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A pool built for Pavo isn’t the same as a pool built for a subdivision in the suburbs. The properties out here have space real space and the soil underneath them is a mix of sandy topsoil and clay-heavy subsoil that sits on top of the Floridan Aquifer system. That combination creates specific drainage demands that a builder without South Georgia experience won’t account for until it’s already a problem.
When those details are handled correctly from the start, what you end up with is a pool that performs the way it’s supposed to season after season, decade after decade. No hydrostatic pressure issues. No cracking from drainage that wasn’t engineered right. Just a structure that was built for the ground it sits in.
In Pavo, a well-built pool isn’t a summer toy. From May through October, and often well into November, the weather makes your backyard the most usable space on your property. A gunite pool built to the right spec adds real equity to your home and real quality to your daily life not just a few months a year, but most of it.
We founded Deep Waters Pools in 2014 in Douglas, Georgia but the experience behind it goes back more than 30 years. Our owner didn’t start this company fresh out of a training program. He spent decades building pools across South Georgia, including properties around Pavo, before he ever put his name on the door. He started Deep Waters specifically because he watched too many families in communities like Pavo get burned by contractors who took deposits, disappeared, or handed the hard parts off to whoever was available.
That’s not how we work. We run a single-team model the same crew that designs your pool builds your pool. No subcontractors brought in for the structural work. No handoffs. One team, one accountable point of contact, from the day you call to the day the water goes in.
Whether your property falls on the Thomas County side of Pavo or the Brooks County side, we know this area. The soil, the permit offices, the inspection requirements none of it is new to us.
It starts with a site evaluation not a sales pitch. Before anything is designed, we look at your property: soil conditions, drainage patterns, utility locations, how equipment will access the site, and any existing structures that affect the layout. For rural properties around Pavo, that might mean planning around a fence line, a gate, or an existing tree line. That evaluation shapes everything that comes after it.
Once the design is locked in, we handle all permitting. This matters more in Pavo than most people realize. Because the town straddles the Thomas and Brooks County line, your property’s permit authority depends on which side of that line your parcel sits on. We pull the correct permits from the correct county office whether that’s Thomas County or Brooks County Development Services in Quitman and schedule every required inspection throughout the build. You don’t navigate any of that.
Excavation typically takes one to three days. Gunite application follows, usually completed in one to two days. Plumbing, electrical, and shell work run in sequence over the next several weeks, with decking coming near the end. Start to finish, most residential gunite builds run six to eight weeks. That timeline holds because the same team executes every phase there’s no waiting on a subcontractor’s schedule to move from one stage to the next.
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We handle the full scope of a custom inground pool build. That means site evaluation, custom design, permit acquisition, excavation, gunite shell construction, swimming pool plumbing, electrical installation, pool deck installation, and complete project management all under one contract, with one team.
The gunite construction method is worth understanding if you’re comparing options. Unlike fiberglass, which comes in fixed shapes and sizes, gunite is built on-site to fit your specific property. If your lot calls for a longer footprint, a freeform shape, a sun shelf, or a specific orientation relative to your house, gunite can do it. It also lasts significantly longer a properly built gunite shell holds up for 25 to 30-plus years. Vinyl liner pools need liner replacement every 8 to 12 years. That’s a recurring cost that adds up fast over the life of the pool.
Every pool we build meets Georgia’s barrier fencing requirements, Virginia Graeme Baker Act drain safety standards, and NEC Article 680 electrical bonding and grounding requirements. These aren’t optional they’re legal requirements for every new pool built in Georgia, and we build them into every project from day one. When the build is done, your pool is permitted, inspected, and fully code-compliant under whichever county’s regulations apply to your property.
Yes and in Pavo specifically, the answer is a little more involved than it is in most towns. Because Pavo sits on the county line between Thomas County and Brooks County, which permit office has jurisdiction over your project depends on which side of that line your property sits on. Thomas County handles permitting for properties on the eastern side of town. Brooks County Development Services, located in Quitman, handles permitting for properties on the western side.
