How Long a Custom Pool Build Really Takes in Clarkston, GA — 4 Real Project Timelines

It’s February 14th. You signed the contract three weeks ago, handed over a deposit, and were told the pool would be done in “about four months.” Your son’s graduation party is June 22nd. You walk outside this morning and the backyard is still grass. No flags, no stakes, no truck. You text the builder. He says they’re waiting on the permit, and your stomach drops because nobody told you what that meant when you signed.

Custom pool construction in Clarkston, GA runs 10 to 22 weeks from contract to first swim. The difference between the fast end and the slow end is rarely the builder — it’s permits, weather, crane scheduling, equipment lead time, and mid-build changes. Every variable has a number behind it.

Four real projects from our Clarkston portfolio, week by week, with the DeKalb permit windows, the rain days, the gunite reschedules, and the Raypak heater that sat on a loading dock for six weeks.

The Short Answer — Why Every Clarkston Timeline Looks Different

The pool industry loves round numbers. “Fourteen weeks.” “By Memorial Day.” Those numbers get said in sales meetings because they close contracts. They also set homeowners up to feel lied to when a single rain week or a back-ordered variable speed pump pushes everything right. Six levers control a Clarkston pool timeline. Every build has all six. The weights just change.

• Permit turnaround at DeKalb County. Department of Planning & Sustainability runs roughly 2 to 4 weeks in the off-season (November to February) and 4 to 8 weeks during the peak spring submission window when every pool builder in the metro is filing at once.
• Rain days. Clarkston averages 11 rainy days per month in April and May, 8 in summer, 6 in October. Each rain day during open-shell phase is roughly a 2-day delay, because soil has to dry before you can set steel or pour anything.
• Gunite crew scheduling. Our shotcrete subcontractor books 2 to 3 weeks out in March through May. Miss your window by a day and you’re waiting for the next gap.
• Equipment lead times. A Pentair IntelliFlo3 variable speed pump is running 2 to 4 weeks in 2026. A Raypak 406A natural gas heater can stretch to 6 weeks or more depending on the distributor.
• Plaster / interior finish cure. Pebble Tec and standard plaster both require a 7 to 10 day pre-fill water balance window after application, plus another 28 days of careful brushing and chemistry before the pool is considered cured.
• Homeowner decisions. Usually the biggest single timeline variable, and the one nobody warns you about. We’ll cover this in Section 7.

The four projects below started in different months, ran into different combinations of those six levers, and finished at different speeds. None were “average.” None should have been.

Project 1 — 20×40 Rectangular Gunite with Spa, 15 Weeks, Late-Winter Start

Clarkston homeowner off Market Street signed January 14, 2025. 20×40 rectangle, 5.5 ft play depth, corner spa, stacked-stone raised wall with dual sheer-descent waterfalls, travertine deck. Contract north of $180,000. First swim April 29 — 15 weeks and 1 day from contract.

Week 1 (Jan 14–20) — Submittal prep. Structural drawings, plumbing schematic, electrical load calc, site plan, and stormwater exhibit packaged for DeKalb. Submitted January 17.

Weeks 2–4 (Jan 21–Feb 10) — DeKalb County permit review. Off-season submission. One RFI on the sub-panel bonding path, answered same day. Permit issued February 10 — twenty-four calendar days door-to-door. Fast for Clarkston.

Week 5 (Feb 11–17) — Dig day. Silt fence Tuesday, excavation Wednesday. At 5.5 ft play depth on a flat lot, the dig finished in one long day. By Friday the rough shape was pulled to final dimension.

Weeks 6–7 (Feb 18–Mar 3) — Steel and plumbing rough-in. Rebar cage laid, bond wire tied to the equipment ground, plumbing rough for eight returns, two skimmers, one main drain pair, spa therapy jets, and the waterfall feed. Two rain days pushed this two calendar days — light.

Week 8 (Mar 4–10) — Pre-gunite inspection and shotcrete. Inspector signed off Tuesday. Our gunite subcontractor was already booked for Thursday — we called them February 19, two and a half weeks out, which is why we held the slot. Shot Thursday morning, shaped through Friday.

Weeks 9–10 (Mar 11–24) — Shell cure + tile and coping. Gunite reaches full structural strength at 28 days but can be tiled after 14. We set tile day 11. Waterline tile (iridescent glass, 1×1), coping (travertine, 12×24 bullnose), dry-stack ledgestone veneer, and spillway stone all set this stretch.

