Employee Equity, a Failed Landmark Coating, and the New Luxury Service Playbook

The Lincoln Reflecting Pool’s Second Repair Is a Costly Lesson in What Happens Before Handover

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has become an unusually public reminder that a pool renovation is not complete when the water goes back in. The basin is undergoing a second renovation after a newly installed blue waterproofing coating began “cracking and peeling” only weeks after a multimillion-dollar overhaul. Crews are draining the pool, power-washing the basin, removing failed liner sections and repairing a perimeter expansion joint. The technical details matter. Coatings fail for reasons that are often invisible at the ribbon-cutting: incompatible substrates, moisture in the concrete, poor surface preparation, bad joint detailing, incorrect cure times, or an installation system applied outside its specifications. A reflective pool is not a backyard plaster job, but the underlying lesson travels well. A finish is a system, not a bucket of material. This is one of the week’s most useful reads for builders, renovators and service companies that inherit problem pools. Before accepting a resurfacing or coating project, document the substrate condition, clarify the manufacturer’s installation requirements, and establish who owns inspection at each stage. For service firms, it is also a warning about taking on maintenance responsibility too quickly after a renovation. A bad coating can become somebody else’s warranty dispute—and then, inconveniently, your customer-service problem.

Source: Service Industry News

Easton Select Is Testing a More Concrete Version of Employee Engagement

Easton Select Group has launched SHARE, an employee-equity initiative that gives full-time employees an opportunity to participate in the company’s long-term financial success. The announcement is short on mechanics—there is no detailed discussion of vesting, valuation or eligibility thresholds—but the strategic direction is clear: the company wants employees to see growth as something they can own, not merely endure. That matters in a service business. Pool companies depend on technicians who remember equipment quirks, maintain customer trust, spot small problems before they become expensive ones, and show up reliably through the least glamorous parts of the season. Those are hard capabilities to replace with a hiring ad. A wage increase helps; a credible stake in the business may help more, particularly as larger platforms compete for experienced labor. Small operators do not need a formal equity plan to borrow the idea. Profit-sharing, retention bonuses tied to route performance, milestone-based bonuses, and transparent career ladders can produce some of the same alignment. The important distinction is between a one-time perk and a system that connects individual performance to the company’s health. This is worth reading for owners with more than a handful of employees, though the real value is in asking a harder question: what, exactly, would make your best technician reluctant to leave?

Source: PoolPro Magazine

The Insurance Question for Owners Who “Don’t Do the Work”

PoolPro Magazine takes up a deceptively simple question: if an owner subcontracts every field task, does the business still need general liability insurance? The legal answer may vary by state and contract structure. The business answer is much simpler: probably yes. A subcontractor’s policy is not the same thing as protection for the company that sold the job, scheduled the work, collected the payment and held itself out to the customer. Claims can arise from alleged negligent hiring, faulty oversight, contract disputes, property damage, advertising claims, or a gap in a subcontractor’s coverage. Many commercial clients and property managers also require proof of insurance before they will sign an agreement. Being technically able to operate uninsured is not the same as being commercially viable without coverage. The headline tells you much of what you need to know, but owners running a subcontractor-heavy model should still read this one. The useful exercise is not merely buying a policy; it is mapping risk. Verify certificates, understand additional-insured requirements, check policy limits and exclusions, and ask whether the subcontract agreement actually transfers the risks you think it transfers. Insurance is an overhead line until the day it is the difference between an unpleasant claim and an existential one.

Source: PoolPro Magazine

Scottsdale’s Luxury Push Is Really a Preservation Business

Luxe Aquatics is expanding in Scottsdale with “luxury pool maintenance and preservation services” aimed at high-end residential clients. It is, to be candid, a press release dressed in the vocabulary of premium care. Skip it if you are looking for operational detail, pricing data or evidence that the company has discovered a new maintenance model. Still, the positioning is worth noticing. In affluent markets, the customer is not simply buying weekly chemistry and debris removal. They are buying protection for expensive finishes, automation systems, tile, water features and the broader value of an outdoor-living investment. “Preservation” is a more compelling frame than “cleaning” because it speaks to avoided deterioration rather than a chore completed. That creates a useful opening for established service companies. Premium service does not require a luxury logo or a Scottsdale ZIP code. It requires documentation, proactive equipment inspections, clear reporting, seasonal planning and technicians who can explain why a small imbalance or leak matters before it becomes a visible failure. The companies that can translate technical maintenance into asset protection will have more room to defend pricing than those still selling a generic weekly visit.

