DFW is full of pools that were built in the late 1980s and 1990s – small white plaster rectangles with faded coping, yellowed underwater lights, and equipment running on technology from the Clinton administration. The shells are often perfectly fine. Everything visible and functional is just old.
I know this because my family helped build a lot of those pools. And I’ve spent the last several decades helping homeowners transform them.
The good news: an outdated pool is almost never a candidate for demolition. With the right combination of upgrades – some cosmetic, some mechanical – you can have a pool that looks and functions like it was built last year, for a fraction of the cost of starting over.
Key point: You don’t need to tear out a structurally sound pool to get a modern one. The surface, the tile, the equipment, and the features can all be replaced or added without touching the shell.
Upgrade 1: Resurface With a Modern Finish
Nothing ages a pool faster than old white plaster — the staining, the roughness, the faded blue-gray color. And nothing updates a pool’s look more dramatically than a new surface.
Modern aggregate finishes like PebbleTec and Pebble Sheen come in colors that didn’t exist 30 years ago — deep blues, gray-greens, charcoals, warm tans — and the exposed aggregate texture reads as unmistakably contemporary. We have a full breakdown of PebbleTec resurfacing costs and process in DFW that’s worth reading if you’re considering this upgrade. It’s usually the highest-impact single change you can make to an aging pool.
- Typical cost: $9,000 – $24,000 depending on pool size and finish choice
- Impact on appearance: Transformative — transforms the entire look and color of the water
Upgrade 2: New Tile and Coping
The tile band at the waterline and the coping around the pool edge are the details that date a pool most visibly to the decade it was built. 1980s pools often have 6-inch blue or brown ceramic tiles and rough concrete coping. Both are functionally fine. Both look their age.
Modern pool tile options include glass tile (stunning when lit at night), natural stone, linear ceramic, and large-format porcelain. Modern coping options include travertine, limestone, bluestone, and concrete pavers in profiles that didn’t exist 25 years ago.
- Tile replacement: $4,000 – $10,000 depending on pool perimeter and tile choice
- Coping replacement: $5,000 – $14,000 depending on material and linear footage
Tip: Our dedicated post on choosing pool tile and coping materials walks through the full range of options and what works best in North Texas’s climate. And our expert guide to pool tiles goes deep on material specifics.
Upgrade 3: Replace the Equipment
Equipment from the early 1990s or 2000s is not just inefficient — it’s often genuinely problematic. Single-speed pumps, older sand filters, and propane heaters from that era consume dramatically more energy than modern equivalents.
A modern variable speed pump alone can reduce pool energy costs by 50–70% compared to single-speed equipment. When you add an energy-efficient heat pump heater and a modern filter system, the operational savings over 5–10 years can offset a significant portion of the upgrade cost.
- Variable speed pump: $1,200 – $2,500 installed
- New filter system: $600 – $1,800 installed
- Heat pump heater: $2,500 – $5,000 installed
- Salt chlorination system: $1,500 – $3,500 installed
Worth knowing: Thinking about switching to saltwater? Our breakdown of saltwater pools in Texas covers whether it makes sense for your specific situation.
Upgrade 4: Add Automation and Smart Controls
Being able to run your pool from your phone — turn on the heater before you get home, schedule the pump, change the light color, monitor chemical levels — has gone from a luxury to a standard expectation in the last decade. It’s also not expensive relative to other upgrades.
A full automation system from a brand like Pentair or Hayward runs $2,500–$5,000 installed and connects to your smartphone. Once you’ve used it, going back to manual controls feels primitive. For a pool that’s being renovated anyway, adding automation at the same time as equipment replacement is the obvious move — the labor is already happening.
Upgrade 5: Lighting
If your pool has old incandescent or halogen underwater lights, replacing them with color LED fixtures is one of the highest-value changes you can make for the money. The color-changing capability transforms the pool at night — and in Texas, you’re swimming at night for half the year because it’s the only comfortable time to be outside.
Modern LED fixtures last dramatically longer than incandescent, use a fraction of the electricity, and can be controlled from your automation system or phone. The retrofit is usually straightforward if the existing niche and conduit are intact.
- LED fixture retrofit: $600 – $1,200 per light installed
- Full deck and landscape lighting: $3,000 – $8,000 for a comprehensive scheme
Upgrade 6: Add Features the Original Pool Didn’t Have
This is where modernization becomes transformation. Adding a tanning ledge to an existing pool isn’t always possible without structural work, but adding a spa, water features, or deck jets often is. Each depends on the specific pool design and what adjacent space is available.
- In-ground spa addition: $18,000 – $35,000
- Deck jets (4–6 jets): $2,000 – $5,000
- Sheer descent: $3,000 – $8,000
- Automation + smart controls: $2,500 – $5,000
Our post on water features for luxury pools in North Texas walks through the full range of options and what fits different pool designs.
How to Prioritize Your Renovation Budget
Most homeowners don’t renovate everything at once. If you’re working with a defined budget, here’s how I’d prioritize:
- First: Surface, tile, and coping – these are the most visible changes and have the biggest impact on how the pool looks and feels
- Second: Equipment and automation – efficiency and reliability; also enables everything else (lights, features) to work optimally
- Third: Features – spa, water features, fire – these are the enhancements that elevate the experience once the fundamentals are handled
To understand the total cost picture, our comprehensive pool remodel cost guide for Texas breaks down pricing by upgrade category. And our remodel vs. replace guide helps you think through the bigger decision first.
Ready to See What Your Pool Could Be?
The most satisfying projects we do are the ones where a homeowner buys a house with an old pool they’re embarrassed about and we turn it into the backyard they’ve always wanted.
Call us at (972) 335-2777 or reach out to schedule a consultation. Bring photos. We love a good before-and-after.
