Crystal Rodriguez is an office administrator with no office. With Skimmer, that’s no problem.
Ohana Pools of Florida is a young company, but you wouldn’t know it from the size of its customer base. Since its founding in 2021, the pool service business has gained over 300 customers, half of whom have come along in the past year alone.
Much of that rapid growth is thanks to the years of experience the co-founders brought to the company. Bryan Holmes had worked for a number of companies that built and renovated pools, and Ed Folz had spent 10 years working for his brother’s pool service business. When the pair started Ohana Pools, word of their excellent service spread quickly. Before long, the company was adding new customers weekly.
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By 2023, there was no getting around it: Ohana Pools would need to hire an office administrator if the company was going to continue to grow while maintaining its reputation for service quality. But doing so presented a catch-22: Ohana Pools had no physical office. They’d need an office admin who would learn quickly, work efficiently, create the right systems to support the company’s continued growth and be comfortable with having no actual office to work from.
Thankfully, Ed’s daughter, Crystal Rodriguez, matched those requirements exactly. She’d been wanting to join the company since her father founded it, and with a background in hotel sales, she had both the skills and the drive to keep pace with Ohana’s rapid trajectory. But she also had two small children to care for at home, and she knew she would only succeed in the role if she could do it remotely, at her own pace, and with the right tools.
Ed and Crystal decided that their ambitions—and their limitations—aligned quite well, and Crystal joined Ohana Pools with a long to-do list waiting for her. Now, all she needed to do was roll up her sleeves and get started.
An app that lets Crystal thrive in chaos
Today, Crystal completes most of her daily tasks through Skimmer, which her father purchased early on to help the technicians do their jobs well in the field. But when she started in her role, it was just that: a technician tool. The back office features were virtually untouched, and Crystal had to learn them quickly to set up the systems Ohana Pools needed.
After getting acquainted with the software’s basic back-office features through YouTube, Crystal booked a demo with a Skimmer sales rep to learn about some of the more advanced features. Before long, she had a clear picture of what she could do using Skimmer and got to work setting everything up.
Today, Crystal’s role is multifaceted. On any given day, she might be onboarding new customers, creating customer profiles, sending out invoices and estimates, getting payroll in order, or managing payments—all activities that she does through Skimmer.
As expected, working remotely adds a layer of complexity to Crystal’s already hectic work days. “We all work amongst the chaos of our own individual lives,” she says. But Skimmer lets her thrive in that chaos. “It lets me be successful while doing almost everything from anywhere,” she says. “I’ve seen other apps that are much more technician-focused, but not built for the back office and not good for being on the go.”
Uncovering efficiencies, one feature at a time
But every feature that helps Crystal do her best work hasn’t been there from day one. Before migrating over to Skimmer Billing from QuickBooks, Crystal struggled with Skimmer’s billing workflow. “I would merge the invoices out of Skimmer into QuickBooks. Then they would sit in QuickBooks, and I would have to manually select them to send to customers, process them, and then send a receipt.” For someone with limited time and a lot on her plate, this was not an ideal workflow and would often take a full day.
Since migrating to Skimmer Billing, however, that workflow has drastically improved. “Now, when I hit ‘generate invoice,’ it bills automatically if we have a payment on file,” she says. “It’s saved me a lot of time and headaches. I love it so much.” Crystal has reduced her time spent on billing by half in just one billing cycle, and she predicts she’ll save even more time on future billing cycles as she becomes more familiar with the process.
Crystal has also uncovered several features that help her bill customers more efficiently.
“The tag feature is really cool, and I’ve learned how to use it well,” she says. “I tag people based on whether they have auto pay, a card on file, or a bank account on file. That way, I can process those accounts first and generate everyone else’s invoices after.” Skimmer’s inventory features have also allowed her to accurately bill for repairs. “That’s helped us grow revenue because we don’t miss billing for certain things,” she says.
Of course, Crystal is grateful for all the ways Skimmer enables her to succeed in her own role, but she’s also quick to point out that it’s also the backbone of Ohana Pools’ entire operation. “It’s the most vital aspect of our business,” she says. “It has all of our service customers in it, all of our routing, and all of our billing. Everything starts in Skimmer, and it gives everyone in the company the tools they need to be successful, from start to finish.”
Whether that’s tracking customers, invoices, work orders, repairs, routes, or even bags of salt used by a technician, each feature is one part of a well-oiled machine that keeps everyone accountable and everything accounted for.
A partnership built for a legacy
Crystal’s experience using Skimmer has been a journey. As she’s learned each feature—and as new features have been added to the platform—she’s uncovered new ways to work better than before. She’s confident that as Ohana Pools’ future unfolds, she’ll keep learning new ways to adapt and work more efficiently.
And if Crystal ever has questions, she knows she won’t have to wait long for an answer.
“Calling into customer support is amazing,” she says. Every single person is so wonderful, upbeat, personable, and helpful. I literally text my billing rep all the time. She keeps me going where I need to go.”
Thinking about the future, Crystal knows that Ohana Pools will continue to grow. “We’re still adding new customers every week,” she says. “But we never want to be too big for our britches where customers are just a number to us.” Having Skimmer—and making the effort to maximize its features—will continue to be the secret weapon that lets Ohana Pools operate that way. “When our pool techs can keep doing a great job, we can keep providing that white glove service,” says Crystal.
Overall, Crystal is happy that Ohana Pools has found a true partner in success who will help the company maintain its excellent reputation for years to come. “My dad is very passionate about the business,” she says. And now we’re growing the company with a legacy.”
