DIVING IN
Demand for swimming pools spikes amid pandemic
The demand for swimming pools has spiked amid the pandemic
After their neighborhood's plans for a pool and clubhouse fell through last year, northwest Oklahoma City residents Cory and Lana Ingram decided to install an in-ground pool of their own.
Neither had to convince the other. Cory grew up in Stroud with an above-ground pool. And, Lana's parents have a backyard pool in Warrensburg, Missouri, in which their five children, ages 9 to 14, spend most of their weeklong vacation every summer.
The Ingrams broke ground on their pool in early February and expect t o be splashing around in it within a month.
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Cory couldn't be happier that the pool already is in progress.
“I ' m not a big f an of t he crowds and chaos of public swimming pools,” he said. “It will be nice to come home from work and jump in the pool.”
Based on statistics from a safe digging organization and feedback from builders of in-ground pools and sellers of above- ground ones, t he demand for pools of all kinds has shot up like a fountain or a Water Wiggle garden hose toy on the hottest of summer days.
When Gov. Kevin St itt
issued safer-at-home orders for Oklahoma, Gary Hill' s company phones went silent for weeks. Hill is the president of ASL Pools& Spa sin Midwest City and installer of the Ingrams' pool.
“Then, two to three weeks ago, our phones started blowing up with people who were considering pools and now want to get one,” Hill said.
Advanced Sprinkler& Landscape Inc. employs seven and designs and installs a variety of pools from models with ornate water features, which can take up to six months to install, to modest vinyl liner pools, which can be built within a month, Hill said.
Calls to company spoke spersons with Cost co Wholesale Corporation and Academy Sports + Outdoors went unreturned. But feedback from sales rep sand consumers point to the increase in demand f or above- ground pools, as well as in-ground ones.
A salesman at the Oklahoma City Costco said the store sold its last above-ground pool last weekend. Meanwhile, an Edmond mother of two, who preferred not to be named, bought a pool at Academy that she plans to put up if her neighborhood pool doesn't open due to COVID-19.
OKIE811, the organization for safe digging in the state, has been busy, seeing a 16.4% increase of work r e quest s f or pond a nd pool digging from January through April compared to the same period last year, while requests shot up 61% from March to April alone.
Since Jan. 1, OKIE811 fielded 2,678 requests to locate power and other lines before digging pools, executive director Susan Bohl
said. Requests are up 378 from last year, and jumped from 652 in March to 1,048 in April, she said.
Shirley Wade of Nelson Landscaping in Edmond, said calls about in-ground pools “have gone crazy. … Like tripled over last year.”
Wade said she's sett i ng an appointment a day, sometimes three, for estimates.
Inquiries about landscaping also have been up over the past couple of months, Wade said. “People can't get out of their house, so they're sitting in their backyards and decide they want to do something prettier.”