I've had a pool for just over a year now (bought a house with a pool last September) and we've paid the pool store to open it (once) and close it (twice). I've done all the rest of the maintenance myself, thanks to TFP. Because of the size of my pool (30,000 gallons freeform pool), it seemed like putting on and taking off the cover myself would be way too tricky - I'd rather not have to dive into 59F water to fish out the cover, and I don't have anyone around to help.
However, the pool store seems extortionate for what they do. They were $425 for opening (take off cover, remove gizzmos and plugs, add chlorine, start everything up - though they forgot to hook-up the water supply to the autofill) and $525 for closing (drop water level, add algaecide and chlorine, clean DE filter, blow out lines and add antifreeze, fit plugs and gizzmos and attach cover - except I had to hook up a number of the tie-downs that they'd missed, and also found the spa drain covers on the ground that they'd forgotten to pack away with the rest of the equipment). Opening and closing both took about an hour and a half for 3 and a bit people (the bit is because they have 3 men there the whole time and then a couple of other guys that only come for half an hour to help out)
Elsewhere on TFP I've seen people use numbers of $250-$350 for closing. However, I do know that I live in one of the most expensive parts of the US - can anyone else in NJ say how much they pay for closing?
However, the pool store seems extortionate for what they do. They were $425 for opening (take off cover, remove gizzmos and plugs, add chlorine, start everything up - though they forgot to hook-up the water supply to the autofill) and $525 for closing (drop water level, add algaecide and chlorine, clean DE filter, blow out lines and add antifreeze, fit plugs and gizzmos and attach cover - except I had to hook up a number of the tie-downs that they'd missed, and also found the spa drain covers on the ground that they'd forgotten to pack away with the rest of the equipment). Opening and closing both took about an hour and a half for 3 and a bit people (the bit is because they have 3 men there the whole time and then a couple of other guys that only come for half an hour to help out)
Elsewhere on TFP I've seen people use numbers of $250-$350 for closing. However, I do know that I live in one of the most expensive parts of the US - can anyone else in NJ say how much they pay for closing?