Best Time of Year to Build a Pool in Texas (And Why It Matters More Than You Think)

Every spring I get a wave of calls from homeowners who have the same regret: “We should have started this last fall.“

It’s one of the most predictable patterns in 45 years of building pools in DFW. Families spend summer sweltering in the heat, watching their neighbors cool off in a backyard pool, and by July they’ve made the decision: we’re doing this. They call in August, sign a contract, and then — because the summer rush has every quality builder backed up for months — they wait. The pool is finished in January. They look at it sitting there until Memorial Day.

I’m not telling you this to push you into a decision. I’m telling you because the single most impactful thing you can control in the pool-building process – more than design details, more than material choices — is when you start. Get the timing right and you’re swimming when you want to be swimming. Get it wrong and you’re watching construction through your kitchen window during the best months of the year.

Here’s what I’ve learned about Texas pool-building seasons after four-plus decades of doing this.

Short answer: Fall (September–November) is the best time to start a pool build in Texas — ideal weather conditions, faster permits, and better contractor availability. Winter is a close second and actually the smartest time to plan and sign a contract. Whatever you do, don’t wait until summer.

Why Timing Actually Changes Your Experience (and Your Cost)

Most homeowners think of pool timing as just a scheduling question. It’s actually five different questions layered on top of each other, and the answers interact in ways that aren’t obvious until you’ve been through it.

1. Weather Conditions Affect Construction Quality

Concrete — specifically gunite, which is what most high-quality custom pools in DFW are built with — behaves differently depending on temperature and humidity. Extreme heat accelerates the curing process in ways that require careful management. Freezing temperatures can halt work entirely and potentially damage freshly placed concrete if not properly protected.

The sweet spot for construction in North Texas is 45–85°F with low humidity. That’s essentially September through November and again February through April. Outside those windows, experienced builders can still work, but there’s more monitoring required and more variables to manage.

2. Permit Processing Times Vary by Season

Here’s something most homeowners don’t think about: permitting offices in Frisco, Plano, McKinney, and other DFW cities aren’t uniformly staffed throughout the year. When permit applications stack up in spring and summer — which they do, because everyone is trying to get their pool started — processing times slow down. We’ve seen permit approvals take 3–4 weeks longer during peak season than during slower winter months.

I cover this in more detail in our pool construction timeline guide but the short version: a permit that takes 2 weeks in November might take 5–6 weeks in March. That delay sits at the very beginning of your project, which means everything else shifts later.

3. Contractor Availability Is Genuinely Constrained

There are only so many experienced pool builders in DFW, and the good ones book up. When everyone decides in May that they want a pool, we’re not able to expand our crews proportionally overnight. Experienced construction workers don’t appear on demand — the people doing the work on your pool have been with us for years. That’s not something you can surge.

The practical consequence: homeowners who reach out in spring are often looking at 3–4 month waits before construction begins. Homeowners who reach out in October or November often get on our schedule within 4–6 weeks.

4. Landscaping and Final Touches Need Time Too

After the pool shell is complete, there’s decking, coping, landscaping, and final finish work. Most of that is weather-dependent too. A pool finished in December or January can have its surrounding landscaping fully established by spring — so when the weather turns warm, the whole space is ready. A pool finished in October, on the other hand, goes straight into prime swimming season. If you want to understand the full scope of what happens after the shell is poured, our week-by-week construction timeline lays it all out.

5. Your Family’s Schedule

This one’s obvious but worth saying: if you have kids at home and you want the pool ready for summer, you need to back-plan from Memorial Day weekend. Most DFW pool builds take 10–16 weeks from permit approval to final inspection. Add 2–6 weeks for permitting depending on season. That means if you want to swim in June, you need to be under contract and permitted by January at the latest — which means the design and contract phase should be happening in October or November.

Season-by-Season Breakdown for DFW Pool Builds

Let me walk through each season honestly, including the trade-offs.

