The finish is the only part of your pool you touch, look at and swim against, and it is the decision that most changes what resurfacing costs. It is also where most homeowners get sold on a photograph instead of on how the material behaves in year eight.
Here is what we install, what each material actually does over time, and how to choose between them. If you are still deciding whether to resurface at all, start with pool resurfacing.
Pebble and quartz
The blends we install
These are the pebble and quartz blends we install, shown as colour representations so you can compare water tones side by side. Finish colour shifts with depth, sunlight and water chemistry, so ask for physical samples before you choose.
Aqua White Pebble
Bright turquoise water, crisp and clean.
Pool Blue Pebble
The classic medium blue everyone pictures.
Midnight Blue Pebble
Deep, dramatic water with real depth.
French Gray Pebble
Soft blue-green, understated and modern.
Quartz Sparkle
Reflective flecks, bright sparkling light-blue.
Mini Pebble
Finer aggregate, smoother underfoot.
Ask about physical finish samples. A sample in your own sunlight next to your own tile tells you more than any screen will.
Pebble compared with plaster
This is the comparison most homeowners are actually making, so here it is without the sales gloss.
Plaster costs the least up front. It is smooth underfoot, it is what most older pools have, and it is the softest of the three materials, which is why it etches and stains first. Industry general guidance puts plaster at roughly seven to twelve years with good water chemistry, and considerably less without it.
Pebble costs more up front, sometimes substantially. It is exposed stone in a cement matrix, so there is far less soft material for water to attack. It resists staining and etching, it hides the small blemishes plaster shows, and industry general guidance commonly puts it at fifteen to twenty years or more. The trade off is texture: standard pebble is rough underfoot, which some people like and some people do not. Mini pebble exists for exactly that reason.
The honest way to compare them is cost per year of service, not cost per job. A plaster finish replaced twice in twenty years is usually not cheaper than one pebble finish, and you also pay to drain and prep the pool twice.
- Choose plaster if you are selling within a few years, or the up front number is the constraint.
- Choose pebble if you are staying, or you have had a stained plaster pool before and do not want that again.
- Choose quartz if you want most of the durability gain and more colour depth than plaster without going to full pebble texture.
How long a pool finish lasts, and what actually decides it
The material matters less than the water.
Every lifespan figure on this page assumes balanced water. Aggressive water dissolves the cement binder in any cementitious finish, pebble included. We have pulled out eight year old pebble that looked twenty, and we have seen plaster pass twelve years in good shape. The difference was never the product.
Three things do most of the damage: low calcium hardness, low pH held there for months, and the first month after a new finish goes in, when a surface is still curing and a brushing schedule is not optional. We will give you the start up schedule in writing and it is the cheapest thing you will ever do for your pool.
What a finish cannot fix
A new finish is not a structural repair. Cracks move, hollow spots spread and plumbing leaks keep leaking under beautiful new pebble. Anything structural gets found and addressed while the pool is open. See pool repair for the work that happens before a finish goes on. If your plaster is simply at the end of its life, pool replastering is the narrower version of this job.
See samples in your own light
Tell us the look you want and we will match it, and we will bring samples rather than a screen. Request a quote or call (714) 584-7424.
Tell us about your pool
Photos of the surface and the waterline are enough to start. We will tell you what you are looking at before anyone comes out.