Weeks 11–12 (Mar 25–Apr 7) — Deck and travertine install. Deck sub-base compacted, drainage tied to yard swale, 850 sq ft of travertine 16×24 French pattern laid on thinset over reinforced slab. Three rain days.

Week 13 (Apr 8–14) — Equipment set. Pentair IntelliFlo3 pump, IntelliChlor SCG salt cell, Raypak 406A heater, automation panel, and LED color-change controller set. Electrical sub pulled the final 240V feed. Equipment inspection passed Friday.

Week 14 (Apr 15–21) — Pebble Tec and water fill. Interior blown Monday. Filled Tuesday–Wednesday (37,000 gallons, two garden hoses). The 7 to 10 day water balance window started the moment water hit the shell.

Week 15 (Apr 22–29) — Start-up, final inspection. Chemistry balanced, salt cell activated, final DeKalb inspection passed Monday. First swim Wednesday night, April 29.

Project 2 — 18×36 with Integrated Pavilion, 19 Weeks, Spring Start

Signed March 4, 2025. 18×36 rectangle, 4-to-6 ft play depth, 16×24 detached hip-roof pavilion with full outdoor kitchen, sheer descent off the raised planter, swim-up bar ledge. First swim July 15 — 19 weeks exactly.

This one ran longer for four reasons, each of which is common in Clarkston spring builds.

Weeks 1–7 (Mar 4–Apr 21) — Permit purgatory. Submitted March 10, peak spring. DeKalb returned two RFIs — pavilion structural (separate permit since the roof exceeded 200 sq ft) and sub-panel conductor sizing. Both answered within 48 hours. Pool permit issued April 16; pavilion permit five days later. Six weeks door-to-door — inside the 4-to-8 week peak range, but enough to shift the entire calendar.

Week 8 (Apr 22–28) — Dig. With a 6 ft deep end plus a swim-up bar sub-shelf cut, dig stretched to 2 days. One half-rain-day Thursday slowed dirt haul-off.

Weeks 9–11 (Apr 29–May 19) — Steel, plumbing, first rain block. Clarkston caught the front edge of a wet spring — 9 rain days across three weeks, in line with the April-May 11-day average. Each pushed steel inspection or plumbing pressure test roughly 2 days. Net shell delay: about a week.

Week 12 (May 20–26) — Gunite. Crew rebooked twice. Originally May 14, pushed to May 21, then May 22. A Wednesday thunderstorm cost a half-day of cure monitoring but didn’t wash the shell. This is where spring builds live or die — the gunite window has to land in a dry pocket, and the subs are juggling six builders.

Weeks 13–14 (May 27–Jun 9) — Tile, coping, raised wall. Standard 14-day post-gunite. Stacked-stone veneer took an extra 3 days because of the sheer descent integration — stone had to be mitered around scupper plumbing and sealed behind.

Weeks 15–16 (Jun 10–23) — Deck, pavilion slab, pavers. Both slabs poured same week. Trucks staged on the street with a Clarkston street-use permit because the driveway couldn’t accommodate the pumper and ready-mix trucks at once. Porcelain pavers followed slab cure.

Week 17 (Jun 24–30) — Equipment and heater delay. Everything arrived on schedule except the Raypak 406A. Ordered mid-April, landed week 17 — six weeks from PO. This is the lead time we quote now: 6+ weeks on a Raypak 406A. Pool filled without it; we returned the following Monday to set and wire.

Week 18 (Jul 1–7) — Pebble Tec and fill. 7-day water balance window started July 2.

Week 19 (Jul 8–15) — Final inspection. Passed July 14. First swim July 15, eleven days before the owners’ graduation party.

Project 3 — 20×42 Diving Pool with Elevated Spa, 22 Weeks, Late-Spring Start

Signed April 29, 2025. 20×42 rectangle, 8.5 ft diving well, elevated spa with raised fire-feature wall, travertine deck, landscape lighting, adjacent pavilion. First swim October 2 — 22 weeks. Outer edge of normal. It didn’t go sideways — it ran long for the reasons a deep diving pool runs long.

Weeks 1–5 (Apr 29–Jun 2) — Permit at peak. Submitted May 5. Diving depth triggered an additional structural engineering review. Five weeks door-to-door — actually short for that review tier during peak.

