Views on whether outdoor pool is a bad idea

[user704750]

We are very lucky to live in beautiful place. We won't be moving for at least 15 years (been here for 20).

I am toying with the idea of an outdoor pool. I think it would cost about £150k

I'm not a massive swimmer. DH swims regularly (at the gym). I hate travelling though and am very much a home person. We tend to stay at home during the summer and go away in the autumn and at Easter.

House is worth c£2.5m. Large 5 bed with 14 acres, separate guest cottage. High standard of decor. Based in the Midlands rather than the South coast so a bit cooler.

DC are at university but both are likely to live back at home for post grad study.

Everything I read says a pool is a bad investment but given the house is high end, I'm not sure. A reasonable number of houses in this price bracket in this area seem to have pools (although there aren't that many of them). Can't afford an indoor one which would add tens of thousands to the cost.

We have solar panels which generate excess power in the summer.

Would a pool devalue a higher end home in your opinion? Would it put you off buying the house?

You are cost conscious.
Your husband, swimming each day for 15 years =5475 swims.
At £150000, that is £27/swim.
The price per swim is higher than that, obviously, as you will have running costs.
And he wont swim outside in a British winter.

People will buy your house for the land.

A better investment would be a Tracker fund, for example.

If in doubt, ask Savills.

Thats a silly comment. If I can't afford to pay an extra £50-60k for an indoor pool plus a few hundred pounds a month to heat the pool then I can't afford the few hundred pounds a month to heat the pool on its own. That makes no logical sense whatsoever.

Reality is that we both earn good money. We can afford to run a pool. We can also actually afford (if we really wanted to) to have an indoor pool but an indoor pool is for swimming only and we want it partly for the exercise and partly to be able to sit around and relax/entertain in the summer. Plus we would have planning issues. Plus there are other things we want to spend our money on and we both have one eye on retirement.

DH is not a county level swimmer. He's a 55 year old who currently swims a few lengths at lunchtime.

I know it isn't an investment and certainly if we remove the money from the investments to pay for it there is an opportunity cost there, the question was more about whether it would actively devalue the house or whether, due to the type of property it is, it would be expected/desirable as an amenity.

Park the question of whether it’s a good investment from the perspective of selling the house: some buyers will be drawn to it, others put off. No one buying a £2million house lacks the resources to change the pool situation if they choose to do so. All in all, neutral decision.

So the question is entirely based on whether you want it and think it’s a good use of the money, plus ongoing maintenance. Maybe do a thought experiment of what else you could spend that money on (including investing in retirement etc) and which avenue makes sense to you. You can only spend it once!

You’re not even a keen swimmer! Why go to all the trouble and expense? It think it would put off as many potential buyers as it would attract…

Good idea!

Intrigued as to why so many posts have been deleted for breaking MN guidelines. Was that poster trying to flog gym memberships?

Indoor pools are v infra dig. They are for holiday chalets and footballers. Freezing outdoor is much more Saltburn. Extra aristo points if you can stick a diving board on the end.

Indoor, yes. Outdoor, no. In my opinion. Unless you're sporty and swim a lot. Why buy something that's not quite right? Indoor would get more use, ergo it's worth the extra cost.

We've now downsized but we had a 12m outdoor pool in chilly North East England, which was installed in 2003. We loved ours - all of our grandchildren learned to swim in it.
Ours was supposed to be indoor but we had neighbour objections so went with outdoor instead, and never regretted our decision. We were on an estate on the outskirts of town, so bordered countryside and it was so lovely floating about outside, enjoying the views.

When we installed the pool we did consider that it might make the house more difficult to sell in the future, but it was our pre-retirement forever home and we decided to go ahead and make the home we wanted to live in, including a swimming pool and never regretted it. We had no problems selling the house four years ago (we downsized for retirement), and our price was not reduced because of it. The pool is still there, but they've converted it and it's now full of koi carp.

We miss our pool now, but there's no room in the tiny garden we've ended up with. I say go for it!

Ours is very much like the photo you posted.

We love ours, no regrets. Use it lots in the summer, lovely for parties and friends. No hassle to maintain, a few chemicals every so often and some PH strips. We do have a very good cover so it stops algae forming and leaves falling in.

