How much does a pool cost?

Getting a quotation: Most  companies here in Thailand will offer a ball-park figure but unless it is for a straightforward rectangular pool they will require some kind of rough sketch to work from. Without exact specifications and designs companies are very wary about offering budget quotations. A genuine pool company will visit you to discuss your project and inspect the intended location and the substrate. If the address is far from the company's head office, a small contribution to the travelling and overnight costs may be requested. This is perfectly normal. The costs are refunded in the case of a firm contract.

Pricing structure
The price of a swimming pool depends on many factors including size, type of foundations (footings or piles), pool construction type, design features, location, access for heavy vehicles to the construction site, and many more, and whether or not the pool  company and their architect  are expected to  come up with a conceptual design for something out of the ordinary.
If you first spend money on architects and drawings -  and architects' fees are not cheap - the actual cost of the pool cost of a pool may be beyond your budget.
When you obtain a quotation, be sure that the equipment and quality is detailed and that you know exactly what is being quoted for and what you will be getting.

Budget
The serious pool builders will include basic design drawings in their price and after a deposit will prepare the actual blueprints (construction plans) for approval.
We will explain here in simple terms how much a swimming pool is likely to cost you in Thailand and the features that can significantly change the price. You will then be able to calculate fairly accurately if the costs are feasible for you. And more importantly, is the investment worth it for you? How often will you use the pool? At the low end, the cost of a small pool is roughly the equivalent of a new 2-door family car, but where you can buy a car on credit, for your pool you will need to have all the funds available up front to pay for the construction stages when they come due.

Construction cost: Swimming pools are expensive to build. And they are expensive to run. Pool construction requires special knowledge that goes beyondSome types of pools are cheaper than others, and some pool builders are cheaper than others. But it’s never going to be a cheap exercise to build a swimming pool in Thailand on the average expat budget if you want it done properly.

Maintenance: When the pool is built, you’ll need to take into account the ongoing costs of maintenance (cleaning, servicing, chemicals), running costs for the pump, and any future repairs. You may also wish to budget for the landscaping immediately around the pool.
With almost every pool construction company this is for the pool construction and major related components alone (ie. shell, pool plant, underwater lighting, pump room, and electrical work). It includes civil works such as excavation and connection to electrical and water supplies.

What determines the price of a pool?  The design and choice of finish are the main factors. An honest professional will include the correctly rated technical equipment and lighting measured against your planned budget, but these are the elements which you will be asked to choose:

1. Size & depth
2. Shape
3. Depth
4. Lighting features
5. Tiled concrete, vinyl liner, fibreglass pool shells
6. Skimmer or overflow/infinity edge type
7. In-ground or above-ground

Above ground pools are what they sound like. They sit above the ground ie. not built in. You climb up and into them.

In contrast, in-ground pools are level with the ground. You usually go down into them. In-ground pools can be built multiple ways. For skimmer pools it is common to have the pool surround 10 to 40cm above the level of the surrounding ground.

Above ground pools can be any price and depending on where or what you buy, they might not include filtration and pump systems which you will need to buy separately. Here in Thailand kits for DIY above ground pools are popular but according to the questions we are asked, many buyers prefer proper pumping and filtration systems. Such kits are sold on large general e-commerce platforms rather than from a swimming pool installation company who can also provide sound advice and have a real person you can call and talk to.

For somewhat less than the price of a concrete pool you might get a fibreglass or vinyl liner pool with no external structure. These generally won’t have proper filters or pumps and are equipped with compact monobloc filtration systems and socks in the skimmers which cannot and do not provide the same level of filtration and dispersion of water as convention and less expensive systems. Such pools are often simply laid on a levelled sand bed without any structural support and rely on backfilled dirt to maintain their strength and integrity.
From now on when we talk about what alters the price of a swimming pool, we will only be talking about traditional, fully tiled (or Pebblecrete) concrete in-ground swimming pools.

Overflow and Infinity edge vs Skimmer: One of the decisions you need to make quite early on in your pool planning is whether you want an overflow (deck level) or skimmer (freeboard) swimming pool.

