Pandemic pool installed at Guelph home two years later

Much like what Clark Griswald dreams of in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Brian Herron and his family actually did get a pool for Christmas, and it was installed in December.

“The process has been, seems like a long time, but here it is almost Christmas time and we are getting a pool in,” Herron said.

Herron first started the process almost two years ago at the beginning of the pandemic.

“We knew that a lot of companies were busy and swamped,” he said.

A neighbour suggested Halton Pool Guy’s, and he was delighted, and shocked, to find out they still had some availability.

Herron says he had lost hope the install was going to happen this year, “Then they came and said 'hey, the weather is going to be decent, we can still do it this year.'”

The backyard hole was dug for Herron’s pool on Dec. 7.

The very next day a large crane showed up at Herron’s west-end Guelph home.

The nine foot deep fiberglass swimming pool was lifted over two houses, and placed in the backyard.

Crews install the new pool in Guelph. (CTV News/Krista Sharpe)

Plenty of neighbours came for the view as well, watching the heavy machinery do its work.

“I think it’s pretty cool. I've never seen a pool put in someone’s house before, especially over the top of their house,” neighbour Spiro Theologos said.

Theologos who is a local teacher, even set up a Zoom with a colleague, allowing a Grade 2 class to watch, sparking a science lesson.

Herron joked that the timing meant, “This is my wife’s Christmas present.”

He said all that is left to do is jump in.

“We're happy, waiting for the water to come in now and go for a dip,” he said, but it admitted they will wait until the spring. 

PANDEMIC BACKLOG

During the beginning of the pandemic and onset of stay-at-home orders, many homeowners across the province had the same idea: they wanted a pool in their backyard.

“At the beginning [of the pandemic] it was scary, for the first couple of weeks, no one called,” Chris Nesbitt, owner of Halton Pool Guys said. “Then one day we got 70 calls in one day,”

Nesbitt said winter in-ground installs have become more common, “That started about 2020, when demand for pools was really high and we didn’t want to get back logged and have our customers waiting extra time so we were trying to proceed the process longer and longer.”

Last year his crew worked up until February. Nesbitt said those projects were mainly on rural properties where extra large machines were needed to break frozen ground and they had enough room to access the necessary backyard space.

Nesbitt said such high demand within the industry, supply chain issues, and border delays are behind the two-year wait. Herron’s fiberglass pool was delivered from Tennessee.

Nesbitt said Herron’s installation marks the end of his pandemic backlog and his third installation this month. He said it will also be his last as he promised his crew some well deserved time off.