Pool Maintenance

Routine pool maintenance is a scheduled visit where a technician tests and balances the water, confirms the pump and circulation are working, clears debris, and leaves the cover where it belongs. It is the pool version of our hot tub visit, priced for the extra time a pool takes. If you have a backyard pool and would rather spend summer swimming in it than tending it, this is the service.

Who it is for

Homeowners with an in-ground or above-ground residential pool who want the water kept safe and clear without doing the weekly testing themselves. That includes:

• Families whose pool gets daily use from June through August
• Owners who travel in summer and come home to a pool nobody has touched
• People who had a green pool once and do not want it to happen again
• Anyone who bought a house with a pool and has never balanced one

We also do routine care for swim spas, which sit between a hot tub and a pool in size and behavior, and are priced the same.

What we do on every visit

• Testing and balancing the five major water factors: chlorine (sanitizer), pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, and cyanuric acid (stabilizer)
• Verifying mechanical operation of pumps, jets, and intake returns
• Removing all debris
• Clearing and correctly positioning covers and tops

On a pool, that means testing the water and adding what it needs, confirming the pump is pulling and returning water properly and the skimmer and returns are clear, netting leaves and debris off the surface and out of the skimmer basket, and setting the cover back if you use one. If something in the equipment pad looks or sounds wrong, we tell you. We do not start repair work during a maintenance visit.

One of those five factors, cyanuric acid, matters more on a pool than a hot tub. It is the stabilizer that keeps chlorine from burning off in direct sun, and an uncovered pool at this altitude gets a lot of sun. Too little and the chlorine you add is gone by afternoon. Too much and the chlorine stops working well even when the test says it is there. We check it every visit.

Price and time

A routine pool or swim spa visit is $110 and takes 45 to 60 minutes, chemicals included. A pool in regular summer use goes through a meaningful amount of chlorine, which is a real cost and a real hassle to keep stocked. It is covered by the visit price, so a hot August week does not change what you pay. You can book online for a Thursday or Friday, pay when you book, and a person confirms the appointment. See the pricing page for the full list.

How often it should be done

Weekly in swim season. A pool in July has warm water, long sun exposure, and swimmers every day, and all three eat sanitizer. A week is about as long as chlorine reliably holds under those conditions. Stretching to two weeks in peak summer is how pools go green between visits.

Every other week in the shoulder months. Late spring and early fall, with cooler water and less use, every two weeks usually holds. We will tell you when to shift based on what the water is doing.

Between seasons, if the pool is covered and not in use, the visit interval can stretch further or pause. Opening and closing a pool for the season are not on our published price list. If you need them, ask us about your specific pool.

Pool and hot tub demand run opposite each other through the year, which is why we do both. Pool calls peak in summer and go quiet by October. Hot tub calls peak in winter. If you have both, we can put them on the same visit.

Signs you need it

• The water is cloudy, or has a green tint at the corners or steps
• Algae on the walls or floor that comes back after brushing
• A strong chlorine smell, which usually means the chlorine is spent, not that there is too much
• Swimmers complaining of stinging eyes
• Debris collecting on the bottom faster than you can keep up with
• You are not sure when the water was last tested

A pool that has already gone green needs more than a routine visit to recover. Tell us what you are seeing and we will say what it will take.

Where we do this

Backyard pools in the Salt Lake Valley cluster on the east side, and so do our pool customers: Holladay, Salt Lake City, and our home base in Millcreek. We cover the rest of the service area too. Fill water in the valley runs hard and gets harder in late summer when the city supplements from wells, which is exactly when a pool is being topped up most. That is one more reason calcium hardness is on the test list every visit.