Cost for an inground pool?

[disfan07]

My aunt and uncle live in southern california in a very wealthy area.

When they bought their house about 9 years ago it did not have a pool (they wanted to wait until my cousin was older). They put in their pool about 6-7 years ago.

It is not a huge pool. Its is a rectangular marble lined pool with a few waterfalls on the side plus a jacuzzi. when they put it in it cost them around $95,000 i think...their friends just got an estimate for the same type of pool and they were quoted between $115,000 and $125,000 by 4 different companies.

 

[sdzman]

I cant speak for PA. In FL an inground concrete pool start around $25k(low end) depending on what part of the state you live.

Also keep in mind a salt pool still contains chlorine. Instead of adding chlorine tablets to your pool, you add granualr salt to the pool. A salt chlorine generator turns the salt into liquid chlorine.

 

[sookie]

my first thought when I saw this was .... "your sanity".
i swear to you i never thought a pool would be like that - but for my husband and i, it was.
we bought our house with the pool. At the time we had a 3 year old daughter. i later had a baby while we were in the house as well. it was very very difficult for me - safety wise - to relax around that pool. even when my daughter began to be an accomplished swimmer. we had a pool that was built for diving and was very deep at one end.
if you get a pool, you need to have a privacy fence and also a wrought iron fence around the actual pool itself. child latching locks. also your children need to be in swim classes - formal ones - and everyone in the house including adults need to know how to swim and perform CPR. you should also have a landline so you can reliably call 911. you need to buy the hook and the life ring.
if you have a party, liability wise - you should hire a certified life guard.
getting insurance on it can be a nightmare.
the pool adds absolutely no value to the house and in some cases can actually take away from the value of the house - if pools are not popular or are high maintenence in your area (like up north).
the cost of chemicals is outrageous
the cost of maintenence on the pool is not cheap (someone to come and open/close - PROPERLY - and inspect it each spring is a couple hundred a pop).
plan on spending at least an hour every other day brushing / cleaning the pool. during high season (july/august) you pretty much have to be adjusting the pool chemicals daily and brushing daily or you will get algae.
plan on having kids trying to get into your back yard without permission to swim. yup, happened to us - even though we had a pad-locked 8 ft high privacy fence.
when we tried to sell our house, the market was bad - so the house did not sell. we eventually turned to renting. it took us a bit to find a good renter that would agree to proper upkeep of the pool, and also - we had to get a special policy / rider because if liability for the pool.
i have to say that my next home - when we build - i will not have the pool. yes it was fun and my kids have some nice memories, and we used it a lot (never every day but at least a few times a week). however, it was very hard to control. vacations were a nightmare because we couldn't always find someone to come check on the pool, and you cant just turn it off and go. we had many people watch our pool and only 2-3 could figure out what to do - even after we showed them what to do. we usually came home to a green pool requiring us to dump in hundreds of dollars of chemicals. i always had bad dreams that i would come home from vacation or after a day at work and find a child dead in the bottom of it.
so... all i can say is - never again! we might live in a community / HOA with its own private pool, but we will never have our own pool - unless we have a full time live in pool boy/lifeguard/security guard... again!

 

[okeydokey]

my first thought when I saw this was .... "your sanity".
i swear to you i never thought a pool would be like that - but for my husband and i, it was.
we bought our house with the pool. At the time we had a 3 year old daughter. i later had a baby while we were in the house as well. it was very very difficult for me - safety wise - to relax around that pool. even when my daughter began to be an accomplished swimmer. we had a pool that was built for diving and was very deep at one end.
if you get a pool, you need to have a privacy fence and also a wrought iron fence around the actual pool itself. child latching locks. also your children need to be in swim classes - formal ones - and everyone in the house including adults need to know how to swim and perform CPR. you should also have a landline so you can reliably call 911. you need to buy the hook and the life ring.
if you have a party, liability wise - you should hire a certified life guard.
getting insurance on it can be a nightmare.
the pool adds absolutely no value to the house and in some cases can actually take away from the value of the house - if pools are not popular or are high maintenence in your area (like up north).
the cost of chemicals is outrageous
the cost of maintenence on the pool is not cheap (someone to come and open/close - PROPERLY - and inspect it each spring is a couple hundred a pop).
plan on spending at least an hour every other day brushing / cleaning the pool. during high season (july/august) you pretty much have to be adjusting the pool chemicals daily and brushing daily or you will get algae.
plan on having kids trying to get into your back yard without permission to swim. yup, happened to us - even though we had a pad-locked 8 ft high privacy fence.
when we tried to sell our house, the market was bad - so the house did not sell. we eventually turned to renting. it took us a bit to find a good renter that would agree to proper upkeep of the pool, and also - we had to get a special policy / rider because if liability for the pool.
i have to say that my next home - when we build - i will not have the pool. yes it was fun and my kids have some nice memories, and we used it a lot (never every day but at least a few times a week). however, it was very hard to control. vacations were a nightmare because we couldn't always find someone to come check on the pool, and you cant just turn it off and go. we had many people watch our pool and only 2-3 could figure out what to do - even after we showed them what to do. we usually came home to a green pool requiring us to dump in hundreds of dollars of chemicals. i always had bad dreams that i would come home from vacation or after a day at work and find a child dead in the bottom of it.
so... all i can say is - never again! we might live in a community / HOA with its own private pool, but we will never have our own pool - unless we have a full time live in pool boy/lifeguard/security guard... again!

