Hear from Our Customers
Fitzgerald’s summers are long, hot, and relentless. From late April through October sometimes longer your pool equipment is running hard, your water chemistry is under constant pressure, and algae doesn’t wait for you to get around to it. When your pool has a real maintenance schedule behind it, you stop reacting to problems and start actually using the thing you paid for.
South Georgia’s pine barrens environment means pollen season hits early and hits heavy. February through April, pine pollen blankets everything in Ben Hill County, and your pool takes the full load. Without consistent chemical balancing and filter attention during those months, you’re setting yourself up for green water and a costly correction not a swim. Professional weekly maintenance catches that before it becomes a weekend project.
The other thing most pool owners don’t think about until it’s too late: equipment wear. Pumps, heaters, and filters that run six or more months a year in this climate don’t last as long as manufacturers’ estimates suggest those numbers are built around northern market usage. Getting eyes on your equipment regularly means catching a failing seal or a struggling motor before it becomes a full replacement. That’s not a luxury. That’s just smart ownership.
We launched Deep Waters Pools in 2014, but the experience behind it goes back more than three decades. Before we had a name, we were already doing the work concrete, plumbing, custom pool construction across South Georgia learning what this region’s soils, climate, and conditions actually demand from a pool that’s supposed to last.
That background matters in a place like Fitzgerald. Ben Hill County has its own permitting process, its own soil characteristics, and its own seasonal patterns. A company that’s been working in this part of the state understands those things. We don’t have to guess at your county’s building department requirements or figure out your water chemistry baseline from scratch.
We’re licensed, insured, and family-owned and the same people who built the company are still the ones doing the work. In a community of fewer than 9,000 people, where word travels fast and a bad job follows you, that kind of accountability isn’t optional. It’s the whole business model.
It starts with understanding what you’re working with. Whether you’re calling about weekly maintenance, a repair, a leak you’ve suspected for a while, or a new build, the first step is always an honest assessment of your pool’s current condition equipment, water chemistry, structure, and any visible or suspected issues. Nothing gets quoted until we know what we’re actually dealing with.
From there, the work is sequenced the right way. For new construction in Fitzgerald, that means handling the permit process with the City of Fitzgerald Building Department and Ben Hill County from the start boundary surveys, plan submissions, inspections so nothing stalls mid-project. For maintenance and repair work, it means showing up on schedule, documenting what was found and what was done, and communicating clearly if something needs attention before the next visit.
What you get at the end of every service call is a pool that’s been actually worked on not just skimmed and checked off a list. Water chemistry tested and adjusted. Equipment inspected. Filters checked. If something looks like it’s heading toward a problem, you hear about it then, not after it fails. That’s the whole process: straightforward, consistent, and documented.
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The gap in Fitzgerald’s pool service market has always been full-service capability. Colony Pool Supply on Sultana Drive covers chemicals and parts that’s useful. But when your pump fails, your liner needs replacing, or you’ve got a leak you can’t locate, you need more than a retail counter. We handle the complete range: weekly pool maintenance and cleaning, pool equipment repair, leak detection services, pool liner replacement, heater installation, custom safety covers, and full inground pool construction.
For Fitzgerald homeowners considering a new inground pool, we build exclusively in cement shotcrete and gunite construction not fiberglass or vinyl. In South Georgia’s heat and humidity, cement holds up. It doesn’t fade, it doesn’t crack the way cheaper alternatives do, and it can be built to fit your specific yard and soil conditions rather than dropped in from a catalog. Every build includes engineered drainage designed for this region’s sandy loam soils and seasonal wet-dry cycles.
On the maintenance and repair side, pool heater installation is worth calling out specifically. A properly installed heater extends your season and protects your equipment during the occasional hard freeze Fitzgerald sees in January and February when temperatures can drop into the high 20s. Heaters installed correctly last 8 to 12 years. Installed wrong, or neglected, that number drops to 3 to 5. The difference is in how the work is done from day one.
In most northern markets, pool owners can get away with bi-weekly maintenance during shoulder seasons. Fitzgerald doesn’t really have shoulder seasons in the same way. Your pool is dealing with high heat from May through September, heavy pollen loads from February through April, and a year-round wet climate that keeps algae pressure elevated even when you’re not swimming as much.
