Vinyl, fibreglass or concrete in a Toronto backyard

Easy Pools prices a Toronto inground pool from $50,000 to $90,000 for vinyl liner, $65,000 to $120,000 for fibreglass and $100,000 to $220,000 and up for concrete. Swimpool 360 lists concrete and gunite slightly lower, at $85,000 to $150,000 and up. Action Home Services follows the same ranking but quotes by a different unit: $220 to $340 per square foot of water surface for vinyl, $230 to $380 for fibreglass and $500 to $900 for concrete.

Every source we checked in Ontario orders them the same way. Vinyl sits at the bottom, fibreglass occupies the middle, concrete comes out on top. The post-build stage changes that order.

The vinyl liner degrades over time. Easy Pools puts liner life at 7 to 12 years and replacement cost at $4,000 to $7,000. Hipel Pools in Kitchener puts life at 8 to 12 years and quotes $4,500 to $8,000 for a standard inground pool, rising to $6,500 to $10,000 and above for a larger or custom-shaped one. Hipel Pools also reports that premium liners cost 15 to 30 percent more than a standard 20 mil liner.

That is an expense you carry every year for as long as you own the pool. It does not erase vinyl's cheaper build cost, but it does mean the shell with the lowest install price is not always the one with the lowest ownership price, and any comparison that stops at the installation cost has stopped too early.

Easy Pools reports that a concrete pool needs its surface redone every 10 to 20 years. Swimpool 360 sets concrete resurfacing costs from $6,000 to $18,000 depending on the finish chosen, and Project Landscaping charges between $6,000 and $15,000 for replastering work.

The time between resurfacing projects runs about two times longer than a liner's, and the invoice is higher when it arrives. Concrete also purchases form, something the other two cannot provide. If the yard calls for a pool beyond a rectangle or a moulded shape, concrete is the shell that delivers it, and that is the justification for the cost more than durability by itself.

Easy Pools lists $3,000 to $8,000 for fibreglass gelcoat refinishing, performed every 15 to 20 years. This produces the lowest recurring surface expense of the three choices, distributed across the longest interval, and Project Landscaping likewise places fibreglass annual maintenance lowest, at $800 to $1,500 per year.

The limiting factor is the shell, which shows up on a truck. The pool takes the shape of the mould, in whatever dimensions can pass along the side of your home, and across the GTA access to the site often determines the outcome more than cost does.

Project Landscaping breaks down annual maintenance according to shell type, quoting $1,300 to $2,000 for vinyl, $800 to $1,500 for fibreglass and $2,000 to $3,500 for concrete. Easy Pools puts total yearly ownership for all shell types at $1,500 to $4,000 a year.

Put those figures side by side and fibreglass carries the lowest yearly upkeep, while concrete carries the highest, across the full lifespan of the pool. Weigh that against the install costs before you decide which shell is the expensive one.

Pick a period, for instance twenty years, and count three things: the build price, the resurfacing likely in that stretch, and the annual maintenance totalled. Concrete at $100,000 to $220,000 and up with $2,000 to $3,500 a year differs from vinyl at $50,000 to $90,000 with $1,300 to $2,000 a year plus two liners at $4,000 to $7,000 each.

Not one of the Ontario sources we reviewed says if HST is inside their ranges, and HST in Ontario sits at 13 percent. Get that confirmed in writing before the comparison settles anything.