We have an inground vinyl liner pool with salt system and spend almost no time at all in maintenance. I get the water tested about once a month and add something if I have to. Mostly it is self sufficient. We have a screen house so we don't need to vacuum but once or twice a year. It is a 30 by 20 by 14 L-shaped. We bought a kit online and my DH and his friends installed it. Cost about 15,000 doing it this way but was a lot of work. We use it every day though and is a great investment.

No problems at all wiht insurance. What we already has was plenty according to the insurance company.

 

[sdzman]

wow --sorry I cant agree with sookie......its a pool. There are over 75 million residential pools in the US, just relax

 

[sookie]

where i was (missouri) owning a pool can be a huge deal.
we had a guinite sp? pool. now, some of that may have been due to the depth of our pool (it was very large and like i said - a diving pool so very deep) but i will tell you that it was not a good experience.
if i had to do it again i would recommend the salt water systems. we self tested every few days and also took our water in at least once a week to make sure it was balanced well. once a month would be a bit too little - if you get too far out of wack it can be very costly!
if you can get a pool i would also recommend investing in a pool service. yes, expensive - but then they can handle most of the bs for you.
with the insurance thing - i know most people aren't professionals or have a lot of assets, but if you DO - like we are - and want to protect those assets - you will want to get the extra insurance. i don't want anyone coming after my families assets or worse - they can apparently even come after future or expected earnings. just remember - if some kid scales your fence and gets in and then proceeds to drown - you are still liable. we bought an umbrella rider. also if you get the pool you must tell your homeowners insurance and they will adjust your policy accordingly - just like getting a trampoline! otherwise you are likely to have your whole policy voided and have no coverage. talk to your agent!

 

[okeydokey]

wow --sorry I cant agree with sookie......its a pool. There are over 75 million residential pools in the US, just relax

I agree, I have never heard of anyone spending an hour every day scrubbing down their pool. If that were the case, nobody would have one.

We really do very little with ours. The screen house and the salt system make it practically maintenance free.

 

[semo233]

We put an in-ground pool in 2 years ago. I just got out all of our paperwork and contracts and here is what I can tell you:

26x42 Lagona Pool, Pacific Graphex (Kidney shaped with an extra bump)
150,000 BTU heat pump
Mineral Springs Salt Water System
Water to fill the pool
10' Roman End stairs
Auto cleaning kit
Lights (3 bulb fiber optic)
Set up for jump rock
ladder
Total $42,550

$1,354 added a sheet waterfall
$ 268 Solar cover
$12,350 Stamped concrete pool decking with cantilevered edge
$ 1,700 Coping
$ 700 Border
$ 6,950 about 185 feet of aluminum fence with 2 gates
$ 1,845 Electrician to wire all pool equipment
$ 4,185 Winter cover installed

This does not include lighting of the pool deck, landscaping, furniture, or pool toys! Remember, there are some things that can be added later. We chose the pool we did because many pools do not have a big shallow end and this was the largest shallow end they had. It is a free form pool, so the winter cover and the solar cover were more expensive.
I am so happy with the salt sytem. The additives are less than $500 per year and we now open and close the pool ourselves.
We have a 25,000 gallon pool and it would have cost over $1500 to fill it! Make sure water to fill is included in the price of the pool.
The cost of the pool deck will vary greatly with size and materials. We chose the stamped concrete for cost and the quick install time. Sorry, I don't have the square footage of our deck.
Good Luck!

 

[mamalle]

we have gone back and forth over the years about putting in a pool and yes we live in south fla.. BUT everytime I think maybe- my sanity comes back and I say NO. I love that I pay $75 a qtr for the olympic size heated swimming pool right around the corner in our neighborhood. The kids are in it almost every day in the summer.

 

[mousefan1972]

I agree, I have never heard of anyone spending an hour every day scrubbing down their pool. If that were the case, nobody would have one.

We really do very little with ours. The screen house and the salt system make it practically maintenance free.

