Hear from Our Customers
You get a pool that was engineered for this specific ground. Thomasville sits in the Red Hills region that rolling terrain with red clay soil that swells when it rains and contracts when it dries. That movement is real, and it’s exactly why the material your pool is built from matters more here than it would in most places. Cement doesn’t shift, float, or crack the way fiberglass can when South Georgia’s summer rains push groundwater up against the shell. What you’re left with is a structure that’s stable, sealed, and still performing correctly twenty years from now.
You also get a swimming season that most of Georgia can’t touch. Thomasville sits at roughly the same latitude as North Florida, which means you’re realistically in the water from late March through October sometimes longer. That’s seven to eight months of use every year. When you spread the cost of a well-built pool across decades of that kind of use, the math starts looking very different than it does for someone in Atlanta who swims four months out of twelve.
And when you’re in a neighborhood like Mitchell Place or a property out in the Red Hills, the pool you put in reflects on the whole property. A custom cement build that fits your yard, your aesthetic, and your lot doesn’t just add enjoyment it adds real, documented value. In warm-climate markets like Thomasville, a professionally installed inground pool adds roughly 7% to a home’s resale value. That’s not a small number on a Thomasville Northeast home.
We’ve been building custom inground cement pools since 2014, but the experience behind Deep Waters Pools goes back more than 30 years all of it in South Georgia. That’s not a corporate talking point. It means the people designing and building your pool have worked in the same red clay terrain that runs through Thomas County for decades. We’ve seen what happens when a contractor skips proper drainage planning in a subtropical climate. We know how to read a lot in the Red Hills and build something that lasts.
This is a family-owned operation, which means the people accountable for your project are the same people you talk to from the first call to the day you swim. There’s no franchise layer, no regional manager who’s never set foot in Thomasville. We build exclusively in cement not because it’s the easiest option, but because it’s the right one for this area and we stand behind every pool we put in the ground.
It starts with a conversation about your property, your family’s needs, and what you actually want out of a backyard pool. From there, our design process is built around your specific lot not a shape pulled from a catalog. If your yard has a slope, a mature tree line, or an irregular boundary (which is common on older Thomasville properties and Red Hills acreage), that’s the starting point, not an obstacle to work around.
Once the design is finalized, permitting comes next and we handle all of it. The City of Thomasville maintains a dedicated pool permit track through its Building Department, and construction has to comply with the 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code as adopted by the city. Municipal code Section 22-36 also sets specific setback rules: pools are only permitted in rear or side yards, with a minimum five-foot clearance from the rear lot line. If your property is in unincorporated Thomas County rather than inside city limits, the permit process runs through the Thomas County Board of Commissioners instead. Either way, you won’t be making those calls or figuring out which form to file we handle that.
After permits are approved, excavation and concrete work are scheduled with your timeline in mind. South Georgia’s rainy season runs roughly June through September, so if you’re planning for a summer swim, the conversation needs to start well before spring. Contractors in this region fill up fast once inquiry season hits in January and February. The families who start planning in the fall are the ones swimming by Memorial Day.
Ready to get started?
Every pool we build is cement full stop. There are no fiberglass shells, no vinyl liner options, and no “budget tier” that cuts corners on the structure. That’s a deliberate choice. Cement pools are the only material that makes long-term sense in South Georgia’s climate and soil conditions. They don’t float during heavy rains, they don’t require liner replacements every seven to ten years, and they don’t crack under the movement that red clay soil creates through its wet and dry cycles. A properly built cement pool gets stronger over time, not weaker.
What’s included in your build goes beyond just the shell. Our design process accounts for your specific property drainage planning, setback compliance, site grading, and finish selection are all part of the conversation from the start. Whether you’re on a half-acre lot in Madison Grove, a historic property near downtown Thomasville, or a larger acreage spread out toward the Red Hills, the design is built from scratch to fit that specific place. No two properties in Thomasville are identical, and no two pools should be either.
Transparent pricing is a non-negotiable part of how we work. You’ll know what you’re paying before anything goes in the ground. Inground pool installations in the Thomasville area typically range from around $20,000 on the lower end to well over $100,000 for a fully custom build with water features and premium finishes and you’ll know exactly where your project lands before a single permit is filed.
Yes, and Thomasville has a specific process for it. The City of Thomasville Building Department at 411 West Jackson Street maintains a dedicated pool permit track, separate from standard building permits. Pool construction within city limits must comply with the 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC) as adopted by the city, along with the 2018 International Residential Code and the 2020 National Electrical Code. Municipal code Section 22-36 also governs where a pool can be placed on your property it must be in a rear or side yard, at least five feet from the rear lot line, and must meet the side yard setback requirements for your zoning district.