For most Fitzgerald pool owners, weekly service is the right call during the active season roughly April through October. During the cooler months, you can often step back to every two weeks, but that depends on your pool’s sun exposure, tree coverage, and equipment condition. Skipping service to save money in the short term usually costs more when you’re looking at a chemical correction or a green pool that needs shock treatment and multiple visits to clear. Consistent weekly service in Fitzgerald’s climate is genuinely the more economical option over a full season.
Leak detection isn’t a dye test and a guess. We use pressure testing on the plumbing lines and, where needed, specialized listening equipment to locate where water is escaping whether that’s a fitting, a return line, a skimmer, or a crack in the shell. The goal is to find the exact source before any repair work begins, so you’re not digging up your yard chasing the wrong spot.
Cost-wise, leak detection typically runs around $300 for a standard inground pool, though more complex situations multiple potential sources, older plumbing, or pools that have been losing water for a long time can run higher. The more important number is what an undetected leak costs you over a season: wasted water, spiked utility bills, chemical loss from constant dilution, and in some cases, ground erosion around the pool shell that leads to structural issues. In Ben Hill County’s soil conditions, that last one is worth taking seriously. Finding the leak early is almost always cheaper than what comes after ignoring it.
Yes and skipping that step is one of the more expensive mistakes a homeowner can make. In Fitzgerald, inground pool construction requires a building permit through either the City of Fitzgerald Building Department or Ben Hill County Building, Licenses, and Zoning, depending on your property location. Georgia follows the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, and local inspectors enforce it at multiple stages of construction.
The permit process involves submitting site plans that show fencing and barrier details, gate specifications, and setback compliance Georgia requires pools and equipment to sit at least 10 feet from the property line. All pool access gates must be self-closing, self-latching, and lockable. Inspections happen during construction and again at completion before the pool can be used. We handle all of this boundary surveys, plan submissions, department coordination, inspection scheduling so you’re not navigating Ben Hill County’s process on your own while also managing a construction project in your backyard.
Most inground pool liners last somewhere between 10 and 15 years, though South Georgia’s extended swim season and UV exposure can push that number toward the lower end. The signs that a liner is past its useful life are usually pretty clear: fading and discoloration that won’t clean off, visible cracks or tears, persistent leaking at the seams, or a liner that’s pulling away from the coping or walls and won’t stay seated.
Cost for inground pool liner replacement ranges from roughly $1,200 on the low end to $7,800 or more depending on the pool’s size, shape, and the liner material you choose. Unusual shapes freeform designs, pools with steps or benches built in take longer to template and install, which affects the labor side. The other thing to factor in: if a liner has been leaking for a while before replacement, there may be additional work needed on the underlying structure or the pool floor before the new liner goes in. Getting it inspected early, before the liner fully fails, usually keeps the overall cost lower.
There’s a real difference between a pump that needs a tune-up and one that’s on its way out and the signs aren’t always obvious if you’re not looking at pool equipment regularly. Unusual noise from the pump motor, reduced water flow through the returns, a filter that’s running at higher pressure than normal, or a heater that’s cycling on and off without reaching temperature are all early indicators that something needs attention.
In Fitzgerald’s climate, where pool equipment runs for six or more months a year, wear accumulates faster than manufacturer estimates typically account for. Those estimates are usually based on average national usage not South Georgia’s extended season. A pump that might last 10 years in a northern market might show wear at 6 or 7 here if it’s not being inspected regularly. The practical answer is that a trained eye during a routine maintenance visit catches most of these things before they become emergency replacements. If you’re not on a regular service schedule, a one-time equipment inspection is a reasonable starting point it tells you exactly what you’re working with before something fails on a holiday weekend.
Yes. We serve Fitzgerald and the surrounding Ben Hill and Irwin County area, including communities along the US 129 and US 319 corridors the same routes that connect this part of South Central Georgia to Douglas and the broader region. If you’re in Ocilla, Irwinville, or anywhere else in the Fitzgerald micropolitan area, you’re in our service area.
The reason that matters practically: a lot of pool owners in this part of Georgia have been making do with supply runs to Colony Pool Supply for chemicals and parts, then calling whoever they can find when something actually breaks. That works until it doesn’t and when a pump fails or a liner tears, you want a company that can get to you without routing through three counties. Our familiarity with this corridor and this region means faster response times and no learning curve on local permitting or soil conditions. You’re not a new market to us. This is the environment we were built in.
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