The global supply chain affects every business and consumer on the planet. Over the past year or so, we’ve all been impacted and discovered what happens when it breaks down.

Most will probably remember the great toilet paper shortage of 2020. These days, you’re more likely to see shortages of things that make other things. For example building materials and mechanical parts. There aren’t enough microprocessors to build some trucks, so General Motors stopped making pick-up trucks at two plants in 2022.

Of course, the swimming pool industry has been impacted by these issues in many ways as well. This is also why, if you’ve signed a contract for a pool installation with Blue Hawaiian Pools of Michigan in the past year or so, you might still be waiting to take your first lap. A merging of two major factors have led to this perfect storm:

  1. Demand for new pools is at all-time highs (read more about it here).
  2. The entire industry is working through a major supply shortage, in a wide range of critical materials, for manufacturing and installing pools.

Let’s take a look at some materials and parts currently in short supply for swimming pool builders around the world:

  • PVC ( plumbing materials )
  • Pump systems
  • Filter systems
  • Skimmers
  • Concrete ( pools and patios/coping for pools )
  • Deck Pavers
  • Retaining wall materials
  • Some maintenance equipment
  • Glass Fiber for Fiberglass

These shortages have not only altered timetables for projects like your inground pool, but they’ve also unfortunately made many elements of pool projects cost more. The result is that pool builders often have no choice but to pass higher costs on to pool buyers.

All fiberglass pool manufacturers, including Latham Pools, have been dealing with the same supply chain issues, as explained here:

Material shortages (fiberglass, PVC, resin, and more)

Glass fiber which is used to manufacture a wide range of durable products, suffered a severe production downturn when the initial lockdowns swept across the world about a year ago.

Resin is a key component in creating pool shells and in other pool parts. Resin is in the middle of the biggest demand surge ever seen by industry trackers like PlasticsExchange.

Why is this is happening?  Due to the recent price spike that pushed bulk resin costs above $1 per pound for the first time in years, high resin prices are partly due to shortages caused by damaging winter storms.  The over 5 billion pounds of yearly resin production capacity went unmet because of plant shutdowns and stoppages in February 2021.

What this means for our customers

In short, the inground pool market has been hit by a better-than-perfect-storm. Blue Hawaiian Pools has gotten through pandemic shutdowns, supply chain disruptions, employee sickness, and weather disruptions.

It’s kind of crazy if you look at the big picture and the last 2 years as a whole.

We know it’s frustrating. We try our best to Create Paradise in Your Backyard but without the material, our hands have been tied. That seems to be ending in 2022.

Hang in there folks.

Memories will be made.

We will survive this valley and be on the mountain top soon.

Thank you,

The BHP Family