If your property is outside city limits in unincorporated Thomas County, the permit process is handled through the Thomas County Board of Commissioners rather than the city building department. We manage the entire permitting process regardless of which jurisdiction applies to your property. You won’t be navigating that on your own.
The honest range in the Thomasville area runs from roughly $20,000 on the very low end typically a basic vinyl liner installation up to $150,000 or more for a fully custom cement build with a spa, water features, and premium finishes. The average for a mid-range inground pool in this market lands somewhere around $55,000, though that number shifts significantly based on size, material, site conditions, and what you want included.
Cement pools, which is what we build exclusively, sit in the mid-to-upper range of that spectrum. But the cost comparison that matters isn’t just the upfront number it’s what you spend over 20 or 30 years. Vinyl liner pools require liner replacements every seven to ten years at $4,000 to $6,000 each time. Fiberglass pools carry their own long-term maintenance costs. A cement pool built correctly in South Georgia’s soil conditions doesn’t have those recurring expenses. The price you pay upfront is the price you pay.
For this specific region, yes and the reason comes down to how the soil behaves. The Red Hills terrain around Thomasville is characterized by red clay that expands when it absorbs moisture and contracts during dry periods. That constant movement puts stress on pool structures over time. Fiberglass shells, which are lighter and less structurally integrated with the surrounding soil, are particularly vulnerable to that kind of ground pressure. They’re also at risk of hydrostatic displacement meaning when groundwater levels rise during South Georgia’s heavy summer rains, a fiberglass shell can actually be pushed upward out of the ground.
Cement doesn’t have that problem. Its mass and the way it’s engineered into the surrounding ground means it stays put regardless of what the soil or the water table does around it. It also allows for completely custom shapes and configurations, which matters on the kind of irregular, mature lots you find throughout Thomasville’s established neighborhoods and Red Hills properties. There’s no pre-set mold to work around.
Realistically, you should plan for four to six months from the initial design conversation to your first swim and that timeline assumes you start the process early. The biggest delay most homeowners don’t anticipate is permitting. Once a permit application is submitted to the City of Thomasville Building Department, approval timelines vary depending on the department’s current workload and whether the application is complete and accurate on the first submission. An experienced contractor who knows Thomasville’s process files it right the first time, which avoids the back-and-forth that can add weeks to a project.
Construction scheduling is the other variable. Pool contractors in South Georgia start filling their spring and summer calendars in January and February. If you’re hoping to swim by June or July, the planning conversation needs to happen well before that. Thomasville’s rainy season from June through September can also affect scheduling for excavation and concrete work. Families who start in the fall consistently get better timeline outcomes than those who wait until spring to pick up the phone.
The City of Thomasville’s Municipal Code, Section 22-36, is specific about where a residential pool can be located on your property. Pools are not permitted in the front yard they must be placed in the rear yard or side yard. The pool and any attached equipment must be set back at least five feet from the rear lot line. Side yard placement must comply with the side yard setback requirements for your specific zoning district, which can vary depending on where your property is located within the city.
For properties in unincorporated Thomas County meaning outside the Thomasville city limits the setback and placement rules are governed by Thomas County rather than the city, and the requirements may differ. If you’re on a larger rural or Red Hills property, the county’s process applies. Either way, getting this right before excavation starts is critical. Building outside the permitted envelope creates compliance issues that are expensive and time-consuming to correct after the fact.
Thomasville’s swimming season is one of the longest in Georgia and that’s not a small thing when you’re calculating whether a pool makes financial sense. Sitting at roughly the same latitude as North Florida, Thomasville sees summers that arrive early and linger late. A pool with any kind of heating capability is realistically usable from late March through October, which puts you at seven to eight months of use per year. Compare that to central Georgia’s five-to-six-month window or north Georgia’s four months, and the per-use value of the investment looks substantially better here.
On the resale side, inground pools in warm-climate markets like South Georgia add approximately 7% to a home’s value on average. In Thomasville, where the Northeast neighborhood shows median home values above $338,000 and new residential development on GA Highway 122 is actively bringing more buyers into the market, a well-built outdoor amenity carries real weight. A custom cement pool that’s properly designed and maintained doesn’t depreciate the way a vinyl liner pool does it holds its value and, in the right market conditions, adds to it.
Local Resources
Useful Links
