Pool design software for builders
Draw the pool over a backyard photo or a satellite view and set the shallow and deep ends. PoolTools works out the gallons, the dig, the truckloads of haul-off and the pump, and JobTools takes the job from the proposal to the final invoice.
Draw the pool on the customer's lot
Trace the yard from a satellite view or a photo you took on the visit, or start on a blank grid, and draw the pool, spa and deck to scale. Set the shallow end, the deep end and the depth profile between them. Nothing needs installing: PoolTools runs in the browser on a laptop or a tablet.
The numbers come from the shape you drew. A 32 by 16 foot pool in the designer above holds 18,118 gallons and takes 135 cubic yards of dig, and PoolTools turns the dig into truckloads of haul-off so you can price the excavation and the trucking before you leave the driveway.
A pump sized to the pool
The pump is sized from the volume, the turnover you choose, the pipe size and the length of the run. That is why two pools with the same gallons can need different pumps: the one at the far end of a long run loses more of its flow to the pipe. The chemical, salt and startup doses start from the designed gallons too, so the first fill is dosed for the pool you built.
For a quick check away from the design, the pool volume calculator works from length, width and depths, the chemical calculator gives the dose for chlorine, alkalinity, calcium, stabilizer and salt, and the pool heater calculator sizes a heater in BTU.
Show it before they sign
Turn the design around in 3D in Studio, change the interior finish and set the time of day, so the customer sees the pool at dusk as well as at noon. Imagine draws a photoreal picture of the finished pool in the customer's own backyard photo, seen from their back door, which answers questions a brochure cannot: how much lawn is left, where the deck goes and whether the fence has to move.
Concrete, vinyl and fiberglass
PoolTools designs concrete and vinyl pools now. Fiberglass shells come in fixed shapes from each maker and will follow.
Run the build in JobTools
A pool build runs for weeks and takes several payments, and JobTools keeps them together. A proposal published in PoolTools lands there as a draft with the design and pictures; price it from your price book with good, better and best options, such as the pool alone, the pool with a spa, and the pool and spa with the deck and a heater. The customer picks one and signs on their phone, and the signed proposal becomes a job with the deposit invoice made out.
Put each phase on the schedule, from the dig to the start-up, and drag a visit to another day when the inspection moves. Your crew sees the day on their phones with the checklist, before and after photos, notes and a time clock. Each customer has a page of their own with their visits, invoices and the job.
Progress invoices and payments
Send deposit, progress and final invoices from the job. Customers pay by card or by bank transfer (ACH), straight into your own Stripe account, and you record checks and cash as they come in. JobTools keeps track of what is still owed and sends your customers, items, invoices and payments to QuickBooks Online, so the books stay current without typing anything twice.
Proposals that are not signed after a few days get a reminder email, and so do invoices as they come due.
Free calculators
Start free
PoolTools and the calculators are free, and you can try Pro free for a month.
Questions
- Is PoolTools free?
- Yes, at pool.toolsforbuilders.com, with nothing to install.
- Does it do fiberglass pools?
- Concrete and vinyl now. Fiberglass shells come in fixed shapes and will follow.
- How does it size the pump?
- From the designed gallons, the turnover time you choose, the pipe size and the length of the run, so the pump is matched to the flow the pool needs at that distance.