Hear from Our Customers
A pool that’s built correctly from the start means you’re not calling a contractor back six months later trying to figure out who’s responsible for a crack in the shell or a plumbing leak under the deck. When one team handles everything excavation, gunite, plumbing, electrical, and deck there’s no gap between phases where problems hide and no one to blame but the person who built it. That accountability is the difference between a pool you enjoy and one you regret.
Out here near Chatterton, properties along the Route 32 corridor tend to sit on larger parcels with more site variation than you’d find in a subdivision. That’s actually an advantage more flexibility in how your pool is positioned, how the deck wraps around it, and where equipment gets placed. But it also means the site evaluation matters more, not less. The soil around the Seventeen-Mile River watershed can shift between sandy loam and heavier clay across a short distance, and a builder who hasn’t worked in Coffee County ground before might not catch that until it’s already a problem.
South Georgia’s swim season runs roughly April through October closer to eight or nine months of real, usable water. That changes the math on what a pool is worth. You’re not buying a summer toy. You’re adding an outdoor living space that works for the better part of the year, adds documented value to your property, and doesn’t need to be replaced in a decade the way a vinyl liner does.
We were founded in Douglas in 2014 about thirteen miles west of Chatterton on Route 32. But the experience behind Deep Waters Pools goes back more than thirty years. Our founder spent three decades building pools across South Georgia before starting this company, and he started it for a specific reason: too many families in the Chatterton area and across Coffee County were getting burned by contractors who took deposits, handed the work off to whoever they could find, and disappeared when something went wrong.
That’s not how we work. We run a single-team model, meaning the same crew that digs your pool is the same crew that frames it, plumbs it, wires it, and finishes the deck. Nobody subcontracts the hard parts out and hopes it comes together. When you’re in a community like Chatterton where people talk, and word gets around fast that kind of accountability isn’t optional. It’s the only way to operate.
It starts with a site evaluation. Before any design gets finalized, we walk your property to assess soil conditions, drainage, utility locations, and equipment access. For properties in the Chatterton area, that step carries real weight the terrain near the Seventeen-Mile River corridor means drainage patterns vary, and what works on one lot may need a different approach on the next one over.
Once the site is assessed and the design is confirmed, we pull your building permit and electrical permit through Coffee County Code Enforcement in Douglas. That’s handled entirely in-house. You don’t fill out a single form or make a single call to the county office that’s already covered. Permits are required before excavation begins, and every inspection milestone gets scheduled and managed by the same team doing the work.
From there, excavation opens the site, the gunite shell gets applied and cured, and then plumbing and electrical are roughed in before the deck goes down. A standard residential build runs six to eight weeks from excavation to water. That timeline holds because there’s no waiting on a subcontractor to free up the same team moves through every phase in sequence. When the final inspection clears, your pool is fully permitted, legally documented, and ready to use.
Ready to get started?
Our builds cover the full scope: site evaluation, custom pool design, permit acquisition through Coffee County, excavation, gunite shell construction, swimming pool plumbing, electrical bonding and grounding, and pool deck installation. Nothing gets handed off to a separate company midway through. The team that starts your project finishes it.
Gunite is the construction method that makes the most sense for the long haul. It’s a pneumatically applied concrete shell built in place on your specific lot not a pre-manufactured insert that either fits or doesn’t. Gunite pools are fully customizable to your yard’s shape, slope, and size, which matters on the kind of rural Coffee County property most Chatterton-area homeowners are working with. And with a properly built gunite shell, you’re looking at a pool that lasts twenty-five to thirty years or more without needing a structural overhaul. Compare that to a vinyl liner that needs full replacement every eight to twelve years, and the value difference becomes obvious fast.
Every pool we build is code-compliant under Georgia’s International Swimming Pool and Spa Code requirements including proper barrier fencing, anti-entrapment drain covers, and electrical bonding per NEC Article 680. Because Chatterton is unincorporated, all of this runs through Coffee County’s permitting process, not a municipal building department. We know that process and manage it completely, so your finished pool is clean on paper and built to last in the ground.
