What's not in your pool contract

Most pool disputes are not about what the contract says. They are about what it leaves out. These are the items Randy Beard sees missing most often in the contracts that end up in litigation, and the questions to ask before you sign.

Site and soil

• Rock, hard digging and hauling. Many bids assume normal soil. Ask what happens, and at what price per hour or per load, if the crew hits rock, old concrete or fill.
• Soils report and engineering. Hillside lots, expansive clay and fill often need a geotechnical report and engineered plans. Who orders it, who pays, and is the pool built to it?
• Groundwater and dewatering. If the hole takes on water, pumping it out can run for weeks.
• Access. Removing and replacing a fence, gate or block wall to get equipment into the yard, and repairing the lawn, sprinklers and driveway afterward.
• Drainage. Where deck and roof water goes once the yard is covered in concrete.

Utilities

• Electrical service. A new pool, heater and lights can exceed your panel. A panel upgrade or new subpanel is often "by owner."
• Gas line. The run from the meter to the equipment pad, and whether the meter is big enough for a pool heater.
• Relocating utilities in the way of the dig: sewer, water, irrigation lines, buried cable.

The pool itself

• Allowances instead of prices. Tile, coping, plaster and decking listed as allowances. If you choose above the allowance, you pay the difference. Get the allowance amounts in writing.
• Equipment by model number. "Pump, filter, heater" is not a specification. See which equipment should I get.
• Deck area. The square footage included, and the price per extra square foot.
• Plaster start-up. Brushing and water chemistry for the first weeks of new plaster, which decides whether it spots, streaks or discolors.
• Automation, lighting, cleaner, cover. Often extras.

Permits, safety and paperwork

• Permit and plan-check fees, and the cost of any corrections the city requires.
• Drowning prevention features. California requires at least two of seven safety features (such as an enclosure, a safety cover, or alarms on doors to the pool) on a new pool at a home. Which two, and are they in the price?
• Fencing and barriers the city requires to pass final inspection.
• Warranty. What it covers (structure, plaster, equipment), for how long, and who honors the equipment warranty.
• Change orders. California requires them in writing, signed, before the extra work. A contract that is vague here invites a large final bill.

Money and schedule

• Down payment above $1,000 or 10 percent, whichever is less, is not allowed on a California home improvement contract.
• Progress payments that run ahead of the work done.
• Start and finish dates, and what happens if the job stalls.

The full list of what California requires in the contract itself is on the before-you-sign checklist.

By Randy Beard, licensed California pool contractor (CSLB #871188, C-53 Swimming Pool and C-27 Landscaping). Updated November 9, 2026. Practical guidance, not legal advice.