What it costs to remove an in-ground pool, and why the cheap version is often the expensive one.
The figures below are general market ranges for Hampton Roads intended to help you budget. They are not a quote. Every site is different, and access, soil, disposal and utilities can move a number substantially in either direction. We give free on-site estimates.
Partial Removal vs. Full Removal
Almost every pool removal quote you get will be one of these two, and they are not the same product.
- Partial removal. The top few feet of wall and the decking come off, the floor is broken out for drainage, the walls are collapsed inward, and the void is backfilled and compacted. Less expensive, appropriate when the area will remain lawn or landscape. In most cases it has to be disclosed to a future buyer, and you generally cannot build a structure over it.
- Full removal. The entire shell (floor, walls, footings and all debris) is removed from the site and the excavation is backfilled with engineered fill in compacted lifts. More expensive, but the ground behaves like ordinary ground afterward and can support an addition or structure.
What Drives the Price
- Access. The dominant cost factor. A pool a machine can drive to is a different job from one behind a four-foot gate with a neighbor’s fence on the other side.
- Pool size and construction. Gunite, vinyl liner and fiberglass demolish differently, and a deep end adds volume both to remove and to fill.
- Decking and surround. Concrete decking, coping, retaining walls and screened enclosures all add demolition and disposal.
- Fill material. How many yards of suitable fill are needed and how far it has to be trucked. This is a large line item people forget.
- Disposal. Concrete tipping fees and trucking for the demolished shell.
- Utilities. Capping plumbing, gas and electrical, and dealing with the equipment pad.
- Permits. Required by most Hampton Roads cities, along with inspection of the fill and compaction in some.
The False Economy
The cheapest quote you receive is often someone who intends to break a few holes in the bottom, push the walls in, dump uncompacted dirt on top and leave. It looks identical on day one. Two or three years later there is a pool-shaped depression in the yard, and fixing it costs more than doing it properly would have.
Ask any contractor you are considering: will the debris be removed or buried, and will the fill be placed and compacted in lifts? The answers tell you which quote you are actually holding.
More detail on our process: pool removal and fill-in.
Call (757) 239-0707 for a free pool removal estimate.