Shotcrete or Fiberglass: Choosing the Right Pool for a Lowcountry Yard

Homeowners on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton usually hit the same fork early in the pool conversation: shotcrete or fiberglass. Kevin Camp builds both, which makes him a fair person to ask. Before he started Camp Pool Builders he built more than 100 pools on Hilton Head for another company, and he says that work taught him the pros and cons of each material. Nobody on his side of the table is pushing a single product because it's all they do.

What a fiberglass pool is

A fiberglass pool is a one-piece shell made in a factory and delivered to your property. Camp's shells come from a manufacturer with decades of design and manufacturing experience. On site, the crew excavates the hole, sets the shell, and fills it with water. While it fills, they run the plumbing, set the equipment and backfill around the shell. Once the pool is full, the tile goes in and the deck follows.

The designs are pre-set, so you're choosing from existing shapes rather than drawing your own. You still customize plenty: depth profile, coping, and the decking material around it. The surface is non-porous, and Camp points to that as the reason these pools use less chemical and less electricity over a season. Construction cost is low. In Camp's words, fiberglass suits families who want a pool but whose property values don't call for a larger investment, and it's a natural fit for a first-time pool owner.

What a shotcrete pool is

Shotcrete is concrete sprayed at high velocity over a steel framework. Camp's shotcrete line uses 4000 PSI shotcrete. The crew forms and excavates the pool, places and bonds the rebar, and then craftsmen blast the shotcrete into place and cut and finish the interior to your specifications. After that come the plumbing lines, tile, coping, equipment and deck, and the plaster goes in last.

What you get for that effort is freedom. A shotcrete pool can be built to any size, shape and depth profile, and it takes integrated spas, raised walls, tanning ledges and water features. You choose the tile, the interior finish color and material, and the coping and decking. Camp says clients who are used to having things tailored to them usually find shotcrete fits best.

How the cost compares over time

Camp is direct about this: shotcrete has the most expensive initial cost of construction. Resurfacing down the road, plus higher chemical and electrical use, gives it the highest long-term cost of ownership among his pool lines. Fiberglass costs less to build and sits in the middle for long-term ownership. There are no dollar figures here on purpose, because the real number depends on your lot, your features and your site conditions. But the order is clear. Fiberglass is the lighter commitment on both ends, and shotcrete is the one you pay more for in exchange for shaping it to your yard.

How much time each one takes

• Fiberglass: installed and filled with water within 7 business days, then it sits for 2 weeks after backfill before the deck goes in. An at-grade fiberglass pool with a concrete or paver deck can be done in as little as 3 weeks.
• Shotcrete: as quickly as 6 weeks through plaster, with 8 to 10 weeks typical.
• Raised pools of either kind: about 12 weeks, because of the extra phases and inspections.

Those are Camp's published estimates, and he notes that the season, the type of pool and the scope of work all move them. Camp builds year-round, but the best time to build is before spring and summer, so the pool and landscaping are ready for the first warm day.

Questions that settle it for your yard

• Do you want a spa, a tanning ledge, a grotto or a waterfall built into the pool? Shotcrete options include integrated spas, ledges and water features.
• Is your lot tight, oddly shaped or tucked against a tree line? Shotcrete can be designed to maximize the space you have.
• Is this a first pool, and do you want the shorter schedule and lower build cost? That points toward fiberglass.
• How long will you own the house, and how do you feel about resurfacing someday? That's the long-term cost question again.

Camp also lists soil conditions and the presence of water or rock as things that affect the price of any pool. That's a good reason to have someone walk the property before you fall in love with a material. A drawing can't tell you what's under the grass.

Start with a property visit

Camp's designs and estimates are free, and the same representative who designs your pool supervises it from start to finish. One Google reviewer, ALex HSu, described what that looks like: "Kevin, who is the owner, is a perfectionist and was on site at every critical step to ensure the work was done with the highest degree of quality."

If you're still weighing the two, call Kevin at (843) 683-2862 and set up a face-to-face meeting and property evaluation. He'll tell you which one fits your yard and your plans, and why.