Aug. 12, 2021

Lon Levenhagen wondered if the pandemic would force his employer Splash City to shut down last spring.

Instead, the general manager was on the precipice of one of his busiest summers to date.

“All of a sudden, we’re 50 percent busier because people are looking to enhance their backyards and have something for their family and kids to do,” Levenhagen said.

The demand for residential pools and hot tubs has increased dramatically in Sioux Falls as people spend less time traveling and more time at home. This also mirrors national trends.

“It has been absolutely overwhelming,” said Jacque Johnson, sales manager and “hot tub lady” at Hot Spring Spas of Sioux Falls. “We’ve sold more hot tubs in the last two years than we have in probably the last seven.”

For Nic and Tara Allen, a backyard pool was a wish list item from the time they bought their house about five years ago. But in May 2020, when the city of Sioux Falls announced it was closing public pools for the summer, the Allens knew it was time to pull the trigger.

They bought the pool in early May, and their two daughters were swimming by mid-July. Nic Allen knows they were lucky to get in ahead of the surge in demand.

“If we had waited probably another two weeks, we might not even have had it in last summer just because of items on back order and everything,” he said.

Those buying pools and hot tubs now face longer wait times to get in materials because of nationwide shortages caused both by the pandemic and resin shortages dating back to the freeze in Texas earlier this year.

“Stuff that used to take us two to three weeks to get might take four to five months now,” said Allen Albers, owner of AAA Pools & Construction.

Some pool slides are on back order for up to 10 months, he added.

On the hot tub side, Johnson said wait times are closing in on 48 weeks in some cases, with certain brands out for more than a year.

Those wait times, paired with a shortage in materials, mean prices are rising.

“It’s a combination of things: freight, ability to get parts, resin shortage. … It’s been a challenge,” Johnson said.

And in her 18 years of experience in the industry, she knows when prices go up, they don’t go back down.

The pool industry in town also has seen a slight shift in its customer base in this new rush for backyard entertainment. In previous years, pools might be found only at homes valued at $700,000 or more, Albers said. Now, he’s seeing more pools installed at homes closer to the $400,000 to $500,000 range.

It’s a trend Johnson has seen too. She has noticed a broader spectrum of clients, including more families.

Backyard pools also are becoming more of an asset to homeowners than they were in the past, Allen said. As a real estate agent, he has seen pools be filled with dirt in years past after a home sale.

Now, they’re being sought after in some cases.

“It’s a much better investment now than what it was 10 years ago,” he said.

In some cases, the pools themselves are getting bigger, Albers said. Common sizes are 18 feet by 36 feet or 20 feet by 40 feet. But he said he’s installing one now that’s 35 feet by 80 feet.

The challenge, though, is availability of materials. Levenhagen said Splash City’s growth over the past two years could be even greater if the business were able to get more products.

It could be even greater still if they could hire more employees, he added. Like most industries right now, the pool and spa sector is having a hard time finding enough workers to keep up with the demand for services.

For those looking to install a pool, the best advice professionals have is to get on a list right away. Because the increase in demand is a nationwide trend, Levenhagen said he has been limited in what he can purchase.

There’s a lot of planning that goes into installing a pool, too, Albers said, and materials might be in stock one week and gone the next.

Overall, the demand hasn’t slowed, even as the pandemic restrictions lessened.

“We have just seen good growth in the majority of our outside products,” Levenhagen said. “It’s patio furniture, hot tubs, spas, pools, whether it’s in-ground or above-ground, that’s what we’re seeing.”