Running a route

How Many Pools Can One Tech Service Per Day?

Work out how many pools one tech can service in a day from stop time, drive time and fixed blocks. Worked example you can rerun with your numbers.

The answer depends on how long you stay at each pool and how far you drive between them. A tight route of small pools holds far more stops than a spread-out route of large ones. Instead of guessing, run the time budget below with your own numbers.

All numbers in the examples are illustrations. Replace them with yours.

Step 1: Build the time budget

Start with the length of your workday. Subtract the blocks that are not stops.

If you also answer calls, quote jobs or run supply errands during the day, subtract those blocks too.

Step 2: Find your minutes per stop

Minutes per stop = average on-site minutes + average drive minutes to get there.

Stops per day = available minutes / minutes per stop, rounded down.

Same truck, same day, same tech. Moving from the first row to the third cuts the day from 13 stops to 6.

Step 3: Add slack

Plan below the maximum. In the typical row, 375 / 40 = 9.4, so the math says 9 stops. Plan 8 instead. Eight stops use 320 minutes and leave 55 minutes for a slow filter, a pump problem or a locked gate.

A day where every stop runs on time is the exception. When one stop runs long, every later stop runs late, customers notice, and you end up working past the planned day. Slack is cheaper than late arrivals.

From stops per day to accounts

Weekly accounts = stops per day x route days per week.

Example: 9 stops a day x 5 days = 45 weekly accounts.

Most owners also need time for repairs, callbacks and filter cleans. If you keep one lighter day for that work, 4 route days x 9 stops = 36 accounts at the same pace. Count accounts by visits: a twice-a-week account uses two stops and a biweekly account uses half a stop each week.

An example week

Using the plan of 8 stops a day from step 3:

This week services 32 accounts and leaves 55 minutes of slack on each route day. Friday absorbs the work that would otherwise wreck the other four days. If Friday sits empty for a month, you have room to add accounts. If Friday always overflows, you have too many accounts for your minutes per stop.

When to say no to a new account

If every route day is already planned at your slack level, the next account needs a zone and a day with real room. Otherwise it waits on a list, or it goes in as a Friday stop with a price that covers the extra drive. Taking it anyway means every other customer gets a later arrival time.

What moves your number

• Pool mix. Pools under trees, green pools, large pools and spas take longer than a clean small pool.
• Add-on work. Filter cleans, repairs and equipment checks come out of the same hours.
• Access. Locked gates, loose dogs and customers who stop you to talk all add minutes. See locked gates and skipped stops.
• Season. Debris and chemical demand change through the year, so re-time stops when the season changes.
• Experience. A new tech will run slower than you for a while. Plan fewer stops until their times come down.

Measure your real numbers

1. For two weeks, write down arrival and departure time at every stop, plus the drive time between stops. Timestamps on your service reports work.
2. Average the on-site minutes by pool type: small, standard, large and problem pools.
3. Average the drive minutes between stops.
4. Plug the averages into the formula above.
5. Repeat each season.

Example of what a log might show: standard pools average 28 minutes on site and problem pools average 45. A day with 6 standard and 2 problem pools needs 6 x 28 + 2 x 45 = 258 minutes on site. Add 8 drives at 10 minutes each, or 80 minutes, and the day takes 338 minutes. That leaves 37 of the 375 available minutes as slack.

A phone note or a spreadsheet is enough for this. The point is to replace the number in your head with the number in your records.

Mistakes people make

• Using the best day as the average. The Tuesday where everything went right is not your typical time.
• Forgetting the non-stop blocks. Loading, supply runs and paperwork are real minutes.
• Filling every day to capacity. There is no room left for a callback.
• Adding far-off accounts because they fit on paper. Every long hop raises the drive time for the whole day. The route density guide shows how to measure that cost.

Check the price against the pace

Once you know how many stops fit, check that your price pays for the time. How to price weekly pool service has the formula, and the route profit calculator shows what a full day earns. To order stops so the drive shrinks, run a simple loop through each zone.