Remodeling & Renovation

Pool Remodeling in McAllen, TX

The shell in your backyard is probably good for another thirty years. Everything attached to it — finish, tile, deck, equipment — is what wears out, and all of it can be replaced.

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Pool remodeling in McAllen means renewing an existing pool rather than replacing it: new interior finish, new waterline tile and coping, updated decking, modern equipment, and often a change to the shape itself with a sun shelf, bench, or attached spa cut into the original shell.

The reason it makes economic sense is simple. A gunite shell routinely lasts 50 years or more, but nothing bolted to it does. Plaster gives out in 7 to 12 years, tile grout and coping mortar loosen, pump technology turns over, and backyard design moves on. A remodel replaces the parts with a service life while keeping the part that does not need replacing.

Pool remodeling contractors demolishing dated tile and plaster on a McAllen pool
The Process

What Does Pool Remodeling Involve?

It starts with a drain and an honest inspection. An empty shell is the only version of your pool anyone can actually assess — hollow spots sound different underfoot, hairline cracks become visible, and the condition of the tile bed and skimmer throats stops being guesswork. The scope of a remodel is written after this, not before.

Demolition follows whatever the scope covers: chipping out failed finish, removing waterline tile and coping, saw-cutting decking, and opening the equipment pad. If the remodel includes a shape change, this is when the shell gets cut, new rebar is doweled into the existing steel, and fresh gunite is shot so the addition cures as one continuous structure rather than a patch stuck onto the side.

Then everything goes back in a fixed order, because each layer depends on the one under it. Structural repairs first, then plumbing and electrical, then tile and coping set at the waterline, then the new interior finish, and finally the deck surface. Equipment is set and started, the pool is refilled immediately after the finish goes on, and startup begins with daily brushing while the surface cures underwater.

Signs It's Time

When Do You Need a Pool Remodel?

Remodeled McAllen pool with a new raised spa, fire bowls and LED lighting at dusk
The Real Cause

Why Do Older McAllen Pools Fall Behind?

Because three separate clocks run at once, and they are not synchronized with each other.

The first is material wear, and our water accelerates it. McAllen tap water is very hard at roughly 14.5 grains per gallon, about double the national average, and pools here are topped off constantly through summers that average close to 100°F. That cycle drives scale at the tile line and etching on the plaster, so finishes here rarely reach the upper end of their published lifespan.

The second is equipment technology. A Department of Energy rule that took effect in July 2021 requires new pool pumps over 1.0 total horsepower to be variable speed. Existing pumps were not outlawed, but the old single-speed motors that ran at full power every hour of every cycle are no longer what gets manufactured, and the running-cost gap between a 1990s pump and a current one is substantial across a Valley swim season that stretches most of the year.

The third is design. Tanning ledges, wide entry steps, LED color lighting, and integrated spas were not standard features on pools built two or three decades ago. That is not a defect, it is just a pool built for a different era — and unlike the first two clocks, this one is entirely a matter of whether the current layout still suits you.

Investment

What Affects the Cost of Pool Remodeling in McAllen?

Remodel quotes vary more than any other pool service, because "remodel" can mean one item or ten. It helps to price it as a menu rather than a single number.

Interior Finish

Plaster, quartz, or pebble over roughly 1,000 square feet of interior surface on a typical residential pool.

$6 – $15 / sq ft

Decking

From broom-finish concrete up to travertine, usually over a 400 to 600 square foot area.

$6 – $38 / sq ft

Tile and Coping

Waterline tile and the cap around the pool edge. Cheap to do while drained, disruptive to do later.

Quoted per linear ft

Equipment

Variable-speed pump, filter, heater, salt system, and automation. Pays part of itself back monthly.

Quoted per system

Shape Changes

Sun shelf, bench, or attached spa. Structural work: cutting, doweling steel, new gunite, new plumbing.

Largest single variable

What Turns Up Empty

Structural cracks and failed plumbing found after the drain. Budget a contingency for this on any older pool.

Unknown until drained

Two honest notes on budgeting. First, bundling saves real money — one drain, one crew mobilization, and one permit across several items beats doing them in separate years. Second, no reputable contractor can give you a final number on a full pool before it is empty, so treat a firm quote on an unseen shell as a warning rather than a selling point.

Choosing

Resurface Only or Full Remodel: Which Do You Need?

Resurface only if the complaint is genuinely just the finish. If the tile is sound, the coping is tight, the deck is flat and draining correctly, and the equipment works, then pool resurfacing in McAllen is the whole job. It is about a week of work and a fraction of the cost, and there is no reason to expand the scope just because the pool is drained.

Remodel when the failures have started clustering. Pools tend to be built all at once, so their components tend to age together — when the plaster goes at the same time the tile is popping and the deck has cracked, that is the shell telling you its entire wear layer has reached the end. Replacing those one at a time over five years costs more than replacing them together, because each one means draining the pool again.

The other case for a full remodel has nothing to do with wear: you want a different pool. A shallow ledge for toddlers, a spa where there wasn't one, a deep end filled in and turned into usable space. That work requires cutting the shell, which requires draining, which is why it should be scheduled alongside a resurface rather than on its own.

We will tell you which of these you are actually looking at during the site visit, including when the answer is that you only need the cheaper one.

Pool Looking Dated or Cracking?

We'll scope it honestly — including telling you if a resurface is all you need.

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Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a pool remodel take in McAllen?

A finish-only job runs about five to seven days. A typical remodel that includes tile, coping, and new equipment usually takes two to three weeks. Once decking is replaced or the shell is reshaped to add a sun shelf or spa, plan on four to six weeks, since that work involves concrete that has to cure on its own schedule regardless of how fast the crew moves.

Can a pool remodel add a spa or sun shelf to an existing pool?

Yes. Adding a tanning ledge, bench, or attached spa means cutting into the existing shell, tying new steel into the old structure, and shooting new gunite so the addition becomes part of the same monolithic shell rather than a piece bolted on. It also means new plumbing runs and usually a larger equipment pad. It is the most involved thing a remodel can include, and it is why remodel quotes vary so widely.

Do I have to replace my pool pump during a remodel?

Not if the existing one works. Under the Department of Energy rule that took effect in July 2021, pool pumps over 1.0 total horsepower have to be variable speed, but that applies to newly manufactured pumps rather than ones already installed. The practical catch is that when your single-speed pump eventually fails, a compliant replacement will be variable speed anyway, so many homeowners fold it into the remodel while the equipment pad is already open.

Is remodeling an old pool cheaper than building a new one?

Almost always, because the expensive part is already in the ground. A gunite shell commonly lasts 50 years or more, so a structurally sound pool from the 1990s does not need replacing, it needs its wear items renewed. A comprehensive remodel typically lands well under the $50,000 to $100,000 range of a new custom gunite build, and the pool stays where it is rather than requiring a fresh excavation.

Does a remodeled pool have to meet current McAllen code?

The work you do has to. McAllen has adopted the 2024 edition of the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, and permitted remodel work is inspected against it, which most often comes up with electrical bonding and with barrier or gate requirements around the pool. An older pool built to a previous code is not automatically forced into a full retrofit, but anything you rebuild gets built to today's standard.

What should I fix first if I cannot do everything at once?

Anything letting water out, then anything structural, then cosmetics. A leak that runs for a year washes out the base under your deck and turns a plumbing repair into a concrete one, so finding a leak earns priority over how the plaster looks. Failing tile and coping come next because they let water behind the shell edge. New finishes and decking are worth doing last, when nothing underneath them is still moving.