Skimmer, the industry’s leading pool service software with over 27,000 users nationwide, has introduced the Skimmer Service Rate Index—a groundbreaking utility designed to help pool service professionals see what their peers are charging in a given market. This tool, built on anonymous data from Skimmer’s extensive user base, offers invaluable insights for the pool service industry.
Providing Better Business Tools
“Our goal at Skimmer is to be far more than a software company,” says Jack Nelson, CEO of Skimmer. “In fact, our purpose from day one has always been to build a platform that empowers pool professionals to grow great businesses. We think providing them with data that helps them run all aspects of their business is just a natural extension of that.”
The Skimmer Service Rate Index leverages data from over 6,500 zip codes and more than 700,000 pools, offering a detailed and anonymized snapshot of pricing strategies across the country. “We’re in a pretty unique position in that our software has the capability to log what pros are charging and by what model they’re charging,” explains Niki Acosta, Skimmer’s Marketing Director. “Through that data, we know what people are charging per stop, per month, if they’re including chems, if they’re not including chems, and we can analyze that data by zip code, by county, and by state.”
Enabling Pool Professionals to Compare Prices
One of the standout features of the Service Rate Index is its ability to visualize and compare data across different regions. Acosta highlights the variability in pricing: “We see that consistently, states like Florida tend to lag behind in pricing in areas of the Southeast. We also see that areas in the Northeast region tend to charge a lot more. They have much shorter pool seasons, and so they have pool openings, four months of service or three and a half months of service, and then pool closings. Those models create what we can see as different pricing based on the levels of service that are provided across the US.”
The index doesn’t just provide a snapshot of current rates but also tracks pricing changes over time, offering pool professionals a way to see how the market is evolving. “As you think about different models, there’s also the plus chems or including chems per stop per month. There’s just a lot of wealth of information that allows folks to see what’s the norm in a certain market,” says Nelson. “Especially as we publish these every year, we have the data, and there’s a lot of useful information that the industry should be aware of.”
What Pool Pros Are Charging From Market to Market
The data reveals interesting trends, such as the regional differences in chemical inclusion. “In Florida, we see a lot of companies including chems, but you go to markets like Phoenix or Southern California, and it’s pretty split,” notes Acosta. “This is a very useful way of looking at those different models and being able to compare them apples to apples. One thing that we have found, too, is that people who are charging plus chems on average are actually charging more for base service than people that include chemicals.”
Northeast
| State | Low Range | Low Average | High Average | High Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | $113 | $117 | $121 | $127 |
| D.C. | $100 | $104 | $107 | $109 |
| Maine | $76 | $82 | $85 | $92 |
| Massachusetts | $113 | $119 | $124 | $133 |
| New Hampshire | $123 | $128 | $133 | $137 |
| New Jersey | $92 | $99 | $103 | $110 |
| New York | $108 | $116 | $121 | $130 |
| Pennsylvania | $113 | $119 | $124 | $128 |
| Rhode Island | $127 | $132 | $137 | $146 |
| Vermont | $87 | $89 | $91 | $94 |
West
| State | Low Range | Low Average | High Average | High Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | $134 | $138 | $142 | $146 |
| Arizona | $93 | $104 | $110 | $131 |
| California | $143 | $159 | $169 | $192 |
| Colorado | $87 | $93 | $98 | $108 |
| Hawaii | $166 | $177 | $186 | $197 |
| Idaho | $64 | $73 | $80 | $106 |
| Montana | $117 | $124 | $128 | $136 |
| Nevada | $120 | $130 | $137 | $150 |
| New Mexico | $117 | $124 | $131 | $144 |
| Oregon | $80 | $86 | $90 | $101 |
| Utah | $104 | $117 | $125 | $144 |
| Washington | $163 | $170 | $176 | $183 |
| Wyoming | $82 | $93 | $96 | $99 |
Mid-West
| State | Low Range | Low Average | High Average | High Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | $124 | $134 | $140 | $148 |
| Indiana | $110 | $118 | $124 | $130 |
| Iowa | $195 | $201 | $208 | $213 |
| Kansas | $125 | $133 | $140 | $149 |
| Michigan | $115 | $119 | $123 | $128 |
| Minnesota | $85 | $94 | $100 | $107 |
