Building Tips, Outdoor Living

How Much Does a Fiberglass Pool Cost?

Investing in a fiberglass pool is an exciting and often rewarding decision for homeowners seeking to enhance their outdoor living experience, but understanding the associated costs is essential for making an informed choice. Fiberglass pool prices can vary greatly depending on various factors, such as size, shape, and additional features. Compared to concrete and vinyl liner pools, fiberglass pools are known for their durability, low maintenance requirements, and considerable longevity. With such advantages, it’s no wonder many homeowners are considering fiberglass pools to transform their backyards into a relaxation and entertainment oasis.

If you’re thinking about putting in a fiberglass pool, I hope this information will be helpful to you and give you a better idea of what you’ll be getting into from a money standpoint.

Fiberglass pools are probably in the middle when it comes to comparing overall costs of all the various pool options out there. We chose to install a fiberglass pool for a few different reasons, the biggest one being that they’re relatively low maintenance. Fiberglass pools do not have much to be replaced over time and most are under warranty for several years.

This being said, fiberglass may be more upfront compared to some other options, but you will save down the road. Another couple of reasons we chose fiberglass was the wide variety of pool designs and quick installation.

So how much does it cost to install a fiberglass pool? Here is a detailed breakdown of what it cost to install our pool. Keep in mind the price will vary depending on your location and property.

Pool Prep Work Cost for a Fiberglass Pool

We did not have to do tons of digging for the pool. The prep work that was completed mostly had to do with hauling in shale and gravel to level everything up. The pool was then brought in and eight tandem loads of shell was used and compacted around the pool. The total for the prep work including, gravel, shale, and labor was $1900 dollars. They worked a total of eight hours on this part of the installation.

Pool and Pool Equipment Cost for a Fiberglass Pool

We chose a basic rectangular design to go along with our minimalistic, clean line modern home design. Our pool is the St. Thomas by Viking Fiberglass Pools. The color is a little on the darker side called Crystite. The pool also include two led lights. The pool itself with the upgraded color and led lights was a total of $29,500 dollars.

Our pool is a salt water pool that uses a Pentair Intellichlor salt generator. The salt system is a total of $1250 dollars. A salt pool is a pool that has been chlorinated by means of salt chlorination and not traditional harsh liquid or solid chemical chlorine. This salt chlorination gives you clean, clear and luxuriously soft water.

Every pool will require a pump and a filter. We purchased the SD 60 and 1.5 hp Dynamo pump and Star-rite cartridge filter for a combined total of $1453 dollars.

A pool cover is another item you will need. We considered an automatic cover, but it would have completely blown our budget. So we only have a HPI mesh winter cover which cost around $900 dollars.

We also chose to install a heating system so we could enjoy our pool for a longer season. The one we chose is a 152,000 BTU Aqua Comfort heat pump. The heater is only an add on option and is not a must when installing a pool. The extra cost was $3832 dollars. This could be a place to save if you wanted to do without.

Added Expenses

The initial quote and contract price was actually not bad and at that time we thought putting in a pool wasn’t so bad. It was after the pool was all the extra components we didn’t add in. We did save up front for the digging, but we for sure paid later. The brick retaining wall alone was around $7,500 dollars including labor and materials.

In the image below, you can see the retaining wall and also the pool equipment (pump and heater) to the right of the wall.

With any pool, a fence is necessary and most of the time required. The black metal fencing that runs along the retaining wall was $3000 dollars.

We chose a 12×12 Travertine paver to go around the perimeter of the pool. This was important in giving the pool the sleek modern look we were going for. The Travertine total including installation was $3,200 dollars.

For the patio area, we went with Belgard Lafitt Grana Slab pavers, because of the way they look and they are so easy to take care of. The total for the pavers was $3,600 dollars for about 450 square feet. For the final touches of this area, we decided to add in some greenery. We installed 462 square feet of sod in which Henry rolled out himself. This was $400 dollars.

Prep Work and Fill$1,900
Pool$29,500
Salt Sytem$1,250
Pump$1,453
Cover$900
Pool Heater $3,832
Retaining Wall$7,500
Fence $3,000
Travertine$3,200
Pavers$3,600
Sod$400
Total$56,535

Would We Do Fiberglass Again?

