Pool service and construction software: one system or two?

A note before we start. PoolStack publishes this blog and sells exactly this kind of product: pool service software and pool construction software in one system. So we have a stake in the answer. We have kept this guide to the checks themselves, and they work on any product you are looking at.

No other products are named here. If you want names and prices side by side, our comparison pages are linked at the end.

What is pool service and construction software?

Pool service and construction software runs both halves of a pool company. The construction half is project work: a bid, a schedule, subs, permits, change orders and payments tied to milestones. The service half is route work: the same pools every week, a water test at each stop, and a bill every month.

The two halves work in different ways. A build is one big job that runs for a season and then ends. A service account is a small job that repeats and does not end. Software made for one half tends to be thin on the other. A construction tool is usually not built around a route, and a route tool often has no place to put a permit.

You will see it sold under a few names: pool builder software, pool construction software, pool service software, pool business software, or an all in one platform for pool companies. The name matters less than whether both halves are really in there.

One system or two? How to decide

There are three honest ways to set this up.

Two separate programs. You run a construction or project tool for the builds and a pool service tool for the routes. Each can be strong at its own job. The cost is the gap between them: two customer lists, two logins, two bills, and retyping at the handoff.

One general program stretched to cover both. This is a general field service app or a general construction app, bent to fit. It can work for a while. It usually leaves out the pool parts, such as water chemistry on one side or inspections and draws on the other.

One pool system that has both sides. One customer record runs from the first estimate to weekly service. The thing to check is depth. Is each side good enough to replace the tool you would have bought on its own?

Two systems can be the right call when the two halves run as separate businesses, with separate staff and separate books, and few customers cross over. One system makes more sense when the same office runs both, and when most of the pools you build end up on your routes.

What to check on the route side

The service side is where pool software and general software differ the most, because of the water. Run through this list with any product.

• Recurring visits. Can you set a service once, with how often and which days, and have the visits land on the route on their own? Check every other week and monthly, not only weekly.
• Route building and route optimization. Can you see each tech's week, put a day in a shorter driving order, and move a stop to another tech or another day when plans change?
• A technician app. Does the tech see the day's stops in order on a phone, with navigation? Is the app on both iPhone and Android?
• A checklist at the stop. Can you set the steps, make some of them required, and ask for photos?
• Water chemistry. Does it record the readings, compare them with a target, work out the LSI and suggest a dose? Does it log which chemicals went in and what they cost?
• More than one body of water. A customer with a pool and a spa should be one account with two sets of readings.
• Equipment records. The pump, filter and heater on each pool, with make, model and warranty dates.
• Service reports. Does the customer get a report after the stop with the work, the readings and the photos?
• Repairs. Can the office quote a repair, get a yes, and turn it into a scheduled job without retyping? Some products call this a work order.
• Billing. Does the monthly invoice build itself? Can a customer pay online or go on Auto Pay?

What to check on the build side

A pool build runs in a set order, with inspections between the steps and payments tied to them. The software has to follow that order. These are the parts to look for.

• Estimates and proposals. Can you price a build or a remodel and let the homeowner approve it from a phone? Can one proposal carry more than one option, such as good, better and best?
• The schedule. Phases with the jobs under them, from excavation to plaster. Dependencies, so that when one job slips you can see what else moves. A Gantt view for the long look and a calendar for the week.
• Templates. A new pool, a remodel and a replaster have different phases. Can each start from its own template?
• Subs and bids. A list of your subcontractors and suppliers by trade, and a way to send a scope out for bid, compare what comes back, and put the accepted cost on the build.
• Permits and inspections. Each permit with its number, dates and documents. Each inspection with its date and its result, including a failed one that needs another visit.
• Selections. The tile, the coping, the finish and the equipment the homeowner chose, and whether each has been ordered and received.
• Change orders. Added work or a credit, priced and approved before anyone builds it. The original contract should stay visible, so you can see what was agreed first.
• Draws. A payment plan with a deposit and a draw for each milestone. You may also see this called a draw schedule, milestone billing or progress billing.
• Daily logs and photos. What happened on site today, with the weather and any delay, logged from the phone.
• Job costing. Revenue, cost and profit on each build, with sub bids, materials and labor counted.
• A homeowner portal. A place where the homeowner sees progress and photos, pays a draw, and approves a change order.
• Closing out. Ask how each product handles the punch list at the end of a job and warranty calls after it.

