Having your very own swimming pool in your garden is considered the height of luxury by many. Imagine getting up in the morning on a hot summer day and swimming a few lengths. It’s the ideal way to start your day. Installing a swimming pool isn’t actually as expensive as people think either. It’s still going to cost you a lot of money but it’s more manageable than you might think. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should do it. People only think of the good things about owning a pool but there are a lot of other things to consider. If you think that installing a pool might be a worthwhile way to spend your money, make sure you think about these things first.
Why Are You Installing A Pool?
So you can go swimming, right? It sounds like a strange question to ask but a lot of people don’t consider it. How often do you go swimming now? If you aren’t really into swimming that much at the moment, will you really use your own pool that much or do you just want to have it so you can say that you have your own pool? For a lot of people, the idea of owning a pool is more attractive than the actual reality of swimming in it. If you don’t use it that much, you should just consider a temporary pool that can be taken down.
If you are sure that you’ll use it, you also need to think about how you’re going to use it because that has a big impact on the depth and the size. Do you want to swim lengths in it or are you just going to relax and lounge around. If you want to do some serious swimming in there, you’ll need a much longer pool but if you just want to soak in there and enjoy the sun, you can get away with a much smaller pool. If you have a family and you want to make a pool for the kids, you need to keep it shallow so they are safe.
Before you rush into anything, think about why you’re installing a pool and decide whether you actually have a good enough reason.
Can You Afford The Upkeep?
The cost of installing the pool is one thing, but what about the upkeep? A lot of people find that they can afford to put the pool in but then they struggle to keep up with all of the other things that they have to buy for it. You’re going to need to buy pumps to fill it and keep the water clean, buy water treatments, and equipment for cleaning. The filters will need to be replaced from time to time as well. If you want to be able to use it in the winter, you will need to heat it and that uses a huge amount of energy, so your bills are going to shoot up. That’s a lot of money to spend on the upkeep, so it’s important that you factor that into your decision. If you can’t work it into your monthly budget, you’ll end up with financial issues or a pool that is left to go stagnant and never gets used.
Is The House Secure Enough?
This is something that people don’t consider when installing a pool but it’s so important. When burglars are looking for houses to target, they’re looking for the places with the most valuables in them. If you have a swimming pool in the back garden, that suggests that you have a lot of money and you’ll be a bigger target. That’s why it’s especially important to keep your house secure when you have a pool. You need to ask yourself whether you’re prepared to take that extra risk and make your home a bigger target for thieves for the sake of having a pool to use.
Will It Increase The Value Of Your Home That Much?
People think that spending money on a pool is worth it because it will add so much value to your home and you will get that investment back if you decide to sell the house in the future. Who doesn’t want a pool in their garden after all? The problem is, a lot of people don’t want a pool in their house for reasons that we’ve already looked at. It’s expensive to maintain, so a lot of people see it as a burden rather than a selling point. There are also concerns about security and that can put people off as well. Even if people do want a pool, the increase in value is not going to be that high at all.
If you live in a high end area and a lot of the surrounding areas all have a pool, then it might make it hard to sell the house if you don’t have one. In which case, the pool is a good investment. If you live in a very hot climate where people are likely to use a pool, it will increase the value a bit more than it would in other places, but it’s still not a huge amount. If your main reason for considering a pool is that you think that it will massively increase the value of your house, it might be best to reconsider your decision.
Is The Garden Suitable?
If you have considered the rest of these things and you still want to go ahead, the last thing you need to ask is whether the garden is actually suitable. If your garden isn’t very flat, it’s a lot harder to build a pool and that means it’s going to be more expensive. There are also strict guidelines about placing a pool near a property, so you need to consider whether you have the space to build the pool that you want.
Building a pool can be a great addition to your home if you use it often. But you need to consider whether you are willing to take on the additional costs involved.