Pool companies: see what each route and job made — books, payroll and taxes done for you

Free tax review

Find out what we’d handle and what it costs

Thirty minutes by phone; you leave with one written price.

We keep the books and run payroll each month, show what each service route and each repair or build made, and at year end we prepare the return. Bookkeeping starts at $375 a month, quoted as a flat fee in writing before we start. Based in Santa Clarita, we work with pool companies in any state.

What each route and job made, every month Payroll for techs paid per pool Sub paperwork and year-end forms handled Books, payroll and the return from one team

Typical situations

Do you work with pool companies like mine?

Yes, we take on pool companies who run weekly service routes — the rounds of pools each tech services for a monthly fee — repair and replace equipment, build and remodel pools, or run all three at once.

A company running routes and repairs on one line

Weekly route fees and repair invoices land in the same income account, so nobody can say which side pays. We keep routes, repairs and builds as separate lines, cost each side and show the margins side by side every month. Books plus the return, from $475 a month — see how the monthly bookkeeping runs.

An operator buying chemicals and parts on one distributor statement

The monthly statement from the pool supply distributor arrives as one total, and the chemical cost of each route never shows. A route can look profitable until its share of the chemicals is counted. We code the statement to the routes and repair jobs it supplied and send a monthly route and job report. Monthly bookkeeping from $375 a month — see what the books include.

An owner paying techs per pool

Per-pool pay gets keyed in as a flat day rate, so the pay type is wrong from the first run. We set the per-pool rate up as its own pay type and run payroll for anyone the owner puts on it. Payroll from $95 a month — see how the payroll service runs.

An owner who bought a route from another operator

The purchase price sits expensed all at once, or never recorded at all, and the return still has to account for what was actually bought. We split the price into what was bought — customer accounts, trucks, equipment — from the signed sale papers; the rule for how it’s written off is in the FAQ below.

A tech starting their own service route

Chemicals go on a personal card at the supply house, route customers pay by check or app, and no route list exists yet. The chemical and truck costs never get set against the route income, so the first return becomes guesswork. We set up the books, the route list and quarterly estimates — the tax payments sent four times a year — from day one, and look at the entity question with the owner. The return runs from $650 for a Schedule C return, or from $850 for an LLC or S-corp with the owner’s personal return included — see how we prepare the return and how we compare entities.

A company a year behind

Distributor statements and route sheets live in the truck, the bank feed hasn’t been touched since spring, and nobody has kept each sub’s total for the year. We rebuild the missing months first, then prepare the return from the rebuilt numbers. Cleanup from $750 — see how a cleanup project runs.

Profit by job

How do you show me what each route and job made?

Job costing is how you see what each route and job made: we match every cost, from chemicals, parts and equipment to your crew’s hours, against what each route and job billed, and send you a report each month showing what every one made.

We set up your job list and cost codes — the labels that tie each cost to its route or job
We charge each tech’s per-pool pay, loaded with payroll taxes, to the routes that tech serviced
We spread each service truck’s fuel and repairs across the routes it runs
We charge the parts and equipment on a repair ticket or build contract to that ticket or contract, with the markup you bill kept apart

The monthly view shows each side’s margin on its own. For the longer version, read how a contractor spots the jobs that lose money.

Subcontractors

What do I need from a sub before I pay them?

Before the first payment, get a signed W-9 — the form that gives a worker’s legal name and taxpayer ID — and the sub’s contractor license number. For 2026 payments, a sub paid $2,000 or more in the year gets a 1099-NEC, the year-end form that reports what you paid them. Corporations generally don’t. The line was $600 for 2025. Forms for 2026 payments are due to the sub and the IRS by February 1, 2027. We collect both before the first payment and file the forms.

On a build that’s the dig, the shotcrete or gunite crew, plaster, tile and coping, and the electrician; on a repair it can be the electrician on a heater or automation hookup. We track each sub’s running total through the year so the forms go out on time. For more on who crosses the line, read the 2026 rules on when a sub gets a 1099.

Getting paid

How should route billing, repair invoices and build deposits show up in my books?

Route customers are billed and tracked every month, each repair is invoiced to its own job, and each build deposit and progress payment — the staged payments a build contract bills as the work moves — is recorded against its own contract, so you can see what’s been collected next to what’s been built.

What we do at each close:

Route invoices matched to each month’s payments
Route customers who still owe for last month
Repair invoices still unpaid, listed by job
Build deposits and progress payments matched to the work done on that contract
Extras built on a contract but not yet billed — an added spa, a tile upgrade, a heater swap

Each close ends with a list of who still owes you and how much.

Catch-up work

What does a catch-up look like when a pool company’s books are behind?

