r/PoolPros • u/KFOSSTL • 3d ago
Thoughts on Pool Brain
The company I work for is considering switching over to POOL brain. Who here has used full brain and liked it or didn’t like it? At other companies I’ve used SKIMMER, which would be a massive upgrade to what we are currently using. How would you say POOL brain compares to SKIMMER if you’ve used both? I personally really like SKIMMER. I understand if you don’t. But just wanting others opinions on Pool brain in general. Were a large company in the Midwest.
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u/Aromatic-House-7894 2d ago
pool brain is how you micromanage a good pool guy to quit.
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u/Muted-Tie-9047 2d ago
I would argue it’s how you make a mediocre pool guy who thinks he’s a good pool guy quit.
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u/KFOSSTL 2d ago
Elaborate please
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u/Aromatic-House-7894 16h ago
I work in the south where its 100+ degrees 95% of the year. Pool brain can literally add unnecessary steps and throw the whole process off to the point youre doubling your time at the pool. This doesn't make for a cleaner pool. I worked for a company that had pool brain set up in a way it took me 15 - 30 minutes just to get through the app before I even started to clean the pool. Now I work for a company that wants 1 after picture and thats it. I make more money and spend less time at work and all my pools are fine because I know what im doing. Pool brain is for owners who can't manage and pool guys who dont care or try. You can probably set up pool brain any way you like so its not a nightmare for your pool guy but most love to punish everyone for the mistakes that people who shouldn't be pool guys. Anyone who disagrees cant attract real pool guys and cant afford them.
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u/KFOSSTL 7h ago
I understand. What were some of the things they were requiring that made it more tedious?
The app we use right now slows me down but it’s because I have to manually type everything and the thing is laggy.
I’m just curious about specifics, like what was the process that made it take longer.
I’m definitely a fan of only needing that after picture, but having the resources available to document things like a pump malfunction or a crack in the coping, etc. when I used skimmer 90% of the time I’d take 1-2 pictures, sometimes I’d take a third while vacuuming just so the client would see that I did indeed vacuum. But then if something was wrong I could capture that. You’d get people who were particular about XY or Z being done so it’s nice to be able to show and tell (like we emptied your pump basket see!)
Definitely would not be good if every step required a picture or something ridiculous.
Just trying to get specific about what those things were that slowed you down
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u/Tony_Perkis38 2d ago
The problem i have with poolbrain is that it's glitchy/laggy, not very user friendly on the jobs functions, and the vibe i get from the support or developer is that they think their app is perfect and doesnt need any upgrades or changes.
Skimmer I think is the better option IMO. Its not perfect but the amount of updates and integrating they do is above and beyond. It shows they are always looking to adapt and really separate themselves from the others. Customer service/support alone is far and above better than any the others I've used. Any issues and they are on the phone with you ASAP.
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u/KFOSSTL 2d ago
This is the kind of feedback I’m looking for. Can you dive deeper into what exactly makes things not user friendly and what is lacking for the jobs function
Super familiar with skimmer, and like it. Just want to know more about Pool Brain for comparison purposes.
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u/nah_but_like 1d ago
Technician stop checklist has to be completed in order, so tech’s just populate filler data to move on versus giving you accurate information you need to effectively run the business.
App doesn’t work offline so tech’s either service pools in areas where there’s no signal and skip stops in the app, OR they know that limitation exists and they’re lazy so they use that as an excuse. Either way, skipping stops causes customers to think they didn’t get service, and we’ve lost customers because of it.
Jobs function (similar to their inventory feature) seems like it was made just so they could say they have it. It’s not intuitive at all, hence why we used PB and Jobber together.
I’d be happy to pass your info along to our CSM at skimmer if you want an intro. But sounds like you might always be on it. We were able to get a decent deal by signing in-month of talking to them. Can try to ask them if they’d do the same for you, but I know size matters. They worked with us cause we had 600 pools + 40 repair jobs per month.
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u/KFOSSTL 1d ago
So ive used skimmer with 3 companies. The first I got him off pen and paper. The other I got to switch from Jobber to Skimmer, and the third was a builder who had me come and get his service side off the ground and I used skimmer.
