Best fiberglass pool installers near Akron

A fiberglass pool arrives as a finished shell. The factory makes the pool. The installer makes the hole, the base, the plumbing, the backfill and the deck, and those are what decide whether the pool sits level and trouble-free for decades. So judging a fiberglass installer is mostly about judging what happens in the ground, which you will never see once the deck is poured.

That is why this page sets out criteria you can check, rather than a ranking. You can use them on any installer around Akron, including us.

Because a fiberglass shell is light compared with the water it holds and the ground around it. Most of the Akron area sits on glacial till. The USDA soil survey for Summit County maps large areas of silt loams such as the Canfield and Ravenna series. The USDA describes Canfield soils as moderately well drained with a firm fragipan and a perched water table 10 to 21 inches below the surface from November to April in normal years. Ravenna soils are wetter, with water perched 7 to 11 inches down from October through June.

For much of the year there is water sitting close to the surface in many Akron-area backyards. An installer has to deal with it in three ways: keep the excavation dry while setting the shell, build drainage and pressure relief under the pool, and never leave the shell empty. A fiberglass pool that is drained in wet ground can be pushed upward by groundwater. Ask every installer how they handle this. A vague answer is your answer.

Fiberglass manufacturers commonly specify clean, crushed gravel for the base and backfill rather than the dirt that came out of the hole. SwimUSA's installation guidance, for example, recommends 3/8 inch clean gravel around the pool and under steps and ledges, and says excavated material should never be used as backfill. Gravel drains, compacts evenly and supports the shell. Wet Summit County clay does none of those well, and it shrinks and swells as it wets and dries.

Ask each installer what goes under the shell, what goes around it, how they level it, and whether they fill the pool with water as they backfill so the pressure stays balanced on both sides of the wall. Ask how the plumbing is pressure-tested before it is buried. These are ordinary questions for an experienced fiberglass installer, and the answers should come easily.

A fiberglass shell arrives on a trailer and has to be lifted into the hole. On a wide suburban lot in Copley, Bath or Green, that can be simple. On a narrow city lot in Akron or Cuyahoga Falls, with houses close together, a garage in the way or overhead wires, the installer may need a crane to lift the shell over the house. That is common and manageable, but it should be planned and priced up front, along with any damage to the lawn from equipment.

Ask each installer to look at access during the site visit, as well as the pool location. The answer affects cost, the install day and how your yard looks afterward.

Every fiberglass quote should name the manufacturer and the model, with its dimensions and depth. Shells differ in shape, depth profile, steps, benches and tanning ledges, and in how the finish is built. Look up the model on the manufacturer's site. Ask whether the installer is an authorized dealer for that manufacturer, because warranty coverage often depends on the shell being installed and registered properly.

Liberty Composites, the manufacturer we use, publishes a limited warranty on its pools. Warranty terms differ between manufacturers and change over time, so ask any installer for the current written warranty and who registers it in your name.

Lot sizes around Akron range from narrow city parcels to acre-plus lots in the townships, and a good installer sizes the shell to the yard, not the other way round. Setbacks, the barrier, a usable deck and room for the equipment pad all take space. On a tight lot, a compact shell such as the Enrichment 9x17 or Dignity 10x20, both $68,400 in our packages, can leave room for a real patio. On a bigger yard, a Hero 12x26 at $74,900 or an Anthem 14x30 at $90,200 suits families who want room to swim. Ask each installer to show the shell on a drawing of your lot with the deck and fence, so you can see what is left of the yard.

It depends on your address. The City of Akron says that projects built within the city are reviewed by both the city and the Summit County Department of Building Standards. Summit County Building Standards provides residential plan review and inspections for 22 jurisdictions in the county. Some suburbs have their own building departments, and zoning approval is often a separate step. A local installer should know which office covers your street without having to look it up.

The barrier is part of that. Most towns follow some version of the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code's Section 305, which calls for a barrier at least 48 inches high with self-closing, self-latching gates, and add their own rules. Ask whether the installer draws the barrier into the permit plans and whether the fence is in the price. We handle permits on every pool and include the barrier in the plans.

There is no standard, which is why quotes can look so different. At a minimum, ask whether the price includes the shell and delivery, excavation, base and backfill, plumbing, the pump, filter and lights, a deck or coping, electrical, startup chemicals and permits. Then ask what is excluded: fencing, extra patio, spoils haul-off, dewatering and the electrical run from your panel are the usual ones.

For comparison, our packages run from $68,400 for the Dignity 10x20 or Enrichment 9x17 to $103,900 for the Virtuous 16x40, installed. Each includes a Pentair variable-speed pump, a Pentair DE filter, a pool heater, Pentair MicroBrite color-changing LED lights, a 4 ft concrete wrap deck, a cleaning kit, starter chemicals, full installation and the electrical hook-up at the equipment. Our guide to what is included in a fiberglass pool package price goes through each item.

Fiberglass is the quickest pool type to install, because the shell is made in a factory. That speed is a real benefit in Northeast Ohio, where the build season is short and a wet spring can eat weeks. But the fastest install is not automatically the best. The dig, set and backfill are quick. The deck, the fence and the permit inspections take longer, and concrete needs decent weather. Ask for a realistic schedule from dig to swim, rather than the install day alone.

The shell itself handles cold well. The deck and coping take the beating. The National Weather Service puts Akron-Canton's average first fall freeze on October 19 and last spring freeze on April 29, and in between the ground freezes and thaws over and over. A deck poured on a thin or poorly compacted base, or one that sheds water toward the pool, will heave and crack. Ask how the installer prepares the base under the deck, where the control joints go and how water will drain away from the pool and the house.

The first season is when you learn your pool, and the first closing is the one to get right. Ask whether the installer offers openings, closings and repairs, or can recommend someone who does. An installer who knows where every line runs can close the pool faster and more reliably than someone seeing it for the first time.

We are Ohio State Pools, a veteran-owned builder based in Ravenna, and Akron and its suburbs are among our core areas. Fiberglass is our main product. We install Liberty Composites shells, with 21 models to choose from, from compact shells for tight city lots to 16x40 family pools. Every pool is designed in 3D on your lot before we dig, and we handle the permits. Our crew has construction, mechanical and landscaping backgrounds, and our lead designer, Mike, has more than 40 years of pool design and building experience.

A few customers describe the experience better than we can. Dustin S.: "Pick out your fiberglass pool and they handle the rest." Josh C.: "The pool builder installed my fiberglass pool in record time and was very professional." Mike C.: "Fantastic fiber glass pool installer. Pleasure to work with and professional."

We also build ICF concrete and vinyl liner pools, so if fiberglass is not the right fit for your yard, we will say so.