How Pool Companies Pay Technicians: 5 Real Examples
Two pool companies can do good work and pay their technicians in very different ways. One pays by the hour. Another shares the revenue from each pool. A third pays by the pool but keeps an hourly floor.
Five conversations on The Pool Pros Podcast show how those choices work in practice. The useful question is what the plan rewards, how it protects service quality, and whether the technician can understand the math.
These are the operators' descriptions of their businesses at the time of their interviews. They are not a wage survey or a claim that one plan works in every market. Dollar examples below are labeled when they are illustrative.
Five companies, different pay plans
Pay per pool can mean a flat amount for a completed visit or a share of that customer's service revenue. Those are different plans. A flat payout stays the same when the customer rate changes unless you update it. A revenue share moves with the eligible revenue.
| Operator | Service pay | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Dave HawesH&H Pools | Hourly | Repair techs are hourly too. Focuses on competitive wages and oversight. |
| Justin PinsonRound Rock Pool Pros | Per pool, based on cleaning revenue | Hourly during training. Extra earnings for parts and filter cleaning. |
| Nick DayGohlke Pools | Share of weekly service revenue | Hourly during training. Parts commissions, retention bonuses, and benefits. |
| Adam CourterOn-Time Pool Service | Higher of hourly or production pay | Payout varies by pool category. Production pay follows training and proven quality. |
| Ronny BarrettTop Notch Pool Management | Hourly or salary | Varies by technician. Describes a 10% incentive on a whole good added to an existing job. |
The interviews also show that base pay is only part of the plan. Training, route design, benefits, and the way a manager checks work all shape what happens after payday. Here is how each approach fits together.
Hourly pay: manage the work and pay for the time
Dave Hawes pays both service and repair technicians by the hour. When asked about commissions and bonuses for technicians, he describes an hourly approach and says he wants to be among the higher-paying employers in his market.
He also addresses the usual objection: what stops people from stretching the day? His answer centers on hiring people who fit the team, reviewing time with GPS data, and following up when a route takes longer than expected. (The Pool Pros Podcast, 17:08–17:37 and 20:16–20:45)
For an owner, the lesson is that hourly pay still needs clear expectations. Review why a day ran long before calling it a performance problem. A bad route, a new technician, and an equipment issue can all add time for different reasons.
Hourly pay also makes it straightforward to explain training pay. A new hire needs time to learn testing, cleaning, equipment, and customer care. Use a technician training roadmap to define when that person is ready for more responsibility.
Revenue-based pay per pool: connect earnings to the route
Justin Pinson starts technicians on hourly pay during training. Once they work on their own, he pays by the pool. The amount depends on a percentage of that customer's cleaning revenue. He also describes extra earnings from small parts and filter cleaning.
Pinson says some efficient technicians make the equivalent of $30 to $40 an hour. That is his account of some workers' earnings, including the extra work he discusses, not a published hourly wage or an industry average. He also acknowledges the risk of rushed visits. His response is more training, clear checklists, and requiring missed work to be completed. (The Pool Pros Podcast, 28:07–29:09 and 31:12–31:42)
Nick Day describes a similar revenue link at Gohlke Pools. Technicians start hourly while training, then move to commission when they can perform profitably in their role. For weekly service, their pay is a percentage of the weekly charge. When asked whether that percentage sits on top of hourly pay, he says it is the percentage alone. (The Pool Pros Podcast, 39:30–41:54)
Day also describes small commissions on parts sales, retention bonuses, and a focus on the full benefits package. The revenue percentage is one part of what employees receive.
Neither of these passages gives a standard service commission percentage to copy. Before setting your own, define eligible revenue. Does it include chemicals, filter cleaning, discounts, or one-time work? Then check what remains after labor, chemicals, vehicle costs, and overhead with a cost-per-pool calculation.
Production pay with an hourly floor: compare two totals
Adam Courter wanted a performance-pay model inspired by Mike Andes' approach at Augusta Lawn Care. In his interview, he says his Pool Brain setup supported pay by pool but did not give him the percentage-based workflow he wanted. That describes his setup at the time, not a current product feature comparison.
