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Sunnyside sits in a climate that gives you roughly six to seven months of swimming every year April through October, reliably. That’s not a short summer window. That’s half your calendar spent in your backyard, which changes how you think about the investment. A well-built gunite pool in Sunnyside isn’t a luxury line item. It’s the most-used square footage on your property.
Sunnyside’s home values have climbed significantly from a median of around $68,800 in 2000 to roughly $175,000 today. That equity is real, and a quality concrete pool adds to it. The lots here are larger than what you’ll find in Waycross proper, which means there’s actual room to build something worth having proper depth, a real deck, equipment that fits the space rather than being crammed into a corner.
What most people don’t hear upfront is that the builder choice matters more than the pool type. Gunite built correctly right rebar density, correct wall thickness, proper cure time holds up for decades in South Georgia soil. What fails isn’t the material. It’s the shortcuts. When the same crew handles every phase from excavation to startup, those shortcuts don’t happen.
We’re based in Douglas, GA about 45 miles from Sunnyside on US 84. That makes us a South Georgia company serving South Georgia homeowners, not a coastal operation stretching its map toward Ware County when the coastal calendar slows down.
Deep Waters Pools was founded in 2014, but our team brought over 30 years of hands-on concrete, plumbing, and pool construction experience with them. That experience matters specifically in Sunnyside and the surrounding areas, where soil conditions vary across drainage basins and the water table in lower-lying areas requires real engineering decisions before the first shovel breaks ground near the Okefenokee basin.
Every phase of your build excavation, rebar, gunite application, plumbing, electrical bonding, equipment installation, deck work is handled by our own crew. No subcontractors. No strangers cycling through your yard. The same team that designs your pool is the team that builds it and services it for years afterward.
It starts with a site evaluation not a sales pitch. Before any design is finalized, we look at your specific Sunnyside lot: soil conditions, drainage patterns, available space, and how the pool will sit relative to your property lines and existing structures. Ware County’s unincorporated status means permitting runs through the county building and zoning department, not a city office. We handle the building permit, the electrical permit, and every required phase inspection in-house. You don’t touch a form.
Once the site is evaluated and the design is approved you’ll see it in 3D before anything is committed excavation begins. The rebar framework goes in next, followed by gunite application. This is where wall thickness and cure time matter most. Rushing either one is how pools develop problems five years in. We don’t rush it.
After the shell cures, plumbing and electrical bonding are run, equipment is installed, and the deck is built. Startup and water chemistry balancing close out the build. From that point forward, we’re available for maintenance, equipment service, and any repairs that come up over the life of your pool. One number. One team. Start to finish.
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A gunite pool build through Deep Waters Pools covers the full scope: custom design with 3D rendering, site evaluation, excavation, rebar framework, gunite shell construction, all plumbing, NEC Article 680-compliant electrical bonding and grounding, equipment installation, deck construction, and startup. That’s the complete build not a base package with a long list of add-ons.
We install equipment from the brands most homeowners already know Hayward, Pentair, Jandy, Sta-Rite, and Zodiac. In a rural market like Sunnyside, where the nearest manufacturer service center could be an hour away, having the builder also serve as the long-term equipment service provider isn’t a small thing. When your pump needs attention two years from now, you’re calling the same number you called to build the pool.
Beyond new construction, we also handle pool restoration for homeowners who’ve inherited a neglected pool or are dealing with failing equipment from a previous build. And for ongoing care, weekly and monthly maintenance plans are available because a gunite pool built to last still needs consistent chemistry management to stay that way. If you’re a Sunnyside homeowner who wants one company responsible for the full life of your pool, that’s exactly what we offer.
Most residential gunite pool projects in South Georgia fall somewhere between $75,000 and $150,000, depending on size, shape, depth, features, and site conditions. That range accounts for the full build design, excavation, shell, plumbing, electrical, equipment, and deck. What pushes a project toward the higher end is usually custom features like integrated spas, water features, or complex deck configurations rather than the gunite construction itself.
