Most advice for seasonal trades is about the calendar. For pool work the bigger variable is the size of a single job, and that changes the health insurance maths in a way a landscaper never has to think about.
One Install Can Decide Your Whole Year
A gunite install is a five-figure job. Two or three of them landing in a year that you had budgeted for service and liner work does not nudge your income — it relocates it.
Say you projected $52,000 and finished at $88,000 because three builds came in. As a single filer, $88,000 is about 562% of the 2026 poverty guideline of $15,650. The premium tax credit ends at 400% — $62,600 — so every dollar of advance credit you took across twelve months has to go back.
Repayment if you underestimate — 2026
| Income band | Individual | Family |
|---|---|---|
| 200–300% of poverty | $950 | $1,900 |
| 300–400% of poverty | $1,550 | $3,100 |
| Above 400% of poverty | No cap | No cap |
The bottom row is the one that bites. Below the line, repayment is capped. Above it there is no cap at all, and the enhanced rules that softened this between 2021 and 2025 expired on 31 December 2025.
Service Contracts Are the Part You Can Actually Predict
Recurring weekly or monthly service is the most forecastable revenue in this trade, and it is the right basis for your enrolment estimate. Build the projection from the service book, then add a realistic — not hopeful — allowance for builds.
Before comparing that number to the poverty table, take off half your self-employment tax. At $88,000 of net profit that is $88,000 × 0.9235 × 0.153, about $12,434, of which roughly $6,217 is deductible. Your premiums come off as well.
Report the Contract, Not the Deposit
When a build is signed that materially changes your year, report the income change to the marketplace then. It reduces the advance credit for the remaining months, which is money you do not repay later. Waiting until the return is the expensive version of the same event.
Deposits Are Not Income the Day They Arrive
A large deposit sitting in the account is materials money, not profit. What the marketplace wants is net profit for the year, after materials, subcontractors, equipment and fuel. Reporting gross deposits is a common and costly error in this trade.
What to Look For in the Plan Itself
An ACA plan cannot charge you more for doing this work — there are no occupation questions and no underwriting. But the plan you pick still matters, and pool work has a recognisable pattern of claims: shoulders and backs from equipment handling, chemical splashes to eyes and skin, and the occasional trench or excavation injury on a build.
That argues for looking at the out-of-pocket maximum before the deductible, checking that urgent care is covered at a flat copay rather than after the deductible, and confirming physical therapy visit limits. A cheap Bronze premium that leaves a $9,000 exposure is a poor trade for someone lifting pumps and filters all season.
The Deduction Still Applies Above the Line
Losing the credit does not mean losing the tax break. With net self-employment profit and no employer plan available through a spouse, 100% of premiums come off on Schedule 1, Line 17, above the line, capped at your net self-employment income. At $88,000 with a $780 monthly premium, that is $9,360 deducted.
If you want your build pipeline modelled against the $62,600 line before you pick an enrolment number, call (713) 575-9904.