New Ways to Promote Pool Renovations in 2026 (Part 3)

In recent weeks, I talked about how the swimming pool renovation business is going to continue to grow and expand forever. I suggested you consider leaning into “Upselling health and wellness,” and “transforming backyards with pools more than 30 years old.”

Now let’s talk about one other curious slice of the market that might offer new prospects for swimming pool renovators.

In addition to the millions of swimming pools that are more than 10 years old (and thus ripe for renovation), there is also a shockingly large number of recent pandemic-era-built inground swimming pools that were – as we all know – designed and purchased in a panicked-rush from anyone who had a shovel and a truck.

Let’s review some of the technical challenges these pool contractors had to deal with when building these rush-job swimming pools during the pandemic:

• Material quality issues
• Material shortages and delays
• Inexperienced/questionable skilled talent
• Labor shortages
• Inexperienced leadership / management
• Everyone angry, in a hurry, “Hair is on fire” mentality
• No time for the usual quality control.
• And panicked homeowners making ultra-rushed decisions, In a desperate attempt to get a new pool as fast as humanly possible.

Bottom line, if we wanted to point to “the best quality pools in America,” I think most of us would agree that “pools built during the pandemic” would NOT be the best place to look.

That means many homeowners may be sitting on relatively new swimming pools that have fairly serious technical issues that need to be addressed.  Maybe it’s plaster, tile or coping. Maybe it’s equipment or plumbing. Maybe it’s something else. Either way, they will potentially be spending some big money on their pool, even though it’s not even 10 years old.

And even if quality is not a problem, many homeowners now realize the pool they bought in a panic isn’t really what they want or need today.

In 2020, the goal for many was simply “get these kids out of the house before I kill them.”

In 2026, these same (albeit now less-stressed) homeowners may be more interested in the more advanced health and wellness benefits, as we discussed in a previous post.

Many pool owners like this are ripe and ready to invest in their pool, whether it’s to address technical issues, or add enhancements, or both.

Yes, it’s a challenge to find these people. But fortunately, if you have a good  website, and good online presence, they will most likely find you first.

The trick is when they contact you about one small specific repair problem, don’t be afraid to get them thinking about how much better life could be if we made more significant improvements to their backyard dream.