Average Cost To Build Pool (Austin: how much, new house, landscaping)

[Mama Grey]

What does it cost in 2021 to build a pool in the time of material and labor shortages? We’re starting to look at homes on the market and will be in Austin mid-October. We’d love a home with a pool, but if we have to add one we’d like a realistic understanding of how much.

[Austin97]

My pool builder in theory would build just the pool for 45K.

spa is around 15K

But most pool builders were estimating 100K for just a basic pool.

If you want a pool you should buy a home with a pool. You lose at least half the cost when you build.

[phone man]

I just build a 32x18 freeform pool with spa. 110K with a 5 month build duration. Had a hard time getting companies to give me the time of day. Several would only build 150k+ projects.

[Jimmyp25]

Originally Posted by phone man

I just build a 32x18 freeform pool with spa. 110K with a 5 month build duration. Had a hard time getting companies to give me the time of day. Several would only build 150k+ projects.

HOLY CRAP. Were moving to our new house in two weeks wife wants a new pool next year

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Jimmyp25

HOLY CRAP. Were moving to our new house in two weeks wife wants a new pool next year

my pool finished in march and took about 3 months, excluding rain, icepocalypse etc.

It is rectangular, around 15x30 and stone decking. It was about 85K.

I would say your chance to get a pool for that price is extremely low. Because of covid, the number of pools doubled. My builder normally does 60/year and was doing 120 because of covid. He only fit us in because our kids are friends.

there is a site called byop.net. They have a list of trusted subs and you essentially GC the pool yourself. A friend of mind did this and was able to build a pool for about 40K.

Also fiberglass is actually really nice and for whatever reason fiberglass prices havent gone crazy. Fiberglass used to cost about the same as concrete.

[Mama Grey]

Originally Posted by phone man

I just build a 32x18 freeform pool with spa. 110K with a 5 month build duration. Had a hard time getting companies to give me the time of day. Several would only build 150k+ projects.

Wow. I knew it would more than typical but over 100k?! Guess we’ll be focusing more on homes with pools!

[riaelise]

Absolutely go with a home with a pool. That's what we did. Pool was in our top 3 must haves. Putting one in is far too expensive and disruptive. In our case, we just moved in, the landscaping was already done.

[BriansZ]

We built a pool this past year. We signed the contract last October and it was $120k, but we had bids as low as $85k. The bid we went with was the highest but we worked with them a lot on the design to get the best design for us. This is for an average sized pool with spa, but I've heard prices have gone up in the past year. We have a large yard with good access, but there is a slope from left to right so that impacted the quotes that we received. I went with a trusted builder and have no regrets, but my patience was tested earlier in the year when things were moving slowly due to the freeze and supply chain issues. Just for reference, we signed the contract in October, they broke ground the week before Christmas, and finished in July. When we had the house built 10 years ago I signed the contract in January and the house was finished in August, so the house was built quicker than the pool.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by BriansZ

We built a pool this past year. We signed the contract last October and it was $120k, but we had bids as low as $85k. The bid we went with was the highest but we worked with them a lot on the design to get the best design for us. This is for an average sized pool with spa, but I've heard prices have gone up in the past year. We have a large yard with good access, but there is a slope from left to right so that impacted the quotes that we received. I went with a trusted builder and have no regrets, but my patience was tested earlier in the year when things were moving slowly due to the freeze and supply chain issues. Just for reference, we signed the contract in October, they broke ground the week before Christmas, and finished in July. When we had the house built 10 years ago I signed the contract in January and the house was finished in August, so the house was built quicker than the pool.

if you are in the COA, permits are taking a long time. We signed in august but didnt get permits until the beginning of november. It took about 3 weeks to start, which was thanksgiving.

We also had the freeze and a ton of rain impact our build. In total I want to say it was 5 weeks of down time. Our pool was filled march 26th. so 4 months total from the time work started, minus about 1 month of weather. So about 3 months of work time.

I would say a typical pool will run 100K. We were able to build for 85K and feel great about that. The original bid was 70K but we added stuff during the build like more decking, very expensive tile, and upgraded quartz color.

[riaelise]

Another thing to consider - whether you want to build one or purchase a home with one - how long will people actually use it? Ends up our pool for the most part is now just a pretty water feature that looks great from the window wall in the living room. Kid interest in actually using it to swim (10 and 15 year old) is sporadic. Pool parties are cool for all of an hour but then they're complaining of heat and going right back inside. I don't think I would have liked paying 100k or more to end up with that.