Hear from Our Customers
Out here in Pridgen, you’re not working with a quarter-acre subdivision lot. You’ve got room to build something real a custom shape, a tanning ledge, an attached spa, whatever fits your property and your life. The difference between a pool you love for 30 years and one that causes headaches in three usually comes down to one thing: who built it and how.
Gunite is the only pool construction method that lets you go fully custom from the ground up. No pre-molded shapes, no size limitations, no compromises based on what a factory decided your pool should look like. It’s built on-site, in your yard, to the exact dimensions and design you approved before a single shovel breaks ground.
The sandy, well-draining soils in Coffee County the Tifton series that runs through most of this part of South Georgia actually work in your favor for gunite construction. Drainage is good, hydrostatic pressure is lower than you’d see in heavy clay regions, and when the construction is done right, that shell sits stable for decades. The key phrase there is “done right.” That means proper rebar density, correct wall thickness, full curing time, and backfill compaction that accounts for how these soils behave over time. Cut corners on any of that and the soil conditions that should be an advantage start working against you.
We’re based in Douglas the Coffee County seat, about 10 to 15 miles from Pridgen. That’s not a coincidence. This is our backyard. We pull permits at the same Coffee County building office that covers every pool built in unincorporated Pridgen. We know the inspectors, we know the process, and we’ve worked in these soils more times than we can count.
Our team brought over 30 years of hands-on experience in concrete, plumbing, and pool construction before we incorporated in 2014. We didn’t open a South Georgia location we’ve always been here.
What makes the biggest practical difference for you: we don’t use subcontractors. Excavation, rebar, gunite application, plumbing, electrical, equipment installation, decking that’s all our crew, start to finish. When something needs attention during the build, there’s no finger-pointing between separate companies. One team is accountable for the whole job, and one number you call.
It starts with a site visit and consultation. We look at your property, talk through what you want, and give you an honest read on what’s realistic timeline, budget, site considerations. If your Pridgen property sits near the Ocmulgee River corridor in northern Coffee County, we’ll flag any floodplain factors that could affect placement or setbacks before you’re committed to anything.
From there, we move into design. You’ll see your pool in 3D before we file a single permit every shape, depth, and feature confirmed by you first. Once you’re happy with the design, we handle all the permitting through the Coffee County building office: building permit, electrical permit, and every required phase inspection, including the pool steel inspection before gunite goes on and the concealed piping inspection before plumbing gets covered. You don’t touch a form.
Construction runs in clear phases excavation, rebar installation, gunite application, plumbing, electrical bonding and grounding, equipment installation, surface finishing, and decking. We give honest timelines: three to six months for a full custom build in this area. If you start in the fall October or November is ideal in South Georgia you can realistically be swimming by April or May, right as the season opens up. That’s the honest plan, not a number designed to close you faster.
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Every gunite pool we build is custom designed for your specific lot, your specific soil, and what you actually want to use it for. There are no pre-set packages with a list of features you have to choose from. The design starts with a blank canvas and gets built out from your input, not ours.
What’s included in every build: full 3D design and layout, all Coffee County permit applications and phase inspections, complete excavation, steel and rebar framework, gunite shell application, all plumbing and equipment installation, electrical bonding and grounding per NEC Article 680, surface finishing, and pool deck construction. Every phase is handled by our crew not handed off to separate subcontractors who have no stake in how the rest of the job goes.
We also service what we build. Hayward, Pentair, Jandy, Sta-Rite, Zodiac if it runs a pool, we work on it. For Pridgen homeowners who don’t want to track down a separate maintenance company after the build is done, that matters. Out here, reliable service providers aren’t always easy to find. Having the same company that built your pool handle the ongoing maintenance means you’re not starting over every time something needs attention. The relationship doesn’t end at the final inspection.
Yes and because Pridgen is unincorporated, all permits go through Coffee County directly, not a city building department. That means your building permit, electrical permit, and all required phase inspections are handled through the Coffee County building office in Douglas. There’s no separate city permit layer to navigate, which is actually simpler than what homeowners in incorporated towns deal with.
