Pool Builders Adapt as Opportunity Shifts Toward Renovation and Upgrades

The pool industry is not operating in the same market it was only a few years ago.

New-pool construction has slowed in many parts of the country. Higher interest rates have raised the threshold for homeowners considering a major backyard project, and builders who spent the pandemic-era boom managing backlogs are now competing for a more deliberate customer.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the opportunities have all dried up. But in a more selective market, builders are increasingly finding opportunity in the millions of backyards where a pool already exists.

With an estimated 10.4 million residential pools already in the United States, compared with roughly 60,000 to 61,000 new in-ground pools being built annually, builders have a much larger installed base to serve through renovation, modernization and equipment upgrades.

The shift is also showing up in industry data. In the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance’s third-quarter 2025 Quarterly Pulse Survey, 42 percent of pool companies reported increased renovation and remodel work, compared with 21 percent that reported a decline.

For Teri Wiltshire, executive director of Master Pools Guild, a global network of independent pool builders, that shift is no longer theoretical. She sees it playing out in conversations with builders operating in markets across the country.

“The shift from new construction to renovation and backyard upgrades is real, and it’s widespread,” Wiltshire said. “I’d say the majority of our members have seen a portion of their business mix move in that direction over the past year.”

Higher interest rates have made a brand-new pool a larger commitment for some consumers. Homeowners who already own pools, however, may still be willing to invest in improving what is already in their backyard.

There is a real difference between those two customers. A homeowner considering a new pool is making a major lifestyle and financing decision. An existing pool owner is often weighing a more immediate question: whether the pool needs resurfacing, whether the equipment should be replaced, whether outdated controls are worth automating or whether the entire backyard has reached the point where an upgrade makes more sense than continued patchwork repairs.

For builders, capturing that work requires more than adding a remodeling service page to their website. It means treating renovation as its own sales and production category, with a different conversation, different customer expectations and often a different path to a signed contract.

“The thriving companies restructured their sales process around renovation and add-on revenue, and they tightened up their operations and overhead and got much more disciplined about lead quality and close rates instead of just focusing on volume,” Wiltshire said. “The ones struggling are largely still running the same playbook they ran back in 2021 and wondering why it’s not working.”

A More Disciplined Business

During periods of rapid demand, inefficiencies can be easier to overlook.

Leads are plentiful. Backlogs stretch for months. Sales teams can afford to spend time with prospects who are not fully qualified because enough work is coming through the door to cover the wasted effort. In that environment, volume can compensate for weaknesses in sales process, follow-up, staffing or overhead.

A more competitive market is less forgiving.

Every unqualified lead, poorly scoped project, delayed delivery and avoidable callback becomes harder to absorb. Builders are taking a closer look at where leads come from, how much time salespeople spend qualifying prospects, which marketing channels produce profitable work and what percentage of proposals turn into signed contracts.

The conversation is shifting away from lead volume alone.

A builder may receive fewer inquiries than during the boom, but if those inquiries are better qualified, better educated and more likely to close, the company can spend less time chasing projects that were never realistic in the first place.

“When times are good, everybody’s a genius,” Wiltshire said. “When times get tighter, you find out which parts of the business are actually working and which ones were being carried by volume.”

Technology can play a role, but Wiltshire sees little value in adopting another platform simply because it promises automation or artificial intelligence.

“Does it save me time or make me money in a way I can actually measure?” she said. “A lot of what’s being pitched right now is a solution looking for a problem.”

That standard applies well beyond software. In the current market, builders are examining which parts of their operation actually contribute to profitable work and which were easier to overlook when demand was doing much of the heavy lifting.

For companies that historically built mostly new pools, that same scrutiny is changing how they approach the customer.

A Different Opportunity in the Existing Backyard

The sheer size of the installed base changes the math for builders willing to pursue it.

A new-pool builder is limited to households prepared to make one of the largest discretionary purchases associated with the home. Remodeling work opens the door to millions of homeowners who have already made that decision and now own a pool that will eventually need work.

Some of those projects begin with necessity. Interior finishes age. Tile and coping deteriorate. Equipment eventually reaches the end of its service life.

Others begin because the pool simply no longer reflects what the homeowner wants from the backyard.

Older pools may have single-speed pumps, dated lighting, basic controls or equipment that predates many of the conveniences now available. A homeowner may want automation, more efficient equipment or a heating system that extends the swimming season. Others may be ready to change the appearance of the pool, add features or rethink the surrounding outdoor space.

That creates a different sales conversation than new construction.

The builder isn’t necessarily selling the homeowner on the idea of owning a pool. The pool is already there. The opportunity is to understand what they dislike about it, what needs to be replaced and what would make them use it more.

The scope can also grow.

A resurfacing inquiry can lead to new tile and coping. Equipment replacement can introduce automation or other upgrades. Once a homeowner begins opening up an aging pool, the conversation may expand into lighting, decking, water features or a more substantial backyard renovation.

That is where Wiltshire’s point about restructuring sales around renovation and add-on revenue becomes particularly relevant. Builders who approach every renovation as a repair estimate may miss opportunities that become apparent when they look at the entire backyard.

At the same time, renovation requires discipline. Not every aging pool needs to become a complete backyard transformation, and not every customer has the budget or desire to take a project that far.

The companies positioned to capture the work still have to qualify the customer, establish a realistic scope and identify which improvements genuinely make sense.

Adapting to the Market That Exists

The shift toward renovation does not mean new-pool construction is going away.

It does mean builders have a much larger market available to them than the annual number of new-pool starts suggests.

With more than 10 million residential pools already in the country, the number of pools entering a natural cycle of resurfacing, equipment replacement and modernization continues to grow. That installed base is not dependent on the next homeowner deciding whether this is finally the year to build a pool.

For builders accustomed to relying heavily on new construction, serving that market may require changes in estimating, sales, marketing, staffing and production. It may also require a different way of thinking about the lifetime value of a customer.

The company that builds or renovates a pool today can potentially remain involved as equipment is replaced, features are added and the backyard changes over time.

Wiltshire sees the larger lesson as one of adaptation rather than waiting for market conditions to recreate the environment builders experienced several years ago.

“What separates builders who are thriving from those who are struggling is whether they treated the slowdown as a signal to change or decided to just grit their teeth and wait it out,” she said.

The market may eventually produce another surge in new construction. In the meantime, the existing pool inventory represents an opportunity measured in millions of backyards.

For builders willing to adjust how they sell and operate, there is still plenty of work already in the ground.

Ready to Take a Deeper Dive?

Our conversation with Teri Wiltshire explored how Master Pools Guild members are responding to a more selective market, including the shift toward renovation, changing sales strategies, lead quality, operational discipline and where builders are finding opportunity.

Listen to the full conversation with Teri Wiltshire on the Pool Magazine Podcast.