At Your Door Pool Service Uses Financing to Win High-Ticket Equipment Replacement Jobs

At Your Door Pool Service started as a two-person operation when founders Elaina Garcia and her husband, Jermain Garcia, were just trying to make ends meet. Fifteen years later, the Brentwood, California company — about 45 minutes east of San Francisco — has grown to 20 employees. Elaina credits part of that growth to embracing technology early. "Something that's really propelled us in these last few years is our ability to use technology in our industry," she said.

The company services close to 800 customers weekly, year-round, and runs a dedicated repair team alongside its maintenance business. It also handles new equipment installs for pool builders during new construction, and for years took on warranty work for major pool equipment brands across the Bay Area.

Elaina points to something people outside the industry rarely expect: pool equipment has quietly become deeply technical. "Everything that runs the pool now is computerized," she said — panels, LED lighting, water features, all controlled from an app or touchscreen. It's part of why a full equipment overhaul, what Elaina calls "a whole new pad," can run $20,000–$30,000, real money that most homeowners don't have sitting around.

The challenge: their financing provider charged an annual subscription fee

At Your Door adopted the field service platform Jobber around 2021, which is how the company was introduced to Wisetack. However, this wasn't the company's first attempt at offering financing. About ten years ago — around the business's 5-year mark — At Your Door tried a different provider, Hearth. The setup required an annual subscription fee plus a percentage of every transaction, and the process was clunky: customers had to call in, apply independently, and the company would eventually receive a check. "It was very intimidating, and it seemed a little sketchy," Elaina said. "Call this number, talk to them, then you need to send the check to us."

The result speaks for itself: "That year that we used Hearth, we did not finance one job. Not one." The subscription auto-renewed, and Elaina says they likely paid a cancellation fee on top of it. "At that point, when you're first scaling your business, every dollar counts."

How Wisetack fits in

Today, financing at At Your Door serves two very different kinds of jobs. On one end is emergency repair — a pool pump failing in 100-degree summer heat, for instance, where a $2,000+ repair has to happen immediately or the pool can turn green within days. On the other end is planned equipment upgrades: customers looking to modernize 20-year-old systems who want to see what's possible once they know their financing options.

The financing itself shows up automatically at the bottom of every quote sent through Jobber without the team having to bring it up at all. "I love being able to offer financing, and not having to remember to educate the customer about it," Elaina said. "It just pops up in the app for them, and there's no pressure or awkward conversation." Customers can also prequalify through a soft credit check. "The soft part is my favorite," she said. "It doesn't hurt to just check what your options are."

The result: securing more high-ticket jobs

At Your Door is generally priced above the one-person operations that also serve the area — a difference Elaina compares to buying sushi at a gas station instead of a restaurant. Financing is one of the tools that helps bridge that gap when a customer is already sold on the company but hesitating over price.

For the company's largest jobs — full equipment pad replacements — "we’ve been able to land around 90% of those jobs because we can offer financing," Elaina estimates.

An advocate beyond her own business

Elaina has become an informal Wisetack evangelist among other trades business owners she knows personally. She pointed a friend who recently started their own electrical company toward Wisetack, and encouraged a patio cover company owner to add it as well — becoming that company's first Wisetack-financed customer herself in the process. "It's super easy," she told her. "You just apply, send the quote, and they'll send you the money right away. You don't have to jump through hoops to get paid."

In Elaina's words

"We really love the ease of it, and how it's been able to easily integrate into what we're already doing day-to-day."

— Elaina Garcia, Co-Founder, At Your Door Pool Service

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At Your Door Pool Service has used Wisetack financing, integrated through Jobber, since 2021.