The decision between an overflow and skimmer pool is fundamentally a filtration decision.  However, it will make a difference to how your swimming pool looks and it will impact on your budget. And it will be important to know in the early stages so you can be provided with accurate drawings for planning. And it will affect the price, so it’s best to know before you get installation quotes.

We look at the differences between overflow and skimmer pool constructions. This will help you decide which style is best for you and your pool project.

What is an overflow (deck level) or Infinity pool?
The entire perimeter of the pool is surrounded by an overflow channel or gutter. The water line is level with the edge of the pool and overflows into this channel. The channel is typically covered with plastic grating. However, in high-end domestic pools, it is becoming more common to cover the drainage channel with tiles or stone for a luxury finish. A popular and far more economical method is to fill the channel with loose decorative granite pebbles about the size of an egg or a new potato.
This channel then leads into a balance tank, sometimes called a surge tank. This is is an additional holding tank that sits underground, below the pool level. Water from the overflow channel drains into the balance tank. This water is then drawn up by the pump into the filtration system, before being pumped back into the swimming pool. The balance tank is typically made of concrete or plastic. It usually holds the equivalent of 1O% of the total pool water volume.
Because of this, pools using an overflow or deck level system require a lot more room. And this needs to be considered in the planning and drawing stages. Once construction has begun, it is very difficult to change the pool design to incorporate an overflow design.

Infinity Edge: These pools have an overflow along one end or one side. It  is an attractive feature for a pool built on a slope or facing the sea.

What is a skimmer (freeboard) pool? A skimmer pool is also known as a freeboard pool. In this type of pool the water sits approx. 4 inches or 11 cm below the edge of the pool. So there is a gap between the top of the pool (the coping) and the water. A device called a skimmer is placed into the pool shell, below the pool edge at one end of the pool, usually the deep end. The pump draws the surface water into the skimmer, along with any dirt and debris and into the filtration system, before it is pumped back into the swimming pool.
The number of skimmers in the pool depends on the volume of the water to ensure correct turnover rate. Domestic pools usually have 1 to 2 skimmers.
The pool water will be drawn into the filtration system at the skimmer and from the main drain in the floor at the deep end, rather than across the entire surface as they will be in overflow pools.

Advantages of an overflow swimming pool: There are three main advantages to an overflow pool vs skimmer pool:
1. Filtration efficiency

2. Automatic topping up
3. Aesthetics

The primary advantage of overflow is in terms of filtration efficiency. It is generally accepted that the overflow/deck level offer superior filtration. This is because water is taken from the entire perimeter of the pool, not just in selected sections where the skimmers are situated.

While skimmer pools are still designed to turnover the water at the adequate rate for health and safety purposes. Overflow pools will generally have:

• Clearer water
• No scum line within the pool shell

In addition, many people prefer the aesthetic of the overflow pool in comparison to the skimmer pool as it is a clean line from the water to the edge of the pool, with no gap. However, this is an entirely personal choice, and an overflow pool/deck level is the more expensive of the two options.

This is due to the inclusion of the drain channel, the channel cover and the construction and installation of the balance tank.

Overflow pools tend to be anywhere between 15-20% more expensive than skimmer pools.

PRICE

A Google search will lead you to believe that you can get a swimming pool starting at around ฿250,000. That's fine for short term solutions such as small modular-built above-ground pools or fibreglass pools which are only available in certain sizes and limited designs, but these products do not last as long as traditional concrete pool whatever the sales people claim.
A correctly designed and professionally built family sized, fully tiled, skimmer type pool (typically 4 x 10m) with genuine branded equipment will typically start from around ฿800,000.00 at 2024 materials and labour costs, and if the pool builder has a truly professional infrastructure (offices, showroom, demo pool, vehicles, etc).  This of course, can vary significantly with size, construction type, filtration type and design features. Even things like style of tiles can significantly vary the cost of the project.  Smaller pools will cost much less, but for most genuine companies it is not feasible to travel long distances from their headquarters to build them; in Isan and other rural areas of low population density, about 150 to km would be the maximum for a contract value of much less than ฿500,000.00

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