Hi. Where are you located? I suppose it depends on how hot your climate is already and your tolerance for cool water. We did it in central Florida at our last house. Luckily, digging didn’t kill our favorite ( over two-story) tree. We did need to cut back a few others to get the equipment back there. The water was always very cool. We did have a propane tank to heat it, but it really was just for the hot tub. We’d heat it up for special occasions… it took quite a while. The worst part was cleaning a pool. There were tons of leaves and acorns. The water chemistry was always off until we hired a great company to keep it in shape. Often had to shock the pool with chlorine even though it was a salt system. Once we had to hire someone with scuba gear to clean out a bottom drain clog. The kids loved it. It became a hassle for me. Once they left the nest and we moved…. We built a new house and dug up the pool that was on the property 🙃 because we wanted less to take care of. Really it depends on how much you love to swim. I don’t love it so I fell out of love with it rather easily. It would definitely help if you are able to put in solar heating ( if that works where you are).

Hi Chris, thanks a lot for sharing your experience which really helps me with the decision making. I’m located in Southern California.

I’m in south Florida where it’s ungodly hot and nobody swims when it’s the shady time in my backyard. We use the jacuzzi at night, but it’s rare we use the pool.

Sure! Just a bit of what you might expect. That said… Lots of things we all do are a hassle. Just need to ask if the amount of fun, joy, entertainment and memories it’ll bring overshadow the hassle (Usually it does).

I am a sunbather and that pool in that shady location wouldn't work for me. Also water would never warm up enough for me

We used to live in So CA and didn't bother installing a pool and our yard was very sunny/hot and much larger than yours. We aren't huge on swimming, but had young kids at the time. We joined a local country club that had summer/pool memberships. The kids preferred to swim with other kids and we only joined for a few years while they thought it was fun. A pool in So CA is going to cost you at minimum $100K ... that will buy you a pool membership at a local country club for many years!

We built in FL this past year and added a pool. We still aren't big on swimming, but we would have a hard time selling the house without a pool and it does look very nice, but it is basically an expensive water feature! It is also always cheaper to build a pool while building the house, so we just did it.