The true cost of a pool
The builder’s quote is the start. This adds the upkeep, power, water, insurance and repairs for as long as you stay in the house, takes off what the pool adds to the sale price, and shows what each day in the water costs. It starts with US average figures for an in-ground pool. Replace them with your quote.
The true cost of a pool
Over 15 years, used 50 days a year
$88,797
- Building the pool
- $66,000
- Loan interest
- $0
- Upkeep
- $27,898
- Power, water and insurance
- $16,739
- Repairs
- $11,159
- Added to the sale price
- −$33,000
- Cost per day it’s used
- $118
- A membership instead
- $14,879
A membership for the same years costs $73,918 less.
Put that difference into investments earning 7% as you go, and after 15 years you would have $217,469.
Year by year
The running total of everything paid out, the pool against a membership. The pool line drops in the final year, when the house is sold and part of the cost comes back.
Show the figures for every year
| Year | Pool, this year | Membership, this year | Pool, total so far | Membership, total so far |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $69,000 | $800 | $69,000 | $800 |
| 2 | $3,090 | $824 | $72,090 | $1,624 |
| 3 | $3,183 | $849 | $75,273 | $2,473 |
| 4 | $3,278 | $874 | $78,551 | $3,347 |
| 5 | $3,377 | $900 | $81,927 | $4,247 |
| 6 | $3,478 | $927 | $85,405 | $5,175 |
| 7 | $3,582 | $955 | $88,987 | $6,130 |
| 8 | $3,690 | $984 | $92,677 | $7,114 |
| 9 | $3,800 | $1,013 | $96,477 | $8,127 |
| 10 | $3,914 | $1,044 | $100,392 | $9,171 |
| 11 | $4,032 | $1,075 | $104,423 | $10,246 |
| 12 | $4,153 | $1,107 | $108,576 | $11,354 |
| 13 | $4,277 | $1,141 | $112,853 | $12,494 |
| 14 | $4,406 | $1,175 | $117,259 | $13,669 |
| 15 | -$28,462 | $1,210 | $88,797 | $14,879 |
How this is worked out
What the pool costs
- Building it. The full cost, paid in cash or partly borrowed. If you borrow, interest is worked out monthly on the remaining balance, and any loan left when you sell is paid off then.
- The yearly bills. Upkeep, then power, water and insurance, then repairs averaged over the years. All three rise by the yearly increase you set.
- What comes back. A share of the building cost is added to the sale price when you move, and taken off the total.
Cost per day it’s used
Everything above, divided by the number of days someone is in the water. On the starting figures that is$118 a day. This is the number to hold up against how much your household would really use it.
The alternative
A yearly membership at a community pool or swim club, rising by the increase you set. The gap between the two, year by year, is treated as money you could have invested instead.
What is not counted
- Your own time, if you do the cleaning and chemicals yourself.
- Higher property tax, where a pool raises the assessed value of the house.
- A house that takes longer to sell, or sells to fewer buyers, in places where pools are unusual.
- Tax on investment gains, and inflation. All figures are in the dollars of the year they are paid.
- Things with no price: a pool that is twenty steps away, open at midnight and never crowded, on one side; a weekend that is not spent skimming leaves on the other.
When a pool does come out ahead
On money alone, it rarely does. A membership costs a small fraction of a pool, so no realistic change to the figures makes the pool the cheaper way to swim. A pool is bought for what it is like to have one, and the cost per day is the fair way to judge that. It falls fastest when the pool is used a lot, when you stay in the house a long time, and when you live somewhere warm, where the season is long and buyers pay more for a house that has one.
Where the starting figures come from
Cost to build. An in-ground pool costs about $66,000 on average, according to Angi figures reported by NerdWallet. Quotes vary enormously with size, material and region, so use yours.
Upkeep. Redfin puts routine maintenance at $1,200 to $1,800 a year. The calculator starts in the middle.
What comes back at sale. This depends more on where you live than on anything else. The same Redfin article lists cities where a pool adds a great deal to a house and others where it adds little. The calculator starts at 50%, which is our assumption, not a published average.
Our assumptions. Power, water and insurance, the repairs figure, the 50 days of use, the $800 membership, the yearly increases and the investment return are our starting estimates. Your utility bills, an insurance quote and your local pool’s price list will give better numbers.