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Thomas County doesn’t ease into summer it arrives fast and stays late. By late April, temperatures are already climbing toward 90°F, and they don’t let up until October. That’s not a three-month pool season. That’s seven to eight months of real, usable water time for your family. A custom inground pool in Meigs isn’t a luxury you use twice a year. It’s something your kids will be in from spring break through Halloween.
What changes when you build with someone who actually knows how to build here is the difference between a pool that performs for 30 years and one that needs a $15,000 fix inside of five. The coastal plain soils in Thomas County expand and contract with moisture a builder who doesn’t account for that in the rebar layout and shell engineering is cutting a corner you won’t notice until it’s expensive. We’ve built in South Georgia long enough to know what the ground does here, and we engineer accordingly.
The other thing that changes is your peace of mind during the build itself. No strangers showing up claiming to be “the sub the pool company sent.” No permit you’re responsible for chasing. No phase of the project where accountability goes fuzzy. You know who’s on your property, you know what’s happening, and you know what the final number is before a single cubic yard of dirt moves.
Deep Waters Pools was founded in 2014, but the experience behind it goes back more than three decades. Before the company existed, our founder spent 30-plus years in concrete, plumbing, and custom pool construction learning the trade at the ground level, not in a classroom. That history is what you’re actually hiring when you call.
We build throughout South Georgia, including Thomas County and the Meigs area, and that regional focus matters. This isn’t a metro Atlanta operation applying northern Georgia assumptions to a Southwest Georgia build. We understand the climate, the soil, and the permit process whether your property sits inside Meigs city limits on the East Depot Street corridor or out on an unincorporated Thomas County parcel off one of the county roads heading toward Thomasville.
Every pool we build is done with a single in-house crew no subcontractors, no handoffs, no gaps in accountability. The same people who dig the hole finish the deck. That’s not a tagline. It’s just how we work.
It starts with a site evaluation and design conversation. We look at your specific property lot size, setbacks, soil conditions, access points and build a design around what your yard actually allows, not what looks good in a catalog. Gunite means your pool can be any shape, any depth, any footprint. The design fits your land, not the other way around.
Once the design is locked and the contract is signed, we handle every permit. For properties inside Meigs city limits, that means coordinating with Meigs City Hall on East Depot Street. For unincorporated Thomas County properties, it runs through Thomas County Inspections and Planning in Thomasville. Either way, you’re not making calls or chasing permit numbers that’s handled. Georgia building code requires a rebar cage inspection before any gunite is applied, and we manage that inspection as a standard part of the process.
From excavation to completion, the active construction phase typically runs six to eight weeks. The full timeline from design through final inspection is usually three to six months depending on permitting speed and project scope. If you want a finished pool before the worst of the Thomas County summer heat arrives, starting the conversation in late fall or early winter gives you the best shot at a July delivery. We’re upfront about that timeline from day one no overpromising, no moving targets.
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A gunite pool build covers a lot of ground, and we handle every phase without passing the work off. Excavation, rebar cage fabrication, gunite shell application, swimming pool plumbing, electrical, coping, pool deck installation, and finish work all done by the same crew. That continuity matters more than it sounds. The person who laid the plumbing lines knows exactly where every pipe runs. The person who set the rebar cage knows the shell’s exact dimensions. Nothing gets lost in translation between crews because there’s only one crew.
Every new pool build also includes a custom safety cover as a standard item not an add-on, not an upsell. Georgia building code requires pool barrier fencing with self-closing, self-latching gates, and we walk you through that requirement as part of the permit process so there are no surprises after the pool is full.
Beyond new construction, we also build spas and hot tubs, install custom patios and decks, handle pool renovation and restoration work, and offer ongoing maintenance and chemical service. If you’re on a larger rural Thomas County property the kind of lot where setbacks aren’t a problem and excavation access is straightforward you’re often in a better position for a custom build than a tight suburban lot would allow. We’ll tell you that honestly in the first conversation, before any money changes hands.
The active construction phase from excavation through final finish typically runs six to eight weeks. But that’s not the full picture. The total timeline from your first design conversation to a pool you can swim in is usually three to six months, and the permitting phase is where most of the wait happens.