Weeks 6–7 (Jun 3–16) — Dig for a diving pool. An 8.5 ft diving well changes things. A 5.5 ft play pool finishes dig in one day. An 8.5 ft diving well requires deep-end shoring, staged dirt removal, and a 3-day dig because trucks can’t reach the deep zone directly. Add half a day because the lot had a 3 ft grade change.

Weeks 8–10 (Jun 17–Jul 7) — Steel, plumbing, thunderstorm week. June in Clarkston is thunderstorm country. We lost the week of June 23 to a stalled front — 4 consecutive rain days plus a half-day of drying. Steel inspection rescheduled twice.

Week 11 (Jul 8–14) — Gunite. Originally July 1 during the rain week. Rebooked July 10. Shot on schedule.

Weeks 12–15 (Jul 15–Aug 11) — Tile, coping, raised spa build. The elevated spa is a freestanding structural element — its own footing, rebar cage, gunite (shot with the main pool), and stone veneer. Veneer alone took 6 days across two masons. The fire feature gas line was pulled from the house by a licensed plumber as a separate trade.

Weeks 16–18 (Aug 12–Sep 1) — Deck, lighting, equipment. 1,400 sq ft travertine on reinforced slab, 11 well lights plus 4 path lights, Pentair IntelliFlo3 (on-time) and the Raypak 406A (this one at 4 weeks from PO — same distributor as Project 2, different supply window).

Weeks 19–20 (Sep 2–15) — Pebble Tec, fill, water balance. Filled September 9. 10-day water balance window with twice-daily brushing to prevent plaster dust bonding.

Weeks 21–22 (Sep 16–Oct 2) — Fire commissioning, final inspection. Gas line pressure tested, fire feature lit, salt cell activated. Final inspection September 30. First swim October 2.

The owners hoped for an August 1 first swim. We had to walk them through why a diving pool with an elevated spa was never a 16-week build, regardless of what another builder might have said on a sales call. Uncomfortable conversation. Honest timeline.

Project 4 — 16×32 Simple Rectangle, 11 Weeks, Off-Season Build

Signed November 6, 2024. 16×32 simple rectangle. 5 ft depth corner to corner, no spa, no raised wall, no deck upgrades beyond a standard broom-finish concrete apron, a single LED light, and a basic Pentair equipment package. First swim: January 22, 2025. 11 weeks flat.

This is the profile a lot of homeowners want to hear about, because the timeline looks magical. It is not. It is what happens when you remove every variable that makes a pool interesting.

Weeks 1–2 (Nov 6–19) — Permit. Submitted Nov 11. DeKalb turned it in 9 business days — fastest we’ve seen in 18 months, because November is dead season for pool submissions. Permit Nov 21.

Week 3 (Nov 20–26) — Dig. Thanksgiving week. One-day dig on a flat lot.

Weeks 4–5 (Nov 27–Dec 10) — Steel, plumbing, inspection. Late-November Clarkston is dry season. Only 1 rain day. Steel inspected Dec 8, gunite already booked for Dec 10.

Week 6 (Dec 11–17) — Gunite. Shot Dec 11.

Weeks 7–8 (Dec 18–31) — Tile, coping, concrete deck. No raised wall, no stacked stone, no paver complexity. Apron poured Dec 23 and set over the holiday week while nobody was working anyway.

Weeks 9–10 (Jan 1–14) — Equipment and plaster. Simple Pentair package, Raypak 266A (smaller unit, better off-season supply, shorter lead). Pebble Tec applied Jan 8.

Week 11 (Jan 15–22) — Fill, balance, final. Filled Jan 15, final DeKalb inspection passed Jan 22. First swim that afternoon — heater held 84 degrees in Georgia January weather.

What Actually Drives Timeline Variance — A Factor Analysis

Six factors, ranked by average impact on a Clarkston pool timeline:

1. Permit timing. Spread: 2 to 8 weeks. The biggest lever, and the one homeowners have the least control over after signing. DeKalb runs light from November through February and stacks up through spring. Sign in late January, the permit could be 18 days. Sign in late March, it could be 45. Same builder, same application.

2. Weather during open-shell phase. Spread: 0 to 3 weeks. The shell phase is the only one where weather stops work cold. Clarkston’s wettest months are April and May at 11 rain days each. Summer thunderstorms are usually half-day events. Each full rain day during shell work is a 2-day delay — you can’t set steel in mud or shoot gunite on wet subgrade.