Season	Months	Build Conditions	Contractor Availability	Permit Speed	Verdict
FALL	Sep–Nov	Ideal — mild temps, dry soil	Good — summer rush ending	Fast	Best overall
WINTER	Dec–Feb	Good — cool but workable	Best — slowest season	Fastest	Best for planning & early start
SPRING	Mar–May	Good early, wet late	Busy — demand picks up fast	Moderate	Solid but book early
SUMMER	Jun–Aug	Hot — crew pacing required	Hardest to schedule	Slowest	Possible, not preferred

Fall (September – November): The Clear Winner

Fall is simply the best time to build a pool in DFW, and it’s not particularly close. Here’s why everything lines up:

• Temperatures drop into the 60s and 70s — ideal for gunite work, plaster curing, and outdoor crews working at full pace
• The summer rush is winding down, so contractors have better availability and you’re more likely to get the build crew you want rather than whoever’s available
• Permit offices are less backlogged, which means your permit comes through faster
• Excavation is easier — the soil isn’t baked into a near-concrete state the way it gets after a Texas summer
• A fall start typically means a December–February completion, with plenty of time for landscaping to establish before spring

The only real downside to a fall start: the pool won’t be ready for that same summer. You’re building for next year. That’s a hard sell when you’ve been hot all summer and just want a pool — but it’s the practical reality of quality construction done right.

Tip:  If you reach out to us in September or October, you’re often looking at a January–February completion. Your pool is ready before the warm weather hits, and you’ve got the full spring and summer ahead of you. That’s the move.

Winter (December – February): Best Time to Start the Process

Here’s what I tell people who call in November: don’t wait until spring. Start now.

Winter in DFW is mild enough that construction can and does continue through the season. We rarely have extended freezes — and the ones we do have (looking at you, February 2021) are outliers, not the norm. A hard freeze can pause outdoor work for a few days, but it doesn’t stop a project.

More importantly, winter is the fastest time to move through permitting. Permit offices are at their least backlogged in December and January. Some DFW cities process permits in 10–14 days during this window — compared to 4–6 weeks in peak spring.

The contractor availability in winter is also at its best. We have more flexibility to schedule around your preferences, get the crew you want, and sometimes move faster through phases of construction.

By the numbers: In our experience, pools started in December or January are often completed in March or April — with families swimming in May, right at the start of Texas swimming season. That’s the best possible outcome.

Heads up:  One real concern in winter: the 2021 freeze showed DFW homeowners what an extended hard freeze can do to unfinished pools and new equipment. We take precautions for in-progress builds — blankets on fresh concrete, equipment protection — but it’s worth discussing with your builder what their cold-weather protocol is. Ask us about ours when you call.

Spring (March – May): Good But Gets Crowded Fast

Spring is when the phone really starts ringing. Everyone who spent winter thinking about a pool finally picks up the phone in March, which means every quality builder in DFW goes from available to backed up within a few weeks.

Early spring — March and even early April — is still a solid time to start. The weather is excellent for construction, soil conditions are good, and if you move quickly you can beat the worst of the scheduling crunch. A contract signed in March with permits submitted immediately can realistically mean a July or August completion.

Late spring is where it gets problematic. If you’re calling in May hoping to be swimming in July, that math simply doesn’t work for a quality custom pool. You’re looking at a fall completion at the earliest — and you’ll probably be competing with 20 other families trying to make the same timeline happen.

• March: Still a good time to start. Move quickly.
• April: Getting competitive. Expect longer scheduling waits.
• May: Peak demand. Best builders are booked. Adjust your expectations on timeline.

→  Curious what the full build process looks like once you’re under contract? Our week-by-week pool construction timeline for DFW shows every phase from permit to final inspection.

Summer (June – August): Possible, Not Preferred

I won’t tell you we don’t build pools in summer — we do. But I will tell you it’s the hardest time of year for everyone involved, and the homeowners who start in summer are almost always the ones who wished they’d called sooner.

The challenges are real:

• DFW summer heat routinely hits 100–105°F, which means our crews are working in brutal conditions. We manage it — early starts, mandatory breaks, hydration protocols — but it affects pace
• Freshly placed gunite and newly applied plaster need careful protection from the sun in extreme heat to cure correctly. It’s manageable but requires more monitoring
• Permit processing is at its slowest — city offices are seeing their highest application volumes
• Contractor schedules are at their most constrained. The best crews are already committed through fall on projects that were booked in the fall and winter

If you’re reading this in June and just decided you want a pool, here’s my honest advice: let’s talk about getting you on the schedule now, with realistic expectations. A summer contract often means a November or December finish — which sets you up perfectly for the following spring. Not what you wanted to hear, but it’s the truth.

Tip:  Texas summers actually create another opportunity: if you’re considering a pool remodel rather than new construction, the off-peak window for remodels is slightly different. Our pool remodeling timeline guide and remodel cost breakdown are worth a read if your existing pool needs work.