The answer is yes! It is now several years later and we installed another fiberglass pool at our current home. Having a pool for so many years, we can’t imagine our life without one now. We ended up spending about 15% more than the prices we have listed in this article, but we had the pool installed during the peak of the housing market a couple of years. That being said, if you are looking at the cost to install an inground pool, I would add at least 15% to the prices listed in this article due to inflation.

Share
Previous Post Next Post

You may also like

19 Comments

  • Reply Dawn

    I really appreciate you breaking down the cost like this. So often I prefer to have a ballpark before calling someone in for estimates. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time and if I know in advance I can’t afford it, that’s more convenient for everyone.

    Beautiful pool!

    July 3, 2019 at 7:52 pm
    • Reply Henry

      Thanks! And glad you found it helpful.

      July 5, 2019 at 4:41 pm
  • Reply katy

    Thank you so much for this! My husband and I are in the process right now of pricing everything out before we break ground (in a couple weeks!) and no one is being transparent about what final costs will be. Luckily, this is about what we have estimated ourselves, having the same size pool and a similar retaining wall. So a very sincere thank you from the two of us!

    July 11, 2019 at 7:44 pm
    • Reply Henry

      You’re very welcome! Good luck with the build.

      July 12, 2019 at 4:42 pm
      • Reply Sharon H

        Is a fiberglass pool as deep as a gunite pool? How deep was yours?
        Thank you

        June 28, 2020 at 2:21 am
        • Reply Henry

          I think the deepest you can get a fiberglass pool is 8 1/2 ft. Ours was 7 1/2 ft.

          June 28, 2020 at 2:26 am
  • Reply George O

    This is a great post Brooke and Henry, thank you all for sharing! We are starting our new build soon and need to bring our lot grade up quite a bit, so one of the things we were thinking about was retaining the back of the property behind our pool similar to what you all did here. Question, was the wall built out of block then faced with stone? Did you have to use a deadman design on the back side? For my own visual, what is the tallest part of this wall? Thanks so much for any information you’re able to provide!

    March 29, 2020 at 3:15 pm
    • Reply Henry

      Thanks! And glad you found it helpful. The wall is made of black and then brick on the outside. We didn’t use deadman design, but did add steel and concrete inside the block for strength. The tallest part is about 5 1/2 ft.

      March 30, 2020 at 4:47 pm
      • Reply George O

        Thanks Henry, we considered CMU block, wood and a pin based system. Decided to go with the Belgard Diamond Pro Pin System which I think is a great bank for the buck and an extremely sturdy wall. I noticed on this house you went with Belgard Lafitt Grana Pool Pavers. We are looking for a light gray color as well but it doesn’t seem like Belgard carries a gray in the Lafitt Grana any longer. What color did you all use?

        Thanks again!

        August 12, 2020 at 12:33 pm
  • Reply Kathleen

    You guys do an amazing job with her designs, your writing and likability!

    April 26, 2020 at 9:53 pm
  • Reply Angie

    What is the size of this pool?

    July 13, 2020 at 2:39 pm
    • Reply Henry

      It is 31×15 ft.

      July 13, 2020 at 10:18 pm
  • Reply Susie

    Prices vary from state to state, where is your home located?

    July 19, 2020 at 8:26 pm
  • Reply Michelle Winberry

    Hello! Do you know the color name of your belgard pavers? I do not see any on their website that look like yours, but they are gorgeous!

    July 25, 2020 at 10:20 pm
  • Reply Theresa

    Hi would you mind telling me where you purchased the pool from and did the company you purchased from do the installation or did you sub part of it out?

    Thanks so much!

    August 15, 2020 at 11:09 pm
  • Reply Rachel

    Can you provide color of Belgard Lafitt pavers as well as travertine? Thx

    July 25, 2021 at 4:42 pm
  • Reply Patty Luminato

    Where did you ordered the pool from? What state are you?

    August 3, 2021 at 4:02 am
  • Reply Angie

    What size is your pool?

    October 23, 2021 at 2:57 am
  • Reply Ryan

    Wow…we are pricing a similar setup, and it’s well over a $100K in Ohio. How did this end up being $50K???

    October 26, 2022 at 10:50 am
  • Leave a Reply