Hey Sumdood / pool guys???

first is that a real fish in the pool if so WTF lol
2nd looks like the cement render in the last pic is cracked where it joins to the tiles. can't quite tell what I'm looking at. Not sure what you guys in the states get for equipment but a small sand filter and pump would have the cleaned up in no time.

I'd say go get a cartridge style filter, get water through it with a gasoline pump if you have to, and just use a pool vacuum brush on a telescoping pole to vacuum it out. I'd make certain you do not use stabilized chlorine in it too....sometimes you get too much cyanuric acid built up and it binds up all the free chlorine. Then you have a ton of chlorine in a green pool.

Looks like it will clean up nicely.

As for the fish......Life finds a way....

The bottom pic looks like you've already got the water pretty clear by circulating it with the gas pump ? If you want to vacuum and filter it the easiest way I can think of would be to use a portable pump and filter and run it with a generator, something like this

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Wave-120-Square-Cartridge-Filter/dp/B004VQE…

You can screw a 1-1/2 barb fitting into the suction side and vacuum that way.
Another way would be to run the existing pump with a generator. Unhook the seal tite from the existing time clock or controller, temporarily wire on a plug and run it off the generator. Most pumps are wired 230v, but some can go 230 or 115. If its 115 (or can be) a small generator should be able to run it. If it's 230 only then you need a generator that will put out 230v. Then you could vacuum through the skimmer and existing filter like normal.

Or the best way ( if you're not afraid of it popping out of the ground if you drain it ) you could dump 10-12 gallons of liquid chlorine and put a few tabs in a floater in it to kill the bugs and somewhat bleach it out, then drain and acid wash it and start with fresh water when it's ready to go. I know on your pool there was some concern about dumping the water due to high water table in the soil ? You don't want to drain them if the surrounding dirt is a sloppy saturated mess cause they can pop out, as you know. Good luck hope this was helpful. I had a set up like this for awhile but it took a shit last year and I haven't had the need to replace it yet. They're easy but a little more $

https://www.shopaquatic.com/products/mini-portable-vacuum-system?varian…

I cleaned pools for about 6 months a year ago. Maybe owning the pool company would be worth it.... 13/pool cleaned not so much.. glad I have a better job now lol.
Looks like a lot of tedious work. Would def need to be drained imo haha dead fish bro. Super fucked

Holy guacamole yeah I think I'd pass on draining it, it might go into orbit The portable set ups that come on the dolly are worth the extra bucks in my opinion. I made my last one and hardly saved any money and it wasn't as cool as the ones they sell. You'll have to clean the little cartridge a lot until it starts getting close but they work good.
As far as DE or sand ? If it's sand now I think I'd leave it sand with a multiport valve. That's how they put it in and it probably worked fine. The ability to vacuum to waste is pretty nice if there's a bunch of mud and dirt on the bottom, you can vacuum it up and not have it go into the filter. Also with the sand filter you don't have to deal with DE after backwashing. Back wash and Rinse and that's it. You don't have to take them apart and change the sand nearly as often as DE., (Which is good cause it's more of a hassle) "They" say the sand filters don't filter as good as de because they don't trap as small of particles, especially when the sand is fresh, but if it's smaller than you can see who cares ? lol. DE is by far the most popular out here. But 4 (out of 17) of the commercial pools we do have Pentair Triton tr140 commercial sand filters with multiport valves on them and they're easier to deal with than the DE ones, especially if there's lots of dirt and mud. On the new filter, we started spray painting new filters with krylon a few years ago, it keeps them from getting itchy and powdery a couple years down the road. Your forearms will thank you later I hate getting fiberglass itchy's just cause you brushed against the filter.

Here’s a filter I put in about 12 years ago, the top half was painted, the bottom half wasn’t. We paint both top and bottom halves now, it’s worth the extra time and effort down the road ( IMO )

Funny you should mention the TR140 commercial version...I have the residential version. Don't see many sand filters that size on a residential pool. The guy that had the pool put in at my place was a doctor...spent buckets on the pool. Got the in floor cleaning system, heater, and all that jazz..was still done wrong though (pool heater outlet was plumbed in below the 5 port caretaker valve. Didn't work too well with pressure on the wrong side of the diaphragms...)

Yeah the water needs to go through the heater, otherwise they start walking and talking

Hey sumdood I am planning on starting my own pool route. I cleaned about 40-50 pools a week (40 during the fall when they’re wrecked) for roughly 8 months so I’m not a noob. I have my current job, but want to start this on the side (my work is kind of seasonal, tho pays well..) I have some questions for you if you wouldn’t mind taking some time to help me out? Would really appreciate it. I can post the questions up on this thread or email is fine too

Here's fine with me, there's other pool guys in here too, might as well get as many view points as you can. What you got ? The pools were the easy part for me, learning how to run a business is something I wish knew more about in the beginning, (and now) Judging from the photo's I see in here there's better businessmen than me in here lol.

Newman, how has it been dealing with insurance? I went through the Grand Prix Fire in 2003. It trashed my pool with ash and debris but I was too dumb to file a claim that would have cleaned my pool and maybe even had it replastered.

