Permits
Paperwork moves at the speed of the office it's sitting in, and that speed isn't ours to set.
Gunite and Fiberglass
How a Pool Gets Built
Start to finish, in plain language, including the parts that take longer than most people expect.
The honest timeline
Active construction runs three to six weeks. From the day we break ground to the day you swim is usually ten to sixteen weeks, because permitting, inspections, curing and weather all sit between the working days.
A pool runs eight working stages: design, permits, excavation, steel, shell, finish, concrete, and fill and start up. Between them sit four waiting periods: permit review, inspections, curing and weather. The working stages take three to six weeks. The whole thing takes ten to sixteen weeks.
Ten to sixteen weeks start to finish
Somebody's in your yard, three to six weeks totalWaiting on somebody else
Those are real ranges, not a promise. We won't give you a date we can't hold.
Two paths, eight steps each
The order is the same either way. What changes is what happens in the middle.
Gunite
Step 1, The walk through
We stand in your yard with you and talk about where it goes, how the ground sits and what you actually want out of it. This part is free and it's where most of the good decisions get made.
Step 2, The design
You see a dimensioned plan and a three dimensional render before anybody digs anything. Changing a shape on paper costs nothing. Changing it later costs plenty.
Step 3, Permits
Every city around here runs its own process, and we handle the permit rather than leaving it to you.
Step 4, Excavation
We dig the hole to match the shape on the plan. This is the day it stops being an idea, and it's usually the day the neighbors come stand at the fence.
Step 5, Steel
A rebar cage gets tied inside the hole, and the plumbing goes in around it. None of this will ever be visible again, which is exactly why it gets inspected before anything covers it.
Step 6, Gunite
The shell is shot, shaped and cured in place. Gunite is shot by specialist crews, which is normal in this trade and we're not going to pretend otherwise. What doesn't change is who you call and who picks up.
Step 7, Tile, plaster and concrete
The finish goes on and the concrete goes down around the pool. This is the stretch where it starts looking like the render you were shown in step two.
Step 8, Fill and start up
It fills, the equipment gets dialed in, and we walk you through running it before we leave.
Fiberglass
Step 1, The walk through
Same first step. We stand in your yard, look at the access, the grade and the space, and talk about what you want it for.
Step 2, Choosing the model
There are thirteen Imagine Pools models and they're good at different things. We narrow it down to the ones that suit your yard and the way your family will actually use it.
Step 3, Permits
Same as the other side. Every city runs its own process and we handle it.
Step 4, Excavation
We dig the hole to fit the shell, with room around it to work.
Step 5, The shell arrives
It comes in finished. If there's no way to bring it through the yard, it gets set over the house by crane, which is a normal day rather than a special case.
Step 6, Plumbing and backfill
We connect the equipment and fill around the shell in careful lifts, raising the water alongside it.
Step 7, Concrete
We pour the same four feet of concrete around every pool we build.
Step 8, Fill and start up
It fills, the equipment gets dialed in, and we walk you through running it before we leave.
We build both, so nothing above is us steering you. Either one is a good pool.
What sits between the working days
This is the part nobody explains, and it's the whole reason three to six weeks of building turns into ten to sixteen weeks on the calendar.
Inspections
Somebody has to come look before the next stage can start. Steel gets inspected before anything covers it, for good reason.
Curing
Concrete and plaster need time to come up to strength. There's no version of this that goes faster because everyone would like it to.
Weather
Rain on an open hole stops work, and a hard freeze stops a pour. Arkansas weather gets a vote whether we like it or not.
Who is actually in your yard
Some stages are ours and some go to crews who do that one thing all day, every day. Gunite is the clearest example. A crew that shoots shells constantly will shoot a better shell than a generalist will, and anybody telling you they do every single stage in house is either unusual or not being straight with you.
What that doesn't mean is that you get handed around. You talk to the same people from the first phone call to the day the pool fills, and our managers are out there building, not just managing. If something goes sideways at step six, you're not starting over with a stranger.
What you end up with
Every pool we build comes with a variable speed pump, color changing LED lights you run from your phone, and 4 feet of concrete around the pool, typically broom finished or textured. This season we're also including a salt system, a wireless robotic cleaner, the textured concrete upgrade and chemical start up.
Electrical hookup isn't included. State law requires a licensed electrician, so someone qualified handles that part separately.
Questions people ask us about the build
Come show us the yard
The walk through is free and it's genuinely the most useful hour in the whole process. Bring your questions.