This is a hot take that is borderline taboo to talk about and is almost never covered in the industry but really needs to be talked about. At Pool Pros we are about complete transparency in everything that we do. The best way for complete transparency is to give potential pool owners every resource, every kernel of knowledge we have gained over the last 27 years to better prepare them to make the best choice when purchasing their pool, regardless of who they buy it from. So lets get into it.
WHAT IS A POOL COMPANY FRANCHISE?
A Franchised Pool Company is basically when an existing pool company, usually one with a stellar reputaition that sells the right of use of their hard earned name to someone else in another geographic location. Franchising is nothing new in the pool industry however it is never talked about. To understand the pros and cons of how working with a franchise pool company may affect a pool owner we need to first expose why pool franchises exist. Lets dive deeper.
WHY DO POOL FRANCHISES EXIST?
To put it bluntly its a whole lot easier to buy into and use the name of an established Pool Company than to start a new unknown pool company and build it up to the level of the existing Franchise Brand. It makes sense if you have the resources to do this. Its a clear warp speed jump from 1 to 100. You buypass all the struggles of building a brand. Its instant credibility wether it is warranted or not. There are clear drawbacks to owning a franchise though. Franchises cost alot of money to buy into. Not only that but there are strict rules set up by the main Franshisor regulating just about everything the franchisee does. There are also percentages or fees paid on each pool sold back to the Franchisor and monthly fees as well. This is why franchises make up a small percentage of pool companies. If you have deep pockets and want to skip the process of building a company and a brand, franchising may be a great option for an entrepreneur.
ADVANTAGES OF HIRING A FRANCHISED POOL COMPANY
I am 100% biased here since I built Pool Pros the old fashioned way and these are merely my opinions based on over 27 years of experience in the pool industry, but knowing what I know now, there really are limited benefits to hiring a franchised pool company. Franchised pool companies typically have a well oiled sales process developed by the Franchisor along with great marketing and support resources. The sales presentations provided by most major pool franchises in the country is top notch. To me thats where the advantage ends.
DISADVANTAGES OF HIRING A FRANCHISED POOL COMPANY
I am trying to withhold my bias here because Pool Pros is not a franchise pool company and I have friends that own franchised pool companies and they are great people that work hard , deliver a great product and I have a great amount of respect for. However, I need to be honest and talk about the good the bad and the ugly of pool franchises in general.
OVERPAYING: The pool shopper will be paying more for thier pool when buying from a franchised pool company and here is the reason why. This is because the franchisee that you hire typically has to pay a percentage of the cost of your pool project back to the franchisor along with the initial buy in price, monthly fees and other potential fees. You can and will likely be paying alot more for that pool than you would buying it from an independant pool company.
INSTANT CREDIBILITY: The cold hard fact is that buying in to a franchise gives a company all the built up credibility of the original franchisor. Whether it is warranted or not! Alot of pool company franchises have little to no experience in the pool industry. That means they typically have little to no experience building pools! Shocking right? So although you are buying from a well known brand the actual franchisee you are buying from may have little to no experience building and or servicing pools. That fact is hidden behind clever marketing and a wealth of sales tools and images and photos provided by the original franchisor. This became a well known issue during the Covid years when pool franchises started popping up seemingly everywhere since the demand for swimming pools was at an all time high.
LIMITED EXPERIENCE: During the covid years people were staying home and buying pools to occupy their time. This drove up demand to levels seldom seen in the pool industry. Due to this demand we saw alot of investors from outside the pool industry suddenly getting their feet wet buying and or starting new pool companies. This lead to alot of unqualified people building and servicing pools. Franchisors seized an opportunity to grow their brands and expand their empires like nevere before. Experience is something that just can't be faked and without it nothing good happens.
4:WHO ARE YOU ACTUALLY BUYING THE POOL FROM?
This is a good question and here is why its important. In most cases there is a clear line of severability between the main franchisor and the franchisee. The franchisee in most cases is an independant company. For instance, lets use A1 Pools (a fake company) as an example. A1 Pool has been in operation for 30 years has a stellar reputation. They decide to use that reputation to sell the rights of use of that name to an investor in another town. Lets call this company A1 Pools of Mississipi. A1 Pools of Mississippi is a completely seperate entity from the original A1 Pools. The only thing aligning the 2 companies is the use of the name and sales/marketing tools. So when someone buys a pool from A1 Pool of Mississippi they may believe that they have the support of the original A1 Pools and will receive the same quality of work and service as the original has provided over the years but they dont.. The original A1 Pools has no legal responsibility to anything sold or services performed by A1 Pool of Mississippi. While the original A1 Pools may be well funded and financially sound, that does not mean that A1 Pools of Mississippi is. This is where a pool shopper gets lulled into a sense of percieved safety that just isnt there. We have experienced that here in Northeast Wisconsin with a large franchisor that set up a franchisee in town and ran into legal issues and had to close up shop shortly after. We won't name names for legal reasons but there are clients of theirs that were left high and dry thinking the large franchisor would take care of them but in the end did not.
MORAL OF THE STORY
Always dive deeper, Don't take things at face value, ask the hard questions, do your due diligence. Research the owners of the business you intend to work with. Look up any other businesses they are associated with and do background checks on all of them. You are about to invest a large amount of money, spending a few days vetting a potential pool builder or contractor of any type is worth the time. If the company you are going to hire is a franchise, realize that you are not hiring the original franchise in most cases and that you will be paying a higher cost than you would at an independant pool company and you are not getting any added protection, skill or quality for paying the higher price.
SHAMELESS CALL TO ACTION
If you are ready to pull the trigger on a new fiberglass pool purchase be sure to give Pool Pros a call today @ 1-920-771-0107. When Quality Counts, Count on Pool Pros.
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