Answers
Partial pool removal runs $7,000 to $9,500 and full removal $9,500 to $12,000. Partial collapses the shell and backfills over it; full takes everything out. The real decision is not price, it is whether that part of the yard might ever carry a structure, and what you want to disclose when you sell.
Partial removal costs less, around $7,000 to $9,500 against $9,500 to $12,000 for a full removal. Full removal is what buyers and lenders tend to be most comfortable with later, and it leaves the area easiest to build on.
Both methods use engineered backfill compacted in lifts. The difference is whether the shell stays in the ground.
Partial removal. The pool is drained, the top portion of the shell is broken off and removed, the bottom is punched through in enough places to guarantee drainage, and the walls are collapsed inward. Engineered fill goes in over the rubble and is compacted in lifts. The concrete stays in the ground, below grade.
Full removal. Everything comes out. The entire shell, the plumbing, the equipment pad, and any rebar is broken up, loaded, and hauled off site. The void is then backfilled with engineered material and compacted the same way.
Full removal costs more for two straightforward reasons: more material has to be broken out and hauled, and more clean fill has to be brought in to replace it. Disposal is billed by weight, and pool shells are heavy.
This is the part worth thinking about before choosing on price alone. A filled pool is a material fact about the property, and it does not stop being one because it is buried.
With a partial removal, there is concrete in the ground. That has to be disclosed when you sell, and some buyers and some lenders are more cautious about it than others. With a full removal there is nothing left to disclose beyond the fact a pool used to be there.
Neither is a problem when the work is documented. What makes the difference at resale is the compaction report from a third-party testing firm, which is why we quote testing as its own line rather than folding it in. A report you can hand a buyer, an appraiser, or a lender years later is worth considerably more than our assurance that it was done properly.
This is where the two methods diverge most.
Over a full removal with properly compacted engineered fill, the area behaves like the rest of the yard. A future addition, garage, shop, or structure is a normal engineering question rather than a special one.
Over a partial removal, the area is fine for lawn, landscaping, patio, and general yard use. Putting a structure on it is a different matter: buried concrete makes the fill behave unevenly, and an engineer will typically want the remaining shell removed before signing off on a foundation. In practice that means paying for a full removal later, at a higher price, with a finished yard on top of it.
So the decision rule is simple. If that part of the yard might ever carry a structure, do the full removal now. If it is going to be grass, garden, or hardscape for the life of the property, partial is a sound choice. Permitting and access for pool work in the city are covered under demolition in Salt Lake City.
Both options, what is included, and current pricing are on our pool removal page. Surrounding concrete decking is quoted separately at flatwork rates of $4 to $5 per square foot.
Deciding between partial and full?
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