Beyond the building permit, pool construction in Georgia also requires a separate electrical permit for all pool electrical work. Multiple inspections are required at specific stages of construction not just a final walkthrough at the end. We manage all of this in-house. We pull the correct permits from the correct county authority, coordinate the inspection schedule, and make sure the finished pool is fully documented and code-compliant. You don’t have to figure out which office to call or what forms to file that’s our job.
For a standard residential gunite build, the timeline from excavation to water is typically six to eight weeks. Excavation takes one to three days depending on the size and site conditions. Gunite application usually runs one to two days. Plumbing, electrical, and structural work follow in sequence, with pool deck installation coming near the end of the build.
That timeline holds because we run a single-team model. Every phase of the build is executed by the same crew there’s no waiting on a subcontractor’s availability to move from excavation to shell work, or from plumbing to decking. The project moves at the pace of one coordinated team, not the pace of however many independent schedules happen to align. South Georgia’s climate also works in your favor the region around Pavo doesn’t see the hard freezes or extended rain events that slow down construction in other parts of the country, so scheduling is generally more predictable year-round.
Gunite is the strongest choice for properties in and around Pavo, and the local soil conditions are a big part of why. The South Georgia Coastal Plain which includes the Brooks and Thomas County area has a mix of sandy topsoil and clay-heavy subsoil, with portions of the region sitting above the Floridan Aquifer. Clay-heavy subsoils retain water and can create hydrostatic pressure against a pool shell if drainage isn’t engineered correctly from the start.
Gunite handles this better than the alternatives. The shell is built on-site, reinforced with a steel cage, and applied at a thickness that can be engineered to the specific demands of your site. Fiberglass shells are manufactured off-site in fixed dimensions and don’t allow for the same level of site-specific structural customization. Vinyl liner pools have a shorter lifespan and are more susceptible to damage from ground movement over time. For a property in this part of South Georgia, a properly built gunite pool is the most durable long-term investment.
A custom gunite inground pool in South Georgia typically runs between $55,000 and $100,000 for a standard residential build. Larger pools, more complex designs, additional water features, or premium deck materials can push that number higher some custom builds exceed $150,000 depending on scope.
The honest answer is that the cost depends on what your property needs and what you want the finished pool to look like. A straightforward rectangular pool on a flat lot with a standard concrete deck is going to cost less than a freeform design with a sun shelf, elevated spa, and paver deck on a site that requires more excavation work. What doesn’t change is the build quality the steel reinforcement, gunite application thickness, plumbing materials, and electrical installation are done to the same standard on every project. We’ll walk you through a realistic cost estimate during the site evaluation, before you commit to anything.
If you want to be swimming by summer, the best time to start is January through March. That’s when the planning, design, and permitting process should begin so that construction can kick off in the spring and wrap up before the heat of summer is fully underway. South Georgia’s construction season is long the climate around Pavo rarely brings the kind of sustained cold or rain that shuts down outdoor construction but the permit and design process takes time, and the best build slots fill up early in the year.
That said, starting in the fall or early winter isn’t a bad move either. Buyers who begin the process in September through December often find faster scheduling availability and can have their pool designed, permitted, and ready to break ground as soon as conditions are right in the spring. If you’re thinking about a pool for next summer, the time to start the conversation is now not in April when everyone else is already in line.
In warm-climate markets like South Georgia, a properly built inground pool typically adds 5 to 8 percent to a home’s appraised value. On a rural residential property valued at $250,000 which is representative of the higher-end properties on the roads surrounding Pavo that’s $12,500 to $20,000 in added equity from a permitted, code-compliant pool.
The key word there is permitted. An unpermitted pool is a liability at resale, not an asset. Buyers’ agents will find it, and it creates complications that can delay or kill a sale. Every pool we build is fully permitted under the applicable county authority Thomas County or Brooks County inspected at every required stage, and documented correctly. That means when the time comes to sell, your pool shows up on a property disclosure as an asset with a paper trail, not a question mark. In a community like Pavo, where people tend to stay and invest in their properties for the long term, that documentation matters.
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