The Real Window Nobody Tells You About: October 1st

If I had to pick a single date that separates homeowners who swim when they want to from homeowners who wait longer than they expected, it’s October 1st.

Reach out before October 1st, and you are almost certainly in the pool before Memorial Day the following year. After October 1st, it starts to get more complicated depending on how backed up the schedule is.

This isn’t a sales tactic. It’s a pattern I’ve watched repeat itself for 45 years. The families who are swimming in their new pool on a beautiful Texas evening in April are almost always the ones who made a decision the previous fall. The families calling me in April asking why it’s taking so long are almost always the ones who waited until spring to start.

Plan ahead. Your future self will thank you.

How This Affects Your Financing Timeline

Timing doesn’t just affect construction — it affects your financing too. If you’re planning to use a HELOC or home equity loan, the approval process typically takes 3–6 weeks. An unsecured pool loan can come through faster — sometimes in 48 hours.

Either way, you want your financing in place before we lock in your build slot. I cover all the financing options in detail in our pool financing guide for DFW homeowners — that’s worth reading alongside this post.

The practical interaction between financing and timing: if your goal is a spring or early summer completion, your financing process needs to start in the fall. Design consultation in October, financing in November, contract signed and permit submitted in November or December. That’s the sequence that works.

Does the Season Affect What Type of Pool You Should Build?

Somewhat. The construction material question — gunite vs. fiberglass — isn’t dramatically affected by season, but the surface finish timing can matter.

PebbleTec and quartz finishes require a specific curing process that benefits from moderate temperatures. A finish applied in 105°F July heat requires more careful water chemistry management during the first weeks. A finish applied in October or November cures more predictably and requires less intervention.

If you’re curious about surface finish options and how they affect long-term cost and appearance, our gunite vs. fiberglass comparison covers the material trade-offs, and our tile and coping guide at choosing pool tile and coping materials goes deeper on surface choices.

What About Remodels — Does Timing Work the Same Way?

Mostly yes, with one difference: remodels are faster to complete than new construction. A significant remodel — resurfacing, new tile and coping, added water features — often takes 3–6 weeks rather than 10–16 weeks. That gives you a little more flexibility on timing.

That said, the contractor availability and permit dynamics are the same. Fall and winter are still the best times to schedule a remodel in DFW. If you’re thinking about refreshing an existing pool rather than building new, our pool remodel cost guide and remodeling timeline guide are the right starting points.

How to Use This Information Right Now

Whatever month you’re reading this, here’s what I’d suggest:

1. If it’s August–October: This is your golden window. Reach out now, start the design conversation, get your financing in place, and you’ll be in the water next spring. This is the move.
2. If it’s November–January: Don’t wait for spring. Construction is very workable in DFW winters, permits come through fast, and a January start often means a March–April finish. You’ll be the first one on the block swimming.
3. If it’s February–March: Move quickly. Get your design consultation scheduled immediately, don’t delay on financing, and submit permits as soon as possible. A fast-moving February start can still get you a summer pool.
4. If it’s April–May: Be realistic with yourself about timeline. A quality custom pool started in May is a fall completion. Decide if you want to wait or if you want to plan for next year and do it right.
5. If it’s June–July: This summer is probably not happening. Let’s talk about getting on the schedule for a fall/winter build so you’re swimming by next spring — not waiting another full year.

One More Thing: Don’t Wait for Prices to Drop

I hear this occasionally: “We’re waiting to see if pool prices come down.” I understand the hope, but I’ve watched the DFW construction market for 45 years. Material costs, labor rates, and permit fees have not trended down. They have moved up — sometimes gradually, sometimes in jumps. The pool that costs $120,000 today almost certainly costs more in 2027. I covered this dynamic in detail in our 2026 pool cost breakdown if you want the full picture.

The best time to build the pool your family wants is when you’re ready to move forward — not when some market condition that may never materialize finally arrives.

Let’s Figure Out Your Timeline

Whether you’re reading this in October with plenty of runway or in June wishing you’d called sooner, the first step is the same: let’s talk about your backyard, your goals, and what a realistic schedule looks like for your situation.

We’ve been building pools in Frisco, Plano, Dallas, McKinney, Allen, and across North Texas since 1980. We’ll give you an honest picture of where we are on the schedule and what timeline is actually achievable. No overpromising. Browse our completed project portfolio to see what we build, check out our industry awards, or read more about our 45-year family history — then give us a call.

Call us at (972) 335-2777 or schedule a consultation online. The sooner we talk, the sooner you’re swimming.