3. Subcontractor availability. Spread: 0 to 2 weeks. Our gunite sub works for six builders at once. We book crane/shotcrete dates 2 to 3 weeks ahead in March through May. Miss your slot because of rain or an inspection delay, and you are at the back of the queue.

4. Equipment lead time. Spread: 0 to 3 weeks. Most equipment arrives on time. The outliers in 2026: Pentair IntelliFlo3 (2 to 4 weeks), Raypak 406A heater (6+ weeks). If you want heat at first swim, the heater has to be ordered the week you sign — not week three.

5. Concrete and plaster cure. Fixed at 3 to 4 weeks. Non-negotiable. Gunite reaches full structural strength at 28 days. Tile can start at 14. Pebble Tec requires a 7 to 10 day water balance window. Any builder who claims to shortcut this is cutting a corner that will show up in year three.

6. Inspection scheduling at DeKalb. Pre-gunite, pre-plaster, final. 1 to 4 days each. Same-week in off-season, 3 to 5 days out in peak.

Add up the variance and you get the honest range: 10-week floor, 22-week ceiling, for the same level of craftsmanship. The difference is almost never the builder’s speed. It is the calendar and the county.

Where Homeowners Accidentally Extend Their Own Build

Four self-inflicted delays we see on almost every build. None feel like delays when they happen. All add days.

Mid-build change orders. A homeowner walks the shell during steel phase, loves the shape, and decides Friday night they want to add a spa, a fire feature, or a raised wall. Fine — we can do it. But the change order requires a supplemental permit, updated structural drawings, new plumbing, and often a second gunite visit. A spa added mid-build adds 3 to 5 weeks.

Material selection procrastination. Coping gets ordered before tile sets; tile before pre-plaster; Pebble Tec color four weeks before plaster. When a homeowner says “I want to see samples one more time” in week 10, we hold a phase. 3 to 7 days lost.

Not being home for inspections. DeKalb requires homeowner access for certain inspections. Traveling with nobody available, the inspection slips a week. We’ve had builds slip 8 days for an unflagged vacation.

Late-breaking HOA review. Some Clarkston subdivisions require architectural review on top of county permitting. Started after county submission instead of before, add 2 to 4 weeks that had nothing to do with your builder.

We build these risks into onboarding now. Before signing. With a calendar, a sharpie, and a family-events worksheet. If there’s a graduation party on July 18, we work backward and confirm whether the earliest honest first-swim date is June 20 or August 1. If the honest date is August 1, the party is going on the deck, not in the water. Three uncomfortable minutes saves a season of frustration.

Realistic Expectations for 2026 Starts in Clarkston

What the current market is telling us about 2026 Clarkston builds:

Sign by mid-February for a summer-ready pool. A February 15 contract with off-season permitting and moderate scope puts first swim in early June — a 15-to-16 week build. Sign in March, you’re looking at 18 to 20 weeks because you’ve slid into peak permit season. Sign in April, and Memorial Day is off the table for anything more complex than a simple rectangle.

Order long-lead equipment the week you sign. Pentair IntelliFlo3 and Raypak 406A both run 4+ weeks. Put them on order the same week as the contract, not after permit issuance. The equipment warehouse doesn’t care that you don’t have a permit yet.

Lock interior finish and coping within 2 weeks of signing. These selections are what your PM needs to keep the supply chain moving. A slow selection phase quietly becomes a slow build.

If you have a hard family event, add 3 weeks of buffer to whatever date you’re quoted. A party 3 weeks after your quoted first-swim date is almost always swimmable. A party the same week as first-swim is stressful for everyone.

Diving pools and elevated spas run 4 to 6 weeks longer than simple rectangles. Always. Bigger structural builds. Don’t let anyone tell you a 20-week diving pool is a 14-week project.

If your build spans June–August, pad the timeline a week. Afternoon storms shut down concrete work, gunite, and equipment-pad electrical. Morning-only production in August is a real phenomenon.

Pool timelines feel mysterious from the outside. From the inside, they are phases with minimum durations and variables that stretch them. The builders who tell you the honest version hit the honest dates. The ones who shave two weeks off the quote to win the contract add four weeks on the back end.

All four projects above finished. All four are being used. Set the date with the calendar in front of you, then hold the builder — and yourself — to it.