By most all accounts, the summer of 2016 will be remembered as one of the busiest and hottest the industry has experienced in a long time, at least since before the recession.
In speaking with builders over the summer (that is, the ones who had the time and energy to talk to yours truly), they consistently reported almost frenzied activity and oftentimes an almost desperate sense of exhaustion. Although purely anecdotal at this point, experience suggests that the heat combined with an improving housing market and still low interest rates motivated homeowners to pick up the phone and make what is for many the largest investment of their lives next to the home itself.
One of the frustrations that more than one builder shared is something we hear almost every year to varying degrees: Homeowners wait until it's too late to finish their projects during the hot months. Certainly it's human nature to want what we want when we want it, but when it comes to building a place to escape the heat, they can be disappointed when the reality is they have to wait for next year.
The fact is, pool projects both simple and complex, with all their attendant landscaping features, don't go in overnight, or in a week or even a month. That's especially true when providers of said pools are pushed to their limits of time and endurance and carry sizable backlogs. The problem is further exacerbated by the complexity of many of today's projects and many homeowners' tendency to make changes midstream. Other factors such as delays in product and material delivery as well as overworked building departments and inspectors also add to the frustration.
Many builders have told me they have learned to be upfront with prospective clients about time frames to manage expectations, even if it means losing a project or two along the way. A few I've talked to candidly admitted, however, that the desire to capitalize on the sweltering demand drives them to simply push it as hard as they can and more or less hope for the best.
Knowing this is a common problem, perhaps there's something to be said for focusing marketing efforts in fall and into the winter, with the message that the best time to start a project is months ahead of the blistering heat? Maybe there's a powerful message about the value of the product itself that resides inside the truth about how long it takes bring quality work to fruition?
One thing we know for sure, those homeowners who do think ahead when the weather cools, whether motivated by marketing or by their own volition, will be the most satisfied when the temperatures rise again next year.
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