His plan uses four pool categories with different payouts. A larger pool earns more than a smaller one. New technicians begin hourly, with other bonuses available. Production pay comes after roughly 90 days or after they have shown they can deliver the required quality. (The Pool Pros Podcast, 32:35–34:04)
The key is the comparison: technicians receive whichever is greater, their hourly pay or their production pay. It is not the full hourly amount plus the full production amount. (The Pool Pros Podcast, 34:15–34:38)
Illustrative week: the greater of two amounts
Suppose a technician works 36 hours at a $22 hourly floor. That produces $792. Suppose eligible completed stops produce $900 under the company's category rates.
The higher amount is $900, which is $108 above the hourly floor. Effective earnings are $900 divided by 36, or $25 an hour.
If production pay were $720 instead, the hourly floor would produce $792. These are made-up numbers to explain the comparison, not Courter's rates. This example excludes overtime, other earnings, benefits, and employer costs.
This structure gives the technician a visible floor and a way to earn more. It also leaves the owner with work to do: keep pool categories fair, account for route differences, and make sure speed does not replace complete service.
Incentives: decide which work earns extra pay
Ronny Barrett does not use one base-pay arrangement for everyone. He describes some technicians on hourly pay and others on salary, while checking whether each route is profitable and the work is efficient.
One specific incentive pays 10% when a technician adds a whole good to an existing work order or service ticket. He connects that with product training so the team can identify a good fit and explain it to the customer. He also discusses plans to organize more performance pay through software. That is different from saying every idea had already been rolled out. (The Pool Pros Podcast, 12:23–14:37)
If you add an incentive, write down the trigger. Is the reward for spotting the need, making the sale, installing the item, or collecting payment? Also define the amount it applies to. Ten percent of revenue and ten percent of gross profit are very different payouts.
Check the result beyond sales. A useful incentive should leave room for an honest diagnosis and a customer who can decline. Track whether the added jobs stay profitable and whether the work creates callbacks.
Show technicians how their pay was calculated
Courter describes a problem after launching production pay: employees could see a line on their ADP paystub, but could not easily see how the company reached that number.
He built a web app for technicians and supervisors to view pay history and explore what-if scenarios. One example asks what happens if a technician adds five pools but only one extra working hour. He also tracks pools per hour and describes mixed early results: some technicians changed their behavior, while others had not. (The Pool Pros Podcast, 34:38–37:08)
A useful pay statement should let a technician trace the result:
- Hours worked and the applicable hourly rate.
- Eligible completed stops, pool categories, or service revenue.
- The rates used and the production total.
- The hourly-floor comparison, where applicable.
- Separate incentives, adjustments, and any overtime calculation.
If a technician cannot explain why their pay changed, the plan needs a clearer explanation. Use the technician compensation calculator to explore pay scenarios, then document the exact rules your payroll process will use.
Test the plan against your actual routes
Start with recent route weeks, including a difficult week. Compare technician earnings and company labor cost under each proposed plan. Include all work time in your analysis, rather than only the minutes spent cleaning pools.
Look for uneven effects. Does a dense route create better earnings simply because the stops are close together? Does one technician inherit more difficult pools? Does a price increase change revenue-share pay automatically? A service pricing check can help you see whether the customer rate supports the work.
Keep the quality standard clear before adding a speed incentive. Define a completed visit, required readings and photos, and how managers review problems. Discuss sample pay statements with the team before changing the plan.
Pay method does not by itself remove wage-and-hour duties. The U.S. Department of Labor explains that covered, nonexempt workers' overtime depends on hours and the regular rate, even when earnings use piece rates or commissions. Some bonuses must also enter that calculation. An hourly floor alone is not a complete payroll-compliance method. Have your payroll adviser check the plan for your jurisdiction. (DOL regular-rate guidance; DOL bonus guidance)
The strongest lesson from these interviews is practical: write a plan you can afford, make the work standard clear, and give technicians a pay statement they can understand. Then watch earnings, quality, and retention together.
Source note: Based on five locally archived transcripts of The Pool Pros Podcast, published May through July 2026. Links beside the relevant passages point to the interviews; times identify the discussion. Transcripts contain speech-recognition errors. Short quotations were checked against the raw transcript files. Operator reports are not independent wage benchmarks.