Pools are nice to have during a summer heat wave. Here are a few tips from Emerald Pools owner Justin Urrutia to get a pool party started.

What is the best way for homeowners to take care of their pool?

They need to maintain their pool on a weekly basis on a day [for] about 30-45 minutes. They have to brush the entire interior of the pool, balance the water chemistry and clean the skimmer baskets. When my clients buy a property I built a pool at, I teach them how to take care of their pool. I teach them the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly maintenance items that need to be addressed.

How can homeowners ensure they are choosing the right pool technician?

When you are interviewing pool guys, you ask them what size rebar—the steel used to support the concrete—they’re going to use. If anyone gives you the answer to that [without additional context], be concerned because the sewer conditions are different. [To identify the correct rebar size, I need to] take the soil of the pool, and I analyze that soil content. [Those results] dictate what size steel I am going to use.


When is the best time for homeowners to have a pool installed?

It all depends on when the homeowners want to swim. Everyone thinks swimming pools are cheaper to build in the winter, but it’s not. People tend to build pools right after the first of the year, right before spring break, before kids get off for summer break and one more time before school begins. If you build a pool in the winter, then it’s always ready for spring break or the summer. If they build in the summer, then they only have two or three months to swim when it gets completed in the fall.

4902 Cambridge St., Sugar Land. 281-265-3339. www.emeraldpools.net