Hear from Our Customers
From March through October, McRae-Helena sits under some of the most intense heat in Georgia. July heat index values regularly push past 111°F here. That’s not a season that’s most of the year. A concrete pool built for this climate means your family has somewhere to go when the air outside feels like a furnace, and they’re using it almost every week for eight straight months.
The soil in Telfair County isn’t forgiving either. The Coastal Plain’s sandy loam over clay, combined with the drainage patterns shaped by Sugar Creek and the Little Ocmulgee River, creates real engineering challenges that an out-of-area builder might not account for. A pool designed and built with that local knowledge behind it holds up. One that isn’t can crack, shift, or develop drainage problems within a few years.
Beyond the practical side, there’s what it does for your property. Inground pools in Georgia add an average of five to seven percent to home resale value and in a community where Guidoni’s $96 million investment is bringing new households and new income into Telfair County, that kind of property investment carries real weight right now.
We founded Deep Waters Pools in 2014 in Douglas, GA about 30 miles down US 341 from McRae-Helena. But the experience behind our company goes back much further than that. Our founder spent more than three decades building concrete pools, running plumbing, and working in South Georgia’s specific soil and climate before we ever took on our first job. That’s not a company still figuring things out on your project.
We started this business because we watched families across South Georgia including families in McRae-Helena get burned by contractors who took deposits and disappeared, or delivered work that started failing within years. That’s the problem we built this company to fix. We’re licensed, insured, and we pull every permit ourselves. We handle the process with McRae-Helena’s Code Enforcement Division so you don’t have to chase anyone.
In a town where your neighbors will know who built your pool, we can’t afford to cut corners. And we don’t.
It starts with a real conversation about your backyard, your goals, and what you actually want out of a pool. No pressure, no pitch. We look at your property, talk through design options, and give you an honest picture of what the project involves including cost, timeline, and what to expect during construction.
Once you’re ready to move forward, we handle the permit process with the City of McRae-Helena’s Code Enforcement Division. That includes the site plan, the permit application, inspection scheduling, and compliance with Georgia’s International Swimming Pool and Spa Code. You don’t have to navigate any of that. We manage it, and we keep the project on schedule because of it.
Construction itself typically runs eight to twelve weeks from permit approval. Concrete pools require more steps than fiberglass excavation, steel reinforcement, gunite or shotcrete application, plumbing, tile and coping, interior finish and each phase gets done right before we move to the next. When we’re finished, we walk you through every system, clean up the site completely, and hand you a pool that’s ready to use. Not a punch list. A finished pool.
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We build custom concrete pools and only concrete pools. Not fiberglass shells that limit your shape and size options. Not vinyl liners that need full replacement every eight to twelve years. Concrete gives you complete control over the design, and when it’s built correctly, it lasts more than thirty years without the kind of major overhauls other pool types require. For a McRae-Helena homeowner making a long-term investment in their property, that matters.
Every pool we build in this area is engineered for the conditions here. That means accounting for Telfair County’s Coastal Plain soil, the drainage patterns near Sugar Creek, and the structural demands of a pool that’s going to be used heavily for eight months a year in intense South Georgia heat. We also build pool surrounds, patios, and outdoor living areas so your backyard comes together as one finished space, not a pool sitting in a patch of dirt.
We also handle pool renovation work for homeowners with existing pools that need resurfacing, tile and coping replacement, equipment upgrades, or structural repairs. If you’ve got an older pool on your property that’s been neglected or needs updating, that’s a conversation worth having. McRae-Helena has an active pool ownership community Register’s Pool Supplies on East Avenue has been serving local pool owners for years and a lot of those pools are reaching the age where renovation makes more sense than replacement.
Custom concrete pools in the McRae-Helena area typically range from $60,000 to $100,000 or more, depending on size, design, features, and site conditions. That’s a wide range, and the honest answer is that your specific number depends on what you want and what your property requires.