Yes and because Chatterton is unincorporated, your permit comes from Coffee County, not a city building department. The Coffee County Code Enforcement Department in Douglas handles all swimming pool permits for unincorporated areas, including the Chatterton and Nicholls corridor. You’ll need a building permit before excavation begins and a separate electrical permit for all pool wiring.
We pull both permits in-house as part of every build. You don’t need to contact the county office, track inspection schedules, or wonder whether your pool meets code that’s managed from start to finish by the same team building your pool. An unpermitted pool in Coffee County creates real problems at resale and potential legal liability. Every pool we build is fully documented before the water goes in.
A standard residential gunite build with us runs six to eight weeks from excavation to water. That timeline is realistic not a sales pitch because the same crew handles every phase without waiting on outside subcontractors to become available.
That said, a few things can affect timing. Permit processing through Coffee County Code Enforcement adds a step before excavation can begin, so planning ahead matters. Weather can create brief delays, particularly during South Georgia’s summer thunderstorm season. And if your site has specific soil or drainage considerations which isn’t uncommon on rural properties near the Seventeen-Mile River watershed the excavation phase may require additional prep work. All of that gets identified during the site evaluation before your contract is signed, so there are no surprises after work starts.
Gunite is the most durable option for South Georgia conditions. It’s a concrete shell applied pneumatically on-site, which means it’s built to fit your specific lot and engineered to handle the soil conditions underneath it. In Coffee County, where ground composition can shift between sandy loam and heavier clay depending on where you are on a given property, that on-site construction matters. A pre-manufactured fiberglass shell gets set into whatever hole gets dug it doesn’t adapt to what’s underneath it.
Gunite also handles South Georgia’s heat and humidity better over the long term than vinyl liner pools, which degrade faster in high UV environments and need full liner replacement every eight to twelve years. A properly built gunite pool in this climate, with routine maintenance, will last twenty-five to thirty years or more without structural issues. For a Chatterton-area homeowner who’s investing in a permanent outdoor amenity on a property you plan to keep, gunite is the build that makes sense.
Most residential inground gunite pool projects fall somewhere between $55,000 and $100,000, with more customized builds larger pools, elaborate decks, water features running higher from there. The honest answer is that the final number depends on your specific site, the size and shape of the pool, the deck material and layout, and any additional features you want included.
What affects cost in the Chatterton area specifically is the site evaluation step. Rural Coffee County properties sometimes require additional excavation prep depending on soil conditions and drainage. That’s not a reason to avoid building it’s a reason to get a thorough site assessment before committing to a number. We provide a detailed, itemized proposal after evaluating your property, so you know exactly what’s included and why before anything gets signed. No vague estimates, no costs that appear later.
The best time to start planning is earlier than most people think. If you want to be swimming by Memorial Day, you should be in conversation with a builder by November or December at the latest. Permit processing through Coffee County, site evaluation, and design finalization all take time before excavation can begin and contractors’ schedules fill up faster than most homeowners expect heading into spring.
Fall and winter are actually ideal times to sign a contract in South Georgia. The weather is mild enough that construction can move forward without the summer heat and afternoon thunderstorms that slow things down between June and August. Coffee County doesn’t get the hard freezes that would halt a build in northern Georgia, so a winter start is a legitimate option. Getting ahead of the spring rush also means you’re more likely to get the timeline you want rather than working around someone else’s backlog.
In warm-climate markets like South Georgia, a professionally built inground pool typically adds somewhere between five and eight percent to a home’s appraised value. On a rural Coffee County property valued at $250,000, that’s roughly $12,500 to $20,000 in added equity real, documented value that shows up in an appraisal and transfers at resale.
The key word there is “professionally built.” A fully permitted, code-compliant gunite pool built by a licensed contractor is a documented asset. An unpermitted pool or one with structural deficiencies is a liability that can complicate a sale, reduce a buyer’s offer, or require remediation before closing. In a rural market like Chatterton, where buyers are practical and do their homework, the difference between a clean pool and a problem pool is the difference between an asset and a headache. The contractor you choose at the start determines which one you end up with.
Local Resources
Useful Links
Other Services we provide in Chatterton
