When builders talk about “materials,” they mean four separate decisions: the shell, the interior finish, the coping around the edge, and the decking. Each has its own price ladder, and the combinations you pick can swing a project by $30,000. Here’s the whole menu with realistic numbers.
1. The Shell
Covered in depth in our pool types guide, but the short version: vinyl liner ($35–$80/sq ft) is cheapest upfront with recurring liner costs; fiberglass ($50–$100/sq ft) wins on lifetime cost and speed; gunite ($75–$150/sq ft) wins on customization and longevity. Every other material decision hangs off this one — plaster and tile finishes only apply to gunite, for example.
2. Interior Finish (Gunite Pools)
- White plaster (marcite): $4–$6 per sq ft. The budget classic. Smooth, bright, but shows mottling and lasts 7–10 years before resurfacing.
- Colored/quartz plaster: $5–$8 per sq ft. Quartz aggregate adds durability and depth of color; 10–12 year life.
- Pebble finishes: $8–$13 per sq ft. The premium standard — pebble aggregate lasts 15–20+ years and hides chemistry sins better than plaster. Slightly textured underfoot.
- Glass tile: $30–$50+ per sq ft. Stunning, essentially permanent, and priced accordingly. Most owners use it as an accent (waterline, spa) rather than a full interior.
3. Coping
Coping is the cap around the pool’s edge — the transition between water and deck, priced by the linear foot. Poured concrete ($6–$10/lf) is seamless and cheap. Precast concrete or brick ($10–$25/lf) adds definition. Natural stone — travertine, limestone, bluestone — runs $25–$50/lf and stays cooler underfoot than concrete, which matters more than most buyers expect in a sunbelt summer.
4. Decking
Decking usually covers 2–4× the pool’s own footprint, so its per-square-foot price multiplies fast:
- Broom-finished concrete: $6–$10 per sq ft — the value play, and easy to extend later
- Stamped/colored concrete: $12–$20 per sq ft — mimics stone at half the price, but needs resealing every few years
- Pavers: $10–$25 per sq ft — repairable one unit at a time, excellent in freeze-thaw climates
- Travertine: $15–$30 per sq ft — cool underfoot, naturally slip-resistant, the sunbelt favorite
- Wood/composite deck: $15–$35 per sq ft — the natural fit for above-ground and raised installations
Where to Spend and Where to Save
Spend on what touches the water. Interior finish and coping are expensive to redo later — upgrading plaster to pebble during construction costs a fraction of a full resurface in year eight. Save on deck area. Broom concrete now, upgrade or extend in a few years when the budget recovers; decking is the one element that’s easy to improve after the fact. Waterline tile is the cheapest luxury: a $1,500 glass-tile waterline reads as a far more expensive pool.
To see how these choices land in a full project budget, run your pool through the free cost calculator — the estimate breaks out decking as its own line item so you can trade it off against the rest of the build.