Other influential factors
Design specialists and landscape architects have also changed the way pool covers are being selected. For instance, Kent Schillinger, owner of IN2H2O, in Douglasville, Ga., finds an increasing number of his clients come to him after they have paid and consulted with a landscape architect. In these cases, they already have a drawing of the pool produced by the architect and they know what they want to do with their backyard, right down to the colour scheme.
White has also noticed the same trend, where design professionals are also suggesting the colour of the safety cover as part of the overall plan for the backyard.
“These designers typically like grey covers as they look nice with the stamped-concrete colours available today. They make sure everything matches because oftentimes the pool is the focal point of the backyard and it needs to look good year-round,” says White, who often adds some practical advice to go along with the designer’s artistic notions. “We recommend grey and tan covers the most—not only because they co-ordinate well in the backyard, but also because these colours hold up better to fading caused by ultraviolet (UV) light. Also, they don’t show dirt and generally look better in most backyards.”
For some retailers like H2O2, which have not made a point of heavily promoting new safety cover colours, their customers have been coming to them with specific colour requests simply due to Internet exposure. Homeowners can find photos and literature online for inspiration and ideas on how they want their backyard to look.
“If the homeowner has the budget for a safety cover, they really want it to integrate seamlessly with the rest of their backyard landscape,” says Mancini, noting he gets a lot of feedback from customers after installing mesh tan or grey covers because of how they look in the winter. “Safety cover sales continue to rise from year to year. Thirty-five to 40 per cent of all our cover sales are safety covers.”
Safety and savings are still important
No matter how much customers like the various colours and patterns that are now available, swimming pool safety covers are first and foremost about backyard security. The appeal to style is just a way to make this crucial safety item more appealing, which in turn helps make the selling process a little easier.
For many retailers, the safety aspect these covers offer is still the primary selling feature; however, selling covers with unique colours gives them something else to talk about and, at the same time, distinguishes them from their competition.
“If I design and build a complete backyard landscape with a swimming pool as the focal point, which becomes more esthetically pleasing because I use a coloured safety cover, I will increasingly get more referrals,” says Schillinger. “Manufacturers are doing the right thing to bring in higher-end, higher-quality fabrics and colours. It’s a trend that consumers want, and we as pool builders and installers need to be able to offer these products to remain competitive.”
In addition to backyard security and beautification, safety covers—no matter the colour—also save pool owners money. A safety cover will last a minimum of 10 years and they are easy to install and remove, but more importantly, they also help to reduce the length of time it takes to open a pool.
“We charge $150 per hour to open a pool and with the old tarp covers we can easily spend at least 30 minutes pumping water off the top of the cover,” says Simmons. “Plus, the water bags need to be replaced frequently—five years is a long life for a water bag. Therefore, when everything is said and done, installing a safety cover can represent considerable annual savings for the pool owner.”
This past winter was one of the worst he has seen in the Halton Region in 35 years, adds Mancini.
“Winter covers have taken a beating, so we will likely see a lot of interest in upgrading to designer safety covers in 2014,” he says.
Mike Preuit is the national sales manager for Plastimayd LLC’s CoverLogix® brand of safety covers. He started with the Oregon City, Ore.-based company in 1998 in inside sales and customer service and has been working as the company’s western region outside sales manager for 14 years. He can be reached via e-mail at mikep@coverlogix.com.