In Sunnyside specifically, lot conditions can affect cost. Ware County’s varied drainage basins mean some properties require more site preparation than others, particularly in lower-lying areas where the water table runs higher. A proper site evaluation before design is finalized helps nail down a realistic number for your specific property rather than a ballpark that shifts after excavation starts. Annual maintenance typically runs $2,700 to $4,000 per year, and resurfacing when it’s needed runs $6,000 to $15,000 every 10 to 15 years on a well-built shell.
You’ll hear this claim from fiberglass-only builders, and it’s worth addressing directly. Cracking is a construction failure, not a material failure. A gunite shell that’s engineered correctly for the site proper rebar density, correct wall thickness, adequate cure time does not crack from normal soil movement in South Georgia.
What causes cracking is shortcuts: gunite applied too thin, rebar that’s too sparse, cure time that’s rushed, or a builder who didn’t account for local soil and drainage conditions during design. Ware County’s soil varies across the county, and the proximity to the Okefenokee basin means drainage conditions in some areas require more careful engineering than a generic build approach would catch. When the same crew handles every phase and no subcontractors are involved, the accountability for getting those details right sits with one company and that’s where it should be.
Sunnyside is unincorporated, so pool construction permits run through Ware County’s building and zoning department rather than a city permitting office. That means a building permit, an electrical permit, and multiple phase inspections excavation, rebar, rough plumbing, electrical rough-in, and final all need to be coordinated with the county.
We handle all of it. The permit applications, the scheduling, every inspection from start to finish none of that lands on you. Georgia also requires all residential pools to be enclosed by a barrier of at least 48 inches with a self-closing, self-latching gate, and that requirement gets factored into the build plan from the beginning. A lot of homeowners don’t realize how much paperwork a pool build involves until they’re in the middle of it. When your builder manages the entire permitting process, you find out what’s required without having to figure it out yourself.
A typical residential gunite pool build runs eight to twelve weeks from permit approval to startup, though site conditions and design complexity can affect that timeline in either direction. The permit process through Ware County’s building and zoning department adds time upfront plan for two to four weeks for permit review before excavation can begin, depending on the county’s current workload.
South Georgia’s climate actually works in your favor here. The region’s mild winters mean construction isn’t forced into a narrow seasonal window the way it would be further north. That said, heavy rainfall Ware County receives around 50 inches annually can delay excavation scheduling if the ground is saturated. Starting the process in late fall or early winter often means your Sunnyside pool is ready for the first warm days of April, which is when the swimming season genuinely begins.
The core difference is flexibility and permanence. A fiberglass pool is a manufactured shell it comes in set shapes, set sizes, and set depths, and it gets dropped into the ground. A gunite pool is built in place, which means the shape, depth, features, and dimensions are entirely up to you. On the larger lots common in Sunnyside, that flexibility matters. You’re not choosing from a catalog.
Durability-wise, a quality gunite shell outlasts a fiberglass shell when it’s built correctly. Fiberglass can oxidize, fade, and develop surface issues in South Georgia’s intense summer heat. Gunite surfaces hold up well in the heat and can be resurfaced when needed typically every 10 to 15 years on a well-built pool. If you’re building on a Sunnyside property you plan to own for decades, gunite’s longevity and design flexibility make it the stronger long-term investment.
Yes and in a market like Sunnyside, that matters more than it might in a city with a dozen pool service companies within a few miles. We offer weekly and monthly maintenance plans and handle equipment service for every brand we install: Hayward, Pentair, Jandy, Sta-Rite, and Zodiac. The team that installed your equipment knows exactly how it was configured and why.
Sunnyside’s long swimming season roughly April through October means your pool is in active use for nearly half the year. Consistent water chemistry management through those months isn’t optional if you want the surface and equipment to hold up over time. Having the builder also serve as the maintenance provider means issues get caught early by someone who already knows your pool’s history. There’s no learning curve, no new contractor trying to figure out what the last person did. It’s the same team, the same accountability, for the life of the pool.
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