London Inc. May/June 2021 - 18

Upfront Construction & Landscape

SO, YOU WANT A BACKYARD POOL THIS
SUMMER? SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE
You're going to ﬁnd yourself left high and dry if you
haven't already ordered - for next year

IF YOU THINK you're getting a new backyard pool this year,
think again - among Covid's many unexpected knock-on
effects, the pool industry has been roaring, with suppliers
and installers already hitting their capacity for 2021 before
summer has even started.
" Our above-ground pools sold out in early March.
" Typically, before Covid, we'd be going into the end of summer and still have some left, " says Jason Eaton of London's
Skyview Pool & Spa (www.skyviewpoolandspa.com). " Now
when people call for an above-ground pool, they're saying
they've called 100 places - and nobody has stock. "
It's no secret what's led to the Griswoldian enthusiasm
for backyard pools this year: unspent vacation cash coupled
with the sense that if travel is going to be complicated for the
foreseeable future, it makes sense to spruce up your immediate surroundings.
" People are desperate for activities that they can do in
their own backyard, " says Jason Jackson, of Jackson Pools
(www.jacksonpools.ca). " We've noticed it with hot tub sales,
pools - anything to keep the kids busy. "
Early looks at statistics show pool sales to be up as high as
a whopping 80 per cent last year, a trend that's being repeated
in 2021. Prices are rising, too, with Eaton estimating around
18 | londonincmagazine.ca | MAY / JUNE 2021

" PARTS ARE DEFINITELY A
CONCERN. I'M HOARDING
STUFF LIKE CRAZY "
-Jason Jackson
a 10 per cent jump over the pandemic.
But what has been bad news for pool hopefuls has been
good news for anyone in the business of installing pools.
Skyview, says Eaton, was " booked for the year, for installations, last year. "
By the time construction season opened, this year's
schedule for installers was more or less set, rather than leaving pool companies with gaps in the schedule that needed
ﬁlling throughout the year. It's been a welcome turn for the
industry that, a year ago, felt it might've been on the rocks.
" I thought, with all the job losses, that everyone would be
pretty concerned, " says Jackson. " I couldn't have been more
wrong. "
Of course, all that demand has made the work of sourcing and installing pools far trickier. Because they rarely
use lumber, pools have avoided the kinds of crunch seen

http://www.skyviewpoolandspa.com http://www.jacksonpools.ca http://www.londonincmagazine.ca

London Inc. May/June 2021

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