An old in-ground pool nobody swims in anymore is one of those things that just costs you — chemicals, a cover, liability, and a chunk of backyard you can't use. Plenty of folks finally decide to be done with it. The first question is always the same: what's it cost to get rid of it?
Like any pool removal, the honest answer is it depends — but the single biggest thing it depends on is a decision you get to make. Let's start there.
The Big Decision: Full Removal or Partial Fill-In
This is the fork that changes the price more than anything else, so it's worth understanding before you call anybody.
- Full removal. We tear out the whole pool — the shell, the walls, and the entire bottom — haul it all off, and backfill the hole with compacted soil. You're left with clean, buildable ground you could put a garage, an addition, or just a flat yard on. It's the more thorough job, and it costs more.
- Partial fill-in (abandon-in-place). We break up the bottom so water can drain through instead of pooling, collapse the upper walls into the hole, and fill and compact over the top. It costs less because there's far less to haul. The trade-off: in most cases it has to be disclosed when you sell the house, and the spot isn't considered buildable land.
Neither is "right" — it depends on your plans for the yard and whether you're selling. We quote both so you can see the difference and choose with eyes open.
1. Pool Type and Size
What the pool is made of changes the work. A concrete or gunite pool is a heavy break-out and a lot of material to haul. A vinyl-liner pool has steel or polymer walls and a liner that come apart differently. A fiberglass shell is its own animal. And size is obvious — a big deep-end pool is more shell, more spoil, and a bigger hole to fill than a small shallow one.
2. Draining It — The Right Way
A pool full of water can't be demolished, so it has to be drained first — and the water has to go somewhere appropriate. You can't just pump thousands of gallons wherever and flood the neighbor or back up a storm drain.
3. Backfill and Compaction — Where Cheap Jobs Fail
Here's the part that separates a job done right from one that haunts you. The reason you sometimes see a sunken, soft spot in a yard where a pool used to be is fill that was dumped in and never compacted. Over a few seasons it settles, and now you've got a low spot that holds water.
We backfill in compacted lifts with proper material, so the ground holds grade instead of sinking. That compaction is exactly why "fast and cheap" and "done right" aren't the same thing on a pool fill — and it's the kind of site and grade work we do every day.
4. Access to the Backyard
Pools are almost always in the backyard, behind a fence, sometimes behind the house with not much room on either side. Getting an excavator and dump trucks back there — and getting the broken concrete out — is a real variable. A wide side yard or a fence section we can pull is easy; a narrow gate between the house and the lot line, or a pool boxed in by a deck and landscaping, is slower, more careful work. Sometimes a section of fence or patio has to come out and go back, and that factors in too.
5. Haul Distance and Permits
Everything that comes out — concrete, liner, decking — has to be hauled to a landfill or transfer station, and out in the country that distance adds up in truck time and tipping fees. And many towns require a permit to fill in or remove a pool, partly to make sure the drainage and fill are done correctly. We help you sort out whether your town needs one — same as we cover for buildings in our Illinois demolition permit post.
Why I Won't Just Post a Number
Because the spread between a partial fill-in of a small vinyl pool and a full removal of a big gunite pool with tight backyard access is enormous — and a number off a web page would just be a guess. What I can promise is that after I walk your backyard, the number is the real one: full or partial, draining, backfill and compaction, fence and access, and haul — itemized, honest, and free.
Want it gone? See our pool removal page, or call and we'll come look at it.