Wesley Czerwinski grew up in the pool business. When he was a kid, his
dad opened up a family pool and spa store. Czerwinski used to follow his dad
and they cleaned pools together. "I've been going with my dad ever since I
was about seven," says Czerwinski, who works in California.
As Czerwinski grew up, he thought about finding a new job, but nothing
grabbed his attention. Eventually he decided to stay with what he knew best
-- pools.
Even though he followed in his father's footsteps, Czerwinski says he has
come to enjoy his work. He starts early in the morning, but only because he
wants to. There's no time schedule; he simply has to clean and maintain all
the pools on his list by the end of the day.
"I rarely see my dad, so I don't have to worry about getting in trouble
with the boss," he jokes. "I'm pretty independent." Czerwinski schedules a
route through town and visits an average of 10 pools per day.
Some of Czerwinski's duties include checking for leaks or other obvious
problems in the pool's circulation system, as well as monitoring chlorine
and pH levels.
"I brush the sides of the pool to keep all the algae away and to get the
dirt in the deep end," he explains. He then attaches his vacuum, sucks up
the dirt and finally skims leaves off the surface of the pool.
If it's a good day, the cleaning runs smoothly and takes no time at all
-- Czerwinski is back in his truck ready to visit his next house.
There's not much stress involved in pool and spa maintenance, Czerwinski
says. "Since you're alone or work with a mate, you don't have the pressure
of being around your boss," he says. "I work along with my cousin. We like
the same music and stuff, so we have fun while we work."
Bruce Carlson runs his own pool business in Texas, so he isn't able to
spend all of his time enjoying pools and sunshine. He spends his mornings
setting up job lists for workers, ordering materials and parts and doing general
paperwork. By mid-morning, his secretary arrives, and he is free to go on
service calls.
"I take to the streets and make those customers happy," he says.
He continues with service calls throughout the afternoon, but by the evening
he has to head back to the office. "I discuss all the jobs with workers, the
errors, problems of the day and give thought to the next day's work," he says.
While Carlson is at the office, he might do more paperwork or sign up a
new customer. Sometimes communicating with these customers can be difficult.
"The hardest part of the job is trying to envision just what a new customer
wants, how to capture that thought and bring the new project to life," says
Carlson.
Czerwinski agrees. Dealing with customers who think they know best is difficult.
"Talking to a customer that is a real jerk, or won't listen when something
needs to be repaired, can be very frustrating," he says.
The customer may not always be right, but a pool and spa operator has to
give them the benefit of the doubt. "They're the ones we're trying to please
and must support even when they are wrong," says Carlson. "They're also the
ones who will bring us more work and more happy customers in the future."
Customer service is a big part of the job. "Friendliness is important,"
says Fern Boldt, who works at and co-owns her family's pool business. "If
you're friendly and ambitious and don't mind working long hours, then you've
got it made in this business."
Boldt says it helps if people know something about the business before
they enter it, but she adds that inexperienced workers can learn the ropes
pretty quickly. "We can teach them a lot," she says. "And they can move up
fast if we think they're good with customers and competent in what they're
doing."
Boldt says the best part of her job is dealing with the customers who have
grown with her company. "We have hundreds of friends that we met through this
business," she says. "Some of them have been with us for 15 or 20 years. It's
nice to catch up with them every year just to see how things are going both
with their pools and with their lives."