Let’s say you’ve decided to take the plunge, so to speak, and invest in an in-ground swimming pool. You can just imagine cooling off on a scorching day, admiring your custom pool mat, building memories with friends and family.

Before that all happens, you need to decide which of the three in-ground pool types is right for you. They are fiberglass, vinyl liner, and concrete. We’ll go over the pros and cons below.

• Fiberglass pools are usually easy to maintain due to their virtually non-porous surface. They also don’t affect water chemistry in any way, which means much less time and money spent maintaining it. Installation tends to be very quick. However, they’re generally not customizable, and the initial cost can be a bit more expensive than vinyl.
• Vinyl pools are often much less to install than the other two types, generally at least $10,000 less. This allows many families to fit the budget for a pool when it was otherwise out of reach. They are also somewhat customizable. However, vinyl liner replacements can be necessary every 5-9 years, and they tend to cost around $4,000.
• Concrete pools are highly customizable, meaning that you can have a pool that’s very large, very deep, or that includes tanning ledges or other features. They’re also extremely durable, so no need to worry about your dog’s claws doing damage to the liner if he goes swimming. Yet concrete pools can cost quite a bit to build, take months to be constructed, and there can be issues, such as algae embedding into the pores of the concrete.