Custom Shotcrete Pool Construction in Utah County & Salt Lake County

Questions

Swimming Pool FAQs

What is the difference between shotcrete and gunite?

Both methods spray concrete through a hose to build the pool shell. The difference is when the water gets added. With gunite, dry cement and sand travel through the hose and the worker holding the nozzle adds water right at the tip. How wet the mix comes out depends on his hand, and it can change from one pass to the next. With shotcrete, the concrete is already mixed with the right amount of water at the plant, delivered by a ready-mix truck, and pumped through the hose ready to spray. We use shotcrete. The advantage is consistency — the concrete at the deep end is the same as the concrete at the steps.

Concrete or fiberglass — which is better for a Utah pool?

Fiberglass is faster. The shell shows up on a truck already made. Two things limit it. First, size. The shell has to fit on a truck, so fiberglass pools stop at about 16 feet wide, and you choose from shapes the manufacturer already makes. Second, our ground. Soil along the mountains here is heavy clay and rock. It swells when it gets wet and shifts when it freezes. A fiberglass shell is not strong enough to hold its own shape against that, so it depends on the dirt and drainage packed around it staying put. A shotcrete shell is the structure itself. If you want a standard shape under 16 feet wide and you want it quickly, fiberglass is a reasonable choice, and we do not build them. If you want the pool to fit your yard instead of your yard fitting the pool, that is shotcrete.

How long does a shotcrete pool shell last?

We are not going back to fix or replace shells we built in the early 1990s. Those are 35 years in the ground and still solid. Four things decide how long a shell lasts: the ground it sits on, how the steel rebar inside it is laid out, the quality of the concrete, and whether it was given enough time to cure — meaning harden all the way through — before the next crew started working on it. The plaster inside the pool is separate. That is the surface you touch, and it wears out and gets redone on its own schedule. The shell underneath should not be the part that fails.

What are the downsides of a shotcrete pool?

It costs more and it takes longer, and there is no way around either one. A fiberglass shell arrives finished. Ours gets built in your yard over several weeks, in stages, with waiting time in between while the concrete hardens. You also have plaster inside, which wears out eventually and has to be redone. A fiberglass pool comes with its finish already bonded to the shell, so that is one less thing to maintain down the road. If speed or the lowest price is what matters most to you, we are the wrong contractor, and we will tell you that on the first visit.

What does a custom pool cost in Utah County?

Most of our pool-only projects land around $165,000. That is a pool with decking and a few upgrades. The floor is about $135,000, and almost nobody builds at that number, because it means no decking at all, plain white plaster, and no upgrades of any kind. Here is what $135,000 does cover: digging the hole, building a 20 by 40 foot pool, tile at the waterline and on the steps and ledges, custom concrete coping (the finished edge that caps the pool wall), an automatic pool cover, a variable-speed pump, a cartridge filter, a gas heater, and connecting gas, power, and water if they are within 100 feet. Add landscaping, patios, or outdoor living space and the number goes up from there. Every proposal is broken out line by line, so you can see what each piece costs and what happens to the total if you take something out.

How long does it take to build?

Pool only, from the day we dig to the day we plaster, is usually 8 to 12 weeks. It depends on size, features, and weather. A pool plus landscaping runs closer to four months. Design and permitting happen before we dig, so we will walk through the actual calendar at the site visit rather than guessing over the phone.

Can you build a pool in winter in Utah?

We build all year, and in a lot of ways winter is the better time. You are not using the yard in January anyway, so the construction feels like far less of an intrusion. As long as it is not too cold or too wet, we are on site making progress. If your timeline matters more to you than cost, we can put up a temporary shelter over the work area and heat it, and keep going in almost any weather. The real advantage is timing: we do all the heavy work over the winter — digging, steel, concrete, plumbing — then plaster and finish in the spring. You get the whole swim season instead of losing half of it to construction.

Do I need a permit to build a pool?

Yes. Every city in Utah County and Salt Lake County requires a permit for an inground pool. Most cities want an engineered drawing. Some also want a geotechnical survey, which is a soil test that tells you what you are building on. We do both on every pool, whether the city asks for them or not, because the ground under the shell has more to do with how long that shell lasts than almost anything else. Cities also review the electrical, the gas line, bonding (connecting the metal parts around the pool together so there is no shock risk), drainage, how far the pool sits from your property lines, and the hydraulic plan, which is how water moves through the plumbing and equipment. We pull the permit and handle all of it. Requirements and wait times are different in every city, so we confirm yours while we are still designing.

What are the pool fence requirements in Utah?

Utah requires a barrier around a residential pool. The details differ city to city — how tall it has to be, how the gate latch has to work, and whether an approved automatic cover can take the place of part of the fence. We check what your city requires during design, so the barrier is planned in from the start instead of turning into a problem at final inspection.

Is my yard suitable for a pool?

We check equipment access, how much your yard slopes, what the soil is like, how high the groundwater sits, where your utility lines run, and how close we can build to your property lines. All of that happens at the site visit, before anything gets drawn. Some yards need a retaining wall, or pumping to hold groundwater out of the hole while we build, or a crane to get equipment in. Those are things you should know before you have committed money, not after.

Who actually builds it?

Almost all of it is our own crew, and several of our technicians have been with the company more than 30 years. There are four things we subcontract, because they need either a specialty license or a large specialized crew: spraying the shotcrete, applying the plaster finish, the high-voltage electrical, and installing the automatic cover. Brian schedules and inspects those himself, so you are not the one managing them. Everything else is in house.

Do you service pools after the build?

Not currently. We have good relationships with service companies and will point you to one. What we do cover is our own work. The steel-reinforced shotcrete shell carries a five-year warranty against structural failure. Masonry, coping, tile, and plumbing workmanship carry two years. The interior plaster finish carries one year against delamination. Your equipment — pump, heater, filter, cover — carries the manufacturer's warranty, which we hand over to you, and for the first year we file any valid claim for you and cover the labor to pull the old unit and install the replacement at no charge. After the first year we still handle the claim paperwork, but that labor becomes billable. All periods run from substantial completion, and your contract spells out the exact terms and exclusions.

Testimonials

What Clients Say

Reviews from homeowners across Utah County and Salt Lake County.