You’ve been thinking about a pool for a while. Maybe it started as a passing comment at the end of a long summer — “we really need to do this” — and somewhere between Memorial Day and Labor Day, it turned into a real plan. Now you’re doing actual research, and one question keeps coming up before anything else:
How long does it take to build an inground pool, really?
It’s the right question to ask. Nobody wants to start a project in April, watch their backyard get torn up, and spend the whole summer staring at a construction zone while the kids ask every single day if the pool is done yet. We get it. So let’s give you the real numbers.
How Long Does It Take to Build an Inground Pool?
For a fiberglass pool, most installations run 5 to 7 weeks from excavation to swim-ready. If your yard requires retaining walls, significant grading, or you’re adding a full landscaping and hardscape package, you’re looking at 8 to 10 weeks. Either way, the process moves efficiently, and most of our clients tell us it went faster than they expected.
For a custom shotcrete pool, the timeline is longer by nature. A standard build typically runs 2 to 4 months. Add a comprehensive outdoor living transformation, think custom patio, outdoor kitchen, fire features, extensive landscaping, and you’re looking at closer to 5 to 6 months for the full project.
The reason for the difference comes down to how each pool is built. Fiberglass pools are pre-manufactured in a factory and delivered to your yard as a finished shell. It’s a precise, efficient process — the pool arrives, goes in the ground, and the surrounding work follows. Shotcrete, on the other hand, is built on-site from the ground up. Steel rebar grids go in, concrete is applied in layers, and then it cures, and that curing process simply takes time. You can’t rush the chemistry. What you get on the other end is a completely custom structure engineered to your exact specifications, but the timeline reflects the craftsmanship involved.
With the right plan in place, both timelines are very manageable, and knowing the numbers upfront is exactly what good planning requires.
The Pool Construction Timeline, Phase by Phase
Understanding the big-picture timeline is one thing. But it helps to know what’s actually happening during those weeks so you’re never left wondering what comes next.
Free Consultation and 3D Design Everything starts with a free at-home consultation where one of our project managers walks your property, takes measurements, and talks through your goals. From there, our design team builds a full 3D rendering of your finished backyard — modeled around your actual house and yard. You can see how the pool sits relative to your patio, how the coping interacts with your landscaping, where the outdoor kitchen lands. You approve the design before a single shovel hits the ground.
Proposal Review and Approval Once the design is finalized and any adjustments are made, you receive a full proposal with transparent pricing — no hidden costs, no vague line items. You sign off, and we lock in your build date.
Permitting Permits take time, and in the St. Louis metro, the timeline varies by municipality. Chesterfield, Kirkwood, Wildwood, and Town and Country each run their own process. The good news: We handle every submission and approval on your behalf. It’s worth knowing, though, that permitting is a real variable in the overall schedule, another reason to start early.
Excavation Once permits are cleared, the machines move in. For most St. Louis yards, excavation wraps in a day or two. It’s the most visually disruptive phase, but it moves fast.
Pool Installation For fiberglass, the pre-manufactured shell is delivered, set into the excavation, plumbed, and backfilled — an efficient process that’s impressive to watch. For shotcrete, steel rebar grids are formed, concrete is applied in layers, and then it cures to full structural strength. The curing process is where the custom timeline lives, and it’s also where the long-term durability of a concrete pool is established.
Plumbing, Electrical, and Equipment Circulation pumps, filtration systems, lighting, heaters, and automation get installed. This phase happens mostly out of sight, but it’s the backbone of how your pool functions every day.
Decking, Coping, and Hardscape This is where the backyard starts matching the 3D rendering you approved. Coping frames the pool edge, decking goes down, and patio or hardscape elements take shape. A full hardscape package adds meaningful time to the schedule, but it’s also what turns a pool into a complete backyard.
Landscaping Sod, garden beds, plantings, and outdoor lighting typically finish out the project. Doing this in the same scope as the pool means your backyard is complete and cohesive from day one — not left with a muddy perimeter and good intentions.
Final Inspection, Water Fill, and Orientation Construction wraps, the inspection is completed, and the pool fills. We walk you through your filtration system, water chemistry, and automation controls before we leave, so you’re confident from the first day, not figuring it out on your own.
What Can Affect Your Pool Construction Timeline in St. Louis?
Honest contractors will tell you the timeline above assumes reasonably cooperative conditions. St. Louis doesn’t always cooperate, and a few real-world variables are worth knowing about.
Pool type and complexity. A straightforward fiberglass install in a flat, accessible yard is always faster than a large custom shotcrete build with a negative edge and an attached spa. The scope of your project sets the floor for your timeline.
Your yard’s existing conditions. Slope, drainage patterns, and soil composition all factor in. Properties with significant grade changes often require retaining walls for proper structural support, which adds both time and scope to the project. It’s not unusual, but it needs to be planned for. Properties that are tight on access, where equipment has to navigate around an existing fence line or narrow side yard, can also require additional planning.
Permitting timelines. This varies by municipality across the metro. Some cities move quickly. Others have longer review cycles. We’ve worked across the entire service area from Fenton to St. Charles to Clayton, so we know what to expect from each jurisdiction and plan accordingly.
Missouri weather. Extended periods of heavy rainfall make excavation difficult. Significant freezing can affect soil conditions and slow certain phases of construction. We build weather buffers into project planning, but it’s a variable that can shift a timeline by a week or two in certain seasons.
The scope of your outdoor living package. This is actually the most positive variable on the list, even if it extends the timeline. Adding an outdoor kitchen, fire pit, custom hardscape, or landscaping to your pool project makes the overall build take longer, but it also means you end the project with a fully finished backyard, not just a pool surrounded by unfinished dirt. Most clients who go this route say the extra time was absolutely worth it.
Why Planning Ahead Gives You More Control Over Your Pool Construction Timeline
Here’s the thing most homeowners don’t think about until it’s too late: the families who call us in October and November are in the water by June.
Fall and winter are great times to start a pool project in the Midwest. Build slots are more available, so you can choose your start date rather than take whatever’s left on the calendar. Material pricing tends to be more favorable in the off-season. Soil conditions during late fall and winter are often actually better for excavation than during a wet spring. And shotcrete curing time means a fall or early winter start on a custom pool lines up almost perfectly with a spring or early summer completion. (We go deep on all of this in our guide Winter Pool Installation: Why Smart St. Louis Homeowners Start Now — worth a read if you’re weighing your timing.)
For fiberglass installs, the math is even simpler. A pool started in November is typically complete and ready to open the moment temperatures climb in spring. No waiting. No watching the neighbor’s newly installed pool while yours is still sitting on a build schedule.
Our build calendar does fill up as spring approaches. The homeowners who plan early get more choices: more flexibility in scheduling, more availability for custom work, and more time to refine the design before ground breaks.
Ready to Get Your Timeline Started?
Now that you know what the pool construction timeline actually looks like, and what makes it move faster or slower, the best next step is a conversation. At Meramec Pools & Outdoors, every project starts with a free at-home consultation and a full 3D rendering of your finished backyard included in your proposal, so you know exactly what you’re getting before you commit to anything. With over 40 years of combined experience and a lifetime structural warranty on all fiberglass pools through Leisure Pools, we’ve built a process that’s organized and transparent. We handle everything from design and permitting to installation, hardscape, and landscaping, so nothing falls through the cracks.
The sooner we talk, the more options you have. Reach out today to schedule your no-obligation consultation. We’ll walk your property, give you a real timeline built around your specific yard and pool type, and show you exactly what your backyard can become.