Cost to build a pool in Miami

Pool construction cost, line by line

Every line below is a single price for October 2026, and the site visit confirms it before anything gets signed.

Labor and materials included, in US dollars, October 2026. The pool is priced per square foot of water surface (length × width). Spa, sun shelf and equipment upgrades are added at a fixed price each. Pool decks are priced per square foot of deck. Design, signed plans and permits are included. Site surprises such as rock, high groundwater or tight access are priced after the visit, before we start.

How we price a pool

We price a pool by its water surface, the inside length times the inside width as drawn on the plan. A 12 × 24 pool comes to 288 sq ft of water. A 15 × 30 comes to 450 sq ft. Multiply either by the square-foot price, or type the size into the calculator above.

For a freeform or L-shaped pool, we take the water area off the drawing instead of a tape. The per-foot price assumes a play pool with no diving board, white plaster and a standard pump and filter. Everything about the shell itself is explained under concrete pool construction with gunite or shotcrete.

What the price includes and what is extra

The pool price covers the whole job from the drawings through start-up.

• Pool design and the site plan
• Plans signed and sealed by an architect or engineer, plus the permit and its sub-permits
• Layout with stakes and string lines, then the excavation
• Steel, the plumbing rough-in and its pressure test
• The gunite or shotcrete shell and its wet cure
• Waterline tile and coping
• A standard pump and filter on the equipment pad
• White plaster, the fill and start-up

Four things sit outside that number. The deck is priced per square foot. The fence or other safety measure needed to pass the final inspection is quoted on its own, and the Florida barrier rules explain your options. A screen enclosure goes through an aluminum contractor. Site surprises like rock, high groundwater or a tight side yard get priced after the visit and before we start digging.

What moves the price

Size moves the price more than anything, followed by what goes around the water and what lies under it.

• A freeform outline, a raised wall or a sun shelf adds formwork and steel compared with a plain rectangle.
• Going deeper means more digging and more concrete.
• Quartz costs more than plaster, pebble more than quartz, and glass bead sits at the top.
• Tile and coping range from simple bullnose to cut stone.
• A heat pump, a salt cell, automation or LED lights each add a line.
• Limestone near the surface has to be broken, and groundwater has to be pumped and sometimes permitted. Digging below a high water table shows how that work goes.
• A narrow side yard calls for smaller machines and more trips to haul spoil.

What national cost guides say

National cost guides put a concrete inground pool between $50,000 and $120,000, and their per-square-foot figures for all pool types run from about $50 to $350, depending on the guide. For a 12 × 24 pool of any material, the spread between guides goes from $23,000 to $100,000. In the same national figures, fiberglass lands between $45,000 and $100,000 and vinyl between $35,000 and $80,000.

Those numbers average many markets and many years, so read them as a sanity check, not a Miami quote. Concrete is the priciest of the three to install and to keep up, fiberglass asks for the least upkeep, and vinyl is cheapest on day one. The full trade-off sits in our gunite vs fiberglass guide.

Add-ons

Each add-on carries its own price, so your total is the pool plus the lines you pick.

• An attached spa is $14,000 per spa. Building it alongside the pool keeps the dig and the plumbing in one stage, and pool and spa construction covers raised and flush designs.
• A sun shelf is $6,000 per shelf, one of several shape options on the shapes we design.
• A heat pump is $6,500 installed and a salt system is $2,000 installed, both set on the pad described in pool equipment installation.
• A paver or travertine deck is $18 per sq ft, laid as shown in how we build pool decks.
• The screen enclosure is quoted with the enclosure contractor after the visit, because in Miami-Dade it needs a product approval and a permit of its own.

Frequently asked questions