KINBURN – If you can see the indent of your pool through the snow, well, spring can’t be too far away.

The happiest day of the warmer weather is the day you open your pool and Steve Laughlin says more and more Ottawa-area people are joining the pool life.

“Big time,” Steven Laughlin of Laughlin Pool Services told West Carleton Online last week (March 13). “People are selling their cottages and boats and putting their toys in the backyards. You should see some of the pools people are putting in. Slides, waterfalls, features.”

“Last year was our busiest year ever,” Jane Laughlin said.

For 28 years Steven, his wife Jane and their son Mitchell have been providing residential and commercial pool maintenance for the West Carleton, Kanata, Stittsville and Ottawa Valley area providng openings, closings, pool maintenance and renovations.

He and his son Mitchell each run a truck and his wife Jane works the office and operates their pool supplies store at the corner of Diamondview and Kinburn Side roads.

Steven says things are starting to pick up.

“The phone is starting to ring, and the clients are getting anxious,” he said. “Right now, there’s not much we can do, but the sooner the better. As soon as the ice is out and the more information the customer can give us the better.”

And the number one tip Laughlin has for pool owners?

“Use it,” he said. “A used pool is easier to maintain. If you don’t maintain your pool, it’s going to take some time to get it going. If you have a pool, use it. The more you use it, the better it is for the pool.”

While the Laughlins still have some of their original customers, the business and the technology has changed a lot.

No longer do pool owners use chlorine filled pools at home.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the pools we service are salt water now,” Steven said. “They’re easier to maintain. They’re easier on the skin.”

Even Wi-Fi is part of the industry now, one of the ways pools are becoming more energy efficient.

“People want to turn up the heat at the office and have the pool warm when they get home,” Laughlin said. “More and more it’s turning to automation.”

It truly is the Golden Age of backyard swimming.

“We take care of our customers,” Jane said. “We like to say service is the business, not a department.”

For more information on Laughlin Pool Services, click here.