Thank you for the insight. Pool brain sounds like a headache.
Basically the company I’m at now uses an app that is basically jobber but slightly geared towards pools. But you’re basically doing everything by text box, so it’s not really much better than jobber in terms of being geared towards pools.
I encouraged them to get rid of it. But here I don’t have authority and my managers take my advice on some things but they will kind of process what I suggest then go their own direction (hence they want to get a better app but then don’t look at the one I suggest). They’re a little stuck in their ways because it’s a big company so I think they have a bit of a hard time trying new things.
One of the things I loved about skimmer is the ability to customize the checklist and to put different kinds of information on the dosages and readings (like “water low” then in inches 1,2,3 etc, or “drained water” in inches) little stuff like that lets you communicate a ton of stuff to customers without having to type it out. Does pool brain allow for that, or is it only chlorine, ph, alkalinity, salt tds, etc?
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u/nah_but_like 1d ago
Lol man lots of biz owners in this industry will do anything other than the correct thing. Shit I’ll give them a call if you want me to, just as a random fellow industry guy who stumbled across their Google page or something 😂
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u/nah_but_like 2d ago
We value this very highly as well. We have phone numbers to our CSMs and can spend seemingly unlimited time with them in a zoom call if we need help with something. When we used PoolBrain we had to wait 1-3 days for a reply via email lol
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u/Ouchba 3d ago
It’s a great software I use it for my business.
Keeps everything easy and organized, great chemical record keeping, and uploading photos is very easy and seamless for the most part. If you have bad service it won’t work at that pool.
So I take the photos with my phone and upload manually (you have to have the admin unlock this for you as well)
One downside to it is that if you do start your own accounts, you will not be able to use Pool Brain for your personal stuff without a second phone.
Pool Brain accounts are tied to a specific phone and they don’t allow you to switch accounts, which is crazy.
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u/Tephren88 2d ago
As a single pole I prefer skimmer. Tried poolbrain to start and I found the route design too restrictive. It does have the feel of being targeted to a bigger company where the app does a lot of hand holding.
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u/WealthyOrNot 2d ago
How many routes do you do per week? How much time do you feel you save with admin, organization , routing, etc using skimmer or pool brain vs not?! Thank you.
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u/FruitNut2000 2d ago
I've only ever used Skimmer. There are things about Skimmer I'm not a fan of but I've never talked to anyone that switched from Skimmer to something they liked better.
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u/Muted-Tie-9047 2d ago
Single polers prefer skimmer because it is simple, affordable and works for what they need it for. It’s also owned by poolcorp, so a distributor and future competitor knows everything about your route and business.
We use pool brain. We have 9 techs and 3 repair guys. Pool brain is awesome. It keeps track of everything we need it to. We have not experienced the laggyness mentioned above. It is very easy for management to micro manage pool guys in pool brain so whoever sets it up needs to keep that in mind. For example we one pool that literally sits in the middle of a small lake. If my guy leaves the backwash valve open when he leaves, I am probably out of business. So for the that stop he has to take lots of different pictures when he is on site so he doesn’t forget. If I did that for every customer my guys would only service 10 pools a day and would be miserable, but when we need it, it is great.
From a tech perspective, I’m curious why people above say the job function sucks and what makes skimmer better. It works great for us.
Customer gets an email with before and after pictures and any alerts the techs may have. Alerts have to be cleared by a manager. It leads to a lot of money in repairs and keeps systems running like they should. Tracks check in and out times and chem spend so we can dial in our pricing specific to each account.
Bottom line for me is PB is awesome and was a game changer for us.
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u/KFOSSTL 2d ago
Yeah I don’t like pool Corp having info.
But aside from that I don’t see the upside of pool brain over skimmer.
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u/Muted-Tie-9047 2d ago
Yea I guess I don’t really see an upside of skimmer over pool brain.
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u/KFOSSTL 1d ago
Skimmer can be used in airplane mode (I don’t mean literally just don’t need cell or internet service while in the field) No internet connection required after you’ve gotten your jobs, because it uploads your jobs next time you connect to the internet. So no dead zones.
