Does it matter what Arizona city my pool is built in? There are difference in new pool construction between Gilbert, Phoenix, and Surprise. Many homeowners don't understand how different the soil can be between AZ cities.
Does the city stop any pool from being built? No, the city isn't the obstacle. Experience makes the difference in handling each city's unique challenges.
Shasta's been building pools in the Phoenix Valley since 1966. In that time, we have built in every type of soil. We understand how hard water differences affect your pool.
The article offers the differences between the East and West Valleys of Phoenix. We share the how soil and hard water each play a role in building a pool correctly. Also, we provide our experience with the permitting process and any delays that a specific city creates. Lastly, you will understand the key differences for building a new pool in your city.
Table of Contents
- Does Building a Pool in Gilbert, Phoenix, or Surprise Change Anything?
- How Long Do Pool Permits Take in Phoenix, Surprise, and Gilbert?
- Is Caliche or Rock Worse in One Phoenix City than Another?
- Does Gilbert Have More Expansive Soil than Phoenix?
- Does West Valley Hard Water Change How a Surprise Pool Gets Built?
- Your Lot Decides How Your Pool Is Built
Does Building a Pool in Gilbert, Phoenix, or Surprise Change Anything?
Shasta will still be able to build a pool, no matter the city. Your lot changes the new pool construction more. Gilbert, Surprise, and Phoenix contain different soil under it and some contain county islands. How close you sit to a mountain can affect how the pool is constructed.
What is different between Gilbert, Surprise, and Phoenix?
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Permit review speed — generally 2 to 5 weeks anywhere in the Valley. Gilbert has a reputation of being faster though most are not more than a week apart.
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Setbacks and barrier codes — each city does have different pool setback and safety codes. These don't change the pool much though Shasta has experience with each different regulations.
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Caliche and rock — Ahwatukee, Northeast Mesa, and near the Superstitions contain more caliche soil. Caliche is hard rocky soil that makes excavating your pool more difficult.
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Expansive soil — found more in Gilbert and San Tan Valley than Phoenix, expansive soil can move once your pool is finished causing cracking. Shasta is one of the only builders that keylocks the deck to solve this issue.
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Grading and drainage complexity — county islands and hillside lots require specific experience or issues arise.
Your City Doesn't Stop Your Pool from Being Built
"Does it stop any pool from being built? No. You're going to have different barrier codes. You're going to have different setbacks... mostly it can definitely be more of a lot itself and the city doesn't really matter, but just can be some zoning ordinance and whatnot." — James Arrowwood, Shasta Pools Designer
How County Islands and Hillside Lots Affect New Pool Construction?
Hillside lots and county islands are not city specific. Each area of the Phoenix Valley can have these areas.
- Maricopa County islands often need extra grading and drainage planning
- Fountain Hills lots deal with hillside grading and retaining walls
Does Proximity to Mountains Change Your New Pool?
Caliche and rock cluster near mountain ranges defiantly impact the construction process. The more an area of Phoenix is closer to mountains the greater likelihood that the city will have caliche soil. This doesn't prevent the pool from being built. It does change excavation difficulty.
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Ahwatukee, near South Mountain
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Northeast Mesa
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Pockets of San Tan Valley closest to the San Tan Mountains
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Areas near Apache Junction, close to the Superstitions
How Long Do Pool Permits Take in Phoenix, Surprise, and Gilbert?
The average pool permit takes two to five weeks. Gilbert tends to be faster though this isn't making a giant difference. Phoenix runs its pool permit process almost entirely online. For most homeowners, the permit process doesn't change their timeline from city to city.
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Gilbert — around 2 to 3 weeks
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Phoenix — permits can be submitted and processed by email
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Surprise — permits complete is the same average of 2-5 similar to the rest of the valley
Is Caliche or Rock Worse in One Phoenix City than Another?
Caliche and rock show up hardest near Ahwatukee, Northeast Mesa, and pockets close to the Superstitions. A pool going in three miles from a mountain range is a different dig than one going in flat desert.
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Phoenix Valley Caliche Areas
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Ahwatukee, close to South Mountain
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Northeast Mesa
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Areas near the McDowell Mountains
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Near Apache Junction and the Superstitions
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Less common in flat interio
Soil Like Concrete
"Caliche is like concrete, clay, more or less, and you get veins of it going through the ground." — James Arrowwood, Sales, Shasta Pools
What Overbreak Means and Why It Costs Extra
Overbreak is the gap left behind when an excavator has to break through a boulder or a caliche vein. That gap gets filled with extra shotcrete.
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The cost of extra shotcrete to fill the gap
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The extra machine time to break through rock
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Overbreak can run a few thousand dollars over a clean dig
Extra Pool Dig Cost
"And then when an excavator gives a bid for the extra cost to dig the swimming pool, say due to caliche or rock on there, their bid also does include overbreak, which a lot of people don't realize." — James Arrowwood, Sales, Shasta Pools
How Shasta Handles Unexpected Rock or Caliche?
If a subcontractor hits rock we didn't see coming, you deal with that extra cost directly with them. Shasta doesn't mark up the extra cost. We just see it as unfortunate and unethical if we're making a bunch of money on something that we can't even guarantee is or is not under the ground.
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We can't guarantee what's under the ground before digging starts
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Charging extra on a cost we can't predict felt wrong to us
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Keeping it direct keeps the cost honest
Does Gilbert Have More Expansive Soil than Phoenix?
Generally, yes. Gilbert and San Tan Valley contain more expansive soil than most of Phoenix. However, expansive soil exists all over Arizona. Gilbert just tends to have more than the Phoenix Valley average. Expansive soil is what causes decks and shells to shift over time.
Expansive Soil by City
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Gilbert / San Tan Valley — have greater areas of expansive soil
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Phoenix — expansive soil is present, generally less severe on average
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Severity still varies lot to lot within any single city
How Shasta's Engineering Handles Expansive Soil
We build our standard shotcrete pools with stronger steel to handle soil movement. We are one of the only pool builders who key lock the deck. Key locking connects the deck to the pool. This prevents the cracking and movement associated with other builder's pool construction.
Does West Valley Hard Water Change How a Surprise Pool Gets Built?
Hard water doesn't change the pool construction process. It affects the maintenance and material choices. For the West Valley, harder water shows up in calcium buildup.
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Calcium scale builds shows more on dark finish colors
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Water balancing happen more often to keep TDS in range
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Fiberglass has shown less visible calcium buildup in early testing
Your Lot Decides How Your Pool Is Built
The city doesn't always matter. Your specific lot affects more the new pool construction process. Although certain cities have higher percentages of unusual soils or mountain proximity, every lot is different. Your backyard could have different properties that your neighbor does not.
Phoenix, Surprise, and Gilbert all take around the same amount of time to approve permits. There is caliche soil is some parts of every Phoenix Valley city. No matter where you live hard water is an issue. So, every issue with Arizona new pool construction can be found throughout.
What matters is experience. Shasta has been building pools in the Phoenix area since 1966. Our teams have worked on every type of lot and situation. What lines up instead is experience.
A great observation when you have a pool designer visit your property. Do they understand your unique lot and specific backyard? Do they treat your dream pool just another cookie cutter pool to build?
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