Inground Pool Builders: Custom Concrete Pool Construction

What inground pool builders handle on a custom concrete pool

A concrete pool is built in place, so the builder runs a sequence of trades on your lot rather than delivering a finished product.

Most inground pool builders who work in concrete act as the general contractor for the whole job. They draw the plan, pull the permit, schedule excavation, steel, plumbing and electrical rough-in, spray the shell, then bring in tile, coping, decking and the interior finish. The structure is sprayed concrete, called gunite or shotcrete depending on the mix, so any shape and depth the site allows is possible.

• Design and engineering Site measurement, a plan drawing, and a structural design sized to your soil. Ask whether a soil report is included or extra.
• Permits and inspections The builder should apply in its own name and attend each inspection (steel, plumbing pressure test, electrical bonding, barrier, final).
• Excavation and haul-off HomeGuide puts excavation at $1,000 to $5,000; rock, tight access and spoil hauling push it up.
• Shell, plumbing and electrical Steel cage, sprayed concrete shell, circulation piping, equipment pad, bonding and lighting circuits.
• Tile, coping and deck Waterline tile, the coping cap on the bond beam, and the surrounding deck. See our pool deck contractors page for deck options.
• Interior finish and start-up Plaster, quartz or pebble finish, filling, and the first weeks of water chemistry.

What inground pool builders charge: permit records vs cost guides

Cost guides give national ranges. City permit files show what owners actually declared for new pools in 2025, and they vary by a factor of four between cities.

PC&S Research pulled every 2025 new residential in-ground pool permit from 11 city and county open-data portals. The middle of 10 city medians was $68,000 (Los Angeles is left out of that figure because so many of its permits repeat default values). Raleigh led at a $150,000 median and Mesa sat at $47,418. Full method and downloads are in our average cost to build a pool report.

Published guides land in the same territory. Angi puts a concrete pool at $65,000 to $120,000 and the all-type average at $65,909 (updated August 2026). HomeGuide shows $50,000 to $120,000 for concrete (July 2025). The most neutral benchmark is a government cost manual: the California State Board of Equalization tells county assessors that a concrete pool costs $94 to $173 per square foot of pool surface in 2026, which works out to $49,782 to $70,862 for its typical 440 square foot pool.

State matters. Angi lists Texas at $51,900 to $100,700 and California at $59,000 to $140,000. Labor is 25% to 50% of the bill in Angi’s breakdown, which is why the same pool drawing prices differently in Phoenix and Raleigh. Adjusted for inflation, the median declared value still rose 16.4% between 2019 and 2025 across seven cities (PC&S calculation with BLS CPI-U).

Line items that move a custom pool quote

Size sets the base price; the add-ons on this list decide whether a quote lands at the bottom or top of the range.

HomeGuide prices a 12×24 ft pool at $23,000 to $72,000 and a 16×32 ft pool at $41,000 to $128,000 across all materials; a 20×40 ft pool runs $64,000 to $200,000. The average residential pool is 300 to 400 square feet and 6 to 7 feet at the deep end, per the same guide. Adding a spa is the biggest single jump: in eight cities, 2025 pool and spa permits carried a median 26.6% higher declared value than pool-only permits.

How long concrete pool construction takes, phase by phase

The calendar has two parts: the permit wait, which you cannot control, and construction, which a well-staffed builder can keep moving.

1. Design and contract: 1 to 2 weeksDrawings, engineering and a signed contract with a payment schedule tied to finished stages.
2. Permit: days to monthsIn 2025 the median wait ran from 1 day in San Antonio to 70 days in Austin. A builder estimate puts permitting at 2 to 4 weeks, but only 37.7% of permits in eight cities were issued within 30 days.
3. Excavation, steel and plumbingDig, set forms and rebar, rough in piping and pass the first inspections.
4. Spray the shell, then waitWork pauses 7 to 10 days after the gunite is sprayed, and full curing can take up to four weeks, according to Anthony & Sylvan Pools.
5. Tile, coping and deck: 1 to 2 weeks eachTile and coping first, then decking and hardscape.
6. Equipment, finish and start-up: 1 to 2 weeksEquipment set, interior finish applied, pool filled and balanced, final inspection.

From groundbreaking, Anthony & Sylvan Pools calls 8 to 16 weeks realistic, 8 to 10 weeks the fastest case and 5+ months when weather and inspections pile up. HomeGuide quotes 6 to 8 weeks for concrete. The permit queue is getting longer: the median of eight city medians was 17 days in 2019 and 38.5 days in 2025 (pool permit processing time).

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Concrete, fiberglass or vinyl: which build fits your yard

Concrete costs more and takes longer, but it is the only option without a factory size limit.

Choose concrete when you want a shape, depth, beach entry or attached spa that no mold offers. Choose fiberglass when speed and lower surface upkeep matter more than custom shape; our fiberglass pool installation page covers delivery, crane access and set-up. The full side-by-side lives in our gunite vs fiberglass vs vinyl pool guide.

Licenses to verify before you hire a pool builder

Pool building is licensed at the state level in some states and only by cities or counties in others, so the right check depends on where you live.

PC&S reviewed the rules in all 50 states and DC in October 2026: 14 issue a dedicated pool contractor license or class, 19 cover pool building under a general license or registration, and 16, home to 37.7% of US residents, leave it to local government. California alone lists 2,831 active C-53 Swimming Pool licenses. The state-by-state matrix is in pool contractor license requirements.

• License status and class Look the business up on the state board site and confirm the class covers pool construction, not only service.
• Insurance certificate Ask for a certificate naming you as holder. Florida requires $100,000 public liability and $25,000 property damage for pool contractors.
• Permit in the builder's name An owner-builder permit shifts inspection liability to you.
• Payments tied to stages Each draw should follow a passed inspection or a finished phase, never the calendar.
• Lien releases Collect releases from the builder and major suppliers as you pay.
• Written warranty Separate the structural warranty from the finish and equipment warranties.

Is it a good time to hire a pool builder in 2026?

The pandemic pool rush is over, which means shorter backlogs than in 2021 and builders keen to fill schedules.

Permits in nine Sun Belt cities fell 47.7% from the 2021 peak to 2025, and Pool Corporation estimates US new in-ground pool construction dropped from 117,000 units in 2021 to just below 60,000 in 2025. From January to August 2026 those nine cities ran 3.6% ahead of the same months in 2025 (pool construction statistics). For buyers, a flat market usually means more builder attention and firmer start dates, though permit offices have not sped up.

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