Hear from Our Customers
Fitzgerald’s pool season is longer than most people in other parts of the country ever get. From April through October, temperatures sit in the upper 80s and low 90s, and your backyard becomes the place everyone wants to be. A pool that’s built right gives your family that space without the repair bills, the liner replacements, or the unpermitted headaches that follow a cheap build.
Gunite pools are built on-site from the ground up, which matters more here than people realize. Ben Hill County’s soil varies across the county the Alapaha River basin runs through the northwest, the Satilla River system through the southeast and drainage characteristics shift depending on exactly where your property sits. We evaluate your site before anything is designed, not after the excavator is already in your yard.
And because Fitzgerald’s established residential neighborhoods have mature trees, existing landscaping, and homes with real character, your pool needs to fit your property not a manufacturer’s mold. That’s the difference between a pool that looks like it belongs there and one that looks dropped in.
We’re based in Douglas, Georgia about 35 miles from Fitzgerald in the same South Georgia region. Deep Waters Pools was founded in 2014 by an owner with more than 30 years of hands-on pool construction experience, and it was built around one specific frustration: too many South Georgia families were getting burned by contractors who overpromised, disappeared mid-project, or left behind work that failed inspection.
Every phase of a Deep Waters build excavation, gunite, plumbing, electrical, deck installation is handled by our coordinated team. There are no subcontractors being juggled, no crews waiting on each other, and no confusion about who’s responsible when a question comes up. You have one number to call from the day the excavator rolls in to the day the water is clear.
That matters in a close-knit community like Fitzgerald, where word travels fast and your neighbors will watch this project from start to finish. We build accordingly.
It starts with a site evaluation before any design decisions are made and before any money changes hands. We look at your soil, drainage, utility locations, equipment access, and any site-specific conditions that could affect the build or the budget. In Ben Hill County, where soil drainage can vary meaningfully depending on your property’s position within the county, that step isn’t optional. It’s how we avoid surprises after the excavator is already in your yard.
Once the design is confirmed, we handle all permit applications in-house. Pool construction in Fitzgerald involves navigating both the City of Fitzgerald’s building department and Ben Hill County’s Building, Licenses, and Zoning Department, depending on where your property sits. We manage both applications, inspection scheduling, and code compliance documentation so you don’t have to track down an inspector or wonder if the paperwork is in order.
From the first day of excavation through steel placement, gunite application, plumbing, electrical, and deck installation, the average Deep Waters build runs six to eight weeks. That’s not a vague estimate it’s the result of our team managing every phase in sequence rather than waiting on multiple subcontractors to coordinate. If you’re contracting in the fall or winter, you’re likely swimming before school lets out in June.
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Every Deep Waters pool starts with a custom design built around your specific property the shape, depth, and layout that actually work for your yard. Fitzgerald’s residential lots are established, with mature trees and real landscaping that took years to grow. We plan equipment access, excavation routes, and site protection before the first machine arrives, so your yard isn’t collateral damage in the process.
The pool shell is built with gunite the same construction method used in commercial and resort pools applied on-site over a steel reinforcement grid and shaped to your exact dimensions. There’s no mold, no shell dropped into a hole, and no compromising on shape because a manufacturer’s catalog didn’t have what you needed. A properly built gunite pool in South Georgia’s climate lasts 25 to 30 years. Vinyl liner pools need liner replacement every 8 to 12 years. Fiberglass shells typically cap out at 15 to 25 years before major repairs become necessary. The math is straightforward.
Swimming pool plumbing and electrical are completed in-house, to code, and inspected at every required stage not just at the final walkthrough. Pool deck installation is the last phase, and material options are discussed during the design process so the finished surface fits your home’s style and handles South Georgia’s heat without cracking or fading. When the project is done, you have a fully permitted, inspected, documented pool that adds real value to your Fitzgerald home.
Yes, and in Fitzgerald the permitting situation is a little more layered than in some other South Georgia towns. Depending on where your property sits, you may be dealing with the City of Fitzgerald’s building department, Ben Hill County’s Building, Licenses, and Zoning Department, or both. On top of the building permit, pool construction also requires a separate electrical permit, and Georgia law requires inspections at multiple stages of the build not just a final walkthrough before you fill it.
