Homeownership 101

The pool dilemma: does a pool add value to a Dallas home?

Jeff Updike & Weston Pugh · Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate · Updated September 2026

It is August in Dallas, and you are one phone call from a pool builder. Before you make it, here is the honest answer to the question everybody asks: yes, a pool can add value. No, not what you paid for it.

A pool is a lifestyle purchase that happens to sit on a real estate asset. Treat it as the first and you will probably love it. Treat it as the second and you will probably be disappointed. The difference comes down to what it costs, what buyers will actually pay for it, what it costs to own, and the lot it sits on.

From the show. This is the Homeownership 101 segment from SOLD with Updike Pugh, Episode 346, published 26 June 2026. The video below starts at the segment, or you can read the full episode page and transcript.

SOLD with Updike Pugh, Episode 346: Homeownership 101, the Dallas pool dilemma.

What a pool costs to build here

Angi, working from project costs its customers report, puts the average in-ground pool in Dallas at $81,410, with a typical range of $57,120 to $106,734.¹ That is before the decking, the pergola, the outdoor kitchen and the landscaping that usually come with it.

North Texas can add to the bill underground. A band of land along I-35 through Dallas sits on Houston Black clay, the state soil, which shrinks when it dries and swells when it gets wet, and construction on it is often plagued by cracking.² Ask any builder, before you sign, how the design and the bid account for the soil on your lot.

What buyers actually pay for one

This is where the math turns. There is a premium, but it is smaller than the receipt.

Realtor.com looked at listings nationally in April 2025. It reported a 54 percent gap in median list price between homes with and without pools. But pool homes were also about a third larger, and per square foot the gap was about 21 percent, $247 against $204. Realtor.com’s own economist said the market’s premium for the amenity itself has softened.³ Those are asking prices, not sale prices, and they are national.

The best sale-price study we found is older. Redfin’s analysis estimated a pool added about $35,700 to a typical Houston home, $52,200 in Austin and $18,500 in San Antonio. It did not include Dallas–Fort Worth, and it predates the pandemic.⁴ We could not find a sound, current study of what a pool adds to a Dallas sale price, so we will not quote one.

What those numbers do say, even allowing for different cities and years, is that the premium buyers pay has run well below what it costs to build. A new pool usually puts you behind the day it is finished. That is not a reason not to build one. It is a reason not to build one as an investment.

What it costs to own

Power. ENERGY STAR says a pool pump can be a home’s second-largest energy user, costing as much as $310 a year, and a certified in-ground pump uses about 20 percent less energy than a standard one.⁵ A variable-speed pump can cut pump energy use by 50 to 90 percent compared with a single-speed pump, according to the Department of Energy’s Building America program.⁶

Water. The Texas Water Development Board warns that evaporation can add up to the equivalent of your pool’s volume every year, and recommends a cover.⁷ In a serious drought, Dallas Water Utilities’ contingency plan restricts draining and refilling pools and stops new pool permits at its Stage 3.⁸

Insurance. The Texas Department of Insurance says many homeowners policies provide minimal or no liability coverage for swimming pools, that insurers may require a fence and locking gate, and that diving boards and slides can lead a company to refuse liability coverage.⁹ The Insurance Information Institute calls a pool an “attractive nuisance” and suggests raising liability limits to at least $300,000 to $500,000, and considering an umbrella policy.¹⁰ Call your agent before the builder breaks ground.

Add chemicals, service, repairs and a heater if you want to swim past October, and a pool is a line item in your budget every month for as long as you own it.

What the city requires

In Dallas, an in-ground pool needs a building permit, and any electrical or plumbing work with it needs its own permits.¹¹ The Dallas Swimming Pool and Spa Code sets the barrier rules for houses:¹²

Barrier height	At least 48 inches above grade
Openings	Must not let a 4-inch sphere pass through
Gates	Self-closing and self-latching, and able to be locked
House wall as barrier	Doors and windows to the pool need an alarm, a safety cover on the pool, or self-closing, self-latching doors
Timing	Barrier installed, inspected and approved before plastering or filling

These rules exist for a reason. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports an average of 376 pool and spa drowning deaths a year among children under 15 in 2021 through 2023, nearly 80 percent of them under age 5, and more than 70 percent at homes.¹³

Why the lot decides it

Here is the part no national study can tell you. Whether a pool helps a sale depends on the street.

On a smaller lot, a pool can swallow most of the yard. Plenty of buyers on those streets want the yard more than the water, and a pool can narrow the field of buyers instead of widening it.

On a big lot in a neighborhood where most comparable houses have one, the logic flips. A pool is not so much adding value there as the lack of one is costing you. Buyers at that price expect it, and the house without one gets compared against the houses with one.

In some neighborhoods a pool doesn’t add value. Not having one takes it away.

If you are selling a house with a pool

Stop leading with the receipt. Nobody pays for what the pool cost you. Sell the convenience instead: a finished backyard on day one, with no months of permits, mud and contractors, and a barrier that is already in place. Have the maintenance records ready, and make sure the gates latch the way the code says they should before a buyer’s inspector checks.

If you are buying and a pool is on your list

Buy a house that already has one. Let the previous owner absorb the gap between what it cost and what it is worth, deal with the construction and handle the first round of warranty calls. You start swimming the week you move in.

Then do the homework a pool deserves: have your inspector look at the equipment, get an insurance quote with the pool included, check the barrier against the city’s rules, and ask for the service history.

This page explains general considerations about pools and home value. It is not a valuation of any property, and it is not insurance, engineering or legal advice. Costs vary by site and builder; get bids, and confirm permit and barrier requirements with the City of Dallas and coverage with your insurance carrier before you build or buy. Jeff Updike and Weston Pugh are licensed Texas real estate agents with Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate. Equal Housing Opportunity.