The pool usually sits on the flattest, most open part of the lot, which is exactly where a lot of Tucson homeowners want a casita, an ADU, a garage or an addition. The pool can come out to make room. What matters is how it comes out. A removal meant for turf and pavers and a removal meant to carry a footing are two different jobs.
This page covers the second one: what it includes, how we work with your builder or architect when you have one, and where it falls in the schedule of a building project.
Why a standard backfill cannot carry a structure
Most Tucson pool removals are partial. The deck and the top 18 inches of the shell are broken out, drainage holes go through the floor, and the shell is backfilled and compacted in 6 to 9 inch lifts. That is the right job for a yard that will hold turf, pavers, gravel or plants.
It is the wrong base for a building. The old shell stays in the ground with broken concrete in the bottom of it. The fill above is compacted for a yard, not engineered and tested for a load. Fill settles, and even well compacted fill over a broken shell can keep settling for years. Under turf, a little settlement is a low spot you top off. Under a footing or a slab, it is cracked walls, doors that stick and a structural repair.
A building that sits partly over the old pool has a second problem. Part of the foundation bears on native soil and part bears on fill, and the two do not move the same way. The part over the pool drops. The part on native ground stays put.
Oro Valley’s rule is the clearest local example
Oro Valley puts the rule in writing on its pool and spa permit page. If the area where the pool was will support any structure, which includes a new building or addition, an outbuilding, a driveway, a patio, a deck or a ramada, the shell must be removed entirely. The excavation is backfilled with approved engineered and compacted fill, and a geotechnical report from a licensed engineer is required. If the area stays landscape, the shell may remain below grade with drainage holes through the bottom.
Oro Valley also inspects a pool demolition twice. The first inspection, before any fill, covers the drainage holes or the shell removal, the open excavation and erosion control. The final inspection confirms the excavation is backfilled and the utilities are removed, with signed compaction test reports on site when testing is required.
Other jurisdictions around Tucson do not spell it out the same way on their pool pages. We hold every build-over job to the Oro Valley standard anyway. Your engineer and your building inspector will want to know what is under the new foundation, and the answer should be on paper.
What a build-over pool removal includes
A build-over removal is a full removal with engineering added. Every one we quote includes:
- A site visit, measurements of the pool, spa and deck, and a demolition plan for the whole footprint
- The demolition permit, filed, inspected and closed, with the compaction record kept alongside it
- Pool equipment removed and hauled off, and gas, electrical and plumbing capped at the source
- The entire shell, floor and walls, broken out and hauled off site, including any attached spa. No rubble goes back in the hole
- Fill material sampled and lab tested when it arrives on site, then placed in lifts, each lift compacted before the next one goes in
- Density testing of every lift by the geotechnical engineer’s technician, to a minimum of 95 percent of maximum dry density
- A letter stamped by the geotechnical engineer, given to you for your records and for whoever designs and builds on the spot later
- Finish grade, cleanup of the street and driveway, and repair of any wall, fence or paver section we open for access
The difference from a partial removal is in the middle of that list. Nothing from the old pool stays in the ground. The fill is a material that passed a lab test, not whatever was on the truck. An independent firm tests it lift by lift as it goes in, so nobody has to guess about it later.
Bring in your general contractor or architect before demolition starts
If a designer or an engineer is already involved, their requirements come first, and the time to hear them is before the first load of concrete leaves the yard. Before we start we ask for:
- A site plan or sketch, if one exists
- The name and contact for your general contractor, architect or engineer
- Any fill material or testing requirements they have already set
- Whether they want a particular geotechnical firm on the job
Where the new building covers only part of the old pool, the edge between fill and native soil matters to the foundation design. That is a conversation for the geotechnical firm, us, and your engineer if you have one, before we dig, not after.
Most owners do not know yet what they will build, or whether they will. That is fine, and it does not change the work. The shell comes out in full, the fill is lab tested on arrival, every lift is density tested to 95 percent, and the engineer’s certification records it. Whoever designs a building there later starts from that record. We do not design the foundation and we do not specify the structure; the engineer who does will tell you, and us, if anything beyond the certified fill is needed. The reasons the ground moves, and what the testing establishes, are on our page on soils, settlement and engineered fill in the Tucson basin.
Where the removal falls in your project timeline
The removal comes first. The building permit for the new structure follows it. In order:
- Design, if there is one. When you already have an architect or engineer, their requirements for the fill come to us before we dig. When you do not, the removal proceeds to the same standard and the record waits for them.
- Removal permit. We prepare the site plan, file the pool demolition permit and pay the fee.
- Demolition. Equipment out, utilities capped, the full shell broken out and hauled away.
- Pre-fill inspection. The jurisdiction inspects the open excavation before fill goes in, where its process calls for it.
- Engineered fill and testing. Fill placed and compacted in lifts and tested by the geotechnical firm as it comes up.
- Final inspection. The demolition permit is closed and the compaction record is filed with it.
- Stamped letter. The geotechnical letter goes to you, and to your builder or designer when you have one. Keep it with the permit record; the future building permit will ask for it.
- Building permit. Your general contractor applies for the casita, ADU, garage or addition permit and builds.
Permit review times vary by jurisdiction, so we give you a schedule once we know where the property is and whether a designer is already involved.
What a build-over removal costs
A build-over removal costs more than a standard full removal, and it is quoted per site. Our standard full removal runs $12,000 to $25,000. The build-over job adds lab-tested fill, density testing on every lift, and the engineer’s certification, so it is priced above that. Pool size and depth, an attached spa, equipment access, haul distance and any requirements an engineer has already set determine the final number.
It is also the part of the project that is hardest to fix once a slab is poured over it.
If the spot will stay landscape instead, a partial removal costs less and does the job. Our pool removal page compares the methods and what each one leaves you with.
Get a build-over removal quote
Call (520) 222-8503 and tell us what you plan to build. Send the site plan if you have one. We have been doing this in Tucson for 13 years under ROC KA-5 282151. To see what the pool costs you each year until it comes out, use the TerraSpec, the pool removal cost calculator.
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