What above-ground pool removal costs in Georgia
Under every above-ground pool there is a graded bed of sand, and it outweighs the pool sitting on top of it. The liner, the wall and the ring of framing come apart into a surprisingly small stack. The sand is the part that decides the price, and it appears in none of the photos.
What it comes down to
The sand, and whether it leaves in the same trailer as everything else. Sand is fill. The liner, the wall, the framing and the ladder are general waste. Those two categories are not priced anywhere near each other, so one mixed load pays the higher one on all of it, and on this job the mixing costs more than it would on anything else we do, because of how much of the total weight is sitting in the cheap category to begin with.
What you are actually moving
A vinyl liner, a wall that unrolls into one long steel or resin sheet, top rails, uprights, a ladder, a pump and filter, and hoses. Flat-packed, the whole structure takes up less trailer room than people expect. Beneath the liner is a graded bed of sand, often with a foam cove around the edge and ground cloth under that. Some pools have pavers or a poured pad carrying the uprights. All the water has to be gone first, and draining takes a day or more depending on what you drain it with and where it can safely go.
Where it ends up
This is the one job where keeping a load apart is worth real money, and the reason is that a pool makes two materials that are nowhere near each other in cost. Clean sand belongs with soil and rock. It is fill, the cheapest thing there is to be rid of, and on some properties it doesn't have to leave at all. The liner, the wall, the top rails, the uprights, the ladder and the hoses are general waste, which is the expensive class. Loaded separately, the heaviest thing on the job travels at the cheapest rate and the expensive material is a small stack. Loaded together, every pound of sand is priced as though it were vinyl and steel, and the sand is most of the weight. That is a decision made with a shovel while the pool is coming down, not something anyone can unpick once it's in one trailer, which is why we ask about it before we quote rather than after. The pump and the filter are a third thing again and go as metal, though they're a footnote next to the base.
Sorting is what brings the disposal half down, because separated material is handled more cheaply than a mixed trailer. On a full-service job we do that sorting. On a rental it's yours, so it's worth deciding what goes where before the first thing goes in.
The work itself
The pool itself comes apart fast. Drain it, cut the liner out, unbolt the top rails and uprights, roll the wall down into a coil. Couple of hours on most of them. The base is the rest of the day. It gets shoveled and barrowed to wherever the trailer can sit, because nothing loaded is driving across a lawn that has had a pool standing on it, and it travels on its own so it stays in the cheaper class. Underneath there is a perfect dead circle where nothing has grown in years. We take the ground cloth, pull the sand out and rake what is left flat. What you plant there is your business. Leaving it level is ours.
What moves the number
- The diameter, because the sand bed scales with the area under it rather than with the wall
- Whether the base leaves with us or gets spread out somewhere on the property
- How close the trailer can get, since the base moves by shovel and barrow
- Whether the ground has dried out since it was drained
- Decking, a surround, or pavers under the uprights
- Whether a fence panel has to come out to get anything in
Where estimates go wrong
- Pricing the pool and forgetting the base beneath it
- Shoveling the sand in on top of the liner and the wall, and paying the general waste rate on every pound of it
- Booking the removal for the morning after draining, while the ground is still soft
- Assuming the sand can simply be raked flat where it lies, which suits some lots and ruins others
- Overlooking the pump, filter and hoses, which are a small pile of their own
Estimates are free, and you get the number before anything starts.
Questions about above-ground pool removal
Can the sand stay in the yard?
Sometimes, and it is the cheapest answer when the lot suits it. A low spot, a bed that wants filling or a driveway edge that needs building up will all take it. It has to end up somewhere though, and a circle of sand raked flat where the pool stood is still a circle of sand. Walk the property before deciding.
How soon after draining can you come?
Give the ground a few days if the weather allows. A pool's worth of water goes into that lawn and it takes a while to firm back up. Turn up too early and nothing can get close enough to load, which stretches a short barrow run into one across the whole yard.
Will there be a dead circle in the grass?
Yes, and there is no avoiding it. Grass under a pool has had no light for as long as the pool has been standing, and the sand bed and ground cloth finish the job. We take the cloth, pull the base out and rake what remains flat so it is ready to seed or top up. It comes back. It just takes a season.
What about the deck built around it?
That is separate work and it prices separately, because a deck is built rather than assembled and it is usually fixed to something. Mention it when you first describe the job.
Above-Ground Pool Removal
Liner, wall, frame and the sand underneath, taken apart and carried off.
Want the real number for your job?
Send a photo and the town. We'll price it before anything moves.