Telfair County’s soil conditions sandy loam over clay, with variable drainage depending on your location relative to Sugar Creek or the Little Ocmulgee River can affect excavation and structural requirements, which influences cost. A flat, well-drained backyard is a different project than a low-lying lot with drainage challenges. We assess your specific site before giving you a number, because a quote that doesn’t account for your actual conditions isn’t a real quote it’s a starting point for change orders later. We don’t operate that way.
Yes pool construction in McRae-Helena requires a building permit through the city’s Code Enforcement Division before any work begins. The project also needs to comply with Georgia’s adopted International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, which covers structural standards, electrical requirements, and safety barriers like fencing.
The good news is that we handle all of it. We prepare and submit the permit application, provide the required site plans showing pool placement and setbacks, coordinate inspection scheduling, and make sure everything is code-compliant from start to finish. You don’t have to learn the process or make calls to city offices. Pulling permits is part of how we do business not an add-on and it protects you at resale too. An unpermitted pool can create real problems when it’s time to sell your home.
The biggest practical difference is customization and longevity. Fiberglass pools come as pre-molded shells the shape, size, and depth are fixed at the factory. If your backyard has an unusual layout, or if you want something specific that doesn’t match a standard mold, fiberglass limits your options. Concrete pools are built in place, which means the design is entirely up to you.
On the durability side, a properly built concrete pool has a structural lifespan of thirty-plus years. Fiberglass shells can be durable too, but they’re more susceptible to ground movement which is a real consideration in Telfair County’s Coastal Plain soil. Vinyl liner pools are the most affordable upfront, but the liner itself needs full replacement every eight to twelve years, and that cost adds up over time. For a McRae-Helena homeowner who plans to be in their house for the long term, concrete is typically the strongest investment.
Most custom concrete pool projects in the McRae-Helena area are completed within eight to twelve weeks from permit approval. That timeline covers excavation, steel and plumbing rough-in, gunite or shotcrete application, tile and coping, interior finish, equipment installation, and final inspection. Each phase has to be completed and inspected before the next begins that’s how permitted construction works, and it’s also how quality gets maintained.
The permit process itself adds time before construction starts. In McRae-Helena, that typically runs a few weeks depending on the city’s current workload. We factor that into your overall project schedule upfront so you have a realistic picture of when your pool will be ready. If you’re planning for a summer swim season, the best time to start the conversation is late fall or early winter January through March is when most South Georgia homeowners begin planning, and contractor schedules fill up quickly heading into spring.
For most McRae-Helena homeowners, the answer is yes but it depends on how you define “worth it.” If you’re looking at pure resale ROI, inground pools in Georgia typically add five to seven percent to home value, which may not cover the full construction cost at sale. That’s true almost everywhere.
Where the value really shows up is in how you use your property. McRae-Helena has one of the longest usable pool seasons in the state roughly eight months, from March through October, with peak summer heat that makes outdoor water access a genuine quality-of-life factor, not a luxury. Families here spend weekends at Little Ocmulgee State Park’s beach and lake because there’s nowhere else to go. A backyard pool changes that equation entirely. Add the fact that Telfair County is in the middle of an economic recovery with Guidoni’s investment bringing new households and rising property interest to the area, and the timing for a long-term property improvement like this is reasonable.
Yes pool renovation is a significant part of what we do. McRae-Helena has an active pool ownership community, and a lot of the pools in this area were built in the 1980s and 1990s. At that age, you’re typically looking at worn interior finishes, deteriorating tile and coping, outdated equipment, or in some cases structural issues that have developed over time in Telfair County’s Coastal Plain soil.
Renovation work can include interior resurfacing, tile and coping replacement, equipment upgrades like variable-speed pumps and modern filtration systems, and structural repairs where needed. In many cases, renovating an existing pool costs significantly less than building new and it gives you a pool that performs and looks like it was just built. If you’re not sure whether your pool needs renovation or replacement, that’s exactly the kind of question we can help you answer. We’ll look at what you have and give you an honest assessment, not a sales pitch for the most expensive option.
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