I’ve done some research on businesses, and have some knowledge from college.. and just experience. By no means an expert, but with google and some of my knowledge I think I can pull it off. I was planning on setting up a LLC (taking the “do it yourself” route). My questions for you are more pool related, though. But any advice is welcomed

180 per month from single customer is in the ball park, no?
Pricing depends on pool type/size? How do you judge how much someone will pay for your service?
How much do you charge for one time cleaning? (Pool is green, they want it to be clear..)
Basic chemicals I will always need in the back of truck are: granular shock, chlorine tabs, DE, soda ash, sodium bisulfate (acid), liquid shock (if I have such pools that require it).

I will think of more, but for now trying to figure out the basics I will need, and amount of money it will cost.
I left out a few chemicals, like oxidizers, and a few sanitizers but I think I’ll buy them when I need them, possibly.

Did you start out as a legitimate business or work your way there? I assume I’ll have to buy company insurance? What steps did you take?

Thanks for your help.

$180 per month in the ball park ? Not around here, I wish. 110-140 around here unless it's a huge pool.
I decide how much based on what kind of car they drive, j/k lol. Start with your minimum, for us it's $75' for portables that are covered and basicly chem stops, inground spas only, $80', pools and pool spa combos $120' Then go up from there based on headache factors, try to not miss anything that will slow you down like, access, up or down stairs ?, shitty gates, multiple gates, keys needed, narrow passage ways, dogs, do you have to be there at a certain time or can you show up whenever, crap in your way you have to move or step over, equipment, pump basket access, skimmer access, raised bondbeam to climb up? extra tile to clean, can you walk around it ? landscaping, leaf problems obviously, good suction ?, extra long hose needed ? funky outdated equipment ?, vs pumps take more time and can be a blessing or a curse depending on the customer, salt system ? they're cool until they aren't. I'll take an older pool with a floater and tabs over a salt system anyday of the week, brand new smooth perfect plaster or a 20 year old pitted or scaled stained mess ? I ask why they're unhappy with their present guy, especially if the pool looks perfect. If it seems like an easy stop go with your minimum, if it seems like a headache charge enough that you'll look forward to going there, go through everything because once you tell them a price that's it.
I bid green ones time and material, freshly light minty green you might be able to shock, brush and clean the filter, long time green is normally drained. As for chemicals sounds like you got it. Whatever type chlorine you want to use, muratic acid to lower ph and soda ash, sodium bicarbonate to raise ph (spas with tabs mainly)

I started out working for a builder, when the pools were done they asked me how to take care of them and I usually got them on service. ( Funny side note: When I started my only transportation was an XL500, I would tell (sell) the customer a pole, net, brush, vac head and hose, a bucket of tabs and case of acid and liquid chlorine, then ride to the accounts on the XL and use all their stuff. Once a month or so I'd use the companies truck and reload the chems. Once I had about 15 accounts I bought a truck lol) After I quit working for the pool builder I worked as a night janitor at the high school. Get up at 6;30, clean pools until 1:30, then go be janitor from 2:30 to 11pm. get up and do it again. Once I was maxed out I quit the janitor job and went full time pool guy. Which was scary as fuck with a wife and 2 small kids but it worked out.

Insurance, I started with IPSSA because they had route coverage and have stayed with them even though I have employees doing the cleaning now. There are cheaper liability insurance companies but they don't have route coverage. IPSSA (Independent Pool and Spa Service association) has route coverage for self employed pool servicemen. (They don't cover pools cleaned by employees) It's designed for self employed pool service guys with no employees. The way it works is they have different chapters for a certain geographic region, there's usually 25-50 or so members per chapter, if you get injured, the other pool guys in your chapter each take on 2 or 3 of your pools and service them until your back on your feet again. So lets say you wad it up and break your arm, the other members cover your pools until you can work again. I used it twice before I had employees, once for a knee surgery and once for a hip replacement. It's a very cool feeling when you're all jacked up at home knowing that not only are your pools getting clean, you don't have any chemical expenses. If you don't care about route coverage look up ASAP or UPA.

I suggest getting a relationship with an experienced pool repair tech that you can sub out repairs to until you get good at it. With all the different heaters, pumps, automation systems etc. you need a guy who can get things fixed quickly if you don't have the time or knowledge. You'll get those calls where the heater starts and runs for 2 seconds then shuts off, could be the igniter, could be the ignition, could be the blower, could be the air switch, could be the exhaust temp sensor, could be a mouse in the intake, could be the thermistor, could be a dirty filter, could be the auto bypass if it's one of the new Jandy pile of shits. Don't even get me started on automation, sometimes the pump won't talk to the controller or they can't turn on the spa with their phone, the shits way more complicated than ever. If you can't figure something out you need a guy ("Your") repair tech to come out rather than having the customer wait. They don't like to wait lol.

Charge extra for specialty chemicals like conditioner, phosphate remover etc. change cracked baskets, old brittle skimmer lids, train them to be used to seeing extra charges on the bill so that becomes the norm.

Don't worry when Trip and Casey Carlisle underbid you, there's always someone cheaper. If a customer wants to grind you down on your price fuckem. That's the account you want your competition to have