For properties in Meigs, permits run through either Meigs City Hall or Thomas County Inspections and Planning in Thomasville, depending on whether you’re inside city limits or on an unincorporated Thomas County parcel. Permit review timelines vary, and Georgia building code also requires a mandatory rebar cage inspection before gunite can be applied that inspection has to be scheduled and passed before construction can move forward. We manage all of that in-house, but it’s real time that has to be factored in. If your goal is a finished pool by early summer, starting the design conversation in late fall or early winter gives you the best window.
A custom gunite pool in Thomas County typically runs somewhere in the $60,000 to $100,000 range, depending on size, shape, depth, and the features you include things like a spa, custom coping, or a more elaborate deck layout will move the number up. Simpler builds with a straightforward rectangular or freeform design and a standard deck come in at the lower end of that range.
That number might feel significant relative to local property values in the Meigs area, and it’s fair to think about it that way. But the relevant comparison isn’t just what it does to your appraised value it’s what it does to your family’s quality of life for the next 20 to 30 years in a climate where summer temperatures regularly exceed 90°F for five straight months. Thomas County’s property tax rate is also among the lowest in Georgia, which means the carrying cost of a higher-value property post-pool is minimal. We give you a fixed-scope contract upfront the number in the contract is the number on the final invoice.
Fiberglass pools ship from a factory in fixed shapes and sizes. Whatever shell the manufacturer makes is what you get and it has to fit your yard, not the other way around. For homeowners on standard suburban lots, that’s sometimes workable. For the kind of varied lot sizes you find in and around Meigs from in-town residential parcels to larger rural Thomas County properties a factory shape often doesn’t fit the space or the vision.
Gunite is built on-site from scratch. Any shape, any depth, any footprint. If you want a pool that works around an existing tree line, or one with a specific depth for lap swimming, or a freeform shape that fits an irregular lot, gunite makes that possible. It’s also the most durable pool type available a properly built gunite shell gets stronger as the concrete cures over time, and it doesn’t have the surface degradation issues that fiberglass develops over decades. In a climate like Thomas County’s, where pools run seven to eight months a year and take a lot of use, that durability is worth building in from the start.
Yes pool construction in Georgia requires permits, and in the Meigs area, where exactly you pull them depends on your property’s location. If you’re inside Meigs city limits, permits go through Meigs City Hall on East Depot Street. If your property is in unincorporated Thomas County outside the city limits, permits are handled by Thomas County Inspections and Planning in Thomasville.
Either way, you need at minimum a building permit and an electrical permit. Georgia building code also requires a rebar cage inspection before gunite can be applied the rebar framework has to be inspected and approved before the concrete shell goes over it. That’s not optional, and a builder who skips it is creating a code violation that can surface during a future home sale. We pull every permit in our name and manage every inspection from start to finish. You don’t make calls, you don’t chase paperwork, and when the pool is done, there’s a complete permit record showing every phase was built to code.
It’s a fair question, and it’s one that separates experienced South Georgia builders from ones who are learning on your property. Thomas County sits on the same coastal plain geology as much of Southwest Georgia clay-heavy subsoils that expand when wet and contract when dry. If a builder doesn’t account for that movement in the rebar density, the shell thickness, and the footing design, you’ll see it eventually in cracking or shifting. It’s not a question of if it’s a question of when.
We’ve been building in South Georgia long enough to understand what the ground does here across seasons. The engineering decisions that go into a Thomas County pool rebar layout, concrete mix, curing approach are made with those soil conditions in mind, not applied from a generic template. A properly engineered gunite shell in this region should perform for 30 or more years without structural issues. The difference is in the decisions made before the concrete ever gets applied, which is exactly why experience in this specific region matters more than a low bid from someone who’s never built here.
If you want to be swimming by summer, the time to start the conversation is late fall or early winter October through January. That gives you enough runway to get through the design phase, complete the permitting process through Thomas County or Meigs City Hall, and move into active construction before the spring rain season picks up. Thomas County’s heavy afternoon thunderstorm pattern from June through August can create delays in excavation and gunite application, since both require dry conditions. Starting construction in late winter or early spring February through April puts you in the best window for consistent building weather and a summer completion.
The good news is that South Georgia’s mild winters mean pool construction can happen year-round here, unlike northern markets where frozen ground shuts everything down from November through March. There’s no hard stop on construction in Thomas County during winter months. But if your goal is a July 4th pool, a January start on design and permitting is a realistic target not a stretch. We’re upfront about the timeline from the first conversation so you know exactly what you’re working with.
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