The three common ways pool companies charge for chemicals, and how to make chemical billing fair and automatic.
| Model | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| All-inclusive flat rate | Simple to sell; customers like a fixed bill | Heavy-use pools eat your margin |
| Service fee plus chemicals used | Fair; you never lose money on chemicals | Bills vary; needs accurate logging |
| Flat rate with extra corrective doses billed | Middle ground most customers accept | You must define "routine" clearly |
Charge per unit (per pound of tabs or cal-hypo, per gallon or quart of liquid chlorine or acid) at a markup over what you pay. Keep a price book with both your cost and your price, and update it when supplier prices change.
Customers accept chemical charges when they can see them. List each chemical on the invoice with its amount and the number of visits, for example "Liquid chlorine, 6.5 gal over 4 visits". Pair it with the readings in their service reports so the dose has a reason.
Manual chemical billing fails because nobody adds up a month of logs per customer. With RouteSplash, techs log what they add as usual (in pounds, ounces or quarts). When monthly invoices are created, each chemical used since the last bill is added as a line at your price-book price, converted into the right unit. Every dose bills exactly once; voiding an invoice puts its chemicals back to bill again. You can bill every customer, or only the ones you tick. Names the tech typed that don't match your price book wait for you to match once, and are never guessed.
Either can work. All-inclusive pricing is simpler; billing chemicals separately protects your margin on heavy-use pools. Many companies include routine chemicals and bill large corrective doses.
Per unit used, such as per pound or per gallon, at a markup over cost, listed on the monthly invoice with the amount used. Accurate logging at each visit is what makes it fair.
Yes. RouteSplash adds the chemicals logged since the last bill to the monthly invoice at your price-book prices, converting units, and bills each dose once.
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