Hear from Our Customers
Most pool buyers in South Georgia don’t regret getting a pool. They regret who they hired to build it. The timeline that doubled. The crew they never met. The shell that started showing problems three years in. That’s not a gunite problem that’s a builder problem, and it’s more common than anyone in this industry likes to admit.
When you build on a rural Ellenton property, the stakes are different than building in a subdivision. Your lot has its own drainage patterns, its own soil profile, its own site conditions. Colquitt County’s Coastal Plain soils shift with the wet season and compress in the dry months and a pool shell that wasn’t engineered for that reality will show it eventually. Getting the rebar density right, the wall thickness right, and the curing time right isn’t optional. It’s what separates a 30-year pool from one that needs expensive repairs in year five.
The other thing worth saying: out here in northeastern Colquitt County, you’re not driving down the street to a community pool every time your family wants to swim. The nearest public facilities are in Moultrie, and that drive gets old fast from April through October. A properly built inground pool on your own property changes that completely and over a 30-year lifespan, the math makes more sense than most people expect when they first start looking.
We’re based in Douglas, GA South Georgia, same as you. Our team spent more than 30 years doing concrete, plumbing, and custom pool construction in this region before we formally launched Deep Waters Pools in 2014. That’s not a marketing timeline. That’s three decades of learning exactly how South Georgia soil, weather, and rural properties behave before a single pool was built under the Deep Waters name.
What makes the biggest practical difference for an Ellenton homeowner is this: every phase of your build excavation, rebar framework, gunite shell, plumbing, electrical bonding, equipment installation, and decking is done by our in-house team. No subcontractors. No rotating crews. No finger-pointing when something needs attention. We handle it all, start to finish, and we’re the ones you call five years from now if anything needs service.
For a community like Ellenton, where neighbors talk and long-term property ownership is the norm, that kind of accountability isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s the whole point.
It starts with a real conversation about your property lot size, drainage, how you plan to use the pool, what your timeline looks like. Rural properties in northeastern Colquitt County don’t all behave the same way, so this first step isn’t a formality. It shapes everything that comes after. From there, we produce a full 3D design rendering so you can see exactly what your pool will look like on your specific land before any construction begins. No surprises. No guessing.
Once design is finalized, the permitting process starts and we handle all of it. Building permit, electrical permit, every required inspection at each phase. In a small community like Ellenton, that permitting pathway typically runs through Colquitt County’s building offices in Moultrie, and having a builder who already knows that process saves you time and keeps the project moving without you having to chase anything down.
Construction itself excavation, steel framework, gunite shell application, plumbing, electrical, equipment installation, and deck work is completed entirely by our crew. The honest timeline for a quality gunite pool in South Georgia is three to six months. That accounts for Colquitt County’s summer rainfall, proper curing time for the shell, and the inspection schedule. Builders who quote eight weeks are either planning to rush the cure or planning to disappoint you. You deserve a straight answer from the start.
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A Deep Waters gunite pool build covers the full scope custom 3D design, site excavation, engineered rebar framework, gunite shell application, all plumbing, NEC Article 680-compliant electrical bonding and grounding, equipment installation, and deck construction. Every piece of that is done in-house. There’s no phase of your build where a subcontractor crew shows up that you’ve never met and has no stake in the outcome.
Equipment-wise, we install and service all major brands Hayward, Pentair, Jandy, Sta-Rite, and Zodiac so whatever system goes into your pool, we can maintain it long after the build is done. For Ellenton homeowners, that matters more than it might in a city. Dedicated pool service options in this part of Colquitt County are thin, and having your builder double as your long-term service provider removes a real logistical headache.
On the surface finish side, gunite gives you options that fiberglass simply can’t match any shape, any depth, any finish you want for your specific property. A quality gunite shell, properly built for South Georgia’s Coastal Plain conditions, won’t need resurfacing for 10 to 15 years. Over the life of the pool, that’s a very different cost picture than the alternatives, and it’s worth understanding before you sign anything.
This question comes up constantly in Colquitt County, and it’s worth a straight answer. Gunite pools do not have a cracking problem poorly engineered gunite pools do. Colquitt County sits on Georgia’s Coastal Plain, where soils are predominantly sandy loam with some clay content. These soils shift with moisture during the region’s heavy summer rainfall and compress during dry stretches. A gunite shell that was designed with the right rebar density, correct wall thickness, and adequate curing time for those conditions handles that movement without issue.
