How Much Does Swimming Pool Maintenance Cost?

By Blue Cube on Wednesday, 29th Mar 2023 in Tips & Tricks.

Are you thinking of installing a swimming pool in your garden? If so, it’s important to understand that owning and maintaining a swimming pool isn’t as simple as filling it up with water.

Swimming pools require regular maintenance to stay clean and safe for use. This includes daily checks, monthly cleaning, and seasonal preventative maintenance. All these activities come with an associated cost which can vary depending on the size of the pool and its features.

In this article, we are going to look at how much swimming pool maintenance costs on average, and what some of those key costs are. We will also discuss some tips for keeping costs down while still ensuring that your pool is well-maintained.

The importance of swimming pool maintenance…

If you want your new swimming pool to stay clean, sanitary, and structurally strong, you’ll need to invest in some routine upkeep and preventative pool maintenance.

Regularly maintaining a pool will guarantee that it lasts as long as possible, and failing to do so may even put users at risk. For example, if the swimming pool chemicals become imbalanced, the water may become dangerous to swim in, causing skin irritations, illnesses, or even infections.

Using artificial turf instead of real grass around the pool is also an excellent low-maintenance solution. You can forget about spending time and energy mowing, mulching or fertilizing your landscape.

In addition, a well-maintained pool will look better and provide more enjoyable swimming experiences for you, your friends, and your family. After all, no one wants to swim in a murky, dirty pool!

Key swimming pool maintenance costs

Our maintenance services

Maintaining a swimming pool often requires a significant investment of both money and time. With the right know-how, equipment, and adherence to a simple seasonal routine, however, swimming pools can be straightforward to maintain – and their operating costs can be kept fairly low.

A great way to keep your pool in top condition is to add automation to your pool with a pool manager system. The Bayrol Pool Manager Pro & Bayrol Pool Manager Relax are great tools to get your pool dosing and water levels under constant control. They can also be linking up to variable speed pumps and pool heaters to further control running costs and save you money in the long run. 

Repair and maintenance costs should be kept low, too, if you invest in high-quality equipment and carefully maintain your swimming pool on a regular basis. 

To give you an idea of how much pool maintenance costs in total, here are some of the key costs that you’ll need to consider:

Cleaning & tools

Frequent cleaning is one of the most important elements of pool maintenance and will come with some costs related to cleaning materials, services, or tools to carry out your cleaning effectively. By investing in keeping your pool pristine, you can avoid more costly problems down the road.

Swimming pool cleaning will involve a number of factors, such as:

  • Removing debris like leaves, dirt, and rubbish: This is best achieved with a pool skimmer, which can be purchased for between £41.87 – £1,889.98 (depending on functions, size, and quality).
  • Surfaces: Scrubbing, brushing, or vacuuming the sides of your pool will help to keep them looking clean and free from algae. For that, you’ll need at least a pool cleaning brush (which can cost under £7) as well as some additional cleaning products or a pool cleaner – which can be a bit more costly, but also much more reliable.
  • Cleaning the pool filter regularly and replacing it as needed: Your pool filter is a core part of your pool sanitation system, so ensuring you have the tools needed to clean it effectively is a must. With replacement cartridge kits available for under £10, maintaining these parts shouldn’t be too costly.

Note: cartridge kits are only applicable to cartridge filters. For sand filters, which are also common, you can clean them by backwashing them. 

Pull the water the opposite way through the sand, removing the dirt straight into waste. Do this until the water runs clear and then change or turn sand filter back to normal on setting. You then need to refill the pool with the lost water from the backwashing process. You can also change the sand/glass in the filter.

The cost for replacement sand starts at £23.559 per 25kg, but will ultimately depend on how large the pool filter is.

Summerise & Winterise procedures

Pool Opening (Summerise) Service: from £234.60

Cold winters with extreme frosts can cause lasting damage if your pool was not Winterised properly. That’s why a pool opening – or Summerising – procedure should be done at the start of any pool season, ensuring that your pool is running at maximum efficiency and can be enjoyed without any risk.

This type of maintenance service is crucial in preventing and fixing any damage that has occurred over the winter, such as water leaks or corrosion of parts, and this annual service can even help you save money in the long run.

