CE: Extremely busy. A lot of double-, triple-checking orders and making sure we have everything we need, making sure everything is ordered properly, and making sure everything is there. We may have had to switch some things around a little bit, kind of go from job to job to work with what you’ve got, as well as trying to keep the customers in the loop of what is going on—all while trying to keep everyone happy, all at the same time. The workload has probably tripled since the pandemic first started. Probably one of the hardest things to deal with was staffing. All my guys are great and work efficiently, but it’s really hard to find people to add to that.
PSM: How has the shop adapted to the surge in homeowners looking to create a backyard staycation? What is being done differently now in terms of shop operations to handle the increased number of projects compared
to pre-pandemic?
CE: One thing we did recently, partially due to lack of supply and such, but we recently stopped installing above-ground pools, just to give us some more time to deal with the bigger projects we have, such as the inground pools and bigger jobs.
