How to compare pool staffing proposals

Every winter, managers put pool staffing out for proposals and get back documents that are hard to line up side by side. One vendor quotes a season total, another quotes by the hour, a third sends a glossy brochure with a number on the last page. The board wants a recommendation, and the cheapest bottom line is tempting.

The trouble is that the bottom line only compares well when the proposals describe the same job. Most of the work of comparing vendors is making sure they do.

Send every vendor the same request

The fastest way to get comparable proposals is to ask for them in the same shape. A one-page request is enough:

• Pool name, address and the role you want staffed (attendant, not lifeguard, or both).
• Season dates, daily hours and any days with different hours.
• Holidays and events where you expect extra staff.
• Duties you need covered: check-in, guest policy, rules, rounds, opening and closing, reporting.
• Your guest policy and pool rules, attached.
• How you want pricing broken out.

Ask each vendor to quote against your schedule, not theirs. If a vendor proposes changes, ask them to show the changes as a separate option so you can still compare the base quote.

Ask for itemized hours

An itemized proposal shows the hours behind the total: how many attendants, on which days, for how long, at which pools. Without that, two numbers can't be compared. A lower total might mean fewer hours, a shorter season or a single attendant where you expected two.

Check a few specific things in the hours:

• Season dates match what you asked for, including the shoulder weeks.
• Daily hours cover opening through closing, not just the middle of the day.
• Holidays and peak days are listed, with any extra staff shown separately.
• Minimum shift lengths or other rules that change the math.
• How changes are priced if the board extends the season or adds an event mid-year.

Insurance and the certificate

Ask every vendor for a certificate of insurance (COI) with the proposal, not after the contract is signed. Have your manager or your association's insurance agent check that the coverage types and limits meet what your governing documents and your carrier require. Ask whether the association can be named as an additional insured, and whether workers' compensation is in place for the staff who will work at your pool.

Read the certificate carefully. Check the named insured against the company on the proposal, look at the policy dates against your season, and confirm the coverage types are the ones you need. If something isn't clear, ask the agent listed on the certificate.

Background checks and hiring

Attendants work with residents, often including children, and sometimes have keys or gate codes. Ask how the vendor screens staff: what background checks they run, when, and whether checks are repeated for returning staff. Ask how attendants are trained before their first shift, and whether they're trained on your community's rules specifically or only in general.

Ask who the attendants are employed by. A vendor whose staff are its own employees can tell you exactly how they're hired, trained and supervised. Ask the question directly and get the answer in writing.

Supervision

An attendant at the gate needs someone to call. Ask who supervises attendants during a shift, how quickly a supervisor can reach your pool and how the vendor checks that attendants arrive on time and stay for the full shift. Ask who your manager's contact is during the season and whether that person picks up the phone on a Saturday.

Reporting

Ask for a sample shift report and a sample incident report with names removed. Good reporting tells your manager what happened every day without a phone call. Ask when reports arrive, who receives them, whether they include photos and check-in counts, and how the association gets its records if the contract ends.

What happens on a no-show

This is the question that separates vendors more than any other. Sooner or later an attendant will be sick, stuck in traffic or simply not show up. Ask the vendor to describe exactly what happens next: who notices, how fast a replacement is sent, whether the pool opens late or stays closed and whether the association is billed for hours that weren't worked.

Get the answer in the contract, not just in the sales conversation. A written commitment about coverage and billing for missed hours is worth more than any promise about reliability.

Reading the fine print

Once the proposals line up on hours and scope, read the contract terms with the same care.

• Scope of duties. It should name the role and list what the attendant does and doesn't do. If the vendor provides attendants, the contract should say clearly that they're not lifeguards.
• Term and renewal. How long the contract runs, whether it renews automatically and how much notice either side needs to give.
• Cancellation. What happens if the board cancels mid-season, and what happens if the vendor does.
• Price changes. Whether the rate can change during the term, and how much notice you'll get.
• Weather and closures. Whether you're billed when the pool closes for weather or a mechanical problem, and how much notice you need to give to cancel a shift.
• Indemnification and insurance. Have your association attorney read these sections. It's money well spent.
• Records. Who owns shift and incident reports, and how they're delivered at the end of the term.

Put it in a table for the board

Boards decide faster when the comparison is on one page. Make a simple table with a row for each item above and a column for each vendor: hours, season dates, staff count, insurance, background checks, supervision, reporting, no-show terms, contract terms and price. Mark the gaps. A vendor that's cheapest on paper but blank on no-show coverage or reporting isn't really the cheapest.

Bring sample reports to the meeting too. Directors who see what they'll get every day tend to make the decision quickly.

Request a free, itemized proposal from The Pool Attendant Company and you'll get every hour listed, a sample shift report, with our certificate of insurance available on request.