A catch-up rebuilds the missing months from your bank, distributor statements and route billing records, then prepares the return and your quarterly estimates from the reconciled numbers — for a pool company, cleanup starts at $750.

What we ask for

Bank and card statements for the gap; the route billing history and route lists; pool supply distributor statements; repair tickets and invoices; build and remodel contracts with their payment schedules; payroll reports; last year’s return.

How the cleanup runs

We trace every deposit to the route, repair or build payment it came from, code every cost to its route or job, and reconcile the result to the bank.

What you get

Reconciled books for the whole gap, a profit and loss statement (P&L) and balance sheet for each month, what each route and job made across the gap, and each sub’s year total ready for the 1099s — plus the return prepared from numbers that tie to the bank.

Cleanup is billed half to start and the balance on delivery — see how a cleanup project is scoped.

The monthly close

What do you check every month?

Every month we reconcile the bank and card accounts, match the route billing to the payments that arrived, and code the distributor statements and repair costs to their routes and jobs.

Every bill, part and labor hour coded to its job
Build deposits and progress payments compared with the work done on each contract
Repair invoices tied to their tickets
Each service truck’s fuel, repairs and insurance on its own line
Sub payments added to each sub’s running 1099 total
Each sub’s W-9 and license on file before the payment goes out

Each month you get the P&L, the balance sheet, the route and job report, and a short note on what needs attention.

California

What’s different for a pool company in California?

In California, five things change for a pool company: where the license line falls on repair work, the down-payment cap on home pool contracts, workers’ comp, sales tax on chemicals and equipment, and how per-pool pay has to run.

Pool repair work of $1,000 or more takes a Contractors State License Board (CSLB) license, and a worker doing licensed work without one is presumed to be an employee. We flag anyone doing licensed work without a license, and when you move that worker onto payroll, we run it. For the wider choice, read how contractors weigh a W-2 hire against a 1099 sub.
A pool built, remodeled or repaired at a home is a home improvement, so the down payment is capped at $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less. We check each build deposit against the cap when we record it; we don’t write contracts.
One tech on payroll means workers’ comp — the insurance that covers injuries on the job. A C-53 (pool builder) or C-61/D-35 (pool and spa maintenance) contractor with no employees may keep CSLB’s no-employee exemption on file instead of a policy. We flag the first hire so the coverage question doesn’t get missed.
When chemicals are part of your monthly route charge, you pay the sales tax when you buy them, and we carry that tax as route cost. On a build, materials are job cost with the tax paid when you buy them. CDTFA, California’s sales tax agency, keeps a list of fixtures; items on it are taxed as a sale to your customer, so we classify pumps, filters and heaters item by item. How California treats the supplies contractors use on the job walks through the rule.
Pay per pool is piece-rate pay — a set amount per task — and rest periods must be paid separately and shown on the pay stub; when we run per-pool payroll, rest periods are paid as their own line on every stub.

Pricing

What does accounting for a pool company cost in 2026?

In 2026, bookkeeping for a pool company starts at $375 a month, books plus the year-end return at $475 a month, payroll at $95 a month, the return alone at $650 for a Schedule C or $850 for an LLC or S-corp with the owner’s personal return included, and a cleanup at $750. A Schedule C is the business page of your personal return. W-2 and 1099 filing on their own, without monthly books, starts at $95. Each is a flat fee quoted in writing before we start. Tracking what each job made, 1099 filing and license checks sit inside the quote; there’s no separate charge for them.

What moves a quote: how many repair tickets and open builds you carry each month, how many pools are on the routes and whether chemicals are included in the monthly fee, crew size and how often payroll runs, the number of subs, the bank and card accounts, and how far behind the books are.

Books

from $375/mo

Reconciliations for every account
Distributor statements coded to routes and jobs
Subs’ W-9s, license checks and 1099s
Monthly P&L, balance sheet and route/job report

Books plus the return

from $475/mo

Everything in the books
The year-end return prepared from your own books
Quarterly estimates from real numbers

The return alone

from $650

Schedule C return from your records, routes and jobs separated
From $850 for an LLC or S-corp — the owner’s personal return included
How we prepare the return

The quote is the price.

Book my free 30-minute call

How it works

What happens after you book?

Working with us starts with a free 30-minute call, then the engagement letter, a secure-portal invite and a short checklist.

The 30-minute call

About six questions: routes, repairs or builds and the mix; pools on the routes; how the techs are paid; whether chemicals are in the monthly fee; any route you bought; how far behind the books are. You leave with one flat price for the work we’d take on, quoted as a flat fee in writing before we start.

The engagement letter

Sent during the call and signed when you’re ready. Signing books a short onboarding call, and the portal invite comes from that call.

Access and documents

The portal invite, read-only bank feeds or your QuickBooks file, the open-jobs list — routes, open repairs and builds under contract — and your license number. The checklist keeps it short.