I agree; that post was a little over the top. In 2005 we put in a 20X40 inground pool w/ a polaris environpool system; the thing literally cleans itself. We vacuum it when we open it and maybe once or twice during the summer and that's it. We have a heat pump and solar blanket and swim from May-October (and we live in MA). The pool temp is currently 88 degrees. We LOVE our pool and couldn't imagine not having it.

 

[Gretchen]

As you can see putting in a pool can vary price wise. What doesn't is taking care of it. Simply put, go online read up about pool chem's and what to do. Keep your water clean and balanced and you won't have any problems. I prob. spend 5 minutes max avg a day on my 24' in ground vinyl lined pool in the northeast. We swim 3 months out of the year, and I wouldn't live here without it. I have the filter on a timer with an in line chlorine feeder. My chem's are cheap-HTH puck's in the feeder. You do need to take pool safety seriously-I would never have a diving board in a back yard pool. Backyard pools do not have the depth and slope to be diving safe. It was difficult when the kids were little since we don't have a shallow end. If I were to put the pool in today, that's a must have. My kids both know how to swim, really swim, not just paddle around and I NEVER leave the deck when we have friends over. We never have a party without one adult dedicated to watching the kids in the pool and everyone that comes to our house understands the rules....so go ahead, put in that pool, teach your kids to be safe and enjoy!

 

[LovableGluttons]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7318382&l=e6b8751b5b&id=575830326

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7318383&l=ceae9fbf4c&id=575830326

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7318386&l=1376c51c57&id=575830326

Here are few pictures for an idea.

Great pics! That's the shape of the pool we are building next winter. We're also having a raised jacuzzi with waterfall feature instralled on the side. Solar shelf on one end, stairs on the other. Pavers, screen room, saline system, solar heating, and remote control. Havent' decided on fountains yet. I did choose same cool underwater lighting and tile features though.

Our cost? $50,000. We're putting a fence in after it is built (will take 3-4 months) that will obscure one side of the screen room We're also building a covered outdoor kitchen area with built in grill and bar.


No, we don't plan on moving.....EVER!

 

[LovableGluttons]

I was just at a patient's home last week who had a pool with spa and fountains, chlorine, safety fence without screen room. She paid $27,000!

 

[A Mickeyfan]

And you will never get back what you put into it in resale. Pools are just one of those things....if you plan to be there for a LONG time, it might be well worth it....

we have just decided that if we move (as planned) next year, we will look for a house with a pool already there.

Dawn

That is not totally true. It all depends on when you put your pool in and at what price you paid. I put my pool in back in 1994. I have an in ground concrete pool with a diamond bright finish. The pool is 14x28. I have a deck with screening over it & that is 23x41 & an additional 12x17 off to the corner of the pool. I paid under $13,000 back then.. so yeah, I am going to re-coop my money I invested.... The pool & deck set up I have in today's prices (for FL) is well over $60,000 to have built..
It is sort of true, that you may not get your money back, but here in Fl, most homes do have them (at least where I live). It isn't a luxury here, but a necessity! If you don't have one, your house is priced accordingly...

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

wow...I couldn't disagree more...except for the swimsafety lessons for kids part.

We have a pool vacuum and an auto-chlorinator. Our upkeep is minimal. We live in Florida and it rarely turns green. It did after the hurricanes in 2004
due to a power outage. The only other times it has is when I forgot the tablets. Perhaps it is a regional thing, but pool care doesn't necessarily have to be so complicated.

my first thought when I saw this was .... "your sanity".
i swear to you i never thought a pool would be like that - but for my husband and i, it was.
we bought our house with the pool. At the time we had a 3 year old daughter. i later had a baby while we were in the house as well. it was very very difficult for me - safety wise - to relax around that pool. even when my daughter began to be an accomplished swimmer. we had a pool that was built for diving and was very deep at one end.
if you get a pool, you need to have a privacy fence and also a wrought iron fence around the actual pool itself. child latching locks. also your children need to be in swim classes - formal ones - and everyone in the house including adults need to know how to swim and perform CPR. you should also have a landline so you can reliably call 911. you need to buy the hook and the life ring.
if you have a party, liability wise - you should hire a certified life guard.
getting insurance on it can be a nightmare.
the pool adds absolutely no value to the house and in some cases can actually take away from the value of the house - if pools are not popular or are high maintenence in your area (like up north).
the cost of chemicals is outrageous
the cost of maintenence on the pool is not cheap (someone to come and open/close - PROPERLY - and inspect it each spring is a couple hundred a pop).
plan on spending at least an hour every other day brushing / cleaning the pool. during high season (july/august) you pretty much have to be adjusting the pool chemicals daily and brushing daily or you will get algae.
plan on having kids trying to get into your back yard without permission to swim. yup, happened to us - even though we had a pad-locked 8 ft high privacy fence.
when we tried to sell our house, the market was bad - so the house did not sell. we eventually turned to renting. it took us a bit to find a good renter that would agree to proper upkeep of the pool, and also - we had to get a special policy / rider because if liability for the pool.
i have to say that my next home - when we build - i will not have the pool. yes it was fun and my kids have some nice memories, and we used it a lot (never every day but at least a few times a week). however, it was very hard to control. vacations were a nightmare because we couldn't always find someone to come check on the pool, and you cant just turn it off and go. we had many people watch our pool and only 2-3 could figure out what to do - even after we showed them what to do. we usually came home to a green pool requiring us to dump in hundreds of dollars of chemicals. i always had bad dreams that i would come home from vacation or after a day at work and find a child dead in the bottom of it.
so... all i can say is - never again! we might live in a community / HOA with its own private pool, but we will never have our own pool - unless we have a full time live in pool boy/lifeguard/security guard... again!

