The insider perspective on 2022’s backyard boom

Compass Pools Melbourne - Ted Martin

The lingering impact of these supply issues and beyond makes us nervous about being caught in a profitless boom. We don’t want to get caught out taking on work we can’t pay for, which is why we’ve closed our books to new business.

We are so busy right now that we made the decision to close our books in early March. This means that we are not selling any more pools for 2022.

The simple reason - we’re nervous about prices.

We were expecting this backyard boom to start to decline soon, especially with the reopening of the borders. However, we’re not seeing any evidence of this decline at all! Quite the contrary – there are literally thousands of enquiries - up to 30 a day. Our organisation has strong systems in place to respond to enquiries promptly, but at times we simply fall behind because we literally can’t keep up.

When will this bubble burst? We don’t know. While we’re happy with the amount of work on our books, we’re also nervous about managing our profitability.

The uncertainty of the world right now makes pricing new business tricky. Supply chains are broken - the price of petroleum is driving up costs in fibreglass construction as we rely on those resins for manufacture, plus the cost of transportation is all part of the big unknown.

The lingering impact of these supply issues and beyond makes us nervous about being caught in a profitless boom. Consequently, we are not signing unconditional contracts for 2023. We are considering some conditional, uncommitted agreements with consumers where we can ensure that the option to confirm prices prior to construction is readily available.

BUT, it important to note that this is a work in progress for us and continues to change all the time. We are reviewing our procedures and doing our best to be adaptable to the changing environment that we find ourselves in.

As for Pool & Spa Expos – we’re going to continue going. We believe that it’s very important to keep our brand in the consumer’s mind by remaining active in the marketplace. Coke never stops advertising!

Compass Pools Melbourne is unique in the marketplace as we train our own installation staff to meet our particular skill set. Finding new installation staff at the moment is difficult, but our Sales and Administration staff are excited about the forthcoming July show.

I have been in the business for 42 years, and along with others like me in the industry, I have never EVER seen anything like this boom. Not even close!

TG Pools: Greta Eberbach

Gone are the days of a simple pool in a backyard; they are now incorporating dining areas, fire pits and spa’s attached to pools are nearly becoming standard.

We are now not taking any jobs for 2022.

The difference from last year to this year is astounding ! We are a small business so it didn’t take long to fill our books and we are now booked until May 2023.

I believe for a lot of people Covid has made them reassess what is important and having an outdoor entertaining area has now become very important . We are finding that people are also engaging landscape architects so the scope of work has also changed.

We also seem to be doing a lot more fully tiled pools. We are now making it very clear in our contracts that we can’t guarantee prices for 2023. For example we are adding in PC items for tiles, paving, fencing etc so we can reassess when we get to the job. I have found that most clients understand why we are having to do this and those that don’t we have decided to not engage with.

Because we are a small business we have decided that the pool and spa shows would not benefit us. Our workload is at capacity as is and we don’t need any additional enquiries at this stage , this may change in the future but I can’t see that happening for at least the next 3 years. “Gone are the days of a simple pool in a backyard, they are now imcorporating dining areas, fire pits and spa’s attached to pools are nearly becoming standard.”

Cantwell Pools: Juliann Cantwell

They are coping with the supply shortage now but are unsure what the future will bring in that regard.

Juliann says that the demand for quotes for new pool installations is the greatest that she has ever experienced.

Whilst they have not pushed any contracts out to 2023 at this point, they have great concerns about committing to start and finish dates for projects at this point. There is now a 10 week turnaround timeframe for contract administrative work, engineering and building permits.

There is such a huge demand for sub-contractors such as steel fixers and concrete sprayers, that dates need to be booked months in advance and jobs have to be juggled to make the dates work when the booked date is reached. They are coping with the supply shortage now but are unsure what the future will bring in that regard. With the large number of pools being installed, there is also an increased demand for landscapers, this has the knock on effect of causing delays in finishing pools and pool fences. Whilst clients are understanding about the delays and supply shortage at the moment, Juliann feels that this will change as the year progresses.

In particular she feels that as in every other year, when clients want their pools finished prior to Christmas, if equipment such as gas heaters and valves still are not available and the pools cannot be completed, then client satisfaction will wane.