Hear from Our Customers
Sunnyside summers are not subtle. From late May through early September, temperatures push past 90 degrees with humidity that makes spending time outside genuinely uncomfortable without some kind of relief. A properly built inground pool changes that equation completely your backyard becomes the place people want to be, not the place they escape from.
But the outcome you’re really after isn’t just a pool. It’s a pool that holds up. The coastal plain soil beneath Ware County properties is sandy, formed in marine sediments, and sits close to the Okefenokee watershed which means the water table here behaves differently than it does in the red clay country of North Georgia. A pool shell that isn’t engineered for this specific environment can experience hydrostatic pressure from below, shifting or lifting over time. When we build a pool in Sunnyside, we account for what the ground here actually does.
When the engineering is right, you get a concrete pool that gets stronger as it cures, holds its shape for decades, and handles Southeast Georgia’s soil and climate without issue. Your pool season runs from April through October without heating and year-round if you add a spa or heating system. That’s real usability, not a brochure promise.
We founded Deep Waters Pools in 2014, but the experience behind it goes back more than three decades. The people building your pool have spent 30-plus years in concrete, plumbing, and pool construction not learning on the job, but refining a process that accounts for every variable this region throws at a project.
We’re based in Douglas, Georgia about 45 miles up US Route 82 from Sunnyside. That proximity means we’re genuinely local and familiar with the sandy flatwoods soil, the Ware County permitting process, and the construction conditions that define Southeast Georgia. This isn’t a franchise operation sending crews down from Atlanta. We’re a South Georgia company that knows this ground.
We built Deep Waters on a straightforward premise: too many families in this part of the state were getting burned by contractors who took deposits, made promises, and didn’t deliver. From day one, we’ve done the opposite transparent pricing, complete permit handling, and a finished pool that matches what was agreed to from the start. When you work with us on a Sunnyside pool, you’re working with people who live and build in this same region.
The process starts with a design conversation, not a sales pitch. We take the time to understand how your family actually plans to use the space whether that’s a shallow splash zone for young kids, a sun shelf, an attached spa, or a combination of all of it. From there, we build a 3D rendering around your actual Sunnyside yard so you can see exactly what the finished pool will look like before any dirt moves.
Once the design is locked in, we handle the Ware County permit application through the county’s Planning and Codes office. For properties in unincorporated Sunnyside, that means navigating county-level requirements not city codes and coordinating inspections at the right phases of construction. You don’t file a form, make a call, or chase down a status update. We handle that.
Construction begins with excavation. In Southeast Georgia’s sandy soil, this phase requires careful management sandy walls can shift before the shell is set, and the proximity to the Okefenokee’s water table means hydrostatic pressure has to be accounted for in the engineering, not addressed after the fact. Once the shell is poured and cured, finishing, equipment installation, and final inspection follow in sequence. Start the process in the fall and a pool ready for summer is a realistic target.
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Every pool we build is a custom inground concrete structure not fiberglass, not vinyl. Concrete is the right choice for Sunnyside and the surrounding area. Fiberglass shells installed in high-water-table environments like Ware County are vulnerable to hydrostatic uplift the shell can literally shift or pop upward when water pressure builds beneath it after heavy rain. Vinyl liners need replacing every seven to ten years. A properly engineered concrete pool is a permanent structure that strengthens over time and holds its shape in the ground beneath a Sunnyside property for decades.
Every build we deliver includes full 3D design renderings so you see the finished product before construction starts, complete permit handling through Ware County Planning and Codes, and a custom-fitted safety cover designed specifically for your pool’s shape and dimensions. The cover is not an add-on. It is included because a finished pool without proper safety protection is an incomplete project.
Beyond the pool itself, we also build spas, design and install patios, and offer weekly maintenance plans to keep your water chemistry balanced and your equipment running through the season. If you want to build a full outdoor living space around your pool not just a shell in the ground that’s a conversation worth having from the beginning of the design process.
Yes and the process runs through Ware County, not a city office, because Sunnyside is an unincorporated community. That means you’re working with Ware County Planning and Codes to pull the residential pool permit, and with the Waycross-Ware County Planning Commission if any rezoning or development questions come up along the way.
