Pool Service

Coping and waterline tile go in before plaster or pebble, and the pool gets drained once. Waterline tile runs about $25 a linear foot, coping $40 to $80, and a new finish needs a 28-day start-up.

Moorpark allows a pool 3 feet from the house. Slopes, septic tanks, power lines and the equipment pad decide the rest, and none of it is one statewide number.

A like-for-like replaster isn't on any Ventura County permit list we checked, but new gas, electrical or structural work is. Pull a remodel permit and state law adds 2 of 7 drowning safety features and new drain covers.

Since January 1, 2026, a new pool in California needs a heat pump or solar as its primary heater, with gas allowed as backup. The rest of the recent rule changes reach your pool only when you pull a permit, sell the house or replace something.

An existing pool without a fence is usually not illegal under state law. Pull a permit for a new pool or a remodel and you need 2 of 7 drowning prevention features, and a home inspector has to report how many you have when you sell.

Hayward says inspect the cell every three months or 500 hours, Pentair every two. Clean only when there's scale, at 4 parts water to 1 part acid, because excessive acid washing damages the blades.

A salt pool is a chlorine pool that makes its own chlorine. You stop buying chlorine, but you still test, brush and add acid, and a replacement cell runs $1,099 at 2026 retail.

A bubble cover cuts evaporation about 95% for $50 to $400, and solar panels pay back in 1 to 7 years. Seven ways to heat a pool, ranked on 2026 SCE and SoCalGas rates.

A 140,000 BTU heat pump draws 7.2 kW. A 400,000 BTU gas heater burns 4 therms an hour. At 2026 SCE and SoCalGas rates, here's what each costs to run, and which replacement actually pays for itself.

On Southern California Edison's time-of-use plans, midnight is never cheaper than noon. Keep the pump off from 4 to 9 p.m., filter in daylight, and the water and the bill both come out ahead.