Backyard pool building skyrockets during COVID-19 pandemic

Doing 3,000-piece puzzles. Going for a run. Watching Netflix. And repeat.

In March, Austin-Travis County’s Stay Home, Work Safe orders forced public pools, movie theaters and shops to shut their doors in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. Families had to find what they could do at home to stay entertained.

After a few months, however, many felt they needed a new option.

Sabrina Anderson who lives in north Austin said, “We’ve always wanted a pool, and the pandemic did help seal the deal.”

The Anderson family recently started the permitting process to build a pool in their yard.

They’re on track to become one of more than a thousand families in Austin who applied for and received permits from the City of Austin this year to add pools to their property, making the pool industry a booming industry even during the pandemic.

Initial Drop in Business

Pool builders, along with restaurant and bar owners and retailers, suffered significant decreases in business when the local Stay Home orders went into effect.

Shortly after the orders, Austin became a ghost town. 

The once bustling 6^th Street and Red River Street became silent. Foot traffic on Congress Avenue dropped to almost non-existent, going from on average 50,000 a day to 2,300, according to the Downtown Austin Alliance.

Construction workers also had to pack up and go home. City and county officials’ guidance for the construction industry, issued March 24, said only those building affordable housing or housing for the homeless could continue.

Everyone else working on single-family homes, apartments and pools had to stop.

“It’s scary, right?” said Scott Turner, homebuilder in Austin. “Because anytime an entire industry slams to a halt, which is extraordinarily rare thankfully, that’s going to have a big impact.” 

“We were very stressed out,” said Guillermo Carrillo, owner of LECASA Homes and Renovations. He explained, many contractors live paycheck to paycheck.  

The Austin Board of Realtors also expressed frustration and urged Austin and Travis County to reconsider their orders.

The realtors group said, “Construction sites are a unique workplace with their own levels of social distancing built in as many workers are isolated completely or separated by large distances.” 

“We were very stressed out.”

-Guillermo Carrillo, LECASA Homes and renovations

Impact on the construction industry 

The City of Austin’s construction permits data shows a dramatic impact the Stay Home orders had on the number of residential permit applications filed.  

In March 2019, the city received 2,771 permit applications for “New,” “Addition and Remodel” or “Upgrade” projects. In March 2020, the city received 1,848 for those types of projects. 

When the data is narrowed to only show “New,” “Addition and Remodel” and “Upgrade” projects that contain the word “pool” in the description, the numbers followed a similar trend – a significant dip in March. 

That month, the City of Austin issued 74 construction permits for pools, about one third of how many the city issued in 2019.  

“It’s never been that permit levels [go up and up] for years and years and then all of a sudden it dips,” said Turner. “You can actually see the moment that they said everybody stop work.”

Pool Permits Issued in 2019 and 2020 by Month

Dramatic comeback

Pool building in Austin remained slow through April, but the data shows a fast and furious comeback beginning in May.

Austin and Travis County updated their guidelines for the construction industry at the beginning of April, saying they will “no longer prohibit commercial or residential construction projects.” 

By May, the number of permits issued for new pools rose to 180. In June, the city issued 292 pool permits, more than double how many it issued in June 2019. 

Pool Permits in 2019 and 2020

By October 31, Austin received applications for and approved 1,398 pool permits. In all of 2019, the city issued 1,321 pool permits.  

Builders said just like the Anderson family, people who’ve been thinking about adding a pool to their yard are deciding now is the perfect time.

Turner said, “You can’t go out and recreate in your neighborhood the way you used to. We build a lot of houses near Zilker Park, but people aren’t going out as much, so the pool is even more attractive.” 

Redefining luxury

Up until the pandemic, Turner said putting in pools was rare. 

He said, “You’re not expecting pools everywhere unless you are in a luxury price range. In neighborhoods where homes sell for a million dollars, for example, those buyers can probably afford to put in a $50,000 pool if they want to, both before and after construction.” 

ZIP Codes with the Highest Number of Pool Permits

Now, he said, it’s become more of a standard, especially for new homes.

When so many homes in Austin have added pools, buyers will expect that to be the new norm, Turner said.  

An analysis of Austin’s pool permits data from 2020 showed ZIP Codes 78704, 78739, 78703, 78757 and 78731 had the highest numbers of homeowners adding pools to their properties. 

ZIP Code	Median Home Sale Price, October 2020
78704	$770,150
78739	$610,000
78703	$976,000
78757	$646,500
78731	$958,887
City of Austin	$441,250

In October, homes in those ZIP codes sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the City of Austin’s median home sale price. In 78703, the median home sale price was more than double the city’s median home sale figure. 

“We feel like doing a small pool as a standard is something that is attractive in the marketplace and makes our product more competitive,” Turner said. 

He added, “I’ve said this for a long time, but every disaster has a silver lining for some industry. You hate to say this, but roofers make a lot of money during hailstorms, and so the same thing here. Pools are the silver lining here that people are definitely spending more money on [while] not going out to eat as much, not taking vacations.”