A Summerise pool maintenance service should consist of:

  • Ensuring every element is in good working order.
  • Cleaning & dosing
  • Algaecide
  • Starting up the system
  • Change of cover.

De-commission (Winterise) Service: from £232.80

People often Winterise, or de-commission, their pool between September and November to keep their pool in good condition throughout the cold winter months, depending on their heating option.

It’s vital that you prepare your pool for the winter ahead of time, as sudden temperature changes can cause severe damage to your pool such as broken pipes, surface cracks, leaks, and more.

To safeguard your pool during the winter months, it is essential to carry out a complete and accurate winterization process. Doing so will help keep away frost and any unwanted particles throughout the season.

A Winterise pool maintenance service should consist of:

  • Draining & cleaning
  • Draining filter and pump
  • Storing solar cover
  • Protecting pipes
  • Shock chlorination and wintertime algaecide
  • Setting up winter cover, and much more.

Ongoing checks & tests

For both indoor pools and outdoor pools, you will need to execute ongoing checks and regular tests to ensure a healthy pool. This will incur some costs, which can vary depending on whether you undertake the checks yourself or enlist a pool maintenance expert.

Either way, you should regularly test and check your pool water for:

  • pH and free chlorine (FC) levels: When pH levels are too high, calcium will not dissolve correctly and can cause the pool water to become cloudy or form a scale buildup. This is true in both saltwater and non-saltwater pools.
  • Total alkalinity (TA) levels: With an elevated TA level, murky water due to pH and calcium scaling is more likely.
  • Ammonia levels: Pool chemicals such as chlorine and bromine, when exposed to organic matter in the water, can form ammonia. Ammonia is toxic to swimmers, so it’s important to maintain your pool effectively by checking it for ammonia regularly.
  • Calcium hardness (CH) levels: If the calcium hardness level is too high, it leads to excess calcium that cannot dissolve and will instead accumulate in the pool. The result of this is murky and calcium-filled pool water that may end up clogging your filter.

You can do these tests by picking up a chemical testing kit, or a pro can help you carry out a full pool water treatment with the right equipment and safety precautions.

Operating & heating costs

Operating costs might range from £45 to £85 per month. Simple techniques or equipment, such as swimming pool heat pumps, correctly closing the pool for the winter, and investing in a swimming pool bypass kit, can also assist in keeping costs low.

Heating and energy costs are frequently the most expensive aspect of keeping a swimming pool. However, because there are so many factors impacting the cost of running a heated pool, providing a reasonable estimate of heated swimming pool costs is challenging.

In spite of this, we can offer some advice. The majority of the heat in a swimming pool (typically between 50 and 70%) is lost through evaporation. By investing in pool accessories such as swimming pool covers, you may substantially reduce heat loss.

Even with the greatest covers available, a swimming pool will naturally lose heat. As a result, a heat source will usually be required to maintain a steady and pleasant temperature in colder places like the UK.

Looking for cost-effective pool maintenance and servicing?

Our award-winning expert pool builders or a pool maintenance professional from our servicing team can offer expert advice on your pool maintenance costs.

Our maintenance service package prices start at £122 depending on your pool size.

Our basic services include:

  • Vacuuming the pool at each visit
  • Skimming the water surface to remove floating debris
  • Cleaning the skimmer and pump basket.
  • Brushing down walls and tiles as needed.
  • Maintaining the filter area in clean condition.
  • Testing water chemistry.
  • Adjusting water chemistry and adding chemicals as needed.
  • Backwashing the filter as needed.

With our cost-effective professional services at hand, your swimming pool will remain safe, clean, and ready to be enjoyed all year round. Don’t forget that if you need any extra help with advice or repairs, we’re here to provide assistance!

Contact us now for expert pool maintenance services!

Swimming pool maintenance cost guide FAQs

How often does a pool need maintenance?

The frequency of pool maintenance depends on the size and usage of the pool, but typically pools should be cleaned and serviced at least every two weeks, and daily checks should be carried out during pool season.

Is maintaining swimming pools expensive?

It doesn’t have to be! With the right swimming pool experts, guidance and tools to hand. maintaining your swimming pool can be cost-effective. Some basic tips and equipment such as swimming pool covers and pool cleaners can also help keep costs down.