The cracking stories you’ve probably heard and at least one local builder has built a marketing campaign around them almost always trace back to a builder who used a generic spec regardless of local soil conditions, rushed the cure to hit a deadline, or handed the structural work off to a subcontractor who had no accountability for the outcome. When the engineering is done for your specific site and the build is executed by one accountable team, a gunite pool in South Georgia is a 30-plus-year structure. That’s what happens when the work is done correctly.
For a quality custom gunite pool in South Georgia, the realistic range is $75,000 to $150,000 depending on size, shape, depth, surface finish, and site conditions on your specific property. Most residential builds in the region come in around $100,000. That number can feel significant, but it’s worth putting it in context: a properly built gunite pool adds approximately 7% to your property’s value in Georgia, and over a 30-year lifespan, the cost per year of use is considerably lower than most homeowners calculate when they first start looking.
What you want to avoid is choosing a builder based on the lowest number on a quote. The most common regret among pool buyers in this market isn’t the pool itself it’s hiring the cheapest bidder and ending up with a build that needed major repairs within a few years, or a contractor who disappeared after taking a deposit. On a rural Ellenton property, you’re making a long-term investment in land you plan to keep. The cost of getting it wrong is higher than the cost of getting it right the first time.
The honest answer for a gunite pool in South Georgia is three to six months from permit approval to your first swim. That timeline accounts for Colquitt County’s summer rainfall patterns, which can delay excavation and site work, the proper curing time required for a quality gunite shell, and the inspection schedule that comes with building and electrical permits in the county. Rushing any of those phases particularly the cure is exactly what causes the structural problems that give gunite a bad reputation in some markets.
If a builder quotes you eight to twelve weeks, ask them specifically how they’re handling cure time and what happens if the county inspection schedule runs long. Builders who quote unrealistically short timelines are usually either planning to cut corners on the process or planning to have a difficult conversation with you later. A three-to-six-month build done right is a pool that serves your family for decades. That’s the trade-off, and it’s an easy one to make when someone explains it honestly up front.
Pool construction in Ellenton requires a building permit and a separate electrical permit for bonding and grounding work. Because Ellenton is a small incorporated town within Colquitt County, the permitting pathway typically runs through Colquitt County’s building and zoning offices in Moultrie rather than through a standalone municipal department. All work must comply with Georgia’s state licensing requirements for residential and commercial general contractors, and electrical work on any pool must meet NEC Article 680 the National Electrical Code standard that governs pool electrical safety.
We handle every permit and every required inspection in-house. You don’t fill out a form, schedule an inspector, or track down a status update. The permit process is managed completely by our team building your pool, which keeps the project moving and ensures that every phase of construction passes inspection before the next phase begins. For Ellenton homeowners who haven’t been through a pool build before, that matters an unpermitted pool creates real legal and financial liability at the point of property sale, and it’s not a risk worth taking on a long-term property investment.
For most rural properties in Colquitt County, yes and the reason is straightforward. Fiberglass pools come in fixed shapes and sizes. Your lot determines what fits, not what you actually want. On a rural Ellenton property where you have real land to work with, that limitation is significant. Gunite can be built in any shape, any depth, and any configuration that works for your specific site whether that means a freeform design that fits around existing trees, a deeper pool for diving, or a custom layout that makes the most of your yard.
The other consideration is longevity. A quality gunite shell, properly engineered for South Georgia’s Coastal Plain soils and correctly cured, needs resurfacing every 10 to 15 years. Over 30 years of ownership on a rural property you plan to keep, the total cost picture for a well-built gunite pool is competitive with fiberglass and significantly better than vinyl liner, which requires full liner replacement every five to nine years.
Yes. We’re based in Douglas, GA, and serve communities across South Georgia including Ellenton and the broader Colquitt County area. Our team has been working in South Georgia’s Coastal Plain terrain for over 30 years, which means the soil conditions, permit processes, rural site logistics, and seasonal construction realities specific to northeastern Colquitt County aren’t new to us. That regional familiarity is a practical advantage, not just a geographic footnote.
It’s also worth noting that dedicated gunite pool builders with real South Georgia experience are genuinely rare in this market. The closest active pool builder serving the Moultrie area builds fiberglass only and actively discourages gunite construction in their marketing. If you’re a Colquitt County homeowner who wants a custom concrete pool built by a team that knows this region, has done this work for decades, and will be accountable to you long after the build is complete, the options are limited and we’re one of the few that checks every one of those boxes. Reach out to start a conversation about your property and what’s possible.
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