The handoff: when a finished pool becomes a weekly customer

This is the part most buyers forget to test, and it is the whole reason to want one system. On the day a build closes, a lot is already known about that pool. Somebody knows its size and its surface. Somebody knows what is on the equipment pad, when each piece went in, and when its warranty ends. Somebody knows the gate code and how the homeowner likes to be reached.

With two systems, that knowledge sits in the construction tool, and the service office starts from a blank customer form. Details get typed twice or not at all. The first tech on the route finds out which pump is there by reading the label.

The handoff also runs the other way. A service customer asks about a new heater, a remodel or a replaster. In one system, that starts as a quote on a record you already have, with the pool's history behind it.

PoolStack is built around this. The finished pool stays on the same customer record, ready for weekly service, and the water chemistry, the equipment and the monthly bill sit on that same account.

Whatever you are looking at, ask to see these things happen in the demo.

• The pool that was built is still on the customer's record when service starts. Nobody creates the customer a second time.
• The equipment that was installed is already on the pool, with its make, model and warranty dates.
• You can add a recurring service to that customer, and the visits show up on a route.
• The monthly service bill goes on the same account as the build.
• The homeowner's portal shows the build, and then the visits and invoices once service begins.

Test the handoff in the demo. It is the reason to want one system instead of two.

Can general construction or field service software do the job?

Partly. A general construction program can hold a schedule, change orders, a daily log and invoices for a pool the same way it does for a house. A general field service app can schedule jobs and send invoices for a pool route the same way it does for a lawn route.

What each one tends to miss is the pool part. On the service side that is the water: readings, LSI, dosing, chemical cost, and a filter clean that comes due on its own. On the build side it is the order of a pool build, the inspections between phases, and draws that follow those phases. And neither is built around the fact that the pool you just built now needs a weekly visit.

If you go general, you may have to build your own templates and live with workarounds. If you go pool specific, check the half of your business that brings in the most money first, and make sure the product is strong there.

What does it cost, and how is it priced?

Prices change often and some products do not publish one, so we are not listing other companies' prices here. What you can compare is how each pool service and construction software product charges.

For a company that builds and services, the module question matters most. Ask plainly whether the construction side and the service side are both in the price you were quoted. Then work out the bill at the size you expect to be in two years, not the size you are today.

For reference, PoolStack is $79 a month, all access. Pool construction and pool service are both in that one tier. Early adopters lock that rate for life.

These are the common pricing models.

• A flat monthly price. One number for the whole company.
• Per user or per technician. The bill grows as you hire.
• Per pool or per customer. The bill grows as the route grows.
• Tiers. A low plan that leaves features out, and higher plans that add them back.
• Modules. A base price for one side of the business, with the other side sold as an add on.
• A custom quote. There is no public price, and you find out the number on a sales call.

Does it replace QuickBooks?

Usually not, and it does not need to. Software like this handles the work and the billing: quotes, invoices, draws and payments. Your accounting program still keeps the books.

What you want is a sync, so nobody types an invoice a second time. Ask exactly what crosses over. In PoolStack, customers, paid invoices and their payments go to QuickBooks Online while you are connected.

Questions to ask before you buy

Bring one real build and one real route day to the demo, and ask the vendor to run both. A product that handles your own jobs in front of you is a safer choice than one that only shows a polished sample. Then ask these.

• Can you show me a build closing and that same pool going onto a route, in one account?
• Are construction and service both included in the price, or is one an add on?
• How does the price change when I add techs, office staff or pools?
• Is there a technician app for both iPhone and Android?
• Does the service side record readings and work out the LSI, or is it only a notes field?
• Can a draw wait on a phase, and can the homeowner pay it online?
• How are change orders approved, and can I still see the original contract afterward?
• What can you import from the software I use now?
• Is there a free trial, and can I run it next to my current system?
• Is there a contract, and can I export my data if I leave?