Source: Google News

Selling the Experience Means Charging for the Thinking

In Episode 61 of the PHTA Pool Professionals Podcast, Evan Baard argues that pool professionals should sell the complete outdoor experience rather than a pool as an isolated product. His prescription includes charging for design, using 3D renderings and AI to improve customer communication, applying repeatable systems, and earning trust through transparency. The central insight is more durable than the technology references. A pool project is usually one of the largest discretionary purchases a homeowner makes, yet many firms still give away the most valuable part of the sale: the judgment required to turn a vague aspiration into a buildable plan. When design is treated as free, it is easy for customers to shop the concept around. When it is priced, documented and visibly useful, it becomes part of the product. This is one of the week’s stronger listens for builders, remodelers and service companies moving into renovation consulting. Baard’s “experience” language can sound like standard sales doctrine, but the practical implication is sharp: make the invisible work visible. Show options, explain tradeoffs, identify operating costs and set expectations before construction begins. AI may make renderings faster; it does not make judgment cheaper. The firms that understand that distinction will be less vulnerable to competing solely on installed price.

Source: Libsyn

PHTA’s Spa Standard Revision Is Unexciting—Until It Isn’t

The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance is seeking public comment on revisions to ANSI/APSP/ICC-3, the standard covering permanently installed residential spas and swim spas. This is not lively reading, and it is not meant to be. Standards work is where the industry decides, in painstaking increments, what “acceptable” will mean for design, construction and inspection. For companies that build, renovate or service spas and swim spas, this is worth more attention than most product announcements. Standards eventually flow downstream: into local code adoption, manufacturer instructions, inspection expectations, contracts and liability arguments. By the time a requirement becomes a surprise in the field, the opportunity to shape it has usually passed. The article itself is primarily a call for comments, so do not expect a complete technical briefing. But owners with meaningful spa volume should obtain the proposed revision, assign it to the person who understands compliance best, and compare it with current practices. Pay particular attention to any changes affecting barriers, circulation, suction safety, electrical interfaces and installation requirements. The comment period is one of the few moments when a small contractor’s practical experience can carry the same formal weight as a large manufacturer’s submission.

Source: PoolPro Magazine

Kidstown Water Park Shows Why “Modernization” Cannot Mean Starting Over

Toronto’s Kidstown Water Park has been revitalized as a modern aquatic destination while preserving its role as a local landmark. That sounds like conventional municipal-project language, but it captures a genuine tension in aquatic work: public facilities must meet current safety, operational and accessibility expectations without erasing the community identity that made people care about them in the first place. For commercial-pool contractors and service providers, the project is a useful case study in the difference between renovation and replacement. Public aquatic facilities carry layers of constraints—aging infrastructure, changing codes, seasonal operating windows, public procurement, budget scrutiny and users who remember exactly what the old place looked like. The best upgrades improve circulation, durability, safety and maintenance access while still feeling familiar to the people who use the facility. Read this if municipal, HOA or hospitality work is part of your market. It is less relevant to a residential route operator, though the broader lesson applies everywhere: customers do not judge a renovation only by what is new. They judge it by whether the place still works for the life they built around it. That is especially true for older pools with emotional value—and increasingly valuable for contractors who can renovate rather than reflexively replace.

Source: Pool & Spa Marketing

Swimming’s Cognitive Case Gives Families Another Reason to Start Early

WaterShapes highlights Australian research suggesting that swimming can support children’s cognitive development alongside the familiar benefits of water safety and fitness. The reported effects include stronger performance in mathematics, language, problem-solving and overall school readiness. The article’s premise is appealing: swim lessons may help children develop more than confidence in the water. The caveat is important. Research showing an association between swimming and developmental outcomes does not automatically prove that swimming alone caused those outcomes. Families who enroll children in structured activities may also differ in time, income, parental involvement and access to instruction. That does not make the findings useless; it means pool professionals should resist turning them into a miracle claim. For swim schools, community pools and service companies that communicate with young families, the piece offers a better way to discuss aquatic participation. Water safety remains the essential argument. Active supervision, barriers and layers of protection remain non-negotiable. But swimming can also be framed as a developmental activity with social, physical and potentially cognitive benefits. Read it for the communication angle, not because it settles the science. The most responsible message is also the most persuasive: early instruction has value, but no lesson replaces supervision.

Source: WaterShapes

Product Catalogs and Placeholder Posts Do Not Need Your Sunday Morning

JED Pool Tools has released its 2027 product catalog, covering maintenance equipment and accessories. If you are planning purchases, replacing worn tools across a growing technician fleet, or comparing vendor offerings before the next season, save the catalog and review it when you have an actual buying decision in front of you. Otherwise, the headline tells you everything you need to know. The same goes, more emphatically, for WaterShapes’ “Test Article 2,” which contains placeholder text and a bird-caption image rather than substantive pool-industry reporting. It is not worth your time unless your professional development plan now includes bird identification. “Text Title 3,” another WaterShapes post urging readers that “now is the time to act,” similarly provides no useful industry guidance in the available material. RicoRock’s new 18-inch modular waterfall is marginally more relevant: compact water features can be useful in tight renovation footprints where a larger rockscape is impractical. But it remains a product announcement, not a market shift. Keep it in mind if a client needs visual movement in a constrained space; do not mistake a smaller waterfall for an urgent strategic development.

Source: PoolPro Magazine