McKinney Pool Maintenance Service
QUESTIONS ANSWERED...

Do you regret purchasing a swimming pool?

Answer...

First a pool is expensive with a lot of work and upkeep and yearly costs to maintain (energy, chemistry, replacement pumps, etc). We have had our pool for 17 years now. Loved it when the children were growing up, but since now being an empty nester, the pool is a lot of work for an older person. We currently use it very seldomly and it is a very expensive backyard decor. I joke about the fact that one of my hobbies is maintaining an outdoor 31,000 gallon fish tank without any fish in it.

If you entertain a lot, like we use to, the pool can be a great focal point for adults and young folks, and children. The original decision to put the pool in was to have our home become a focal point for our young adolescent children and teenagers and their friends. We were successful with that in that we knew all of our childrens’ friend who came over routinely for the pool. Sadly, those days are long gone. Only the infrequent grand niece and nephews now visit (pre COVID). At the end of the day it’s great for the children and entertaining with backyard BBQ, but costly. You better have sufficient excess disposable income for an outdoor pool. It’s also like owning an expensive sports car but only a few an enjoy the sports car at any given time.

(Source: Quora)

What are the drawbacks of having a backyard swimming pool?

Answer...

Downsides:

Expense-we built ours from scratch. It was an in ground gunite pool. We added extra such as little pop up heads in the floor that reduced maintenance drastically. We also had ozone cleaner instead if chlorine. The system was approved by public and private environmental agencies at the time. We did hire a pool guy to open and close the pool as we weren't familiar with ozone system and he would make adjustments as needed. We had tha capability to heat the pool but that was ridiculously expensive so we got a bubble cover and put it on when it wasn't in use. It looks like a giant sheet of bubble wrap.

Fencing and security. These are critical. In many states in th5

e US, if anyone gets in your pool, regardless of no trespassing signs, you are liable. We had cameras, a double fence (sort of) and a pool alarm. We were lucky that we had good people in the neighborhood who didn't try to get in.

Insurance may go up. Ours did not but many di.

Property tax may go up. Ours did not.

Maintenance. You need to do vfc this regularly. It didn't take us much time, less than an hour each week.

Visitors.-some may see this as a detriment but we were lucky to hVe lived in a close knit neighborhood. Our neighbors were our friends. Their kids hung out with our kids. They were almost always welcome, but they rarely asked to come over. We made a deal with them. This was in the days when house flags were popular. When we were ready to have people over the flag went up on our front porch. This was the signal “no invitation required.” Our neighbors inevitably showed up at meal times laden with lots if food, beer, wine and sodas. They also did the clean up. I miss them.

In all there were very few downsides. Our kids used it for as long as we lived there and my husband and I got to know all their friends from school during the warm season.