The permit process involves submitting the right application, meeting setback requirements under county zoning rules, and scheduling inspections at specific phases of construction. Most homeowners have no experience navigating this, and a lot of contractors hand their customers a checklist and leave them to figure it out. We handle the entire permit process from the initial application through final inspection sign-off. You don’t touch a form, and your project doesn’t stall waiting on paperwork that wasn’t filed correctly the first time.
It’s one of the most important factors in building a pool that lasts in this part of Georgia, and it’s different from what builders deal with in the red clay soils further north. Southeast Georgia’s coastal plain soil is sandy, formed in marine sediments, and sits close to the Okefenokee watershed which means the water table here can rise seasonally and create real hydrostatic pressure beneath a pool shell.
If that pressure isn’t accounted for in the engineering, the shell can experience uplift meaning water pressure from below pushes the structure upward. That’s a structural failure, and it happens when builders apply a generic construction approach to ground that requires something specific. Sandy soil also presents excavation challenges the walls of an open excavation can shift before the shell is set if the site isn’t managed correctly. We build with the engineering methods this soil environment actually requires, not a template copied from a different region.
For a custom inground concrete pool in the Ware County area, the realistic timeline from signed contract to finished pool runs somewhere between three and six months depending on design complexity, permit processing time, and weather. Southeast Georgia’s summer storm pattern frequent afternoon thunderstorms from June through August can affect scheduling during phases that require dry conditions, like concrete curing. We know this climate and build buffer into the timeline rather than quoting an optimistic number and missing it.
The best approach for Sunnyside homeowners who want a pool ready for summer is to start the design and permitting process in the fall or early winter. Ware County permit processing has its own timeline, and getting that handled before construction season starts means you’re not waiting on paperwork when the crew is ready to dig. We walk you through a realistic phase-by-phase timeline at the start of the project so you know what to expect at every step.
For this specific area, yes and the reason comes back to the ground. Fiberglass pools are manufactured off-site as a single shell and installed as one unit, which means they can’t be custom-shaped to a specific yard. More importantly, fiberglass shells in high-water-table environments like Ware County are vulnerable to hydrostatic uplift when water pressure builds beneath the shell during heavy rain events, the shell can shift or lift out of the ground. That’s a real risk in Southeast Georgia’s coastal plain, particularly given the area’s proximity to the Okefenokee watershed.
Concrete pools are engineered in place and built to handle the specific soil and water table conditions of the site they’re on. The shell cures and strengthens over time it doesn’t degrade, it doesn’t need to be replaced, and it holds its shape for decades. Vinyl liner pools avoid the uplift issue but require liner replacement every seven to ten years at significant cost. A properly built concrete pool is a one-time investment in a permanent structure.
Custom inground concrete pools in Georgia typically start around $70,000 and can reach $150,000 or more depending on size, shape, depth, features, and site conditions. For a pool in Sunnyside and the surrounding Ware County area, the final number depends on factors like the complexity of the design, whether a spa or patio is included, what the excavation looks like given the sandy soil conditions on your specific property, and what equipment package you choose.
What matters as much as the starting number is what’s actually included in the quote. A lot of pool contracts are written low and then padded with change orders patio work priced after signing, equipment upgrades framed as necessary additions, square footage overages that weren’t disclosed upfront. We give you a transparent quote that reflects the actual project. The number you agree to is the number you pay. For an investment of this size, knowing that upfront isn’t a minor detail it’s the foundation of the whole decision.
Yes. We’re based in Douglas, Georgia about 45 miles northwest of Sunnyside via US Route 82 and we serve the broader Southeast Georgia region, including Ware County and the Waycross area. The shared geography matters here. Douglas and Sunnyside sit on the same coastal plain, deal with the same sandy flatwoods soil, experience the same climate, and operate under the same county-level permitting culture. A builder who works regularly in Coffee County knows exactly what to expect on a Ware County job site.
Sunnyside residents working with us get the same process as every other build 3D design, complete Ware County permit handling, engineered concrete construction, a custom safety cover, and weekly maintenance options after the pool is finished. There’s no premium charged for the drive down 82, and the local knowledge that comes with building across Southeast Georgia is built into every project.
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