There are also specific code requirements that apply to every new residential pool in Georgia: NEC Article 680 governs electrical bonding and grounding, Virginia Graeme Baker Act-compliant drain covers are required on all new construction, and barrier fencing around the pool is mandated by state law. We handle all permit applications and inspection scheduling in-house for every Fitzgerald project. You won’t be tracking down a permit office or scheduling your own inspections we manage it from start to finish so the finished pool is fully documented and legally clean for the day you eventually sell.
For a custom gunite pool in South Georgia, most residential projects fall somewhere between $55,000 and $100,000, with larger or more complex builds reaching $150,000 or more depending on size, features, and site conditions. In Fitzgerald, where the median home value sits around $118,000, it’s worth having an honest conversation about what that investment means before you sign anything.
The way to think about it is long-term. A gunite pool has a functional lifespan of 25 to 30 years with proper care. A vinyl liner pool will need the liner replaced every 8 to 12 years at $3,000 to $5,000 per replacement. A fiberglass shell typically hits its limit in 15 to 25 years. When you factor in replacement costs over time, a properly built gunite pool is usually the more economical choice across the life of the project. And in Fitzgerald, where pools are used hard for seven months a year, a properly permitted, quality-built pool adds an estimated 5 to 8% to your home’s value roughly $5,900 to $9,400 on a home valued at the county median.
Gunite is a concrete mixture that’s pneumatically applied sprayed under pressure over a steel reinforcement grid that’s been shaped to your pool’s exact dimensions. Because it’s applied on-site rather than manufactured in a factory, there’s no predetermined shape or size. Your pool is built to fit your property, not the other way around.
This matters more in Fitzgerald’s established neighborhoods than it might in a newer subdivision with uniform lots. Older residential properties often have irregular yard shapes, grade changes, mature trees close to the build area, or existing structures that affect where a pool can go and what shape makes sense. Gunite handles all of that without compromise. The finished shell is also significantly more durable than vinyl or fiberglass it won’t shift, crack from ground movement the way a fiberglass shell can, or need periodic liner replacement. In South Georgia’s climate, where a pool is in active use from April through October and sitting in the ground year-round, that structural integrity is what makes the difference between a 10-year pool and a 30-year pool.
The average Deep Waters build runs six to eight weeks from the first day of excavation to the day you add water. That timeline covers every phase: excavation, steel reinforcement, gunite application, plumbing, electrical, and deck installation. It’s a realistic number because our team manages every phase in sequence there’s no waiting on a subcontractor’s schedule to line up before the next step can start.
What affects that timeline most is the permitting stage, which happens before excavation begins. In Fitzgerald, permit processing through either the city or county building department adds time to the front end of the project typically a few weeks depending on current volume. That’s why the best time to start the conversation is in the fall or early winter. Homeowners who contract in October, November, or December are usually the first ones in the water the following spring. If you wait until February or March to start the process, you’re competing with everyone else who had the same idea in January, and a June pool can easily become an August pool.
Excavation is the first physical phase of the build, and it’s the one that tends to make homeowners most anxious especially on established Fitzgerald properties with mature trees, existing landscaping, and homes that have been there for decades. Before any equipment arrives, we map out the access route, mark all utilities, and identify anything in the path that needs to be protected or relocated. The goal is to get the excavator in and out without turning your yard into a construction disaster zone.
The excavation itself is shaped to the exact dimensions of your pool design depth, slope, and shell geometry are all accounted for. In Ben Hill County, where soil drainage characteristics can vary depending on your property’s position within the county’s river basin geography, we also evaluate what we’re working with as the dig progresses. If there’s a drainage condition or water table factor that needs to be addressed in the shell engineering, that’s identified and handled during this phase not discovered after the gunite is already applied. Once excavation is complete, the steel reinforcement grid goes in and the project moves to gunite.
Fitzgerald’s climate makes year-round pool construction genuinely viable. Hard freezes are rare and brief temperatures rarely drop below 29°F which means gunite application and curing aren’t meaningfully weather-constrained in most years. South Georgia’s mild winters are one of the real advantages of building here compared to states where construction shuts down for months at a time.
That said, there is a best time to start, and it’s earlier than most people expect. The peak planning season runs January through March, when most Fitzgerald homeowners who want a pool for summer start making calls. If you’re in that group, you’re competing for scheduling with everyone else who waited until the new year. Homeowners who start the process in October or November when contractor schedules are lighter and permit offices are less backed up tend to get earlier build start dates, smoother timelines, and more flexibility in the design process. If a summer pool is the goal, a fall conversation is the move that makes it happen on time.
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