What a new pool costs in Los Angeles

Most people start here with one question: what is this going to cost. The honest answer is a range, because a pool is priced off your yard, not off a catalogue. This page gives you the numbers LA homeowners are actually paying in 2026, what moves them up and down, and roughly how long a build takes, so you can walk into contractor conversations already knowing what normal looks like.

Modern Pool & Repair connects Los Angeles homeowners with pool contractors. Nothing on this page is a quote. Your quote comes from the contractor who would do the work.

What a new inground pool costs in Los Angeles

For a standard residential inground gunite pool in the Los Angeles area, published 2026 figures land between $65,000 and $120,000.

That is the band to plan against. A few things worth knowing about it:

• It is a range because it has to be. Two identical pools in two different backyards are not the same job. Access, soil, slope and what you want around the water move the number more than the pool itself does.
• Simple, small and flat lands lower. A modest pool on a flat lot with truck access is at the bottom of that band or under it.
• Hillside, spa, water features and premium finishes land higher, and complex hillside sites can run well past the top of it.

These are researched market figures as of October 2026, drawn from published cost data for the Los Angeles market. They are market figures, not a price list, and not a quote. Modern Pool & Repair does not price pool work. The contractor who would build it does.

What actually moves the number

In rough order of how much they matter.

Access

This surprises people more than anything else on the list. A contractor needs to get equipment and material into the yard. A wide side gate and a flat driveway is a straightforward job. A narrow walkway, a tight corner lot or a yard reachable only through the house changes the equipment, the number of people needed and the schedule. On difficult access, material sometimes has to be moved by hand or craned over the house.

Soil and slope

What is under the yard decides how much work happens before any pool exists. Expansive clay, fill, rock or a steep grade all add engineering and excavation. On a hillside lot, the retaining and structural work can cost more than the pool shell. That is the single biggest reason two quotes for the same pool can be far apart.

Size and depth

Bigger costs more, but not in a straight line. Depth matters more than people expect, because it drives excavation volume, shell thickness and water volume, which then drives heating and chemical cost for as long as you own it.

The shell

Gunite is the standard for a custom shape in this market and is what the figures above describe. Fiberglass arrives as a moulded shell, which usually costs less and installs faster, but you choose from set shapes and sizes. Vinyl liner is rare in new builds in the Los Angeles market.

Finish

The interior surface is a real line item and it is also the thing you look at every day. Plaster is the baseline. Quartz and coloured aggregate sit above it. Pebble finishes sit above that and last longest. If you want the detail, the page on pebble and quartz pool finishes covers how they compare, and pool resurfacing is the version of this question for a pool you already have.

Everything around the water

This is where budgets quietly double. Decking, coping, tile, lighting, heating, automation, a spa, fencing and landscaping are each separate decisions with separate prices. A pool quote and a finished backyard are not the same number. Ask every contractor exactly which of these their figure includes.

Permits and inspections

A new pool is permitted work and the permit comes before ground is broken. Fees and review times are set by your city, not by the state, so they vary across the LA area. Build the permit window into your expectations rather than your budget surprise.

Smaller pools cost less, and they are worth considering

Not every yard needs a full size pool, and in a lot of LA lots there is not room for one anyway. Plunge pools, cocktail pools and compact designs have become a much bigger share of what gets built, because they fit real yards, cost less to build, and cost less to heat and maintain for as long as you own them.

We are not going to publish a price band for small pools, because we could not find a credible source for one in this market. National figures exist, but applying a national number to a Los Angeles backyard is how people end up with a budget that does not survive the first conversation. If a small pool is what you are thinking about, that is a good thing to put in your request, and the contractors we pass it to can price it against your actual yard.

How long a pool takes to build

For a gunite pool, published timelines run about three to six months from breaking ground to swimming. Permit review happens before that, and estimates for it run from about one to six weeks depending on the city, with some LA County figures running longer.

The sequence is roughly: design and permit, excavation, steel and plumbing, gunite shell, then a curing period, then tile and coping, decking, interior finish, fill and startup. The shell cure and the finish are the two stages that cannot be rushed.

Two practical notes. Weather and the permit queue are the usual reasons a build runs long, and neither is in your contractor's control. And building in peak season takes longer than building off season, because everyone in the region is booked.

Questions worth asking every contractor who quotes you

Take this list with you. The answers are where quotes that look identical stop being identical.

• What exactly is included in this figure, and what is listed separately?
• Is decking included, and how much of it?
• Is the interior finish plaster, quartz or pebble, and what is the price difference between them?
• Who pulls the permit, and is the fee in your number or on top of it?
• What happens to the price if you hit rock or unexpected soil?
• Is equipment included, and which heater and pump specifically?
• What is the payment schedule tied to, and which stages trigger payment?
• How long from permit approval to water, on your current schedule?

Two neighbouring questions, if the new build is not the only thing you are weighing. What a pool remodel costs covers the same ground for a pool you already own, and converting a pool to saltwater is the upgrade people most often ask about while a yard is already open.

Common questions

Is the quote I get from you?

No. Modern Pool & Repair passes your request to pool contractors in your area, and the quote comes from the contractor who would do the work. Using us costs you nothing and puts you under no obligation.

Why is the range so wide?

Because access, soil and slope vary more between LA backyards than the pools themselves do. A flat lot with a wide gate and a hillside lot needing retaining walls are genuinely different jobs, and the quotes reflect that rather than one of them being wrong.

Is it cheaper to build in winter?

Often the schedule is easier off season because contractors are less booked, which can help on timing more than on price. Pricing is driven by your site and your choices, not by the calendar.

How many quotes should I get?

More than one. The point of comparing is not to find the lowest number, it is to see what each contractor included and excluded. That is also why the question list above is worth using.

Can I add a spa later?

Technically yes, but plumbing and equipment for a spa are much cheaper to run while the yard is already open. If a spa is even a maybe, say so when you request quotes so it can be planned for now.