| Missouri | $118 | $123 | $128 | $134 |
| Nebraska | $144 | $148 | $154 | $159 |
| North Dakota | $91 | $97 | $106 | $110 |
| Ohio | $93 | $97 | $100 | $104 |
| South Dakota | $81 | $84 | $87 | $88 |
| Wisconsin | $158 | $176 | $184 | $194 |
South
| State | Low Range | Low Average | High Average | High Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $118 | $126 | $131 | $143 |
| Arkansas | $100 | $106 | $109 | $117 |
| Delaware | $75 | $81 | $86 | $92 |
| Florida | $115 | $128 | $136 | $157 |
| Georgia | $117 | $128 | $136 | $150 |
| Kentucky | $160 | $166 | $172 | $179 |
| Louisiana | $115 | $123 | $129 | $139 |
| Maryland | $93 | $97 | $100 | $106 |
| Mississippi | $112 | $119 | $125 | $137 |
| North Carolina | $133 | $143 | $150 | $159 |
| Oklahoma | $137 | $147 | $154 | $163 |
| South Carolina | $148 | $164 | $174 | $188 |
| Tennessee | $115 | $123 | $129 | $138 |
| Texas | $136 | $149 | $158 | $175 |
| Virginia | $102 | $107 | $111 | $118 |
| West Virginia | $130 | $133 | $136 | $141 |
Climate also plays a significant role in pricing variability. “I think weather has a huge impact on chem cost,” says Acosta. “In areas of the South where we’ve seen record temperatures, chemical usage is much higher in those areas than they would be in other places. If your model is not accommodating those extra chem costs, then it is very possible that you could be operating at a lower margin than you would than those companies operating in a different market.”
Density of pools and route efficiency are other crucial factors. “Austin, Texas, is one of the more expensive markets in the country for pool service,” explains Nelson. “We see rates to almost 3X here that we do in Florida with some of our customers.” Part of the reason for that is simply how spread out some pool firms’ service territory is in comparison to those in other markets, explained Nelson. “If you’re having to travel 10 miles between stops, that’s going to drive up your fuel cost and your labor cost.”
The Skimmer Service Rate Index also helps pool professionals decide on their pricing strategies. “There’s a lot of data in there,” Nelson points out. “You need to decide what you want to be. Do you want to be the low-cost provider in your market, or do you want to be the quality service provider? We would, of course, encourage people to not try to be the low-cost provider and charge for the value that they’re delivering.”
Collecting and analyzing data from such a vast user base presents challenges, as Acosta explains: “One challenge is the data is only as good as what the pool pros are entering. We can look at the data and know that there are some obvious errors. If somebody has a per-month rate of $25, we know that’s probably inaccurate. We’ve removed some of the outliers. The other challenge is we don’t always know if a pool or a location that’s being serviced is commercial or residential.”
Economic conditions also influence service rates. “The short answer is rates have gone up, costs have gone up, obviously significantly across the board, and most of our customers have increased their prices accordingly,” says Nelson. “Interestingly, to the point where we’ve actually seen in the last couple of years, a lot of our customers became a lot more profitable.”
Doubling Down on a Great Idea
The future of the Skimmer Service Rate Index looks promising, with potential expansions in the type of data provided. Acosta envisions a platform where pool professionals can see how they compare to others in their area: “Let’s say you go to the platform, you enter a location with a zip code, maybe there’s a slide that tells you what percentile you fall into as far as where you are with pricing. That’s not something we’re currently working on, so I don’t want to make a promise that’s coming anytime soon. But it is possible longer term with the type of data that we collect.”
Ultimately, the Skimmer Service Rate Index is an invaluable tool for pool service professionals looking to optimize their pricing strategies. By providing detailed, anonymized data on service rates across different regions, Skimmer is empowering its users to make informed decisions that can lead to increased profitability and improved business operations. For any pool service professional looking to stay competitive with their pricing, the Skimmer Service Rate Index is a must-have resource.
Ready to Take a Deeper Dive?
Listen to our entire conversation with Jack Nelson (CEO of Skimmer) and Niki Acosta (Director of Marketing) on the Pool Magazine podcast.
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