Behind first, then monthly

If the books are behind, the cleanup comes first, then the first monthly close and job report.

You see the return before it’s filed

Half the return fee starts the work and the balance is due before e-file; if April gets tight, an extension is free.

Communication

How will I know where the books and the return stand?

The person who answers the phone works on the same numbers you see in the monthly report.

The same-day rule

Call or email during business hours and you’ll hear back the same day — all twelve months.

The monthly report, walked through

Each month’s route and job report is walked through by phone or screen share, so you can ask about any line on it.

Admitted to practice before the IRS

Our team of IRS representation specialists is admitted to practice before the IRS. If an IRS letter shows up, forward it — how we handle IRS letters.

The N&T Tax & Advisory Group team

For a pool company, we keep the books, run payroll and prepare the returns — and answer when you call.

Bookkeeping · Profit by job · Payroll · Tax preparation · IRS representation · Direct line: (661) 554-4495

Reviews

Rated 5.0 on Google

★★★★★ Twelve reviews, every one five stars, every one verifiable. Read all of them on Google →

"Alex helped me resolve a complicated tax situation that had been causing me a lot of stress. He was extremely knowledgeable, responsive, and efficient throughout the entire process."

Kevin B. — via Google

"Working with Alex was straightforward. I hadn't looked at my books all year, but he made my life easy and handled the whole profit and loss at the end of the year so I could get my taxes done."

Levon B. — via Google

"I came to this company with previous tax years and bookkeeping that were done incorrectly. They're very knowledgeable about what they do and help me get everything in order at a very reasonable price."

Sayra A. — via Google

Where we work

Do you work with pool companies outside California?

Yes — based in Santa Clarita, we work with pool companies remotely in any state. Route lists, distributor statements and build contracts come through the secure portal, and questions are handled by phone. If you work in another state, we work to that state’s payroll and filing rules and price it into your quote.

If you also run whole projects as a general contractor, our page for general contractors covers that side.

Anywhere in the US Santa Clarita Los Angeles San Fernando Valley

What we don’t do

We handle the money side: the books, payroll, quarterly estimates and the returns. We don’t value or broker routes, write bids or job estimates for your customers, write change orders or lien waivers, pull permits, sell or advise on insurance, give legal advice on contracts or worker status, or prepare reviewed, compiled or audited statements for banks or bonding.

Worth reading

What can you read before you call?

Short articles from our blog on crew pay, workers’ comp, equipment, trucks and the entity question.

Crew pay

Paying Workers Cash: The Tax Risk and How to Do It Right in 2026

Workers’ comp

Workers Comp Cost Contractors: What You Pay and When You Can Skip It

Equipment

Contractor Equipment Depreciation: Expensing vs. Depreciating That New Machine in 2026

Trucks

Your Contractor Vehicle Tax Deduction in 2026: Standard Mileage vs. Actual Expenses for Heavy Work Trucks

Entity

LLC vs S-Corp for Contractors: Where the 2026 Tax Savings Actually Come From

FAQ

What should a pool company ask before booking?

Do I have to send 1099s to the techs and subs I pay?

Techs on payroll get W-2s; subs paid $2,000 or more in 2026 get a 1099-NEC if they’re an individual, sole proprietor, single-member LLC or partnership; corporations generally don’t. For 2025 payments the line was $600. The 2026 forms go to each sub and to the IRS by February 1, 2027. We total each sub’s payments as the year runs and get the forms out.

Can my pool techs be paid as 1099 contractors?

Not always. Worker status is a legal question about how the work is run, and California adds a license rule for licensed work. We check each person’s license and W-9 when they’re set up and send gray cases to an employment attorney; we don’t give legal advice on worker status.

Do my routes or my repair work make more money?

The two compare only when route income and repair income sit on separate lines, each carrying its own costs. Kept apart that way, the monthly route and job report shows what each side made.

How does a pool route I bought show up on my taxes?

The part of the price that pays for the customer accounts is written off evenly over 15 years. Buyer and seller each file Form 8594, the asset-acquisition form. We record the purchase from the sale papers and carry the write-off each year; see how we prepare the return.

My books are a year behind. Can you catch them up?

Yes. We work through the gap month by month from the bank and your billing and supply records, then prepare the return from the result. A cleanup project starts at $750, half up front and half on delivery.

Should a pool company be an LLC or an S-corp?

Either can work; an S-corp is a tax choice an LLC can also make, so the decision comes down to the running costs and taxes on your own figures, and a California LLC owes the $800 annual tax. We model both on your figures before you decide. Our entity-selection page shows how the comparison runs.

Ready to see what each route and job made?

One free 30-minute call. You’ll leave knowing what we’d handle and what it costs — whether or not you hire us.