I don’t know about house value but it wasn’t really part of the consideration. We did it for our enjoyment. A house like ours would often have a pool so I don’t suspect it would cause many issues.

nd he wont swim outside in a British winter.

Why not?
Op can look into installing a heat pump and solar thermal covers to have a heated pool for year round use

FWIW I would much prefer an outdoor pool to an indoor one and would absolutely enjoy the socialising and lounging around opportunities as much as the actual swimming. I find most private indoor pools a bit compromised and soulless- not somewhere you'd actually want to hang out.

Definitely do it … climate is getting warmer every year … we have several friends that have them and not one single regret from any of them

it would make me more likely to buy a property than less

we just used a weekly pool service at our last house in your financial bracket thinking £50/£70 a week over summer months wouldn’t break the bank

it made it joyous as they kept it lovely May through September weekly and then we dropped to fortnightly for remainder of year

Only bug bear was the bulls of keeping it hot, but we were on oil heating and I liked it tropical 🤣

I’d say happy days all round … go for it x

• bills

We have one and I absolute
love it ! We are in canada and summers are great (winters very harsh and we cope looking after it winterising it properly so I wouldn’t worry about it looking scruffy like a pp said - pools are pretty common here though and even with great weather heaters are common ! So I think you’d definately need to factor in costs for heating . Also maintenance and chemicals isn’t cheap . They don’t really add value though , unless you find someone desperate for a pool
which may not be many due the costs to run and upkeep - I love mine and
I’m not a swimmer just live floating in my own backyard after work all summer ! The cost you’ve been quoted seems outrageous though

This is just not true.

I have a pool and I am a single woman with a single average income and manage financially maintaining my pool just fine.

And you do not need a plant room. You just need an area for the filter and the pump. Mine is in a bricked area with a bench seat on top. Most of the time they are built to fit in with the outdoor decor/brickwork.

You can get a retractable pool enclosure for around £30,000.

There is someone on here who has just won £125,000 of the Postcode Lottery and is looking at ways to 'spaff it up the wall' to maintain her benefits, perhaps you could contact her and see if she will pay for your pool enclosure.
This way you both benefit.

DS GF parents have an indoor pool, it’s separate to the house. I’m hoping for an invite. I would love a pool and grew up swimming in the sea as it was a 5 minute walk from the house I lived in till I was 18. We don’t have room in our garden for one but plan on moving in a couple of years and this is on my not essential but wojkd like wish list, we live miles from the sea.

@Becs51 do you mind me asking how much your swim spa cost to install, because as much as I would love a pool this is probably more realistic space wise.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned a swim spa?
Cheaper than in ground pool and easier to manage, especially if you run salt water. We run ours Feb-end October.
We moved home and took it with us too.

The pool itself was about £20k, the hiab delivery was £650. we have a miniscule garden so sadly couldn’t have it sunk as didn’t have enough space around it. I think it looks ridiculous but we have an autistic son out of school so I’m stuck at home 90% of the time. This has been the best thing ever for my mental health and fitness. If friends come over then the kids play in it for hours. The swim jets are like a lazy river! We have cheap overnight electricity so it heats during the night. When it gets really cold we do a top up session once a week which is about £6 and generally do that 5 or 6 times a year hence it only being about £2-£3 a day to run.

OP my pool guy is here so I just popped out and asked and he said 150k is about right (including a safety cover). Hope that's helpful!

Thank you, that is really helpful. I know it's far more expensive to install a pool in the UK than it is on the continent but its good to know the prices are in line with the norm.

At only 12m long I don’t see your husband using it for his workouts, it’s too short for anyone with any reasonable ability. So although I’m a person who a pool appeals to, I’d discount it at that length. I have discounted gyms for having only a 15m pool. However, I’m sure your husband knows his ability and if he has said 12m is enough then he knows that better than me. Could you make it slightly longer but narrower, it won’t make any difference to its ‘sitting by’ appeal but potentially it will make a difference to usage and resale value.

I’m speaking as a serious swimmer, so my opinion is skewed that way, it’s up to you whether that fits with what you want.

I have heard that it is one of rhe quickest ways fo devalue a property in the uk.