 

[Akmayeli]

That is not totally true. It all depends on when you put your pool in and at what price you paid. I put my pool in back in 1994. I have an in ground concrete pool with a diamond bright finish. The pool is 14x28. I have a deck with screening over it & that is 23x41 & an additional 12x17 off to the corner of the pool. I paid under $13,000 back then.. so yeah, I am going to re-coop my money I invested.... The pool & deck set up I have in today's prices (for FL) is well over $60,000 to have built..
It is sort of true, that you may not get your money back, but here in Fl, most homes do have them (at least where I live). It isn't a luxury here, but a necessity! If you don't have one, your house is priced accordingly...

It's the same here in Houston.

 

[minniemomof3]

When we had our pool built a 3 years ago it cost us approx. 40K not including landscaping or fence. It was vinyl kidney with salt water. It really varies from region to region. During the process I was on the gardenweb site everyday. It's a great site to learn a lot about the process and find inspiration pools. The site is gardenweb.com and the pool section is the homes forum.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

wow...I couldn't disagree more...except for the swimsafety lessons for kids part.

We have a pool vacuum and an auto-chlorinator. Our upkeep is minimal. We live in Florida and it rarely turns green. It did after the hurricanes in 2004
due to a power outage. The only other times it has is when I forgot the tablets. Perhaps it is a regional thing, but pool care doesn't necessarily have to be so complicated.

I am in SW Fl and no my pool never turned green except after Charley, but I will say, we fight yellow algae often in the summer. We were told by the pool store that it is due to the temp of the water. It only happens in the dead of the summer when our water is hitting up in the mid to high 90's (yes without heat on) I do have solar panels but don't use them in the summer months. We usually spend about $20 per month for the chemicals, but when we get that yellow crud, we spend close to $90 to get rid of it. We do take care of the pool, and always make sure we have tablets in the Chlorinator. We also have the pool vac...but that doesn't matter with the yellow algae.

 

[holden]

Wow! OP here. Lots of information in these responses. Jessica52877, thanks for the pics. Your pool looks great! That's the size/look we are going for, except that we are required to have a fence around the pool.

DD7 has had formal lessons since she was 3 and DD3 is currenly enrolled. We swim daily in the summer at a friend's house (hence our decision to get a pool ourselves), and I am extra vigilant when it comes to watching my kids in the water. I am always in with DD3 and watching DD7 at the same time. Even people who can swim can get into trouble in the water.

DH's job is changing next year and he will be home much more often, so he can help with the pool maintenance. It seems that pool costs vary so much across the county! We are hoping to get a deal since we have a "connection" with one pool company, but we will still get 3 estimates.

Thanks so much to everyone for your advice/help. I really appreciate it!

 

[danneva]

There are 3 options when installing an in ground pool. Concrete, fiberglass and vinyl lined are the most common types of pools. Typically, the cost of a concrete pool is the most expensive. Fiberglass is the cheapest and a vinyl-lined pool falls somewhere between the 2.

Here are the things you must consider before you buy inground pool:
..pool permit
..filtration system (several options with different costs)
..fencing (a secure fencing will add thousands of dollars to the cost of a swimming pool)
..additional options – heaters, decking, lighting – will also add to the cost.

It is hard to predict exactly how much an inground swimming pool will cost. Most pools, especially properly-lined ones, cost upwards of $10,000 to build but an average homeowner who is looking to put in a moderately deep, relatively nice inground pool can expect to pay between $ 15,000 and $25,000. Fiberglass frames, which make up the flooring of the pool, usually cost between $5,000 and $20,000, depending on the size and shape.