Fiberglass pool prices often seem to be a closely guarded secret. While we happily offer our fiberglass pool prices while discussing a potential project, we recognize there seems to be a reluctance among all fiberglass pool builders, to just hand out pricing to anyone who asks. Pricing is an important part of any business plan, but for a homeowner it can be very frustrating to have to extract a price for a swimming pool, when the project seems to be a moving target. To know whether a price is reasonable, or too expensive, (or too cheap sometimes), it helps to have an idea of where inground pool prices should be, and then adjust that price to fit your particular needs. We also want to be certain the price is not influenced by where we live, the car we drive, or our profession.
The perception of what a Fiberglass swimming pool should cost, is often formed by what we know other people paid for their swimming pool. If the purchase was recent, that price should be close to accurate, but again, it depends on your individual circumstances. ABLE Pools will quote a price for your new fiberglass pool anytime, Get a Quote HERE – but even then – will you be shocked or pleasantly surprised?
To get a real appreciation of the cost of a Fiberglass pool compared to others, let’s take each type of pool, and what you should expect a pool of that type to cost. These examples will be for a medium sized swimming pool, great for a family to enjoy as a water playground, just the right size for most backyards and ideal for entertaining guests for those wonderful summer BBQs. We will examine each type of pool construction and costs in detail in a later post, but for now, this will help you get started. To understand the differences in swimming pool types, click HERE and visit our Pool School
Fiberglass Pools, Concrete Pools and Vinyl Liner Pool Prices
Concrete swimming pools are always going to be the most expensive pools to construct, just because of how they are built. You should expect a medium sized concrete pool to cost $50k for a normal, every day swimming pool, and the larger pools will approach $100k. If you plan someting very complex, and add in water features and special tile and interior designs, you can easily double that price, and in extreme cases get into the millions. However, for must of us, and our requirements, $50k for an entry level concrete pool is about normal. Ongoing maintenance costs for this type of pool are very high, and we will get into that in another discussion.
Vinyl liner swimming pools, will be at the other end of the price scale. If you want to enter the pool market as inexpensively as possible, a Vinyl Liner pool will be your choice. Vinyl Liner pools used to be readily available in the mid teens, but material costs have slowly pushed the pricing into the low 20’s at a minimum. Prices will also vary according to the thickness of the liner, and the typr of coping used, but for a basic Vinyl Liner pool expect $20k to $24k, and if it is dressed up at all expect to move into the high 20’s. Once again, ongoing costs can be expensive, and if you have to change a liner once or twice, you would be better to move up to fiberglass at the beginning if you can and limit your potential for unexpected costs.
Fiberglass Pool costs have been fairly stable over the past ten years, as manufacturers have become more efficient at building their product. There are varying degrees of fiberglass, different ways of building fiberglass pool shells, and sometimes fiberglass pools are built in third world countries – (this is where too cheap becomes an issue). San Juan fiberglass pools are built in Lakeland Florida, and are still built by hand, as they have been for over 50 years.
You should expect a fiberglass pool price to be about $33k for a nicely equipped swimming pool complete. That should include cantilevered concrete coping, a salt system and a minimum of 4 feet of concrete decking around the pool. Larger fiberglass pools will range into the $50k range and smaller fiberglass pools will still be about $24k – the only difference in the cost of constructing a smaller pool being the cost of the shell.
So, now there should be no surprises when you discuss pool costs with a builder. We encourage you to download our Free Original Fiberglass Pool Buyers Guide as a great way to know what questions to ask, and what to expect. As always, you can Get a Quote or subscribe to our blog for ongoing information about Fiberglass pools.