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Same $150 pool: $58/hr two doors down, $35/hr thirty minutes away — density is the whole business.
Pool service is a route business wearing a cleaning uniform. Twelve pools at $150 a month is $1,800 of revenue — but the 25-minute service plus 8-minute gaps makes a 6.6-hour day, and after chemicals the route nets $58 an hour. The next customer is where the math bites: that same $150 account pays $57.95/hr when it sits next to an existing stop and $34.77/hr when it costs 30 minutes of drive time — a 40% wage cut for identical work at an identical price. This calculator nets your route honestly and grades every new stop by its true drive-time cost.
Pool techs use it before saying yes to a new account: the same $150/mo pool pays $58/hr next to your route and $35/hr thirty minutes away — density is the business.
The market rule is 10–12 times monthly service revenue for a tight route — and materially less for a scattered one, because the buyer is purchasing future route hours, and drive time is the tax on every one of them. The density test prices it exactly: 12 pools at 8-minute gaps is a 6.6-hour day; the same 12 at 20-minute gaps is a 9-hour day earning identical revenue — same book, 36% worse wage, lower multiple. Due diligence before buying: verify accounts with service agreements and payment history (not just a customer list), drive the actual route at service hours, check the average account age and churn rate, and confirm equipment access notes transfer. Sellers get the multiple by cleaning the route first — drop or move the outliers, tighten the map, and the same accounts appraise higher.
The working ceiling is 60–80 weekly accounts before service quality slips — at 25 minutes of service plus tight drive gaps, that is four to five route days of 12–15 stops each. Past the ceiling you are not growing a route, you are hiring one: techs run $18–25/hr plus vehicle and insurance, and the business becomes margin × routes rather than your own hours. The ceiling moves with the stop profile: pools with spas, water features, or heavy tree debris run 35–45 minutes and cut daily capacity by a third — which is why per-stop pricing by complexity (standard, spa-inclusive, premium) keeps the hourly honest. The calculator shows the boundary directly: raise minutes-per-stop and watch the day length and net hourly move.
Included-in-price is the residential standard, and it works when you track per-pool usage — chemicals run $8–15 per pool per month on a maintained pool, but a problem pool in an algae cycle or with heavy bather load can triple that, silently converting a $150 account into a $90 one. The protection is the service agreement: chemicals included for a maintained pool, with algae remediation, phosphate treatment, and post-storm recovery quoted separately as one-time services ($150–600 depending on severity). Repair work is the margin on top of the route: filter cleans ($85–150), salt cell service, and pump or heater installs bill at shop rates with no drive penalty — route techs trained to spot and quote repairs outperform route-only operators by 30–50% on the same stops. Lock the base with annual agreements and auto-pay; month-to-month pool customers churn at the first cold snap.