The required inspections include a pool steel inspection before gunite can be applied, a concealed piping inspection before plumbing is covered, and a final inspection before the pool is filled and used. These aren’t optional checkpoints they’re mandatory under Georgia’s pool construction code. We handle every one of them in-house. You don’t schedule inspectors, track paperwork, or wonder what phase you’re in. An unpermitted pool in Georgia can result in fines, removal orders, and real complications when you go to sell the property.
Realistically, three to six months for a full custom build in Coffee County. That accounts for permit processing time through the county office in Douglas, excavation and rebar installation, the mandatory steel inspection before gunite is applied, curing time, plumbing, electrical, equipment installation, and final inspection. It’s a multi-phase process with required hold points that can’t be rushed without compromising the finished product.
Most builders quote eight to twelve weeks because it sounds better in a sales conversation. The problem is that number sets you up for frustration when the timeline stretches and it will stretch if the honest math was never done upfront. If you start your Pridgen project in October or November, which is historically the best time to build in South Georgia, you can realistically be swimming by April or May. Permit queues are shorter in the fall, crews are more available, and you’re not competing with the spring rush. That’s the window we’d recommend if your timeline is flexible.
Gunite is actually well-suited for the soil conditions in this part of Georgia, but the construction has to account for what’s actually in the ground. The dominant soil in the Pridgen area is the Tifton series a sandy loam topsoil that transitions to a denser, more acidic subsoil with depth. The sandy upper layers drain well, which reduces hydrostatic pressure concerns compared to the heavy clay soils in North Georgia. That’s a genuine advantage for gunite construction.
The catch is that sandy soils can shift and erode around a pool shell if backfill compaction isn’t done correctly, and the acidic subsoil chemistry the Tifton series runs between pH 4.5 and 5.5 is known to corrode buried metal over time. That means buried plumbing and electrical conduit need proper protection, and the construction approach has to account for it. We know these soils and build accordingly.
A well-built gunite pool needs resurfacing every ten to fifteen years. You may have seen claims suggesting every three to seven years that figure gets circulated by fiberglass-only builders as an argument against gunite. What it actually describes is the outcome of poor construction: gunite applied too thin, cured too fast, or finished with inferior materials. That’s a quality problem, not a gunite problem.
When the shell is built with the right rebar density, correct wall and floor thickness, proper curing time, and a quality surface finish, the material holds up well especially in South Georgia’s climate, where you’re not dealing with the freeze-thaw cycles that stress pool shells in northern states. The mild winters around Coffee County are actually easier on pool surfaces than most of the country.
For a full custom residential gunite pool in South Georgia, you’re generally looking at $75,000 to $150,000 depending on size, shape, features, and site conditions. That range covers the complete build design, permits, excavation, shell, plumbing, electrical, equipment, surface finish, and decking. Add-ons like an attached spa, waterfall feature, tanning ledge, or custom lighting will move the number toward the higher end.
It’s a significant investment, and we don’t pretend otherwise. What we will say is that a gunite pool built correctly in Coffee County is a 30-plus-year asset. It adds roughly seven percent to your property value in Georgia real estate, and in Pridgen’s climate with a swimming season that runs April through October you’re getting six to seven months of use per year. Over the life of the pool, that’s a lot of return on a one-time build.
Yes and rural properties in Coffee County are actually where we do some of our best work. When you’ve got acreage, you have real options: custom shapes, generous setbacks, room for a full deck layout, privacy that subdivision lots can’t offer. The design possibilities open up considerably when you’re not working around a fence line six feet from your neighbor’s property.
That said, rural sites near Pridgen do require a thorough evaluation before design begins. Properties near the Ocmulgee River corridor or its tributaries may carry FEMA floodplain designations that affect pool placement and setback requirements something we check before you’re committed to a layout. Soil depth, drainage patterns, distance from existing structures, and utility line locations all factor into where and how the pool gets built on your specific lot. We do that evaluation as part of the consultation, not as an afterthought. And once the pool is built, we’re not gone. We service all major equipment brands and handle ongoing maintenance for Coffee County homeowners so you have one company to call whether it’s year one or year fifteen.
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