Why Pool Builders Are Losing Money and How to Fix It in 90 Days

When You Don’t Play for a Team, You Only Play for Yourself

Forget the federal side, payroll taxes, HR compliance, and paperwork. 

That’s not the real story here.

The real story is control.

When your sales team isn’t structured as W-2 employees, when they’re 1099s, playing for themselves, you lose control over your most important system: cash flow.

Because when you don’t play for a team, you only play for yourself.

W-2 vs. 1099: The Question That’s Costing You Hundreds of Thousands

If you’re a pool builder or home services business owner, you’ve probably justified your 1099 setup like this:

“I save on payroll taxes.”

“They’re motivated by commission.”

“I don’t want the overhead.”

That’s fair, but short-sighted.

The tax savings amount to a few thousand dollars per rep per year. But what about the hundreds of thousands in your pipeline right now? There’s no urgency, accountability, or shared process driving deals to the finish line.

Let’s run the math.

Say your average pool project is $85,000.

Now look at your CRM. How many deals are in your pipeline, marked as “Verbal Yes” or “Waiting on Homeowner Decision,” for 60+ days? If you’ve even five of those, that’s $425,000 in uncollected revenue. That’s not “potential” money. That’s cash that should already be in your bank account.

How would your business change if I handed you a check for that amount right now?

Would you hire me? 

Pay off debt? 

Buy inventory ahead of season?

That’s what’s at stake, not tax savings.

The Real Cost of Drift

While those deals sit in limbo for 90, 120, or even 150 days, your prospects aren’t sitting still. 

They’re getting quotes from your competitors.

They’re losing excitement about the project. 

And they’re rationalizing the delay because your team didn’t close the loop fast enough. 

Be honest: what percentage of your pipeline do you think you’re losing simply because someone else moved quicker? 

Even if it’s just 15% of a $3M annual pipeline, that’s $450,000 quietly walking out the door.

What’s Really Being Rewarded

Here’s the brutal truth:

Many business owners accidentally reward excuses instead of urgency.

When your sales reps are 1099 contractors, you can’t easily enforce; 

• daily pipeline follow-ups, 
• team huddles, or 
• CRM accountability. 

You can “suggest” these things, but can’t truly build a repeatable system around them, because they are not your employees.

So you end up with 

• slow deals 
• inconsistent effort, and 
• fragile forecasting. 

Reps get comfortable with long sales cycles because there’s no consequence for letting deals drift. And that’s where control slips.

What W-2 Sales Teams Actually Give You

Hiring W-2 sales reps isn’t about red tape but building a machine.

A W-2 sales team means:

✅ You control the process.

✅ You control the pace.

✅ You control the follow-up.

✅ You control the customer experience.

You can create structure through 

• daily check-ins, 
• defined sales stages, 
• measurable KPIs, and 
• CRM enforcement. 

You can also create urgency by tracking daily leaderboards, sharing incentives, and authentic coaching.

You can also create momentum, with every rep moving in sync toward company-level revenue goals, not just personal commissions. 

When everyone’s rowing in the same direction, the boat moves faster.

Questions Every Owner Should Ask

If you lead a pool building company, ask yourself and your team these 10 questions:

1. What’s your average deal size?
2. Multiply that by the number of deals stuck for 60+ days. That’s your trapped cash.
3. While those deals last 120 days, how many are lost to faster competitors?
4. What’s that percentage worth in dollars?
5. Has your team gotten too comfortable with slow deals?
6. What behaviors are you rewarding right now — urgency or excuses?
7. If nothing changes, where will the business be 12 months from now?
8. What does that mean for your role, your income, your sanity?
9. Do you actually want to fix this in the next 90 days?
10. Or are you willing to live with it for another year?

The 90-Day Fix

This Fix isn’t a six-month “consulting engagement.”

It’s a 90-day turnaround, a Sales System Audit, and implementation that transforms your team from reactive to proactive.

In 90 days, you can:

• Build a W-2 sales structure that enforces accountability.
• Shorten your sales cycle by 30–50%.
• Recover hundreds of thousands in stuck deals.
• Create repeatable, coachable systems that drive consistent growth.

But here’s the key: you have to want to fix it.

We can help you solve it, but can’t help you rationalize it.

Why This Matters for Pool Builders

The pool industry is booming, but customer patience isn’t.

Homeowners expect speed, communication, and confidence. They want to feel your team is in sync, from estimate to excavation.

A W-2 sales structure doesn’t just fix internal inefficiency; it builds customer trust.

It signals professionalism. It creates consistency in how leads get handled, quoted, and followed up.

That translates directly into revenue and reputation. When your competitors are still trying to “motivate” their 1099 reps, you’ll be scaling with a system that works.

Ready to Take Control?

Suppose this hit a nerve, good. It should.

Because you don’t need more leads, you need to close the ones you already have.

Book your  Sales System Audit with GoRizen.

It’s a $500 investment that can uncover hundreds of thousands in trapped cash sitting idle in your pipeline.

👉 Book Your Sales Audit Below

Let’s stop rationalizing slow sales.

Let’s build a system that wins, fast.

About the Author

Matthew Mangold is a Sales Systems Expert and a strategic partner of GoRizen. He helps home service companies build scalable, accountable sales teams that drive predictable growth.