa jets. No.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Oh, yeah. Sometimes keeping it simple is the easiest way to go. Less things to to have have trouble with. Yeah. We've actually talked about the possibility of selling our home and and downsizing, but I think our kids and now their kids would miss the pool far too much. So I don't think we're allowed to sell now.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Yeah. It looks like a lovely place, a part of the world down there.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

It is. Very special. But um when we often had people come into our shop and ask about building a pool, do you have any key recommendations that, like you said, you get them to bring in their paperwork, their quote, you go through it? Do you have anything that you really look for or yeah?

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Sort of just ask what they want. Obviously, they they are coming in and there's so much information now. And a lot of times these days a customer knows a lot of information with the internet, with Google and and AI. They're looking and and looking at all the o options and they do know what they want. When they come in, but they're just not sure which is the best, the best way to go about it. Whether the pool builder is trying to steer them towards their version. Do we need this? Do we need ORP probes? Do we need acid feeders? You know, should we do the heater now? Should we do the heater later? Blankets, all of those type of things. And it does come down to, you know, what the customer wants at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Very much. And sometimes the customer doesn't know what they want, though. Yes. So and I don't know that it's always explained to them what their options are. So I always found it was good to have them come into the shop and say, okay, well, they've quoted your cartridge filter, and they go, Well, what's another option? And then you say, well, then there's a media filter, and okay, this is the difference. And this is what your builder will be taking into consideration, like your footprint, access to your sewer, all of these things. And but this is from a maintenance perspective, this is the difference and how you maintain them. So actually educating the customer along the way can be really powerful and can also really help you build connection with the client because down the track, when they're wanting to get their water tested, when they're wanting maintenance and service, they're going to come to you because they trust the information that you've been able to give them and the education you've been able to give them when they've been making the decisions for their pool. I always used to say to customers, you can always change your equipment later. What you can't change is the size and the colour, the shape of your pool. Maybe you can change the colour if you change a vinyl liner, or if you're repainting it, or if you want to spend a shit ton of money to have it re-courts on or re-color. But fundamentally, shape, size, colour, you can't change them easily. So they're the things I said to customers, do not compromise on. Get the size you want, get the colour you want, get the si shape you want, because you can add on a heater later, you can add on a blanket and roller later, you can add on a sanitization system that you particularly want later down the track, but you can't change what's in the ground. So that was always my thing, is get what you want.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

I did have some customers over the years that I gave advice to, even a pool builder in particular, that I gave advice to to g to pass on to the client.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

And the clients didn't take the advice and came back later to say, I should have listened to you.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

That's always a good conversation.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

Yeah. You don't want to say, I told you so, but you really wish you could. So I had a pool where the builder came to me and said, This client is wanting to put in this book. And I looked at the design and it was an infinity edge, a wet edge pool. And the it the feature was the wet edge because it was flowing over the edge, going into a trough, and that was looking straight at the house, and it was elevated out of the ground. So basically, from within the house, you're looking at the side wall of the pool with the water cascading over it. So they were looking at that as a water feature. And I said to them, You're on tank water. And they're on tank water. One, we all know infinity edge pools lose more water because of splashage and evaporation, water movement, you're going to get a reduction of water. But with a wet edge comes an automatic leveling device to make sure that you have enough flow through the system. And I said to them, you won't know if you have a leak until your tank runs empty. A tank run empty twice before they worked out that they actually had a leak in their pool. And the leak was in the trough.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Yep. Well that is definitely something I would talk customers out of infinity edges and troughs.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

I just always I tried to talk them into a window. I said, look, why don't you just put a window in your pool? Like one of those glass walls. And I had had a client with a very similar situation. They wanted an infinity edge, but they were facing the ocean. And I just said to them, okay, these are the things you need to be aware of with an infinity edge. You're going to have difficulty blanketing it. They wanted to swim 12 months of the year, so it was going to be heated for at least six. Yep. Um, that difficult blanket blanket, um, water loss. And then because they were right on the edge of the coast, high winds, which is going to rip the water out of the pool and also stop the water from flowing over the edge. And so then we talked to them about a window, and they fortunately did listen to me and they put in a window wall. So they it's above the water level. Um and so they were able to blanket it. They still had that same beautiful look. It was a lovely feature from the other side of the pool uh in the yard. No need for a trough. They were thrilled with their decision. So yeah, I went to this client with the same idea, said put in a wall or put in a window. And yeah, they said they wish they had of. They really wish they had of. They ended up having to remove the like cut off the trough. They couldn't find the leak.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Um, cut off the trough and just run the pool straight through two suction points. They had fortunately the plum uh builder had it plumbed in two suction points in the pool itself. It didn't have a skimmer box. So no skimming action. Like there were so many things wrong with this pool that they'd spent a fortune on. Um yeah, not good. And the pool builder wasn't from anywhere around here. So good luck trying to get him back. Infinity edge pools are definitely a very skilled pool build. So gotta get somebody who really knows what they're what they're doing, do it right. Now we actually have a very reputable concrete pool builder in our area who does build a magnificent fully tiled pool that's an infinity edge. So no worries now, but back in those days, yeah, great consent.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

Yes, yeah. It definitely seems like the knowledge is is getting out there. So they're uh they're some of the older styles just horrible though.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

But yeah, like so many flow issues. Yeah. You can go on and on, couldn't you?

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Yeah, I have one customer who had a it's probably around a 280,000 litre pool um with an infinity edge, and the infinity edge trough would have been probably 20,000 litres. It was absolutely massive, but no skimmer box um in the main pool, uh no skimmer boxes, just uh suction points in the trough. And this just was it's just always going to be a troublesome pool. It always struggled with circulation, had had lots and lots of problems.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Yeah, I think sometimes, well, I've found with my experience anyway that when a an architect gets involved in designing a pool, it's usually fraught with issues. Yes. But the other thing obviously is when we get clients that come into our shops and and ask for recommendations and that and that is to find a reputable pool builder. Someone that has a good reputation. Cheapest is not always best. It's usually cheap for a reason. So making sure you do your due diligence, do your research, talk to previous clients that have had them put a pool in is probably one of the best recommendations I can give them. So would you say something similar?

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Yeah, definitely. We we take uh a lot of feedback from customers. If a customer comes in with a new pool, it's one of the questions I always ask who built the pool and were you happy with them? You know. So if they're if they were, if the feedback was good and the communication was good, then yeah, and they got a good product. Well then, yeah, that's uh definitely something that, you know, we can promote.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Yeah. Yeah, because you want to be cautious that you're not recommending somebody who ends up being unreputable. And I actually was having this conversation with a coaching client of mine today who's building a relationship with a pool builder, actually, two different pool builders in his area. And I just said, first and foremost, before you attach your brand to somebody else's, make sure that there is quality workmanship, that they are a reputable brand, and that it's not going to damage your reputation by working in with them, doing their handovers, managing their warranties and and that type of thing. So making sure that, yeah, you're not harming your brand by recommending somebody who is not reputable.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

Yeah, we were always very cautious with that, doing handovers for builders and things like that. Very, very cautious.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Yeah. Yeah. So well, hopefully that gave our listeners some food for thought about pools building and recommendations making them to your customers about um the equipment or the pool builder themselves that they're looking at um taking on board when building a pool. So remember, if you have any topics, suggestions, questions, we love to get them. Drop us a line at talkingpools at gmail.com and Rudy will fish that out to the most applicable podcast show host. I'm getting better. You've been practicing in front of the mirror. Until next week, when we hope that we'll have the pleasure of your company once again to listen to us waffle on about all things pools. Thank you very much for joining me today, Nick.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Okay, thanks, Lee.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Bye, guys.