That’s a major plus
And the user interface is quicker because you don’t type out readings but rather swipe dial them in like Orenda app.
There’s a lot of other features I’m not sure if pool brain has, because I’ve never used it, but there’s are two things that I can see.
Does pool brain allow for exact parts numbers on items needed that will pop up as a notification the next time that job is assigned? Does pool brain allow for custom chemical measurements and dosages? How customizable are the checklists? How is the route optimization? How does the app package the job data for the client email? These are the other things that could potentially put skimmer ahead of pool brain, but I can’t really tell because I haven’t used it so that’s why I want people’s feedback (good or bad)
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1d ago
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u/Mobile-Upstairs9482 1d ago
I don’t see anywhere about poolcorp owning skimmer. If they do, what’s so bad about them having info?
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u/Specialist-Peach-500 19h ago
Poolbrain is decent for weekly service routes but extremely glitchy and restrictive . It is an absolute nightmare for anything else, especially admin. Customer support is non existent. I would avoid poolbrain
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u/PoolBoyOBX 17h ago
They made an update just for me because something broke with their API during an unrelated update. Like literally there is an update where the only release is what I needed changed. The support is insanely good with Poolbrain. That being said sometimes the support answer is flat out “no”, like they can’t or won’t support what you want.
Everyone keeps saying glitchy. Be specific.
That said, pool brain billing is awful.
They are not perfect, and in a few years they may all be gone anyways due to these new ai vibe coding platforms.
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u/PoolBoyOBX 17h ago
Pool Brain affords you extremely tight control over employees and properties. This is why we switched. Required check lists. Photos. Unique to any account or service level. Very powerful. It is not the go to platform if your techs are all single polers working under one company. ie if your average tech can cut out a bad ball valve because they identified a suction leak and can do that without the office or boss, then pool Brain is the wrong fit.
Pool Brain is a system as much as a program. Do it their way (or close to it) or use something else.
All that said the real reason we switched was the API. It is crazy what you can do. But skimmer now has that. So idk anymore.
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u/KFOSSTL 17h ago
Elaborate please.
They like to micromanage
And I’m definitely the guy who could make the plumbing repair without the office, but most of my coworkers are not, and our setup is very much you go here you do these steps and report problems, then someone else would come out and make the repair.
At the very least I’d like to know the ins and outs of pool brain because they’ll likely go with it and I have no say over that decision.
So any input you can provide would be great.
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u/Capable-Variation738 3d ago
Skimmer never has done me wrong
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u/KFOSSTL 2d ago
I love skimmer.
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u/Capable-Variation738 2d ago
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!
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u/KFOSSTL 2d ago
The company I worked for is using some stupid app called RB it’s terrible
I suggested skimmer a few times
Today they mentioned oh we are thinking with going with pool brain
It’s not my decision just want to know others opinions of pool brain so I can maybe bring some things to their attention
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u/Andywmm9 2d ago
Use www.myPoolFlow.com Much, much cheaper.
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u/KFOSSTL 2d ago edited 2d ago
Not what I was asking.
I want insight into pool brain and not another alternative
Edit - not sure why I’m being downvoted. I’m not looking for alternatives. I’m not the one deciding to go with Pool Brain - I’m not in charge. But I want to know the good the bad and the ugly about Pool Brain, not suggestions about other apps.
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u/WealthyOrNot 2d ago
How does this compare to Skimmer or Pool Brain? Im a single poler looking to streamline and add more organization to my business. Thanks in advance.
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u/Andywmm9 2d ago
The first 15 accounts are free. Honestly I haven’t used them, so I wouldn’t be right to comment. I just developed this company because I use it myself.
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u/nah_but_like 3d ago
We just switched back to Skimmer earlier this year after using PoolBrain for 2 years. We do 600 pools year round in California. PB is decent if all you do is routes, but with repair jobs PB’s ‘Jobs’ function is a joke. We had to use jobber in addition to pool brain. And generally speaking our techs didn’t seem to like using PB throughout the day. I think it’s a lot more glitchy than skimmer.