Before you can laze away the warm months floating on an inflatable swan in your luxurious swimming pool, you have to actually install that dream pool first. With over twenty-five years in the business, Roger Haggerty, president of Haggerty Pools, knows a thing or two about taking the plunge into pool ownership. Read on for his tips that will keep you from getting lost in the deep end.
What are the biggest differences between pools used for fitness versus recreation?
With regards to fitness, people are interested in a lap-length pool that will give them a solid workout without having to constantly turn. A pool length of 50 feet or larger is ideal for swimming laps. The depth of a pool isn’t as imperative as the functionality of the pool. Each pool we construct is built around clients’ specific needs, whether it’s specializing in exercise, aquatic therapy, or distance.
For recreation, clients aren’t usually looking for size. They’re looking for features that they can enjoy during family gatherings like fountains, waterfalls, spas, and sun shelves. We still do pools that are seven, eight, or nine feet deep, but we find that families are choosing shallower pools these days.
What kind of maintenance does the average pool need?
The average maintenance program includes opening and closing the pool and weekly maintenance, plus any service calls. We offer weekly maintenance where a service tech will take care of everything, including cleaning the pool, skimming the water, checking the balances and adding chemicals as needed, backwashing filters, cleaning baskets, and generally making sure that everything is running properly.
What safety precautions should people consider for their new pools?
To me, the biggest safety precaution is to always have someone watching the pool when kids are in it. Next, making sure that your builder builds the pool properly and up to code. Lately, we’ve been building a lot of rectangular pools with automatic covers so that the pool is always closed when it’s not in use. Not only are automatic covers a safety feature, but they also minimize heat loss.
What are the most popular additional features that people pick?
Clients often get inspired by things they see on vacation, like glass tiles, or fire bowls that either have fire or both water and fire coming out of them. Another popular feature is to have water in motion, be it a deck jet, a waterfall, or a sheer descent coming out of the wall that will fill the space with the relaxing sound of water.
What’s the biggest headache people run into while have a pool installed?
The part of the job that’s not fun is if we hit a ledge or something unforeseen in the ground and have to let the client know that there’s an issue that will either lead to a delay or an added cost. There are some older yards where you might hit sites where builders used to get away with burying debris from construction. One time we found the remains of a swimming pool buried in the ground on the site that was allocated for the new pool. No one even knew the old pool was broken up and left in the same spot.
Haggerty Pools
203-348-6899
haggertypools.com